A few G4 disappointments so far - Camera, performance etc

[sswitzer]

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

I think that unless you were to take that same shot with the S6, and then try the G4 with HDR On (surely becoming my preferred setting for outdoor photography), you couldn't say that the G4 failed on that shot.

I don't want this to become an argument by any means, but I'd like to make a couple more points:

• the shot it took is not actually that bad, I wouldn't consider it horribly overexposed... maybe a bit too bright, and
• it really is a challenging light situation, and you could probably find situations where the S6 also had a less than perfect exposure when faced with that much of a challenge

 

[RedOctobyr]

I freely admit I have not played with HDR on my G4 yet. But how well does it deal with pictures where things are moving/changing?

I'm sure the camera has some means to deal with this, to accommodate the user moving the camera slightly between the rapid shots, etc. But what about things like cars driving on the road, in the example of the picture above?

All of this discussion does have me curious to try another camera app on my G4, to maybe gain some control that's somewhere between full-auto and full-manual. If people have app suggestions (I admit that free is nice), I'd be interested to hear. And if there's a better thread for that, just tell me.

 

[Aflaaaak]

I freely admit I have not played with HDR on my G4 yet. But how well does it deal with pictures where things are moving/changing?

I'm sure the camera has some means to deal with this, to accommodate the user moving the camera slightly between the rapid shots, etc. But what about things like cars driving on the road, in the example of the picture above?

All of this discussion does have me curious to try another camera app on my G4, to maybe gain some control that's somewhere between full-auto and full-manual. If people have app suggestions (I admit that free is nice), I'd be interested to hear. And if there's a better thread for that, just tell me.

Does it have something like Canon's P mode, where you can set the metering to either Spot, Center Weighted, or Evaluate?

 

[RedOctobyr]

Are you asking about the G4's camera app? If so, no. It has full-auto mode, and full-manual mode. But neither mode provides metering-type options.

"Even" my Galaxy S3's camera app allowed Center-weighted, "Matrix", or Spot-metering. I guess I didn't fully appreciate that until I discovered that not every phone provides those options. Now, it didn't have manual-focus, or a bunch of other things that the G4's app has. But I actually used spot-metering fairly often.

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

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

Can you give me a link to this youtube video? I am interested in seeing what they say.

 

[sswitzer]

All of this discussion does have me curious to try another camera app on my G4, to maybe gain some control that's somewhere between full-auto and full-manual. If people have app suggestions (I admit that free is nice), I'd be interested to hear. And if there's a better thread for that, just tell me.

As far as HDR for moving objects, I haven't tried it... not really the sort of things I take pictures of. I also don't know how well it would do in low-light situations.

For other camera apps, I've tried out 4 different API2 camera apps:

• I've tried FV5... nice photos, nice options, so-so UI, terribly slow (the paid, high-res version.)
• I've tried both "open camera" and "l-camera" (I'm pretty sure they're the same), and the UI's were iffy at best.
• I've tried a not-so-legal old v 2.4 copy of Manual Camera, as the new 2.8 version does not work on this phone... the UI is awesome, but it can be a bit flaky (doesn't focus where you tap on the screen???)
• I've tried ABC (A Better Camera)... decent UI but it doesn't have manual focus.

One thing about the both FV5 and Manual Camera is that their closest macro is perhaps 6 inches away... compared to perhaps 1 inch for the LG Camera; that makes a huge difference when you consider just how darned good the LG Camera macro is.

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

As far as HDR for moving objects, I haven't tried it... not really the sort of things I take pictures of. I also don't know how well it would do in low-light situations.

For other camera apps, I've tried out 4 different API2 camera apps:

• I've tried FV5... nice photos, nice options, so-so UI, terribly slow (the paid, high-res version.)
• I've tried both "open camera" and "l-camera" (I'm pretty sure they're the same), and the UI's were iffy at best.
• I've tried a not-so-legal old v 2.4 copy of Manual Camera, as the new 2.8 version does not work on this phone... the UI is awesome, but it can be a bit flaky (doesn't focus where you tap on the screen???)
• I've tried ABC (A Better Camera)... decent UI but it doesn't have manual focus.

One thing about the both FV5 and Manual Camera is that their closest macro is perhaps 6 inches away... compared to perhaps 1 inch for the LG Camera; that makes a huge difference when you consider just how darned good the LG Camera macro is.

I haven't found FV-5 to be slow, although focus may be a bit slower. I haven't tried it for action shots though so that may be why I haven't noticed it, but everything else seems pretty responsive.

FV-5 does have a shutter priority mode too, so, yes, the hardware supports it but the software just needs to be updated. EDIT - actually, it doesn't. I says it is shutter priority, but it actually just works like manual. You have to adjust the ISO to get the correct exposure.

 

[GibMcFragger]

As far as HDR for moving objects, I haven't tried it... not really the sort of things I take pictures of. I also don't know how well it would do in low-light situations.

For other camera apps, I've tried out 4 different API2 camera apps:

• I've tried FV5... nice photos, nice options, so-so UI, terribly slow (the paid, high-res version.)
• I've tried both "open camera" and "l-camera" (I'm pretty sure they're the same), and the UI's were iffy at best.
• I've tried a not-so-legal old v 2.4 copy of Manual Camera, as the new 2.8 version does not work on this phone... the UI is awesome, but it can be a bit flaky (doesn't focus where you tap on the screen???)
• I've tried ABC (A Better Camera)... decent UI but it doesn't have manual focus.

One thing about the both FV5 and Manual Camera is that their closest macro is perhaps 6 inches away... compared to perhaps 1 inch for the LG Camera; that makes a huge difference when you consider just how darned good the LG Camera macro is.

I've been doing the same thing. I'm currently playing with Camera MX. Seems OK so far, but no manual mode.

Honestly what I want is not a different camera app, just root so I can edit the camera profile to up the jpeg quality to 100%.

 

[GrooveRite]

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

Thanks for the explanation! Very much appreciated!

 

[oldschoolsig]

I get that this conversation is with camera enthusiasts, but did the layman, this camera is badass. I get there are times that the auto mode isn't perfect but I'm taking better shots than I've taken with a phone.the manual mode is something for me to play with.. .but wow

 

[sswitzer]

I get that this conversation is with camera enthusiasts, but did the layman, this camera is badass. I get there are times that the auto mode isn't perfect but I'm taking better shots than I've taken with a phone.the manual mode is something for me to play with.. .but wow

Yes, the auto mode is miles ahead of what I was able to do with my Note 2.

With a little playing with the manual mode (just play with white balance, +/-, and manual focus to start with... leave ISO, shutter speed, and AE-L till later!) you'll find that taking decent SLR quality photos is possible with this phone.

 

[sswitzer]

After playing with the HDR today, I'm pretty well convinced that for outdoor photography, leaving HDR "on" is the best bet -- outdoors you're more likely to have bright skys and bright reflections (off of metal, leaves, etc.), and HDR seems to improve things most of the time.

Of course you'll occasionally find a situation where the HDR doesn't do well: where there's already good contrast, as opposed to bad contrast. I'd consider bad contrast is then when you want to bring out the detail and colour of both the dark and light areas that are seeming too over/under exposed, and good contrast to be times when you want the overly bright or overly dark areas to stay that way. But for that type of situation, where you want the "good" contrast, where you're looking for nifty light, I'd switch over to manual mode!

For most indoors shots, I'd turn the HDR off.

 

[RedOctobyr]

I haven't found FV-5 to be slow, although focus may be a bit slower. I haven't tried it for action shots though so that may be why I haven't noticed it, but everything else seems pretty responsive.

FV-5 does have a shutter priority mode too, so, yes, the hardware supports it but the software just needs to be updated. EDIT - actually, it doesn't. I says it is shutter priority, but it actually just works like manual. You have to adjust the ISO to get the correct exposure.

I tried free FV-5 last night and had found the same thing, shutter priority does not work, it never adjusts the ISO.

But something may be weird with my FV-5 anyhow, autofocus does not seem to work. And perhaps because of that, I did not get it to actually take any pictures. I did get manual focus to work.

 

[Aflaaaak]

Are you asking about the G4's camera app? If so, no. It has full-auto mode, and full-manual mode. But neither mode provides metering-type options.

"Even" my Galaxy S3's camera app allowed Center-weighted, "Matrix", or Spot-metering. I guess I didn't fully appreciate that until I discovered that not every phone provides those options. Now, it didn't have manual-focus, or a bunch of other things that the G4's app has. But I actually used spot-metering fairly often.

P Mode allows you to tweak a few basic things, like EV, Flash always off or Auto, and Metering. The rest of the settings, like ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture are handled by the camera's brain, not mine. It's somewhere between Full Auto and Full Manual, like Manual Mode Lite. Sorry for such a basic question (still learning about "smart" phones before I pick up my first one), but Phone cameras have nothing like this? It's Full Auto where you can't adjust anything, of Full Manual where you have to adjust all the settings for every situation?

 

[RedOctobyr]

Phone cameras CAN have those sorts of features. Alas, the G4's built in camera app does not.

In the G4's camera app, you can use Simple (no controls at all), full auto (you can change the aspect ratio of the picture, flash on/off/auto, HDR on/off/auto), or full manual.

But it does not offer +/- EV, etc, unless you are in full manual mode.

Other camera apps may provide more/different control, however, even on the same phone.

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

P Mode allows you to tweak a few basic things, like EV, Flash always off or Auto, and Metering. The rest of the settings, like ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture are handled by the camera's brain, not mine. It's somewhere between Full Auto and Full Manual, like Manual Mode Lite. Sorry for such a basic question (still learning about "smart" phones before I pick up my first one), but Phone cameras have nothing like this? It's Full Auto where you can't adjust anything, of Full Manual where you have to adjust all the settings for every situation?

In manual you can adjust just the setting you want. It can do autofocus, or auto exposure (iso/shutter) etc. You can just change one or all settings. But, you can't set the shutter speed and have the phone adjust the ISO. If you you make a longer shutter, you will need to reduce the ISC, etc. to maintain the same exposure.

 

[sswitzer]

But it does not offer +/- EV, etc, unless you are in full manual mode.

Yup - that's the one thing I can see missing from the auto mode.

 

[Aflaaaak]

Phone cameras CAN have those sorts of features. Alas, the G4's built in camera app does not.

In the G4's camera app, you can use Simple (no controls at all), full auto (you can change the aspect ratio of the picture, flash on/off/auto, HDR on/off/auto), or full manual.

But it does not offer +/- EV, etc, unless you are in full manual mode.

Other camera apps may provide more/different control, however, even on the same phone.

Ka Ka...hopefully LG updates the G4 camera app now that they can see how it's been working for customers, but don't know if LG typically does that.

 

[Aflaaaak]

In manual you can adjust just the setting you want. It can do autofocus, or auto exposure (iso/shutter) etc. You can just change one or all settings. But, you can't set the shutter speed and have the phone adjust the ISO. If you you make a longer shutter, you will need to reduce the ISC, etc. to maintain the same exposure.

I can see I was hoping for something they didn't include, which would be P Mode for Auto ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture, but EV, Metering location, flash, and WB adjustable per situation. It's an all-or-nothing choice, and sounds like LG's Full Auto needs a little work :-(. As others have stated, a lot of situations require too quick of a photo to adjust more than a couple settings.

 

[RedOctobyr]

I wouldn't write off the G4 based on the camera app's limitations/missing features.

The actual camera hardware is quite capable, which is obviously important. And different camera apps might provide other options/features that you're looking for.