camera and picture quality

[entourage133]

i just got my droid 2 a couple days ago, i am coming to android from a BB storm 2. the picture quality when taking pictures seems to be horrible. is there some settings that i am not seeing or is the camera just not as good. i have it set to 5MP right now, i changed ir from widescreen because i thought 5MP would be better quality. Also when i do take pics they show up in the gallery but the picture isnt there. it shows up with a grey icon and no picture.

 

[sbbytor]

I have to agree. my storm 2 had a 3.2 megapixel camera and the quality blew this phone away. anyone have any suggestions?

 

[mikells43]

nyc pana 2010 - a set on Flickr


took those with the d2. not too bad for a cell phone and pana pics. i used my d2 the entire time i went to nyc for a weekend. it took great pics.

 

[Prospekt]

There are many times where I fire up the camera and everything is blurry. It won't focus, it won't do anything. Force closing and restarting doesn't fix it either. Eventually it goes away, but it's just extremely annoying.

I read someone say that Vignette could cause that so I uninstalled and it helped for a little, but then the camera was back to blurry.

When the camera isn't blurry, it takes great pictures for my personal use. Then again, I'm no photographer.

 

[Music Ian]

my camera is terrible. had I known this I would've went for the DX or even the Epic 4G on Sprint. One major factor for getting a smartphone was a good camera.

Still no fix for this anyone has found?

btw I have no Verizon service yet so my phone is still at stock Android 2.2. Hopefully the 2.3.20 update helps?

 

[jdbower]

The typical fix on the DX is to clean the lens thoroughly - smudgy lenses are the cause of most blurry pictures but the D2G's lens is a little too small to effectively clean (the DX has a large flat protector over the lens).

Beyond that "terrible" pictures can mean just about anything, posting an example can help isolate what the root cause is.

 

[ishore99]

I also find that the lack of good lighting causes most of my problems. When indoors I always use the flash. Also, you may need to change the light stetting. Options when in camera mode.

My outdoor pics are sharpe and clear.

 

[thebizz]

I've found the camera on this and the d1 to be quite lacking. I'm just hoping the bionic cones with a good quality sensor if not I will not keep it. I want a smartphone that can take a decent picture of life's moments and not have to worry about carrying a second cam

 

[silverfang77]

For me, the picture quality is good. My issue is the camera takes forever to start.

 

[ishore99]

I agree with Silverfang, trying to take a pic of my grandchildren and I always miss the good shot.

 

[maxiang]

From what I understand the picture quality problems with the D2 camera has nothing to do with software, the lens/sensor is crap

 

[Music Ian]

damn, I sure hope it can at least be helped by software...

here's some examples from my phone:

 

[Music Ian]

anybody else's camera that poor?

 

[jdbower]

Not nearly as bad, for the first one you can try macro mode but it seems like there's something more at play here.

First, make sure your lens is clean. Microfiber cloths are great, not just for lenses but also the glass face and pretty much anything else you want to polish.

There's a lot of noise which indicates a high ISO and you may be in a poorly lighted area, try a few outside in the sunshine if you can. Without light there's no contrast and without contrast the camera can't focus properly. You can also set the flash to always on and see if that fixes things.

When you shoot the picture, do you half-press the shutter and wait for the beep before taking the shot? That means it's focused and ready, I've had so-so results inside when I just push the button down without allowing it to focus.

Finally, try to hold still. A camera is a camera is a camera; the key to good shots with a camera phone are pretty much the same as they are for a $5000 DSLR and proper handholding technique is important when you have long shutter times (like most indoors shots). Your shots seem to have been for between 1/8 and 1/15 of a second, using a single hand to snap off a shot while your arm is moving would produce pretty poor results at those shutter times while following some of the tips above can help.

Finally, it may just be bad hardware.

 

[Rev2010]

Ian, those pics are from your Droid 2?? If so that's horrendous and is definitely not normal! Here are some pics I took with my D2, but I resized them smaller for the forum post though you can still see how clear it is. The fourth pic is a little blurry because I shook a little while taking the pic of myself. Click the pics for a 640 pixel size:

Sevenstring.org - View Single Post - Home brewing - started my first batch yesterday


Rev.

 

[Music Ian]

damn... well then I'm gonna call warranty information and find out when the original buyer bought this phone, hopefully I can get it replaced...

 

[Music Ian]

Not nearly as bad, for the first one you can try macro mode but it seems like there's something more at play here.

First, make sure your lens is clean. Microfiber cloths are great, not just for lenses but also the glass face and pretty much anything else you want to polish.

There's a lot of noise which indicates a high ISO and you may be in a poorly lighted area, try a few outside in the sunshine if you can. Without light there's no contrast and without contrast the camera can't focus properly. You can also set the flash to always on and see if that fixes things.

When you shoot the picture, do you half-press the shutter and wait for the beep before taking the shot? That means it's focused and ready, I've had so-so results inside when I just push the button down without allowing it to focus.

Finally, try to hold still. A camera is a camera is a camera; the key to good shots with a camera phone are pretty much the same as they are for a $5000 DSLR and proper handholding technique is important when you have long shutter times (like most indoors shots). Your shots seem to have been for between 1/8 and 1/15 of a second, using a single hand to snap off a shot while your arm is moving would produce pretty poor results at those shutter times while following some of the tips above can help.

Finally, it may just be bad hardware.

just tried macro, it helped some for that shot, but not much

where can I get a microfiber cloth?

what is the ISO? I'm a decent photographer but I have no clue of the lingo...

yeah, I do, I was taught by a friend a couple years ago, and was very glad to see it as a feature on this phone (pffft) btw, when the box in the middle turns red, does that mean it didn't focus properly? I noticed it turned red and green at different times...

and I doubt it's shaky hands... mine are really only as shaky as the average person

 

[jdbower]

Just FYI, Macro essentially allows the phone to focus close up. The problem is if you leave macro on it won't focus at distance.

Microfiber cloths are pretty common, you can get cheap ones with most screen protectors, here's an example from Amazon. Any camera store would have one, probably places like Walmart/Target in the camera section as well. You can also probably find then at a place that sells glasses. Just make sure it's a lens cleaner, it should only be a few inches square and feel a bit satiny. The more terry-cloth-looking things aren't as nice for this purpose.

ISO is trading shutter speed for noise. Essentially at low ISOs you get a much more clear picture but the shutter needs to stay open longer. This may mean that you'll need to hold the camera perfectly still for one or two seconds to grab the same shot. Higher ISOs reduce the shutter speed to something more reasonable, but at the expense of the speckled look you can see in some of your shots.

If the rectangle turns red it can't focus and you'll probably get a bad shot. Autofocus algorithms need some level of contrast so if there's not enough light this is a problem. Experimentation is always a good thing here. Take a picture of something like a dark couch cushion in dim light. Chances are you'll end up with a red rectangle. Now put a bright dime on the cushion and take a picture of it, it should be able to grab focus off that and you'll get a green square. Experiment with the coin in the focus box, out of the focus box, etc.

You know how bad movies have the guys holding their guns sideways with their arms straight? Or the westerns where they shoot holding the rifle at their waist? That's actually a horrible position for accuracy and a lot of people shoot camera phones the same way - one arm out at a weird angle, push the button, and then start pulling the camera back to their face to look at the shot before the shutter actually closes. Sounds like you've had some tutoring on proper technique and your issue doesn't look like motion blur but it never hurts to consciously try to keep still while shooting indoors. Outdoor shots in sunshine are always much more forgiving - especially if you've got fluorescent lighting.

 

[DemolitionGirl]

A girl at the Verizon kiosk at Staples Center gave me a good suggestion when I was talking to her about the crappy photo quality on my D2G. She suggested downloading a free app from the marketplace called "FX Camera." It does some fx shots, but has a normal setting that takes great pictures as well.

I find myself using this app more than the regular camera on a daily basis.