Does anyone have any tips for taking photos in full sunlight on the s3? My wife's 4s stomps this phone in full sun every time when just using standard settings. Driving me nuts. We're on vacation and I want my new phone to be the one we use to show off but have to go back and retake the pics on hers to be able to see them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Full sun photos
- Thread starter Sankentris
- Start date
You could try experimenting with scene modes or HDR in the camera settings. I've never had a problem with full sun.
Will mess around with it thanks. Have tried some of the scene modes but haven't found right combo. Just such a glaring difference it makes me sad.
Rev2010
Well-known member
Man, I almost thought you were talking about viewing the screen in full sunlight to setup the photo on the screen. But you're really having issues taking photos in full sunlight? I have no issues whatsoever. I know this doesn't help you but I've taken photos outside, or rather have had my band mate photograph me where I was squinting so bad due to the light and the photo came out amazing.
What I can do to try to help is to check and make sure you are not on a set scene mode. Make sure your scene mode is set to either "None" or you can try "Beach/Snow".
You never actually specified what the problem is you are having, you only said your wife's iPhone "stomps this phone in sunlight every time". As an IT Tech for a living I can tell you the most frustrating aspect of dealing with "users" (as we call them) is they never say what exactly is wrong, just that they are having a problem. More info and let's see how we can help
Rev.
What I can do to try to help is to check and make sure you are not on a set scene mode. Make sure your scene mode is set to either "None" or you can try "Beach/Snow".
You never actually specified what the problem is you are having, you only said your wife's iPhone "stomps this phone in sunlight every time". As an IT Tech for a living I can tell you the most frustrating aspect of dealing with "users" (as we call them) is they never say what exactly is wrong, just that they are having a problem. More info and let's see how we can help
Rev.
Yep it would be useful to know if its over exposing or underexposing. Those would be the most likely problems, it should be incredibly sharp and in focus with so much available light.
Also are you manually setting your focus point on the screen before snapping the photo?
Also are you manually setting your focus point on the screen before snapping the photo?
Sorry for lack of info I sent that while we were shopping. When I take photos of static scenes it tends to do well, but taking photos of me and the wife standing side by side out in the sun usually ends up with darker pictures. We've been doing comparisons since yesterday and hers always come out brighter with more detail. I'm using just the standard setting. The first pic should be the s3 and the second is from a 4s. Maybe I'm just too picky?
If by manually setting focus point you are referring to tapping the area to focus then yes I am doing that. I suppose my main gripe is that in some photos like the above the picture is noticeably darker than the iphone. I've taken some beautiful shots of scenery but for shots like these they come out odd. I am not well versed in photography settings but I'm sure there's a way to remedy this. I appreciate you guys taking time to look at this post. I am trying to get my wife to swap from iphone and this has caused a speed bump. Thanks.
S3 pic doesn't look too bad to me, I would say its better than the 4S pic overall.
The 4S pic has overexposed the sky - the clouds have no detail in them.
Note that the composition is different between the pics. The 4S pic is closer to the tank, this has reduced the amount of background, which is lighter than the foreground.
All digital cameras by default use the entire image for metering - the metering tells the camera what aperture/shutter speed to pick. Aperture and shutter speed control the amount of light coming in to the camera and therefore if the pic gets under exposed (dark) or over exposed (light).
In this case I would say that the 4S saw more dark areas (the tank) because the tank was closer, therefore it let a bit more light in. Whilst this has helped foreground exposure it overexposed the background (especially the clouds).
The S3, overall saw more light (because the tank isn't so prominent) and therefore got a slightly better balanced exposure at the cost of being a little underexposed in the foreground.
All cameras struggle with high contrast scenes because their dynamic range is less than our eyes - meaning our eyes can balance the scene better than the camera can. This is true of even high end DSLRs. If shooting JPEG there isn't that much you can do really.
Summary : 4S got it wrong as well, just in a different way to the S3.
The 4S pic has overexposed the sky - the clouds have no detail in them.
Note that the composition is different between the pics. The 4S pic is closer to the tank, this has reduced the amount of background, which is lighter than the foreground.
All digital cameras by default use the entire image for metering - the metering tells the camera what aperture/shutter speed to pick. Aperture and shutter speed control the amount of light coming in to the camera and therefore if the pic gets under exposed (dark) or over exposed (light).
In this case I would say that the 4S saw more dark areas (the tank) because the tank was closer, therefore it let a bit more light in. Whilst this has helped foreground exposure it overexposed the background (especially the clouds).
The S3, overall saw more light (because the tank isn't so prominent) and therefore got a slightly better balanced exposure at the cost of being a little underexposed in the foreground.
All cameras struggle with high contrast scenes because their dynamic range is less than our eyes - meaning our eyes can balance the scene better than the camera can. This is true of even high end DSLRs. If shooting JPEG there isn't that much you can do really.
Summary : 4S got it wrong as well, just in a different way to the S3.
Rev2010
Well-known member
Have to agree with Mark_C, I think the darker image is better overall. When I saw the clouds in the brighter pic the first thing I thought was how overexposed it was, and I for a second thought you did have an issue with the phone until I looked at the file name and noticed that picture was from the iPhone.
If you want it brighter though what you can do is try using the beach/snow setting and see if it helps, though I'm wondering if that may makes things darker lol since I would guess it might try to avoid overexposing the picture. Or, as mentioned by Crester use the HDR setting, that will definitely improve the picture. The iPhone 4 has HDR as well and your wife may unknowingly have it turned on. Did a quick Google search for the iPhone HDR and got this link, even though it's about the iPhone it's still relevant and a cool quick read - check it out:
When to use the iPhone 4's HDR feature | Macworld
Rev.
If you want it brighter though what you can do is try using the beach/snow setting and see if it helps, though I'm wondering if that may makes things darker lol since I would guess it might try to avoid overexposing the picture. Or, as mentioned by Crester use the HDR setting, that will definitely improve the picture. The iPhone 4 has HDR as well and your wife may unknowingly have it turned on. Did a quick Google search for the iPhone HDR and got this link, even though it's about the iPhone it's still relevant and a cool quick read - check it out:
When to use the iPhone 4's HDR feature | Macworld
Rev.
^ Never thought I'd read and enjoy a Macworld article, but that was a good read on HDR in general, I've been wondering how to get the best use out of the setting on my S3. The 4-pane example with the backlit girl was great, I never knew how much of a difference tapping on the focal point could make.
Well the iPhone is exposed better for your kids and the s3 is for the sky as noted. Personally I like the iPhone for that picture since it's obvious that you care more about having the kids exposed well.
How much have you played with the HDR mode and the various "scenes"?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
How much have you played with the HDR mode and the various "scenes"?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
why in the world would you need to even look at the clouds? that's nonsense. The tank and kids are the more impt part of the pic, and the 4s gets it right by overexposing to compensate for dark foreground. Note the loss of detail and just lacklustre appearance with the darkness in s3.
I love the s3, but it will never ever be as good as the 4s in camera function. that's just impossible, for now.
I love the s3, but it will never ever be as good as the 4s in camera function. that's just impossible, for now.
I'm still experimenting with various combos so far. We're cruising around ne Tennessee so plenty of outdoor shots to come by. It's just been hit and miss. I understand what everyone is saying but I tend to agree with Nash in that in some areas the s3 can't compete. Night pics with the s3 are awesome though, cause when you manually focus it actually turns on the flash to focus unlike the iphone. I'm just working on a happy medium. Thank you all again for the input!
Far as the clouds go - they are part of the image and having blown white areas is very distracting to the eye.
The loss of detail in the S3 pic isn't that bad, a little fill light could bring that back easily.
In any case we have a different composition between the photos, so its not like for like and therefore any comparison is a waste of time. There are reasons why each camera struggled and composition is part of it. I would suspect with the reverse composition we would of seen a similar result (i.e. S3 would of blown the clouds, 4S would of had a darker foreground).
You could change metering mode to help fix the problem, if we used a partial metering mode or even spot metering both cameras would of seen a darker area in the metering zone (partial would of been an area around the focus point, spot would be the actual focus point) because the focus point was on the dark area of the image i.e. the tank. Would of blown the sky out though. Probably the best fix would of been to take the picture around the other side of the tank, I would guess that scene had less contrast.
I understand the argument that the pictures aren't exactly the same, however I took the original pictures from the other side and they were darker. I went to the other side and the picture was fine with me. I got back in the truck and decided to go back and take additional pictures with the iphone and felt the iphone had a brighter more detailed picture. I appreciate the feedback and will continue to use your suggestions to improve the pics. Did take a sweet panoramic pic off a mountain with it earlier though
Rev2010
Well-known member
And "why in the world" is this thread of any importance when the brightness could be fixed in 10 seconds using any photo editing software like GIMP (free) or photoshop? You clearly know little about photography and think the camera is supposed to know automatically a persons kids are the important subject in a photo. For one, the guy probably didn't even use tap to focus to choose the subject of the photo. I know I often don't when it would benefit the picture. A lot of times we just point and shoot, and to expect the camera to always know what's important is a bit far fetched.
Why in the world does this thread have enough importance for you to question its importance yet post in it several times? Yes I tap and shoot. Yes my iphone spoiled me in that when I tap and shot it got it right. Am I ing about the phone, no. I'm seeking advice. I love the phone and figured an android forum would help. Most have been very helpful but Rev you don't have to be an ass to answer. I fully believe you are an IT person now by your responses. Thanks for all the advice tho I do appreciate it.
I didn't read all the post here so I'm sorry if this was covered, but... You're most likely setup in 'matrix' mode for metering. Matrix mode looks at all the dark and bright areas in a picture and tries to find a happy medium. That's why the image is under-exposed on the kids and tank.
If you change the metering to spot, the camera will adjust the exposure for whatever you have inside the hash marks in the center of the screen. Center weighted evaluates a slightly larger area than spot, but is only for the center (evaluates mostly inside the center box but gives concideration to larger circle surrounding... think of it as having the center mark being 2-3X bigger)
Here's how to shoot (if you're not going to use the HDR Mode, which for a shot like this, you really should!!!). If you are only concerned with the kids faces use spot... for kids faces and whats directly around then (tank) use center-weighted..... NOW place the hash marks (center of screen) on one of the kids faces and hold the shutter button down and dont let go, you will hear a beep and the hash marks will turn green.... You now have Exposure and Focus locked, you can now move the camera to compose your shot (meaning get the clouds, tank and kids to where they look best on screen... not necessarily in the center), then release the shutter button and the picture will be taken.
Other modes to use would be face detection which I believe (don't quote me on this) automatically exposes for faces when detected. Also get familiar with Sports (action) Mode, It sets the shutter speed higher so you don't get blurry shots, the down sode is the shots may have a slight bit more noise cause it may have to bump up the ISO if lighting is not ideal. another consideration for shots where the background is brighter than the subject is to use the Back-light Mode... This uses the flash to fill in your subjects and exposes for the background (this is usually not good for distances of more than 10 feet (depending on the power of the flash) and can introduce weird coloring if the ambient light is not similar to the flash).
But the best thing for you to do right now is just use HDR.
If you change the metering to spot, the camera will adjust the exposure for whatever you have inside the hash marks in the center of the screen. Center weighted evaluates a slightly larger area than spot, but is only for the center (evaluates mostly inside the center box but gives concideration to larger circle surrounding... think of it as having the center mark being 2-3X bigger)
Here's how to shoot (if you're not going to use the HDR Mode, which for a shot like this, you really should!!!). If you are only concerned with the kids faces use spot... for kids faces and whats directly around then (tank) use center-weighted..... NOW place the hash marks (center of screen) on one of the kids faces and hold the shutter button down and dont let go, you will hear a beep and the hash marks will turn green.... You now have Exposure and Focus locked, you can now move the camera to compose your shot (meaning get the clouds, tank and kids to where they look best on screen... not necessarily in the center), then release the shutter button and the picture will be taken.
Other modes to use would be face detection which I believe (don't quote me on this) automatically exposes for faces when detected. Also get familiar with Sports (action) Mode, It sets the shutter speed higher so you don't get blurry shots, the down sode is the shots may have a slight bit more noise cause it may have to bump up the ISO if lighting is not ideal. another consideration for shots where the background is brighter than the subject is to use the Back-light Mode... This uses the flash to fill in your subjects and exposes for the background (this is usually not good for distances of more than 10 feet (depending on the power of the flash) and can introduce weird coloring if the ambient light is not similar to the flash).
But the best thing for you to do right now is just use HDR.
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