Camera quality is absolutely horrendous. Am I doing something wrong?

[fjd726]

Fingerprint scanner iPhone wins. Note 4 camera in most situations is a lot better than the iPhone. Clear, sharp pictures with lots of detail that can be cropped. Lowlight slight nod to iPhone if movement of subjects is involved. If there is no movement they are pretty close in lowlight. Note 4 camera is stellar...you should try it.

My note 4 is horrendous in picture taking. I also get blurring every single time I take it indoors. This camera seems to only do well outdoors on a bright sunny day. It's unfortunately going back because of it. IPhone camera beats this one in every way.

 

[aspj111]

In my opinion, it takes some great photos. Don't know why some are having such a hard time.

 

[aspj111]

Low light no flash, looks fine to me!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

and that's Apple's demographic... the common consumer who hasn't got a clue what they're doing and wants everything to be simple, even if that limits their potential. Android on the other hand is for those of us who want to utilize our full potential, even if that means having to learn how to do so. The Note 4's camera is no different, like Android it is capable of more, but you need to learn how to use it.

Guess what. Samsung's demographic is the same as Apple's demographic. The common consumer who doesn't have a clue what they're doing. They're both after the same customers.

It's no secret that Apple have an excellent balance of camera hardware and software on their phones. There's a reason why iPhones are consistently ranked among (if not the) best cameras on a smartphone. I use both Android and iPhones consistently and if there's one thing I'd like to pinch from Apple, it's their awesome cameras/image processing.

As the guy with the Takeshi Toshiro icon said; the smartphone camera is replacing the point & shoot camera. IE; the camera for the masses that literally want to pull the device out, snap a photo, put it back and have that photo turn out well with minimal effort. It's unfair (and inaccurate) to assume that iPhone consumers want a point & shoot, whereas Android consumers want to utilise their cameras to their full potential. There's no evidence of that.

And having to learn how to use a smartphone camera is going in the exact opposite direction a smartphone OEM could go. They should be focusing in on the camera taking excellent photos when used as a point & shoot. That's what the majority of consumers would be doing.

 

[Phantasmal Images]

Hypothetically, if we were to use both cameras (iPhone and Note 4) in full manual settings, which do you think would perform better? I'd be willing to bet the Sony camera in the Note 4 would easily beat the iSight in the iPhone in the majority of scenarios. What's letting down the Note 4 is on the software end, not the hardware. Software can be easily fixed (or ignored by shooting manual), and I'm sure it will be with Android 5 (which will add a number of improvements on the software end of camera functionality, including raw image files).

Hardware specs clearly show the Note 4 has the better camera. Consumers unable to utilize it to its potential don't change that.

 

[LaTuFu]

I Can Be Your Hero makes a valid point. The majority of the market simply wants an easy to use camera that they can pull out of their pocket and take a picture.

The only time most people have their DSLR (if they even HAVE a DSLR) with them is for sporting events, school functions, holiday/family gatherings or the like. For any other time, most people only have their phones.

Having said all that, other than the low light motion issues, which any camera struggles with (even the iPhone 6, which clearly does better than the Note 4 with low light motion) the Note 4 holds its own very, very well. In a quick google search of "iPhone 6 vs Galaxy Note 4 camera" articles, most scored the cameras pretty even. The one article that I found which declared the iPhone a "clear winner" is a head scratcher because the photos they used for comparison, the Note 4 and the G3 were better in every one of them, but the author chose the 6 anyway. I can only assume that either A) the author has no experience with photography or B) already owned her iPhone 6 and therefore was biased in that direction anyway. The rest of the articles were "no clear winner, they all have their strengths and weaknesses" for the most part. I discounted most "pro-Android" or "pro-Apple" sites from my search, even though I read them anyway. I was hardly surprised an Apple blogger thought the iPhone 6 "blew away the competition" any more than I was surprised by an Android site saying the Note 4 was "superior in every way."

With my photography background and experience over the years with SLR, DSLR, PnS, and camera phones, I can't claim to be a "typical consumer" but I am no different than anyone else of only having my phone with me the majority of the time. I don't know if it is because of my experience as a photographer or not, but I have found the Note 4 camera to be a better camera in almost every situation than the iPhone 6. The only place the iPhone is a better performer is with low light motion, but even then the pictures are not great. Low light situations, by definition, require some sort of flash to compensate. Even with a flash, the Note 4 doesn't perform as well in that same situation--but the gap closes considerably. Enough that I can't say "clear winner" for either phone, but I give slight nod to the iPhone. It gets it done. The Note 4 is okay, and apps like snapseed will help enough that I wouldn't tell anyone to buy the iPhone 6 over the Note 4 only because of this one particular aspect.

For any other situation where someone will find a camera phone a useful tool, neither of these phones is going to stand out so far ahead of the other that I would declare one a "clear winner" over the other. I do think the Note 4 is an overall better camera and is capable of much better pictures, but that is offset by the fact that you do have to "set up" your shot from time to time. That can be a difficult thing to do with sports, little kids, pets, etc who often are not the most cooperative subjects. If your subject is stationary or the lighting is excellent, however, you have a camera that can almost compete with some DSLRs on the market today--and certainly compete with many PnS devices.

 

[AustinLWright]

I bought the Note 4 after reading review after review about how great the camera is, especially compared to the iPhone 6 Plus. Unfortunately, as a parent as well, those reviews didn't stand up to the real world of trying to snap shots of my munchkin. It takes phenomenal landscape photos at midday, but in low light conditions, it is atrocious. With OIS, this shouldn't be nearly the problem it is but I have little to no confidence that these results are due to my phone being a defective unit.

My wife's iPhone 6 (without OIS) blows my Note 4 out of the water, but then again she doesn't have a stylus (which I actually use), an IR blaster, screencast (with our 4K Samsung) or expandable memory (but, to be fair, her phone did come with 128GB).

 

[LaTuFu]

I doubt that you have a defective unit as well. You're describing the achilles heel of the Note 4 camera. Low light motion snapshots.

You can get reasonable good pictures in those situations with a little pre-setup, but the 6 will probably still perform better in that situation.

For any other lighting situation/subject/motion, though, you have a very able performer, so I wouldn't be too discouraged.

 

[adegbenroagoro]

Have you taken off the foil over the rear camera lens aperture ??!!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Joe Nunya]

Even IF and its big IF the iphone performs slightly better in just that ONE narrow area of low light fast motion, the Note 4 still without questions outperforms the iphone in everything else.
and once the Lollipop 5.0 comes out that too shall end because we should get a much higher ISO and problem solved.

Fact of the matter is that no phone camera will ever even come close to what a nice DSLR can do, so if the Note 4 doesn't do what you need then buy a camera.
The Note 4 is superior in about 95% of everything else, people that buy a nice smartphone solely for low light fast motion photography have a screw loose.

 

[tnobles1228]

I'm not posting this to be obnoxious, but on some other forum I recall seeing a post where someone hadn't noticed the extra piece of peel-off protective plastic covering on the camera lens of a new N4. Would have been easy enough to do.

This happened to me too! I had my phone for 2 months before I realized it was there, lol!

<3 my GN4

 

[steelrain82]

Does taking it off make a difference? I take great photos, but sometimes I have to take them more then once because the slightest motion cause the image to blur......I mean the slightest. And my phone is constantly refocusing itself like every 3 or 4 seconds

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[sparksd]

Does taking it off make a difference? I take great photos, but sometimes I have to take them more then once because the slightest motion cause the image to blur......I mean the slightest. And my phone is constantly refocusing itself like every 3 or 4 seconds

Posted via the Android Central App

Realistically, probably not but as I noted, I didn't even realize it was left on there.

 

[palmor]

Does taking it off make a difference? I take great photos, but sometimes I have to take them more then once because the slightest motion cause the image to blur......I mean the slightest. And my phone is constantly refocusing itself like every 3 or 4 seconds

Posted via the Android Central App

Make sure that HDR is turned off. OIS does not work with HDR turned on. Also, the note 4 has a much higher pixel count so looking at photos at 100% will appear to have more motion blur ( when it exists) then the iPhone with a lower pixel count.


John




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[dpham00]

Even IF and its big IF the iphone performs slightly better in just that ONE narrow area of low light fast motion, the Note 4 still without questions outperforms the iphone in everything else.
and once the Lollipop 5.0 comes out that too shall end because we should get a much higher ISO and problem solved.

Fact of the matter is that no phone camera will ever even come close to what a nice DSLR can do, so if the Note 4 doesn't do what you need then buy a camera.
The Note 4 is superior in about 95% of everything else, people that buy a nice smartphone solely for low light fast motion photography have a screw loose.

Guess I have a screw loose then. I want to take a picture of my very active toddler in the spur of the moment. I only have a few seconds to get a shot or the opportunity is missed. Yeah I can have my digital camera always with me, but for me, this isn't practical. In this situation, the 6p does substantially better

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4

 

[bertsirkin]

It may not seem like it, but digital photography is still in its infancy.

There are new technologies just coming out that are designed for the "bad picture taker" - which accounts for 99% of all people with cameras. Technologies like the liteon camera that doesn't require focusing until after you take the picture; like Adobe's "shake reduction" sharpening filter, that made it's entrance in CC2014, but isn't quite ready for prime-time; like the incremental sensor technology improvements for heat, noise and pixel quality; etc. There will be many more technologies like these, and each new phone camera will improve.

Frankly, it's amazing that phone cameras take the quality images they do. But for now, as a camera phone user, you just have to know how to take good low-light images. Maybe in another 2 or 3 phone-generations, the phone cameras will do it all for you, but for now... it's up to you.

 

[PookiePrancer]

OIS reduces YOUR movement, not your subject's. The sports mode works much better for me when going for those low light, fast motion shots, but even then I'm a realist: If I'm trying to capture motion in the dark, I'm better off just filming a video. Even my Nikon D90 struggles under those conditions in full auto mode.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Joe Nunya]

If I want to take good low light pictures I pull out my Nikon FE2 35mm which uses actual 35mm FILM not digital.
Anyone that expects a camera phone to do what is actually about the hardest thing for a camera to do (low light fast motion capture without flash) is dreaming anyway, if the iphone is any better its only marginal and its only in that one narrow area.
Meanwhile the Note 4 camera and video is superior in every other way.
So I guess if maybe you live in a cave or at the North Pole then maybe a iphone might be slightly better.

But as far as taking better normal light pictures there is no comparison

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

Sounds ridiculous, but I feel like for a phone that is $300 on upgrade, SURELY the quality of a photo should be better than this? I get low light won't always produce a good picture--But I don't consider my kitchen low light at all. My GS4 (and GS3 for that matter) took better photos than this. The rest of the phone is SO nice! I'm so disappointed. Having two young kids, the camera is the first thing I look for in a phone. Well, aside from battery life... Boo. Anyone able to help me out? I recorded a video of my daughter singing the ABCs and the quality was deplorable.

Sounds like dumb answer, but did you remove the little plastic protective film that was on the lens when you unboxed?

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[Haalcyon]

Sounds like dumb answer, but did you remove the little plastic protective film that was on the lens when you unboxed?

Posted via Android Central App

On my AT&T Note 4 the plastic doesn't actually cover the whole lens, just the periphery of it.