6P Camera - Not THAT Impressed?

kyoo

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After reading all the reports of how good this camera was - i.e., almost as good as S6? I was seriously stoked to use this guy. And while it's better than the Nexus 5 and the OnePlus One's camera that I used to have, IMO it falls way short of the S6's... like way short.

It probably doesn't help that I was using my girlfriend's S6 the week before my 6P arrived, but that camera is amazingly good - like better than my point and shoot good... The 6P's camera takes decent pictures, but they are nowhere near the quality of the S6's.

Any settings I need to change to get the camera working a little better? And by that I mean, it looks pretty good, but when you move in, the detail is nowhere near as fine as the shot taken by the S6. Thoughts/ideas?
 

nokia4life

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After reading all the reports of how good this camera was - i.e., almost as good as S6? I was seriously stoked to use this guy. And while it's better than the Nexus 5 and the OnePlus One's camera that I used to have, IMO it falls way short of the S6's... like way short.

It probably doesn't help that I was using my girlfriend's S6 the week before my 6P arrived, but that camera is amazingly good - like better than my point and shoot good... The 6P's camera takes decent pictures, but they are nowhere near the quality of the S6's.

Any settings I need to change to get the camera working a little better? And by that I mean, it looks pretty good, but when you move in, the detail is nowhere near as fine as the shot taken by the S6. Thoughts/ideas?

I agree with you however the hoopla over the camera was that it was the best camera that google has ever put on a nexus device not that it was better than a S6 or Note5. Normally with Nexus device's you give up something for the stock experience and low price points, this time around google had both phones updated with a good camera not great by any means as no reviewer has indicated that the camera was great just that it is way way better than any nexus camera in past and it is actually better than the One Plus Camera just my opinion.
 

kyoo

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I agree with you however the hoopla over the camera was that it was the best camera that google has ever put on a nexus device not that it was better than a S6 or Note5. Normally with Nexus device's you give up something for the stock experience and low price points, this time around google had both phones updated with a good camera not great by any means as no reviewer has indicated that the camera was great just that it is way way better than any nexus camera in past and it is actually better than the One Plus Camera just my opinion.

agree with you there - I just remembered reading it's like the 2nd best android camera ever tested at the time or something, which I find hard to believe. definitely a lot grainier in it's shots than the S6.

Great to see how far Google/Nexus has come though - maybe next time they'll add back OIS. I'd pay extra for it
 

nokia4life

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I agree with you there it needs OIS I have not filmed in 4k yet however watching videos of folks using it you see all of the jittering unless they are using a stabilizer or some sort of tripod which does suck to some degree. Here's hoping google does make their own ultimate phone in the future and load it up with high end everything i would buy it regardless of price.
 

Go0gle

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I use an S6 alongside the 6P and the cameras are just as good in most situations, but each have their strengths. I would give the edge to the S6 but it isn't a huge difference IMHO. The actual linear resolution difference between 12MP and 16MP is quite small, but if you plan on making a small print or showing your friends how much you can zoom in, the S6 will have the edge.

The S6 has optical stabilization, faster HDR capture, marginally faster aperture (F1.9 vs 2.0) and I would say performs slightly better in ideal lighting. Videos are also more stable thanks to the optical stabilization. The 6P has better low light capture and color retention in low light, and equal daylight capture (albeit at slightly less resolution) except for very demanding circumstances. The 6P will allow faster shutter speeds in low light if you are taking a picture of a person or something else that moves (Optical stabilization does nothing to stop subject movement).

If you like objective testing, you can check this out:

DxOMark Mobile - DxOMark

The 6P is ahead of the iPhone 6S and slightly behind the S6 and Xperia Z5. The #3 spot out of ~40 phones is pretty good, especially for the price.

The other thing is that at the end of the day, these are all mostly just 1/2.3" (or smaller) sensors from cheap point & shoot cameras, which makes them quite amazing by phone-camera standards, but still quite poor in the grand scheme of things. Here is a helpful image on sensor size, and you can see how none of these phones are going to perform any photographic miracles due to physics:

Sensor-Size-of-Digital-Cameras.jpg

Just my opinion anyway. I do agree that the S6 camera is slightly better (they are actually using two different manufacturers for that sensor), but I don't think that the difference is that significant, which seems to be in line with most of the review sites. I do wish it had OIS, but that is something you will notice far more when shooting video rather than stills.
 
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southflpix

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I am an avid photographer and really like the camera on the 6p. The lack of OIS has a much greater effect on video than it does photos, imo.
 

SeanNYC76

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I own the S6, and its only better than the 6p in one area in my opinion, video.

Other than that I feel they are pretty equal. The lack of ios kills the video experience.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

southflpix

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The lack of ios kills the video experience.

Posted via the Android Central App

I wouldn't say it kills it completely, but yeah, it's much more challenging to use and encourages the use of a tripod, monopod, or at least bracing yourself against something to get good results.
 

Almeuit

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I own the S6, and its only better than the 6p in one area in my opinion, video.

Other than that I feel they are pretty equal. The lack of ios kills the video experience.

Posted via the Android Central App

I am in this exact boat.
 

craigrn16

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After reading all the reports of how good this camera was - i.e., almost as good as S6? I was seriously stoked to use this guy. And while it's better than the Nexus 5 and the OnePlus One's camera that I used to have, IMO it falls way short of the S6's... like way short.

It probably doesn't help that I was using my girlfriend's S6 the week before my 6P arrived, but that camera is amazingly good - like better than my point and shoot good... The 6P's camera takes decent pictures, but they are nowhere near the quality of the S6's.

Any settings I need to change to get the camera working a little better? And by that I mean, it looks pretty good, but when you move in, the detail is nowhere near as fine as the shot taken by the S6. Thoughts/ideas?

Yeah I have an S6 and it's a lot better than the Nexus 6P. I will say though that the camera is still pretty good on the 6P and it's just as good as my iPhone 6S camera. Samsung really knocked it out the park with their camera but it's a worthy upgrade to avoid touch wiz to me.
 

SeanNYC76

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I went pretty hard tonight with comparing my iPhone 6s plus to my Nexus 6p. The results don't really shock the heck out of me as it was time for a Nexus to have a good camera, but either way you shake it the 6p holds it own quite well against the 6s plus.

Does either one beat the crap out of one another, does my almost $1,000 iPhone destroy the 6p? A lot of apple fans will scream yes, I say BS. While the iPhone has a spectacular camera and internals, it does not produce the effect or same color production as the 6p.

We are talking about a $500 phone here holding its own against what is considered to be a device that's right at the top of the mobile food chain.

I for one am impressed, however that doesn't mean the 6p beats the iPhone down or can really be called a world beater, where the 6p doesn't shine, the iPhone 6s plus does. The clarity and sharpness of the 6s plus is better in almost every shot, and while a tad washed out, IOS lets you tweak the photo. So with a little work you can get a shot with the 6s to look almost as good as one with the 6p, and be a little sharper as well. But the magic words are work, the iPhone owner needs to work, while the 6p is pretty awesome without touching a thing.

Video is where things fade and move towards the iPhone's favor. Why Google didn't advise and demand OIS to be on board the 6p is unfortunate, because with optical image stabilization this phone would be in the conversation for having one of the best camera and video performance available at this time, and for a lot less money than its competition.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

itch808

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I came from a S6 Edge, and while I'd give it the "edge"...it's not by much. Certain situations the 6P does better. From my last couple of phones (I'm a junkie) I'd rate it like this:

S6/Edge > 6P > iphone 6 > lg G3 > iphone 5S> S4 > Note II
 

Nreeldeep

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6p is wildly inconsistent which is what keeps it behind the iPhone 6 and Samsung 6/Note. You can take 10 consistently great photos with the iPhone and Samsung but get so many degrees of sharpness and color reproduction with the 6P. Some of the photos taken with the 6P come out looking fabulous, then the next photo of the same subject is blurry or the coloring is off. It's a great camera just not dependable. That's where the iPhone 6 shines, followed closely by Samsung 6 or note 5. My wife and I sometimes have to take a few shots with our 6Ps in order to get the money shot. The iPhone always gets the money shot the first time. It's almost like a crap shoot when we press the shutter button on our 6Ps. Which shot will we get this time? It's frustrating if you're a heavy camera user. For the casual camera user it's probably ok.
We ultimately returned the 6Ps. For the camera reasons as well as others. We like a lot of things Google did with the 6P but at this point we were asked to make too many compromises. We'll take another look at it in a couple months. Let Google do some fine tuning and see what they come up with. Hopefully we can revisit. We're definitely 6p fans.
 

craigrn16

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6p is wildly inconsistent which is what keeps it behind the iPhone 6 and Samsung 6/Note. You can take 10 consistently great photos with the iPhone and Samsung but get so many degrees of sharpness and color reproduction with the 6P. Some of the photos taken with the 6P come out looking fabulous, then the next photo of the same subject is blurry or the coloring is off. It's a great camera just not dependable. That's where the iPhone 6 shines, followed closely by Samsung 6 or note 5. My wife and I sometimes have to take a few shots with our 6Ps in order to get the money shot. The iPhone always gets the money shot the first time. It's almost like a crap shoot when we press the shutter button on our 6Ps. Which shot will we get this time? It's frustrating if you're a heavy camera user. For the casual camera user it's probably ok.
We ultimately returned the 6Ps. For the camera reasons as well as others. We like a lot of things Google did with the 6P but at this point we were asked to make too many compromises. We'll take another look at it in a couple months. Let Google do some fine tuning and see what they come up with. Hopefully we can revisit. We're definitely 6p fans.

You must have a bad unit. I have a 6S and had a Galaxy S6 which I just sold. The point I'm trying to get to is that on my iPhone 6S the pictures come out pretty much about the same as the pictures I take on my Nexus 6P so I don't know how you are having so many issues with the pictures. I will say though that my Galaxy S6 camera blew both the 6P and 6S out the water but I had to get rid of it. I couldn't take Touch Wiz, terrible battery life and AT&T bloat any longer.
 

getbretweir

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I used a Note 5 for 2 weeks before my 6p arrived. Is the camera better? Yeah, it is, Samsung did an amazing job this year. But the 6p is in the same ballpark which any Nexus fan would've been shocked to hear before launch. If you zoom in on a lot of shots, it doesn't have the same detail as Samsung, and it also takes better video. But I've taken some amazing shots in low light with my 6p as well as action shots of my son and nephews.

Also did some slow motion video of the golf swing, would've been better with OIS but still turned out great. If I need anything more from a camera I'll break out the Canon, cause for a phone and a quick shot that I'll edit, the 6p is perfect.
 

getbretweir

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6p is wildly inconsistent which is what keeps it behind the iPhone 6 and Samsung 6/Note. You can take 10 consistently great photos with the iPhone and Samsung but get so many degrees of sharpness and color reproduction with the 6P. Some of the photos taken with the 6P come out looking fabulous, then the next photo of the same subject is blurry or the coloring is off. It's a great camera just not dependable. That's where the iPhone 6 shines, followed closely by Samsung 6 or note 5. My wife and I sometimes have to take a few shots with our 6Ps in order to get the money shot. The iPhone always gets the money shot the first time. It's almost like a crap shoot when we press the shutter button on our 6Ps. Which shot will we get this time? It's frustrating if you're a heavy camera user. For the casual camera user it's probably ok.
We ultimately returned the 6Ps. For the camera reasons as well as others. We like a lot of things Google did with the 6P but at this point we were asked to make too many compromises. We'll take another look at it in a couple months. Let Google do some fine tuning and see what they come up with. Hopefully we can revisit. We're definitely 6p fans.

I've used the camera on the iPhone 6. I definitely agree with the consistency, but I took better shots with my 6p. My sister has the iPhone 6 and me the 6p. We exchanged photos from my sons birthday and my shots are nicer than hers. Both her and my mom felt the same. My mom took some shots with the Note 5 which came out best, although she had a few bad shots, which I chalk up to her being a bad photographer instead of the phone.

Either way, I couldn't see camera being a reason for returning either phone, all 3 are great and a monster step up from last year.
 

Addie_Goodvibes

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Nexus 6P Camera Performance

To all those who have had their 6P and opportunity to really use the Camera in day to day scenarios..

How responsive is the camera?

I listen to Leo Laporte ( TWIT ) , and he is a reliable;e unbiased resource for reviewing all types of tech including the latest in smart phones.

Leo Got the New Nexus 6P and he's not a fan | The Tech Guy

He has been driving the Nexus 6P and has shown the 6P camera to be sluggish and unresponsive..
has anyone else experienced this?

I know the camera takes good photos but is it sluggish on use/startup?