A few G4 disappointments so far - Camera, performance etc

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

Well, I don't get it - I don't think that way. It seem like you are saying the quality of the picture matters enough to get picky about minor differences in image quality - at the same time you are saying you don't care about image quality to want to use manual and get the best image quality.

Myself, if it is just a quick snap, then I am not going to get upset about minor differences in quality. But, importantly, when I want the best image, I will make the effort to get it, and in order to get that best image I think the g4 is going to win out.

I meant in Auto mode, which is what most of us will be using on a Smart Phone. I understand RAW for correcting certain things, but many times I (of my wife) doesn't want to remember to switch modes, or always shoot RAW.

As far as the Audio, I've listened to a few comparisons of S6 and G4 videos to compare the Video quality, and in every one, the S6 audio is noticeably better, with the G4 sounding very canned. Not End of the World kind of bad, just trying to compare various aspects of each before I take the plunge.

I really don't want to get the S6, but trying to decide if the G4 compromises are good enough, or wait to compare the upcoming Moto X.

As for the Audio - I have also seen some of those videos, yet my G4 audio sounds just fine and I can't tell a difference between it and my wife's S6, so I guess I put my personal experience above those videos. As I noted YMMV.

Sure the camera allows for full control and raw (which has been demonstrated as not that great on a popular YouTube channel), be sure to ask the random situation you are taking a picture of to wait for you to get your tripod, ISO , white balance all set before hand, heck while we are at it, you might as well carry a white balance sample card and shoot a few pics before you get the right shot hehe

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

As above, if you don't want to have the option to get the best shot possible, then get the S6. Your assumption that a tripod and gray card etc. is necessary to see improvement over auto mode is not a good one, and if you put some effort in to using manual, you will find that you can get pretty quick at making the necessary adjustments, and if you miss slightly, there is more headroom in RAW to fix that.

 

[Aflaaaak]

Well, I don't get it - I don't think that way. It seem like you are saying the quality of the picture matters enough to get picky about minor differences in image quality - at the same time you are saying you don't care about image quality to want to use manual and get the best image quality.

Myself, if it is just a quick snap, then I am not going to get upset about minor differences in quality. But, importantly, when I want the best image, I will make the effort to get it, and in order to get that best image I think the g4 is going to win out.


As for the Audio - I have also seen some of those videos, yet my G4 audio sounds just fine and I can't tell a difference between it and my wife's S6, so I guess I put my personal experience above those videos. As I noted YMMV.




As above, if you don't want to have the option to get the best shot possible, then get the S6. Your assumption that a tripod and gray card etc. is necessary to see improvement over auto mode is not a good one, and if you put some effort in to using manual, you will find that you can get pretty quick at making the necessary adjustments, and if you miss slightly, there is more headroom in RAW to fix that.

What it boils down to is I was hoping the G4 would fill in for my Canon ELPH 330 for a lot of situations, as there are many times when I don't want something in my hands while on a hike. I use my ELPH in P mode, which has a few minor tweaks like Flash Off, Evaluate metering, EV -1, and it takes great shots 95% of the time. The G4 Auto mode is what I want to use most of the time, with the type of minor tweaks I use on my ELPH, and get the type of quality of shots the little ELPH gets. I knew the early reviews raving about the G4 camera, like it was a pocket DSLR with a fixed lens, were a little hyperbolic, but the more I read, the more the S6 sounds like it a little better spontaneous use camera (outside of the slight over-saturation). But, I don't care for the rest of the S6, so am trying to convince myself the G4's weaknesses aren't worth stressing over.

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

What it boils down to is I was hoping the G4 would fill in for my Canon ELPH 330 for a lot of situations, as there are many times when I don't want something in my hands while on a hike. I use my ELPH in P mode, which has a few minor tweaks like Flash Off, Evaluate metering, EV -1, and it takes great shots 95% of the time. The G4 Auto mode is what I want to use most of the time, with the type of minor tweaks I use on my ELPH, and get the type of quality of shots the little ELPH gets. I knew the early reviews raving about the G4 camera, like it was a pocket DSLR with a fixed lens, were a little hyperbolic, but the more I read, the more the S6 sounds like it a little better spontaneous use camera (outside of the slight over-saturation). But, I don't care for the rest of the S6, so am trying to convince myself the G4's weaknesses aren't worth stressing over.

S6 is a really good phone and the camera in auto mode is marginally better. It is a good choice if you want good point and shoot capabilities. I am always impressed with samsung phone cameras, I have seen a lot of good shots from the notes and s6. If they were offering RAW and full manual control I would have went with them, honestly.

 

[sfla99]

Well both phones take good shots , that is obvious, but they did hype the camera up big time, I am sure with a software tweak they could make it even better.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

Here is a unedited (cropped to 4::3 format only) "simple mode" shot from lunch. I would say this is acceptable point and shoot quality.

Of course android central compresses this down to less than 300kb file so the detail and sharpness is compromised vs. what I see from the 3mb+ file on my computer.

 

[Aflaaaak]

View attachment 185799

Here is a unedited (cropped to 4::3 format only) "simple mode" shot from lunch. I would say this is acceptable point and shoot quality.

Of course android central compresses this down to less than 300kb file so the detail and sharpness is compromised vs. what I see from the 3mb+ file on my computer.

Looks really good!

 

[Ebko]

To take motion shots just increase the shutter speed.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

This is 100% crop, click once or twice for full size

 

[limeaid]

To take motion shots just increase the shutter speed.

Posted via the Android Central App

Thank you for proving my earlier point. By the time you do that, the motion is over and the shot is gone.

LG's automatic mode needs some serious work

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

Thank you for proving my earlier point. By the time you do that, the motion is over and the shot is gone.

LG's automatic mode needs some serious work

You do realize (maybe not) that you can shoot in manual mode and lock the shutter speed and ISO so that you can be ready for the action shots? You don't have to adjust it for every shot. Say you are at a tee-ball game and you open the camera, set the shutter at say 1/250 or 1/500, whatever, set the iso so the exposure is good, then hit AE-L and those settings will stay where you want them to catch the action and get a good exposure. If you shoot auto, no matter what phone, you are subject to the software's best guess as to what shutter speed/iso tradeoff is best. With manual you get to choose. Just let it autofocus and you are golden. Try that with a s6 and tell me how it goes for you.

 

[RedOctobyr]

But doing that will, well, lock your exposure, right?

So it works well if your subjects are all lit the same way. But if you turn, and the scene becomes lighter or darker, the shot will also become too light or too dark.

Giving us a shutter-priority exposure mode would still achieve what you're describing (control the shutter speed), but would still have the camera adjust the ISO as needed for proper exposure. It presumably has the "smarts" to do this (if it can do a fully-auto exposure, it should be able to still adjust if one value is fixed), but it would need to be added to the camera app.

My Nikon P7700 has assorted Auto-type modes, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, and full Manual. But I use Shutter- and Aperture-priority more often than I do Manual, certainly if the subject is moving around, vs maybe a landscape where I can take my time. If I want to bias the picture a lighter or darker, I can use the EV wheel, still without needing to manually adjust a shutter/aperture value just because I pointed the camera somewhere else. To me, this is a very nice compromise of control and speed.

 

[limeaid]

You do realize (maybe not) that you can shoot in manual mode and lock the shutter speed and ISO so that you can be ready for the action shots? You don't have to adjust it for every shot. Say you are at a tee-ball game and you open the camera, set the shutter at say 1/250 or 1/500, whatever, set the iso so the exposure is good, then hit AE-L and those settings will stay where you want them to catch the action and get a good exposure. If you shoot auto, no matter what phone, you are subject to the software's best guess as to what shutter speed/iso tradeoff is best. With manual you get to choose. Just let it autofocus and you are golden. Try that with a s6 and tell me how it goes for you.

Of course you can do that when you anticipate what kind of situation you're going to be in for the foreseeable future. The point is that you often don't. And that's what automatic mode is for.

My point is simply that the G4 has a subpar automatic mode when compared with the best in class smartphone cameras of today (GS6 and iPhone 6). This is important because 95% of users (maybe more) are NEVER going to use manual mode (and quite frankly, they shouldn't have to to get an acceptable shot)

I'm a photography enthusiast so I know very well how to use the manual mode. But unlike a lot of you here, I understand that there are different tools for the job. The G4 is not a DSLR. It's nice that it supports RAW and offers a manual mode for fringe situations, but it's going to be used as a simple point and shoot most of the time. And it should be better at this than it is

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

But doing that will, well, lock your exposure, right?

So it works well if your subjects are all lit the same way. But if you turn, and the scene becomes lighter or darker, the shot will also become too light or too dark.

Giving us a shutter-priority exposure mode would still achieve what you're describing (control the shutter speed), but would still have the camera adjust the ISO as needed for proper exposure. It presumably has the "smarts" to do this (if it can do a fully-auto exposure, it should be able to still adjust if one value is fixed), but it would need to be added to the camera app.

My Nikon P7700 has assorted Auto-type modes, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, and full Manual. But I use Shutter- and Aperture-priority more often than I do Manual, certainly if the subject is moving around, vs maybe a landscape where I can take my time. If I want to bias the picture a lighter or darker, I can use the EV wheel, still without needing to manually adjust a shutter/aperture value just because I pointed the camera somewhere else. To me, this is a very nice compromise of control and speed.

Yeah, shutter priority would be better, but, what phone has it? What phones even allow you a manual mode to set the desired shutter? In practice, using AE-L is pretty effective for situations where you know there will be action to make sure you have adequate shutter speed. and in many situations such as kids playing or sports, etc., the exposure isn't changing rapidly or with each shot. Of course, you can identify situations where this isn't true, but I still would prefer this method over full auto on this or any other phone camera.

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

Of course you can do that when you anticipate what kind of situation you're going to be in for the foreseeable future. The point is that you often don't. And that's what automatic mode is for.

My point is simply that the G4 has a subpar automatic mode when compared with the best in class smartphone cameras of today (GS6 and iPhone 6). This is important because 95% of users (maybe more) are NEVER going to use manual mode (and quite frankly, they shouldn't have to to get an acceptable shot)

I'm a photography enthusiast so I know very well how to use the manual mode. But unlike a lot of you here, I understand that there are different tools for the job. The G4 is not a DSLR. It's nice that it supports RAW and offers a manual mode for fringe situations, but it's going to be used as a simple point and shoot most of the time. And it should be better at this than it is

You act like the auto mode on the g4 is a total fail, and it just isn't. The auto mode gets pretty good shots. The differences between auto mode on the lg and s6 are not dramatic. Plus the added bonus of even better shots using a fantastic manual mode and the ability to shoot RAW.

I don't understand how any photo enthusiast is whining about the camera on the G4. If nothing else it is setting the bar for future competitive flagship phones to provide better controls instead of stupid gimmicks.

Everyone acknowledges that the g4 isn't perfect, just like every other phone is not perfect. But the g4 is d4mn good, and the camera brings abilities and features that photo enthusiasts should be excited about, photo enthusiats should not be complaining about the easy mode on this phone.

 

[GibMcFragger]

You act like the auto mode on the g4 is a total fail, and it just isn't. The auto mode gets pretty good shots. The differences between auto mode on the lg and s6 are not dramatic. Plus the added bonus of even better shots using a fantastic manual mode and the ability to shoot RAW.

I don't understand how any photo enthusiast is whining about the camera on the G4. If nothing else it is setting the bar for future competitive flagship phones to provide better controls instead of stupid gimmicks.

Everyone acknowledges that the g4 isn't perfect, just like every other phone is not perfect. But the g4 is d4mn good, and the camera brings abilities and features that photo enthusiasts should be excited about, photo enthusiats should not be complaining about the easy mode on this phone.

Exactly!

 

[limeaid]

You act like the auto mode on the g4 is a total fail, and it just isn't. The auto mode gets pretty good shots. The differences between auto mode on the lg and s6 are not dramatic. Plus the added bonus of even better shots using a fantastic manual mode and the ability to shoot RAW.

I don't understand how any photo enthusiast is whining about the camera on the G4. If nothing else it is setting the bar for future competitive flagship phones to provide better controls instead of stupid gimmicks.

Everyone acknowledges that the g4 isn't perfect, just like every other phone is not perfect. But the g4 is d4mn good, and the camera brings abilities and features that photo enthusiasts should be excited about, photo enthusiats should not be complaining about the easy mode on this phone.

I disagree that the differences in auto mode aren't dramatic. The auto mode on the G4 is average at best and actually pretty terrible given the quality of the actual hardware. In particular, images are often overexposed. I'm attaching a simple example.

overexposed

 

[sswitzer]

I disagree that the differences in auto mode aren't dramatic. The auto mode on the G4 is average at best and actually pretty terrible given the quality of the actual hardware. In particular, images are often overexposed. I'm attaching a simple example.

overexposed
View attachment 186005

In that particular case, HDR would have worked well... you have a combination of very bright areas (the sky) and the dark buildings. Or you could have tapped on the sky area, let the phone react to the brightness of that area, and then taken the shot.

Anyways, the scene you chose would be very challenging to any phone or camera without using HDR.

 

[GrooveRite]

When is the best time to have hdr on vs auto?

 

[sswitzer]

When is the best time to have hdr on vs auto?

I had HDR On all the time for a while, but found that it was doing a so-so job of situations where the light was not challenging... as you'd expect. And I frankly don't want to leave it up to the camera to decide when HDR is warranted. As such, I'd use HDR off until you see a situation where there are both bright and dark areas on your screen, and then quickly turn HDR on. If you're really not interested in doing that, then I'd go for HDR auto.

Anyways, HDR works (I believe) by quickly taking 3 shots of varying exposures and then combining them together -- that way you don't end up with any over- or under-exposed areas. When you do this in a situation that doesn't warrant it, you can end up with a picture that has improper contrast... but of course that depends on lots of factors.

My next post has some comparison shots of HDR off and on: http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-g4/552944-g4-hdr-off-comparisons.html

 

[limeaid]

In that particular case, HDR would have worked well... you have a combination of very bright areas (the sky) and the dark buildings. Or you could have tapped on the sky area, let the phone react to the brightness of that area, and then taken the shot.

Anyways, the scene you chose would be very challenging to any phone or camera without using HDR.

Once again, you've proven my point. The G4 requires you to manually change the settings to capture the photo (in this case, HDR). The S6's auto HDR mode is much better than the G4's and chose to kick in appropriately (whereas the G4 often does not). HDR or not, the camera overexposed the shot EVEN when I focused on the sky. This should not happen