Best Camera Settings?

[Dankees]

What settings do you use for your camera to get the clearest, best results?

Do you use a specific camera app?

 

[Tim1954]

Auto. Just the native app...
I tap on the area in the screen where I want the focus and the exposure metered on sometimes..

 

[Dankees]

Auto. Just the native app...
I tap on the area in the screen where I want the focus and the exposure metered on sometimes..

MP?
Resolution?

 

[Tim1954]

8 Meg, the highest quality..

 

[Tim1954]

Takes good pics..

 

[Chromium 4]

I use the Cstark Google Pixel port. It works great in low light conditions and takes better quality point and shoot pictures than the auto mode on the native shooter.

 

[immobile]

On the Note 8: As far as the Flash setting. What has been found , (for you), to be the best setting ? Always On, Always Off or Auto ?

 

[Chromium 4]

I always use auto except for night shots.

 

[immobile]

What do you use for Night shots ?

 

[Dankees]

On the Note 8: As far as the Flash setting. What has been found , (for you), to be the best setting ? Always On, Always Off or Auto ?

I have the highest settings for MP, etc., but I don't always find the quality all that great.

 

[anon(7901790)]

What settings do you use for your camera to get the clearest, best results?

Do you use a specific camera app?

For the first question: I asked a similar question a long time ago. The answer I got was vague, but when he explained his answer, it made sense.

The answer I got was, "whatever works for you." Now the explanation. Photography is as much an art as it is science and technical skill. Your "vision" is what will drive which settings you will choose. What do you want the viewer to see, or what are you trying to portray. I'm not sure if that helps you any. It all depends on what you intend to portray. Visit some photography forums and read up on photography techniques. It can give you a better idea of the techniques and the "why" a camera works the way it does.

As for the second question. I use the stock Samsung Camera app. I usually put it in Pro mode. That allows more control. Many camera apps have a manual setting that gives you a bit more control. Granted, it is a smart phone and not a full blown DSLR or film camera that gives you complete manual control.

 

[amyf27]

Normally I go with Auto shooting, but sometimes try the Manual shooting mode.

 

[Dankees]

Thanks. So, I don't know much of anything about photography.

How can/should I go about getting the brightest, with the best resolution photos?

 

[anon(7901790)]

I think you mean sharpness, right?

Resolution and sharpness are not necessarily the same. You can have the camera set at the highest resolution and still have blurry images. Sharpness is governed by shutter speed and ISO. If you are in low light conditions, then to get a brighter image, you need to use either a slow shutter speed or higher ISO, or both. Slow shutter speed can cause blurry images because of camera shake, or the subject is moving. Higher ISO results in grainier images because the camera amplifies the signal which introduces noise, which lowers overall sharpness.

Brightness is governed by shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. To get brighter images, you need to slow down the shutter speed (which can cause blurring from motion), make the aperture wider, or increase the ISO (which causes graininess). The problem is that the Note 8 (and almost every other smart phone) has a fixed aperture lens, which means you can't increase or decrease the aperture (aka F-stop). This means you are limited to shutter speed and ISO. There is also exposure compensation (EV) which gives you +/- up to 2 stops of exposure compensation. To change any of those, you need to be in "Pro" mode (Samsung camera app). Other camera apps like F-Stop (which is not free) automatically start in manual mode.

Samsung also has a "sport" mode which automatically sets the camera at its highest shutter speed and uses the lowest ISO needed to get a "proper" exposure.

Cameras, both smart phone and "traditional" cameras have come a long way, but unfortunately, we still run up against the laws of physics and how light works. There are always trade offs.