HTC One (M8) camera discussion

[Skyway]

I deleted the cloud pics from earlier but I just took these now(was hoping it cleared up) so I was able to get blue sky and some clouds in there. These are both in "auto" mode with nothing else done to them. I know some people will argue you can manually set the M8 camera but I think for the majority of people, including myself, we like to pull out the phone and snap a quick picture and not sit there tweaking with settings. By no means am I bashing the phone because I love this thing so I am holding onto it as long as I can and hope to see some kind of software change that might help.

Which is exactly why you can adjust the settings of the camera and save it as a preset called "lenses". You can then select between these presets on the fly for quick pics. I've seriously posted this same explanation in different threads like 6 times

Not trying to argue, just trying to help out

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[jev425]

Which is exactly why you can adjust the settings of the camera and save it as a preset called "lenses". You can then select between these presets on the fly for quick pics. I've seriously posted this same explanation in different threads like 6 times

Not trying to argue, just trying to help out

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Understood but I have tried manually taking the same pictures and making them the presets your talking about but maybe I'm doing it wrong but when I adjust for either the sky or landscape the other gets either too dark or overly exposed.

If you get a chance get some pictures of outside that includes some landscape with a daylight sky in it and tell me what settings you use. If I have to learn to take pictures with this phone, so be it.

 

[jskrap]

Understood but I have tried manually taking the same pictures and making them the presets your talking about but maybe I'm doing it wrong but when I adjust for either the sky or landscape the other gets either too dark or overly exposed.

If you get a chance get some pictures of outside that includes some landscape with a daylight sky in it and tell me what settings you use. If I have to learn to take pictures with this phone, so be it.

I would also find it beneficial if some people could post their manual settings that they use for different environments, for example bright outdoor lighting.

 

[Skyway]

Understood but I have tried manually taking the same pictures and making them the presets your talking about but maybe I'm doing it wrong but when I adjust for either the sky or landscape the other gets either too dark or overly exposed.

If you get a chance get some pictures of outside that includes some landscape with a daylight sky in it and tell me what settings you use. If I have to learn to take pictures with this phone, so be it.

Honestly I'm no photography expert myself so most of my pics are in auto. What I would try to do in those situations is maybe focus on the ground, underexposing the sky and then go in to the filters section and go to custom. From there you can adjust exposure, contrast, brightness, levels, white balance, etc. Mess with the exposure until you get something useable.

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[Skyway]

Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

Original


After I adjusted exposure


Not perfect but any means, the sky is a little overexposed but definitely a more usable picture. Also I focused on the sky instead of the ground. I have a feeling it might work better if I would have properly exposed the ground instead of the sky. I'll have to try that tomorrow

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[B0WIE]

. Also I focused on the sky instead of the ground. I have a feeling it might work better if I would have properly exposed the ground instead of the sky. I'll have to try that tomorrow

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In my limited experience, that makes a huge difference with this cam. I pointed the cam at my pond and at first, I focused on the white flagstone around the border and it made the pond and plants pitch black. Without moving, I tapped to make the focus shift to the water and the whole thing changed radically. You could now see the fishes swimming and the flagstone became a little overexposed (which is reasonable for a phone, esp in the Arizona sun). It literally looked like it shifted from night to day.

 

[gavinfabl]

Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

Original


After I adjusted exposure
View attachment 110660

Not perfect but any means, the sky is a little overexposed but definitely a more usable picture. Also I focused on the sky instead of the ground. I have a feeling it might work better if I would have properly exposed the ground instead of the sky. I'll have to try that tomorrow

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If you switch to HDR, focus on sky, then press and hold screen to lock AE/AF, now take HDR shot and look at difference

 

[gavinfabl]

I am very impressed by the camera. When I had the M7 it didnt possess the same versatility. I have been experimenting with image adjustments for Auto mode, and at first I reduced the sharpness to minus 1, but that was too much, so I tried a few last night at minus 0.5 and that is the optimum setting. I have created a random flickr set of 21 M8 photos expanding daily https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/sets/72157643265004874/ These are not pro photos, just snaps of everyday views and things around me. The flower macros were using a sharpness of minus 1 which was OTT.

 

[Zod1010]

I'm very curious to see if we see a software update that refines the photo quality in any significant ways.

 

[ttrimmer]

Came across this on Google+. Really great M8 photos. http://www.bryanv.com/updatesnews/2014/4/2/another-simple-htc-one-m8-camera-review

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[Skyway]

Came across this on Google+. Really great M8 photos. http://www.bryanv.com/updatesnews/2014/4/2/another-simple-htc-one-m8-camera-review

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Wow, those are some pretty incredible shots. A true testament to the camera, despite what a lot of reviewers and people seem to think. I've said it before and I'll say it again, a camera is only as good as the person using it

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[ttrimmer]

Wow, those are some pretty incredible shots. A true testament to the camera, despite what a lot of reviewers and people seem to think. I've said it before and I'll say it again, a camera is only as good as the person using it

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Exactly! Just because someone buys a great camera that doesn't make them a photographer and it shows in most reviews. A camera can only do part of the work.

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[heathcc]

Came across this on Google+. Really great M8 photos. A(nother) Simple HTC One (M8) Camera Review — Bryan van der Beek : Commercial & Editorial Photography

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These pictures are great but they are very heavily edited. Which leads to the consideration that some people need something good straight off the lens, and others want to be able to get to something great even with some post-processing. The M8 is great for me because I can usually get an image to what I want with some work which I happen to enjoy.

 

[dpix]

After 10 days of owning the HTC One M8 (from iPhone 5), I have taken some truly unique and very stylish snaps with the M8 camera. For me, the M8 camera is a reason to buy the phone, not exclude it. If you're constantly blowing up big print posters or doing significant cropping, perhaps a higher megapixel count is more important. But for an everyday snapshot camera, the M8 absolute rocks it.

 

[Kibbster]

I can't help think that the M8 camera has been absolute troll bait even if that wasn't HTCs intention going by the "internet's" expert opinion.
Apart from the over exposure issues it is capable of outstanding photos.

People complaining about cropping and zooming don't seem to be letting me know what phone camera they've previously used that was fast, had great low light performance, never over-exposed, had a great seamless macro focus, panoramic, 1080 video, 360 pans and excellent low light performance, lots of filters to play with, can adjust focus after taking the photo AND had great zooming and enough pixels to be able to crop when they didn't frame the shot properly.

Can't zoom with 4MP? This isn't the Hubble telescope - it's a camera miniaturised with a small lens on the back of a phone - digital zoom sucks, always has, probably always will.
Can't crop with 4MP? Point the camera at what you want a photo of and try to move to a position where what you want is where you want it on the screen.
We should keep a sense of perspective, there are cameras out there that can do all of the above brilliantly and be used for professional results but they cost a lot more than the M8 and generally don't have a great phone attached.

The camera isn't bad, quite the opposite it's excellent when you compare it like for like with other phone cameras in the same situations and capable of shooting at the same speed the M8 does.

 

[robbski300]

I can't help think that the M8 camera has been absolute troll bait even if that wasn't HTCs intention going by the "internet's" expert opinion.
Apart from the over exposure issues it is capable of outstanding photos.

People complaining about cropping and zooming don't seem to be letting me know what phone camera they've previously used that was fast, had great low light performance, never over-exposed, had a great seamless macro focus, panoramic, 1080 video, 360 pans and excellent low light performance, lots of filters to play with, can adjust focus after taking the photo AND had great zooming and enough pixels to be able to crop when they didn't frame the shot properly.

Can't zoom with 4MP? This isn't the Hubble telescope - it's a camera miniaturised with a small lens on the back of a phone - digital zoom sucks, always has, probably always will.
Can't crop with 4MP? Point the camera at what you want a photo of and try to move to a position where what you want is where you want it on the screen.
We should keep a sense of prospective, there are cameras out there that can do all of the above brilliantly and be used for professional results but they cost a lot more than the M8 and generally don't have a great phone attached.

The camera isn't bad, quite the opposite it's excellent when you compare it like for like with other phone cameras in the same situations and capable of shooting at the same speed the M8 does.

Amen, Kibbster! Very well said! I'm so sick & tired of reading about the complaints of the M8's camera! Jesus H, people! It's a TELEPHONE with a great camera! It's NOT a two thousand dollar DSLR camera with a telephone attached to it!

 

[robert26101]

I print my photos from my phone. The size I print is 4?6. Can this phone do that.

 

[ugxvibe]

I print my photos from my phone. The size I print is 4?6. Can this phone do that.

Absolutely

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[Gary Howe]

I really don't understand people who are put off by the 'lack' of pixels in the camera. No one ever prints out pictures. And if they do they're normally 6x4 which will be fine for the m8. If you do print out large prints then yes it's an issue But virtually no one does. People get put off because they seem to think bigger pixel count equals better quality. And it simply doesn't. I've been a semi pro photographer for years and the quality of the pictures on the m8 is outstandingly good. They're much better than the s4 i used to have and it's particularly obvious on any low light shot where this camera is so good. And it's great low light shots that will benefit 99% of people. Sadly it's that same 99% that will get put off because of the 'lack of pixels'. I think HTC assumed people wouldn't judge a camera almost solely on its pixel count but unfortunately most people still do.

 

[Kibbster]

After all these awesome examples of how great the camera is on forums I decided to give photos a go myself using HDR.
I've come to the conclusion the camera is great but I suck at taking pictures
All my HDR shots in daylight are blown out completely and all my low light HDR shots are dreadful.
In fact my low light shots are all terribad.

Not blaming the camera though, just the knuckle dragger using it
Wish I had some of the talent shown on these forums, but it does go to show that it's not the camera that takes a good picture.