How the camera settings can affect the picture quality

[Jerzyiroc]

The camera on the Evo is definitely a hot topic among not just Evo owners, but also the peanut gallery. While most people are very satisfied with the quality, like myself, there are some that for some unknown reason thought a phone would be able to replace their traditional P&S. Lets make some things clear. It will be a few more years at best until a camera in a phone will be able to replace a traditional P&S. Most of us aren't professional photographers. And above that most of us use our camera phones for the on the moment type pictures. The camera on the Evo I believe is MORE than adequate for not just those moments, but even times where you do need a camera for something but just not like a wedding or something. Since I'm currently not working due to surgery, I have plenty of time in my hands (almost too much lol) to do random things like test different settings to learn how certain settings in certain situations can affect the overall picture quality. This I think is what many of the critics don't understand. The default camera settings are NOT settings for all environments. This is a mistake that the critics make. They take a picture outside, then run inside and take another picture in low light without changing the settings then bitch about how the indoor quality sucks. So what I decided to do was take a series of pictures, all of the exact same thing, in the exact same conditions, focusing on the exact same thing, just changing settings from the ISO, then to contrast, sharpness, saturation and brightness. Now these pictures were taken with my lights off facing my bedroom wall focusing on my TV. Also the only light in the room was coming from the TV and the flash from the camera. You can tell the HUGE difference in quality. Now look at these pictures and you will see how much the settings can affect the quality of the pictures, especially indoor. While the Evo, or any other camera phone will not be taking pictures for National Geographic any time soon, if you learn the settings and learn how to change them in certain conditions, you will not only start taking better pictures, you will also start to really appreciate how good the camera really is. Here they go:

Now none of these may be jaw dropping but again the point was to show how the settings can turn your pictures from **** to THE ****. If anyone wants me to test out certain settings in certain conditions I have more than enough time and more than willing to try.

 

[illwood]

That was a great post. I think that most people are familiar with point-and-shoot consumer digital cameras that they leave in "automatic" mode and they get decent pictures most of the time. I think that you can get pretty darn good pictures if you know how to make your settings correct for the conditions and the look of the final photo that you want.

I generally avoid iProducts, but my assumption is that the image processing algorithm on the iPhone 4 is probably close to the "automatic" mode mentioned above. Decent for most situations, but could be better if you had control.

 

[cheebahawk1]

Can you list the settings for the second and third pictures?

Also what setting do you use outside?

 

[Caitlyn McKenzie]

If you really care about picture quality, take it at default and do this sort of tweaking in Photoshop. It'll look a lot better that way. These pictures still have a lot of noise in them, it's just harder to see because you're significantly resizing the photos.

 

[Thablackguy]

i agree this is an awesome post. thanks Jerzyiroc

 

[anon26174]

This is great. It'd be cool if you could outline exactly what settings you used for each photo here. I'm sure that'd be helpful.

The two tips I recommend are (a) Set your ISO to 100 if you're outside in good light to take advantage of a less grainy look (high ISOs lead to grain, but will be better for poor light, however, I'd rather force a low ISO in good light to be safe), and (b) Turn off auto-focus and use your finger instead to focus, especially for close-up items.

 

[Jerzyiroc]

The second picture had the default settings except the iso was set to 1250. The third picture also had the default settings except the Iso was set at i believe 400. I'll definitely post the details later tonight. I'm finally leaving the house today after three weeks (woot) and going to the beach (the beach from "jersey shore actually lol) but I can't go in the water. So since I'll basically be a beached whale I'm gonna do the same thing but with daytime pics this time. I'll definitely past what settings each pic has though.

 

[Pro Capture Photography]

Evography!!

Thanks for this post! It was great...I just got my Evo this last week and have been working with the camera settings. I'll be directing my people to this page. I get so sick of hearing ppl say their Evo camera isn't that great....

If you have any cool pics you took w/ your Evo, send them to me & I'll post them on my site. I'm doing a section on "Evography." So far the responses have been great & we'd love to add your pics! Thanks!

Elizabeth
Pro Capture Photography

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

I love the pictures my EVO takes. I have printed out a bunch and the pictures are if great quality. Before using my phone's camera as a primary means to capture the moment, I used the disposable cameras. My EVO's pictures are better. That's all I care about. So happy with this phone. Also, I have read that people are dissatisfied with the video recorder. I love that too! Videos are great!

 

[milominderbinde]

What settings did you use for the second photo?

 

[Super Noob]

Took a few indoor pictures with the iso set at 400 and they turned out pretty good.

 

[aimzmarie]

i also like 400 iso for indoor. it looks really good, and the flash seems significantly quicker than the auto.

 

[charliegrs]

I love the camera on the EVO, however I know a bit about photography and I know its limitations and how to set it for a good shots. The problem is, most people dont expect to have to make changes to the settings on their camera phone to take good pictures. They just want to point it at something and take a good picture. I think this is why the EVO generally gets bad reviews for its camera. Also, people still expect too much out of camera phones in general. Like the OP said, its not a P&S camera its functionality is still much less than even the cheapest real camera. Part of this overexpection is due to the phone makers themselves for putting 5-8mp cameras in these phones. Its an old marketing trick that the camera companies first pioneered and really plays on peoples ignorance about digital photography. People see 2 phones, one with 5mp the other with 8mp and for alot of people they think the camera on the 8mp phone will be better. I think this was one mistake HTC made with the EVO, they should have used a 3.5-4mp camera AT THE MOST in the phone. Better yet, they should have put a bigger sensor than what is typically found in a camera phone, then that would have been truly revolutionary. Im not talking about a P&S size sensor, but definitly something bigger than whats in it now.

 

[cheebahawk1]

Will the ISO trick work with the camcorder as well?

I noticed today while using the camcorder outside the recording was flickering everytime I moved and the lighting changed. This was during evening but was relatively bright out. I'm wondering if adjusting ISO for camcorder would do the same trick?

To the OP since u will b a beached whale this weekend, would really appreciate it if u could post some pics and tweak the default settings (contrast, saturation, etc) in both high light n low light situations and post the settings. At least it will give u something to do

 

[kudosmog]

All I have to say is wow.

a gamecube?! really?!

lol jk.

Nice post

 

[charliegrs]

Will the ISO trick work with the camcorder as well?

I noticed today while using the camcorder outside the recording was flickering everytime I moved and the lighting changed. This was during evening but was relatively bright out. I'm wondering if adjusting ISO for camcorder would do the same trick?

To the OP since u will b a beached whale this weekend, would really appreciate it if u could post some pics and tweak the default settings (contrast, saturation, etc) in both high light n low light situations and post the settings. At least it will give u something to do

If you are recording at night, you will probably want to bump up your iso. ISO basically is the level of how sensitive the image sensor is to light, so in low light you want it to be more sensitive. It will probably introduce more noise into the image, but atleast it will be properly exposed.

 

[saxd45]

i work in a medical lab and took a couple pics with the evo through a microscope and thought that turned out pretty good, especially since there is not a macro function

BTW if you have that big green (Entamoeba) thing in the middle in your stool , your probably not feeling very well =)

 

[Flip]

Dude u hit the nail on the head for 2 days I've notice my video qualities were different n instead of complaining cause I love the EVO I started playing with the settings n OMG!!! it does make a big difference so I hope more ppl read this post n play with their settings a little more n stop complaining n talking bout returning the phone cause of things they should just learn

 

[Lorak]

Thanks for this information. Been pretty happy with the outdoor shots I have taken. This post gives me some insight as to how to adjust for better indoor shots.

 

[Caitlyn McKenzie]

If you are recording at night, you will probably want to bump up your iso. ISO basically is the level of how sensitive the image sensor is to light, so in low light you want it to be more sensitive. It will probably introduce more noise into the image, but atleast it will be properly exposed.

Incorrect, you have it backwards. You want a lower ISO number. Higher ISO means a faster shutter speed. This is very useful for lots of motion, but if you're in the dark, and there's no movement, you want a lower ISO. A stable mount of some sort will SIGNIFICANTLY increase the quality of your photos on a lower ISO setting in darkness.