Am I the only one unimpressed with the S7 camera?

[Alanhd]

Phone cameras are great for quick shots and the S7 is better than most but if I need serious shots, then out comes my DLSR and my light meter and everything is shot on manual.

Has been said by others cameras cannot cover the full dynamic range and this is true of all cameras, so they have to compromise somewhere. Same as the focal point, unless you tell it exactly what you want to focus on then it's guessing. At the widest apeture the focal range is a very narrow range so always try and set the focal point.

 

[badMojo69]

I like my V10 better at least on the FFC.

 

[DougB541#CB]

I mean, i'm not necessarily blown away, but I also had the V10 prior and I preferred that. WIth that said i still think the S7 is fantastic.

 

[drinkoldcoke]

@TNT4,

I think you're expecting too much from a phone camera maybe. Phone cameras are getting as good as older point and shoots but nothing is perfect short of a DSLR. I agree with you that it seems blown out sometimes, but I think learning to use pro mode and really master the camera will go a long way towards fixing your issues. You may be better off just to manually lock focus where you want and manually compose your shots vs auto everything.

You can't really fix the narrow depth of field as I understand because it's related partly to the wide angle lens. I could be wrong as I'm no photographer.

It's still the best by far you can get in a cell phone and so what you gonna do, the Iphones suck in the dark and you already have the best android phone / cam. ?

 

[skhalid93]

The S7 has an amazing camera, specially when you put this camera into manual mode and are able to adjust everything yourself. Auto is good, but auto only computes the picture to what the phone thinks is best, get to learn manual mode and you'll forever be changed by how stunning your phones pictures will come out. Obviously if you want a quick snap then auto is the way to go, but 99% of the time if people are posing for you, its nature, or something that can wait 5 seconds, then use manual.

 

[drinkoldcoke]

I agree that it's a bit overrated. Overall, the photo taking "experience" is probably the best I've ever had due to the quick home button double press to launch, super fast focus and capture, excellent ability to automatically detect when HDR is needed, great manual controls, and bright screen for easy framing in bright sunlight. However, the end result / photo quality isn't the best I've seen. It's still good, sometimes even great, but in good lighting, the S7 just can't match some of the photos I took with the Galaxy S6 and Moto X Pure (yes, the Moto X Pure). I haven't had any issues with autofocus (in fact I haven't taken a single shot that wasn't perfectly focused), but I do notice quite a bit of noise in blue skies, some oversharpening halos, and the occasional overexposure, plus the 12 MP sensor just can't match the detail produced by the 16 and 20 MP sensors of the S6 and Pure in good lighting. And at night and in low light, the Nexus 5X generally produced more impressive shots for me when HDR+ was enabled, with less noise and more accurate colors. But none of those phones beat the Galaxy S7 in every situation. The Galaxy S7 is a master when it comes to the photo taking experience, but when it comes to photo quality, it's kind of a jack of all trades (pretty good at everything), master of none (probably not the very best at anything).

True, but my wife's S6 takes forever to focus in indoor lighting and so she'll miss the shot anyhow. Dogs always know when you're trying to take their pic and steal their doggie souls...lol. I'd take the S7 and over exposure because at least in raw mode this can be tweaked whereas blurriness or missed shots cant be fixed at all.

 

[monicakm]

Shooting needs/scenarios differ but I'm finding that a good deal of mine are optimized by using spot metering instead of center. Apparently the spot metering doesn't have as narrow range (for lack of a better phase) as my Canon has. So more of the frame is metered correctly. Of course this doesn't work for every shot.

DOC... I don't see a reply button ANYwhere to reply to a private message! However, I'm not having the "video playback on my computer" issue any longer. It's working

 

[drinkoldcoke]

Shooting needs/scenarios differ but I'm finding that a good deal of mine are optimized by using spot metering instead of center. Apparently the spot metering doesn't have as narrow range (for lack of a better phase) as my Canon has. So more of the frame is metered correctly. Of course this doesn't work for every shot.

DOC... I don't see a reply button ANYwhere to reply to a private message! However, I'm not having the "video playback on my computer" issue any longer. It's working

Cool, I wonder what fixed it, did you do any Nvidia driver updates ?

 

[RobWrightImages]

Anyone notice how you can't change white balance on HDR even when using a third party app? When I'm shooting video (timelapse, dashcam, etc) the auto white balance is horrible - makes amber street lights look incandescent and turns a red sunset into a nasty shade of blown out yellow. I would just shut off HDR but that would make the lighting terrible all around. Samsung have been notorious for making small backwards tweaks in their devices that ruin the overall experience. It's extremely frustrating.

 

[anon(749368)]

Yes, you are!

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