HTC One camera - have you heard that its rubbish in sunlight/generally rubbish? READ ON!

[robsawalker]

What camera do you think is a superior all-round camera on a smartphone, Adrian?

 

[robsawalker]

A photo I took out walking on my HTC One

 

[robsawalker]

Pumpkins!

 

[robsawalker]

The awesome German WW2 88mm field gun...

 

[rozroz]

i dunno, i find this cam more and more awesome each day.
wide angle, great low light handling, touch to set brightness, accurate colors, fast action, and 120fps slow-mo!
yes you'll get a bit of purple in really extreme low light. i can easily live with that. the 4mp limit doesn't bother me at all.
(btw i hate flash and never use it)
it's fantastic! i advise everyone who feel different to maybe spend a bit more time with it and have a second opinion before jumping to the 13mp generic monsters.
again, my cam does have the average purple haze in extreme low light but it's minor imo.
whether people have a really faulty sensor or not, i can't really tell from my device.

 

[robsawalker]

Here's a sunset I took on the Isle of Mull this year, just before 10pm at night. None of the cameras we had with us could take a picture without the flash going off (I didn't have my SLR with me). The Galaxy and iPhone both failed to capture a meaningful image here. So, what other camera could? (Lumia 1020 would, but wasn't out then)

 

[ram1220]

What I am finding out is I have to press a point on the screen to focus my camera more than once. And it usually won't hold that focus for more than a second. I was able to take a couple good looking photos the following night inside a stadium. But for each photo I have to focus probably 5 or 6 times and then hope I can press the shutter button before it goes out of focus. I did manage to take about 3 really good pictures with proper color. But for each one that comes out good there are 5 or 6 others that are trash. In my opinion HTC skimped on the camera in the One.

 

[adriandb]

What camera do you think is a superior all-round camera on a smartphone, Adrian?

My previous phone was an iPhone 4S and it was comparable or better. My wife's iPhone 5s has a fantastic camera.

 

[rozroz]

What I am finding out is I have to press a point on the screen to focus my camera more than once. And it usually won't hold that focus for more than a second. I was able to take a couple good looking photos the following night inside a stadium. But for each photo I have to focus probably 5 or 6 times and then hope I can press the shutter button before it goes out of focus. I did manage to take about 3 really good pictures with proper color. But for each one that comes out good there are 5 or 6 others that are trash. In my opinion HTC skimped on the camera in the One.
View attachment 92407

try this: go to your camera settings and change the shutter settings to take the picture when tapping on screen instead of the dedicated button.
this means that you can now either: tap on screen once to make the cam focus and take a picture,
OR you can put your finger on the screen until you focus and when you take your finger off the picture is taken.

might solve your problem.

 

[JBeef]

Agreed. Changing the shutter settings to "touch to capture" seems to help a lot with the focus of pictures in my experience. I have also had a lot of success with taking a ZOE instead of a single picture and then selecting a single frame.

 

[robsawalker]

My previous phone was an iPhone 4S and it was comparable or better. My wife's iPhone 5s has a fantastic camera.

Each to their own I guess, I have had the iPhone 3, 3GS, 4 etc and yes they are really great cameras, but I don't think they are as good as the HTC Ones for all the reasons I have outlined.

 

[robsawalker]

What I am finding out is I have to press a point on the screen to focus my camera more than once. And it usually won't hold that focus for more than a second.

You can Lock Focus and Exposure by simply holding your finger on the object. Not sure if you know that? (not being sarky, just wondering! )

Also, not sure if it's my imagination, but since the sense 5.5 update my camera seems to be even better!

 

[ram1220]

You can Lock Focus and Exposure by simply holding your finger on the object. Not sure if you know that? (not being sarky, just wondering! )

Also, not sure if it's my imagination, but since the sense 5.5 update my camera seems to be even better!

I wasn't aware of that. I'll try that the next time I take pictures.

- - - Updated - - -

try this: go to your camera settings and change the shutter settings to take the picture when tapping on screen instead of the dedicated button.
this means that you can now either: tap on screen once to make the cam focus and take a picture,
OR you can put your finger on the screen until you focus and when you take your finger off the picture is taken.

might solve your problem.

Thanks. I wasn't aware I could do this. I will try it.

 

[lechan29]

Anyone mind making some guidelines of how to take nice photo with HTC One? Mine was a little of purle tint on dark and quite purple in extreme dark. I see quite a lot nice pictures taken by HTC One however I haven't got any best shot. I guess one major reason is I dont have good sense of photography. It really depends on how you take photos to make a great picture, not only by those big dot of pixel or technology- I suppose

 

[rozroz]

Anyone mind making some guidelines of how to take nice photo with HTC One? Mine was a little of purle tint on dark and quite purple in extreme dark. I see quite a lot nice pictures taken by HTC One however I haven't got any best shot. I guess one major reason is I dont have good sense of photography. It really depends on how you take photos to make a great picture, not only by those big dot of pixel or technology- I suppose

for your consideration, robsawalker

 

[robsawalker]

for your consideration, robsawalker

Very kind of you to say, but really I am just a keen amateur. I can offer a few simple pointers though:

There are literally hundreds of website out there telling you how to take good photos; by FAR the two most important things are: 1) opportunity and 2) good composition.

If you don't have a camera on you which you can access quickly, you will lose the opportunity for many great pictures. Luckily the HTC One is one of the fastest cameras to boot and take a photo with. When I go out walking I hold my phone in my hand. (If I go bird/wildlife watching I take an SLR - a proper camera!). If you are out for the night, keep your phone handy to snap of a quick pic. With people, the best photos are almost always best when the subject doesn't know you are taking the picture (I don't mean go around being creepy!) People struggle to act casual when they are aware you are taking a photo.

The next two things are the golden rule and light. Take a look at this: Golden Section and Rule of Thirds (Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, Golden Proportion, Golden Triangles). It is tied in to the fibonacci sequence, which appears in nature everywhere.

Light: As I explained earlier, with a camera you only have one lens and it is capable of only focusing on one area at a time. If you have framed a picture and there is a strong light source and heavy shadow (like the window inside example I showed earlier) then you have to decide what you are going to focus on. Try and change the framing if you can. HTCs HDR mode is useful here because it takes two shots, one exposed on the bright area and one on the dark area and combines them (other cameras also use HDR). Another simple rule is, try not to take shots with the sun in front of you. How to Shoot in Direct Sunlight - Digital Photography School

Thats the basics. You can alter the 'sensitivity' of the sensor to light by changing ISO: basically, the higher you go the more light sensitive it will be and the more grainy it will be.

Just look online, there are loads of sites which will help you with the basics. Smartphone cameras are very rudimentary, it wont take you long to play and learn. I would urge you to try changing all the settings and see what happens - at the very bottom of the menu you can reset to stock so play as much as you like!

Cheers,


R

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

Amazing 6 months later and many of the same people rubbishing the camera.

 

[N345H]

I've come from an iPhone 5 to HTC One and the camera quality far exceeds that both in quality and operation

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[tedbearclaw]

I am new to the one coming from an iPhone 5 and the note2 and I don't understand why so many reviews bash this camera, I am very pleased with the camera and overall operation of this device.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using AC Forums mobile app

 

[ortega1]

I have exactly the same situation. Images are blurry, unsharp, even when weather is sunny. Focusing by finger works partially.