Alternative Camera?

Benjamin_NYC · Dec 21, 2014

Does anyone have any experience replacing the Google camera app on this phone? Which camera apps have people used that provide better shots with improved light balance?

The photos in the N6 photos thread look bad to me. I don't mind paying a few bucks for an proved camera experience.

Any recommendations?

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cozzy123 · Dec 22, 2014

I saw people got some nice RAW shots with camera fv 5 and maybe camera zoom fx.

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Jeremy8000 · Dec 22, 2014

cozzy123 said:
I saw people got some nice RAW shots with camera fv 5 and maybe camera zoom fx.

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FV5 is the first (and to my knowledge, only, as of yet) app to offer lossless RAW file support. You'll need some skill to get the very best from it, but the results can be amazing (so long as you remember you're taking pictures with a phone).

anon(5506951) · Dec 22, 2014

For what it's worth, I've used CameraZOOM FX, ProCapture, and HD Camera Ultra (if you don't mind ads).

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LeoRex · Dec 22, 2014

Camera FV-5 is all kinds of messed up at the moment. Both exposure/ISO and white balance are both completely broken... they can't be adjusted... The dev has been working on fixing the problem ever since he updated the engine to take advantage of the new camera APIs.... He'll get there and that app will be the premiere camera app again.

TraderGary · Dec 22, 2014

LeoRex said:
Camera FV-5 is all kinds of messed up at the moment. Both exposure/ISO and white balance are both completely broken... they can't be adjusted... The dev has been working on fixing the problem ever since he updated the engine to take advantage of the new camera APIs.... He'll get there and that app will be the premiere camera app again.

Does it handle the special way that the Nexus 6 does HDR + ? I tried one of the other camera apps and it's HDR was really bad.

Benjamin_NYC · Dec 23, 2014

TraderGary said:
Does it handle the special way that the Nexus 6 does HDR + ? I tried one of the other camera apps and it's HDR was really bad.

Is the "special way that the N6 does HDR+" the thing that makes it take such **** poor pictures?

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robstunner · Dec 23, 2014

Doesn't LCamera offer raw image support too?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

TraderGary · Dec 23, 2014

Benjamin_NYC said:
Is the "special way that the N6 does HDR+" the thing that makes it take such **** poor pictures?

Thank you for the question, Benjamin. This is what I was referencing.

http://petapixel.com/2014/10/30/look-googles-impressive-hdr-feature-latest-nexus-phone-cameras/

srkmagnus · Dec 23, 2014

robstunner said:
Doesn't LCamera offer raw image support too?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Do you mean Camera L? If so, then I don't see any mention of Raw support on the Play Store page.

Good suggestions, Everyone.

Benjamin_NYC · Dec 23, 2014

TraderGary said:
Thank you for the question, Benjamin. This is what I was referencing.

http://petapixel.com/2014/10/30/look-googles-impressive-hdr-feature-latest-nexus-phone-cameras/

"In a post published to the Google Research blog this past week..."

Uh huh...

And even in GOOGLE'S example shot (the one on the mountain) the HDR one looks worse.

Thanks for making my point.

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Jeremy8000 · Dec 23, 2014

Benjamin_NYC said:
"In a post published to the Google Research blog this past week..."

Uh huh...

And even in GOOGLE'S example shot (the one on the mountain) the HDR one looks worse.

Thanks for making my point.

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When speaking of one's opinion, it is impossible for someone else to make their point - they can only agree or disagree. I don't think it was clear if TraderGary had done either, but rather was just providing additional information.

I suspect if a poll were done regarding people's opinions of which of those pictures looks better, a substantial majority would agree with the Petapixel author in preferring the results of the HDR-derived image. That doesn't make you or anyone else who would choose the non-HDR wrong, per se, as it's subjective, a matter of opinion.

It's clear that you're dissatisfied with the Nexus 6 camera performance and see HDR as negatively impacting picture performance (something I generally only find to be the case with shots involving motion), and I sincerely hope you find an app which will resolve your concerns to your satisfaction. If we're basing performance on the court of public opinion, though, HDR mode is usually a good thing with the stock app.

The availability of the new camera API to developers is still a very new thing. We can all rest confident that existing apps will be improved, and new apps launched, to take advantage of that to deliver substantially better performance. Sony's IMX214 Exmor sensor is a very, very capable unit.

LeoRex · Dec 23, 2014

Jeremy8000 said:
I suspect if a poll were done regarding people's opinions of which of those pictures looks better, a substantial majority would agree with the Petapixel author in preferring the results of the HDR-derived image. That doesn't make you or anyone else who would choose the non-HDR wrong, per se, as it's subjective, a matter of opinion.

Agreed... The Google Camera's HDR+ mode takes great pictures... I've had plenty of experience with it and in situations where light levels are low, or mixed, the improvement in quality with HDR+ is substantial. It obviously doesn't work all that well when the subject is moving, but for a lot of shots, it'll take the best pic.

I mean... I can't fathom how anyone would look at these two pics and say the TOP one is obviously better. I'd ask "Are you blind?"

Guessing he just has a bone to pick.

bold1193 · Dec 23, 2014

A Better Camera by Almalence is a great camera app with plenty of features. BGR just did a writeup on it a few days ago and praised it highly. Check them out.

LeoRex · Dec 23, 2014

TraderGary said:
Does it handle the special way that the Nexus 6 does HDR + ? I tried one of the other camera apps and it's HDR was really bad.

Well... The Google Camera's HDR+ mode is (some opinions here notwithstanding) widely considered the best HDR feature out of any camera app. The thing does wonders for shots.... Plus, as sluggish as it is when compared to standard modes, it is still faster than a lot of other apps and the resulting quality makes the short wait worth it.

FV-5 kind of punts on HDR... from the manual:

Although there are applications that do this process on the phone, there are quality compromises being done by the restrictions imposed by mobile platforms (memory, processing power and battery drain). The best option is to do this processing on the computer. There are plenty of software options for both PC and Mac available for this task, among them

So it'll take the pics, but you have to deal with the processing.

LeoRex · Dec 23, 2014

bold1193 said:
A Better Camera by Almalence is a great camera app with plenty of features. BGR just did a writeup on it a few days ago and praised it highly. Check them out.

Yeah.... that's a decent one. I've played around with it and when they went to the new camera API, focusing got buggy... the autofocus 'bounce' is really long and pronounced... it does the beep-beep to say its focused, then it'll slowly slide WAY out of focus then snap back to focused.

It's a little bit frustrating though.... I've tried quite a few camera apps and the two that actually take the best pictures happen to have next to no features. Google Camera and L Camera are pretty much identical in terms of overall quality... and noticeably better than the other ones.... well, can't really say FV-5 as the dev is still working on the exposure and WB bugs (he's getting his Nexus 6 this week sometimes, so it should be soon).

SteveISU · Dec 23, 2014

Nevermind, I found it.

robstunner · Dec 23, 2014

srkmagnus said:
Do you mean Camera L? If so, then I don't see any mention of Raw support on the Play Store page.

Good suggestions, Everyone.

Nope, LCamera: https://github.com/PkmX/lcamera/releases

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Benjamin_NYC · Dec 24, 2014

LeoRex said:
Agreed... The Google Camera's HDR+ mode takes great pictures... I've had plenty of experience with it and in situations where light levels are low, or mixed, the improvement in quality with HDR+ is substantial. It obviously doesn't work all that well when the subject is moving, but for a lot of shots, it'll take the best pic.

I mean... I can't fathom how anyone would look at these two pics and say the TOP one is obviously better. I'd ask "Are you blind?"

View attachment 156499
View attachment 156500

Guessing he just has a bone to pick.

No bone to pick. In the second picture, the subjects appear far too dark to me.

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brosko · Dec 24, 2014

Benjamin_NYC said:
No bone to pick. In the second picture, the subjects appear far too dark to me.

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I actually agree with this. The top picture looks better to me. Bottom is too dark, almost to the point that it affects the sharpness of the pic. Again opinion is just that.

Alternative Camera?

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