[Chris Tempel]

I have not been able to figure out what triggers this, but sometimes when I go into my camera settings, I notice my megapixel count has dropped from 16 to something lower, like 6. Anyone know why this is?

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Does it occur when you start from the Messaging app? If you choose to take a photo to add to a text message, it might automatically downsize the resolution for the message.

[jonebk12]

Mine does the same thing, switching my settings around seemingly at random (sometimes it's the resolution, other times it's picture stabilization, or video recording mode). I clear the cache once or twice a week but this doesn't seem to be the cause (at least not every time). The only time I "caught" it in the act was when I used the panorama feature a couple weeks ago. I had been taking normal 16mp photos, switched to panorama mode and took a pano picture, switched back to normal/auto mode only to later discover that the resolution had been bumped down to 6mp. I think it's just some really annoying (and stupid) software issue. No idea how to fix it unfortunately; we may just have to wait for a software update. In the meantime, I just have to be vigilant and double check the settings before taking photos.

[Chris Tempel]

I"m glad I'm not the only one. Thanks for the welcome! I did try your suggestion of checking Messenger, as well as Voxer which I use a lot and neither reproduced the result. Also tried the pano and that didn't reproduce it either. It does seem to be completely random. I've had my s5 just over a month and this happens about once a week.