HTC One (M8) camera discussion

[Mikest]

I'm really on the fence on this one. I love everything about the phone except the camera. The reviews as noted in this thread have not been great for the old photon catcher, and the gallery on the Engadget review has images I wouldn't even post to an ebay auction. I have no idea if that has to do with their upload compression or if that's just what they captured out of the device but the blur around hard edges and lack of detail is just unacceptable to me. I've got until June to wait for my upgrade anyway so I'm sure I'll see a much wider image sample before then. I've been a Samsung user since the GSII and I was looking forward to trying something new, now I'm kind of pinning my hopes on the Xperia Z2 to be the no compromises android phone for me. Of course there will be some, there always are.

 

[gtg465x]

I was planning on upgrading from a Nexus 5 but the camera completely killed it for me. It's the same damn camera that was in my One last year, but without OIS! What the?

The extra sensor and lens for depth was a COMPLETE waste of R&D and camera budget. The UFocus photos I've seen with blurred backgrounds do NOT look like they were taken with a DSLR. They look like crappy Photoshop jobs, with harsh, inaccurate transitions from in focus to out of focus.

I took some comparison shots with both my Nexus 5 and the new One at a Verizon store and my Nexus 5 blew it away, which is just sad. Not just in terms of detail either. Color and exposure were way off on photos taken with the new One.

They should have just stuck with a single sensor, but increase the size to 6 or 8 Ultrapixels, even if it meant having a camera hump that stuck out a couple millimeters like on the One X.

I love everything else about the new One, but not enough to overcome that camera. Man I'm disappointed. They ruined such a good thing IMO.

 

[madlaw1071]

I was planning on upgrading from a Nexus 5 but the camera completely killed it for me. It's the same damn camera that was in my One last year, but without OIS! What the?

The extra sensor and lens for depth was a COMPLETE waste of R&D and camera budget. The UFocus photos I've seen with blurred backgrounds do NOT look like they were taken with a DSLR. They look like crappy Photoshop jobs, with harsh, inaccurate transitions from in focus to out of focus.

I took some comparison shots with both my Nexus 5 and the new One at a Verizon store and my Nexus 5 blew it away, which is just sad. Not just in terms of detail either. Color and exposure were way off on photos taken with the new One.

The should have just stuck with a single sensor, but increase the size to 6 or 8 Ultrapixels, even if it meant having a camera hump that stuck out a couple millimeters like on the One X.

But a hump would interfere with gorgeous, sexy aluminum unibody construction.

 

[gtg465x]

But a hump would interfere with gorgeous, sexy aluminum unibody construction.

I love the humps on my wife, and I would love a hump on my phone too if it meant better image quality.

 

[icenija]

With so many people who seem to have the camera as there #1 feature talk so much about this phone that it seems that just like the M7 this phone will still win a number of awards with the asterisk about the camera. I commend HTC trying to cater to more of the population that uses their phone cameras for fun. On this "technically advanced" forum that many in the general population don't know exists I can see your many points on why you fill the camera comes up short but the people on this forum who rank the camera as the #1 feature is a very small percentage and as a business I would cater to the majority. Even on this forum you have people who say if they are out and about and want stunning pictures they carry their dedicated camera. Majority of our society share camera photos for "look where I am, wish you were here", "look what I'm eating, wearing, doing, etc", or "look at my new selfie". So in general if the camera is the most important feature for you then why even give this phone a second look, this phone is not for you. So many phones out there with the huge megapixels that you are looking for but I'm sure you will go to those forums and say how the camera is awesome but the rest doesn't hold up to the M8. I'm glad I ordered mine and can't wait until tomorrow when it gets here.

Ice

 

[el3ctronics]

I would have purchased an HTC One M8 immediately yesterday is it weren't for the camera. I'm extremely disappointed that HTC stuck with the ultra-low pixel count. 4 MP is simply too low a resolution and prevents the ability to crop and print. Now that I have a 5 month old daughter that I enjoy printing pictures of, 4 MP is a deal breaker. If it even had an 8 MP shooter I'd have been all over it. Oh well. Hopefully the M9 will finally have an average smartphone camera.

 

[madlaw1071]

I would have purchased an HTC One M8 immediately yesterday is it weren't for the camera. I'm extremely disappointed that HTC stuck with the ultra-low pixel count. 4 MP is simply too low a resolution and prevents the ability to crop and print. Now that I have a 5 month old daughter that I enjoy printing pictures of, 4 MP is a deal breaker. If it even had an 8 MP shooter I'd have been all over it. Oh well. Hopefully the M9 will finally have an average smartphone camera.

Unfortunately, this is what a lot of folks are saying.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

I'm really on the fence on this one. I love everything about the phone except the camera. The reviews as noted in this thread have not been great for the old photon catcher, and the gallery on the Engadget review has images I wouldn't even post to an ebay auction. I have no idea if that has to do with their upload compression or if that's just what they captured out of the device but the blur around hard edges and lack of detail is just unacceptable to me. I've got until June to wait for my upgrade anyway so I'm sure I'll see a much wider image sample before then. I've been a Samsung user since the GSII and I was looking forward to trying something new, now I'm kind of pinning my hopes on the Xperia Z2 to be the no compromises android phone for me. Of course there will be some, there always are.

The Engadget review was the first I read (sorry AC!) and I too was shocked at the quality of images in their gallery. I really hope that was a factor of their upload process, because I can't imagine any modern smartphone would take photos with that many artifacts. Other sites seemed better, but still... the inability to zoom and crop is a serious negative with the One's camera.

 

[DrWu]

Re: HTC One M8 Camera

I picked up the M8 at Verizon yesterday and have to say that I really do like the image quality a lot - its far and away much better than my previous phone, the Razr MAXX. While the point about the 4MP is well taken - these photos aren't well suited to cropping and printing, they're perfect for what the majority of people use their phone's camera for - Instagram, Facebook, Google+ etc.

Here is a picture I took of my daughter last night. This was without flash, the only "effect" applied was using the UFocus feature to adjust the depth of field. I think the quality is outstanding!

 

[Xiphias]

MONEY QUOTE: "The trade off in going with this route was that images where only 4 megapixels in resolution, which meant that while they generally looked good on the phone and even when sharing to Facebook, the moment you tried to crop into an image, the details of your photo began to degrade. If HTC was able to use a 8mp or 16mp image sensor with the same technology, it would hypothetically be able to both capture more light as well as give you the ability to to crop your images without loosing vital details. While most of my mobile images purely live in the social media world that easily exists within the 4mp resolution of the Ultra Pixel sensor, I did miss having a little extra resolution that most other mobile phones offer."

Looking at the actual pictures he took during that review, I think the camera seems pretty capable, especially if you're not printing 8x10 glossies of all your photos.

 

[madlaw1071]

Re: HTC One M8 Camera

I picked up the M8 at Verizon yesterday and have to say that I really do like the image quality a lot - its far and away much better than my previous phone, the Razr MAXX. While the point about the 4MP is well taken - these photos aren't well suited to cropping and printing, they're perfect for what the majority of people use their phone's camera for - Instagram, Facebook, Google+ etc.

Here is a picture I took of my daughter last night. This was without flash, the only "effect" applied was using the UFocus feature to adjust the depth of field. I think the quality is outstanding!

View attachment 109523

This particular scenario plays right into the sweet spot for the M8. All reviews seem to concur that indoor, low light pics WITHOUT flash are what the One excels at. However, indoor pics WITH flash and bright outdoor shots are where the One is behind not just newer phones, but last year's crop of flagships. Many will not be cool with that.

 

[GolferChris68]

It's disappointing that the new One still uses a 4MP sensor. And competitively, that puts it at a disadvantage compared to other phones. But at the same time, none of these phones can compare to even a good compact camera. If you're hanging out with friends or happen upon something cool in your travels, any of the phones, including the One should be fine. But if you're looking to create a really nice image that can be printed, I wouldn't rely on any of these, with the possible exception of the Lumia 1020. These phone all have tiny sensors, and quality just won't match up to a good quality dedicated camera for important images.

 

[GolferChris68]

Re: HTC One M8 Camera

I picked up the M8 at Verizon yesterday and have to say that I really do like the image quality a lot - its far and away much better than my previous phone, the Razr MAXX. While the point about the 4MP is well taken - these photos aren't well suited to cropping and printing, they're perfect for what the majority of people use their phone's camera for - Instagram, Facebook, Google+ etc.

Here is a picture I took of my daughter last night. This was without flash, the only "effect" applied was using the UFocus feature to adjust the depth of field. I think the quality is outstanding!

View attachment 109523

This is an excellent example of what the camera is capable of. Everyone is different, but most of my casual "capture with a phone" shots are taken in conditions that are at least moderately lit. And every image that I capture with a phone is to be posted on Facebook/Google+/Instagram. I don't print them, and I do very little cropping. If I'm taking an image to be printed, I shoot with at least a compact dedicated camera.

I remember shooting years ago with a Nikon D50, which "only had a 6 megapixel sensor". I look back on those images and they are outstanding with plenty of detail and sharpness, and better than anything I can take with any phone camera today, even though those older images are "only" 6mp. Why are those old images better than the higher megapixel cameras today? Because the sensor itself is much larger, and because the lens is larger. There are other, more important factors that make an image a good one.

I also see some people and reviews being dismissive of the M8's excellent color accuracy and dynamic range. Those aspects should not be underestimated. The Nokia cameras have great resolution, but there are times where the color rendering is horrible. I briefly had a Lumia Icon, and it's rendering of a cloudy sky always had a reddish/pinkish tinge. The 1520 that I had also exhibited the same issue. An image can have all the resolution in the world, but if the color rendering is off, the image is ruined and can't be recovered without a lot of work (if at all).

 

[gtg465x]

It's disappointing that the new One still uses a 4MP sensor. And competitively, that puts it at a disadvantage compared to other phones. But at the same time, none of these phones can compare to even a good compact camera. If you're hanging out with friends or happen upon something cool in your travels, any of the phones, including the One should be fine. But if you're looking to create a really nice image that can be printed, I wouldn't rely on any of these, with the possible exception of the Lumia 1020. These phone all have tiny sensors, and quality just won't match up to a good quality dedicated camera for important images.

I'm not necessarily looking for a phone camera that takes professional quality images that can be blown up, printed, and hung on a wall. That's what my Sony NEX is for. But if I don't have my NEX and come upon something worth remembering, I want my phone camera to at least take pictures that I can look at later on a desktop computer or high res tablet without cringing. 4MP photos really only look good when viewed on a phone or uploaded to Facebook / Instagram.

 

[iN8ter]

With so many people who seem to have the camera as there #1 feature talk so much about this phone that it seems that just like the M7 this phone will still win a number of awards with the asterisk about the camera. I commend HTC trying to cater to more of the population that uses their phone cameras for fun. On this "technically advanced" forum that many in the general population don't know exists I can see your many points on why you fill the camera comes up short but the people on this forum who rank the camera as the #1 feature is a very small percentage and as a business I would cater to the majority. Even on this forum you have people who say if they are out and about and want stunning pictures they carry their dedicated camera. Majority of our society share camera photos for "look where I am, wish you were here", "look what I'm eating, wearing, doing, etc", or "look at my new selfie". So in general if the camera is the most important feature for you then why even give this phone a second look, this phone is not for you. So many phones out there with the huge megapixels that you are looking for but I'm sure you will go to those forums and say how the camera is awesome but the rest doesn't hold up to the M8. I'm glad I ordered mine and can't wait until tomorrow when it gets here.

Ice

A lot of people on these tech forums are influencers within their Social Circles. Take that for what it's worth.

I think the reason why debates tend to be so fervent on these forums is because a lot of people here are used to being influencers who are heeded but not challenged so much. On forums like this challenges are par for the course as different people have different preferences that they don't tend to budge much on.

When someone asks a disappointed person what phone to buy, they are more likely to give their personal choice as a recommendation.

At this point, it's hard not to recommend an S5 to an Average Joe, though... The Phone is WaterProof. The Camera is better. The Software and Features are likely more familiar to the average person given Samsung's market share and the fact that they have kept a fairly consistent (HW/Software) design language from day one.

Also, did HTC really, seriously remove the video shutter [button] from the camera app and put it in a mode switcher?

 

[John Doe40]

But at the same time, none of these phones can compare to even a good compact camera. If you're hanging out with friends or happen upon something cool in your travels, any of the phones, including the One should be fine. But if you're looking to create a really nice image that can be printed, I wouldn't rely on any of these, with the possible exception of the Lumia 1020. These phone all have tiny sensors, and quality just won't match up to a good quality dedicated camera for important images.

Well, to be fair the upcoming Sony Xperia Z2 has sensor which is as large (1/2.3") as on dedicated inexpensive P&S cameras, at least on paper. And while it does cram 20 megapixels into it (which is rather excessive), it can use pixel binning for images with lower res but with increased light sensitivity and decreased noise. Sony also knows how to make good image processing algorithms (they sell plenty of dedicated cameras). So the overall quality should be close to dedicated P&S cameras (at least compared to inexpensive models), though there's still lack of OIS or better optics with larger elements...

I also see some people and reviews being dismissive of the M8's excellent color accuracy and dynamic range

I've seen plenty of online samples from M8's camera already and while the camera is definitely capable of taking good shots with great level of detail and good color accuracy I've also seen many shots with pretty poor color saturation and very overexposed (as well as underexposed) areas. So at the very least it's very inconsistent in terms of overall quality.

 

[GolferChris68]

I'm not necessarily looking for a phone camera that takes professional quality images that can be blown up, printed, and hung on a wall. That's what my Sony NEX is for. But if I don't have my NEX and come upon something worth remembering, I want my phone camera to at least take pictures that I can look at later on a desktop computer or high res tablet without cringing. 4MP photos really only look good when viewed on a phone or uploaded to Facebook / Instagram.

Yeah, I get that. I suspect we'll see some nice looking photos coming from the M8, but I also suspect that the megapixel count will push a number of buyers who would have purchased an M8 towards the Galaxy S5 instead.

I really like the other aspects of my new M8. It's an amazing phone, and is so much better than the Samsung phones that I've owned. And the camera software is excellent. But the camera sensor is at a competitive disadvantage for most potential buyers. Not to mention, I still need to take some photos myself to see if the 4MP is enough for me. I hope so, as I really like the other qualities of the phone.

 

[iN8ter]

Re: HTC One M8 Camera

I picked up the M8 at Verizon yesterday and have to say that I really do like the image quality a lot - its far and away much better than my previous phone, the Razr MAXX. While the point about the 4MP is well taken - these photos aren't well suited to cropping and printing, they're perfect for what the majority of people use their phone's camera for - Instagram, Facebook, Google+ etc.

Here is a picture I took of my daughter last night. This was without flash, the only "effect" applied was using the UFocus feature to adjust the depth of field. I think the quality is outstanding!

View attachment 109523

It looks like she was cropped out of another picture and pasted into this one over a filtered image.

 

[Farish]

Re: HTC One M8 Camera

It looks like she was cropped out of another picture and pasted into this one over a filtered image.

Google "Boken" photo.

 

[iN8ter]

Re: HTC One M8 Camera

Google "Boken" photo.

And it's Bokeh. I'm well aware of what it is. I just don't think the effect is of really great quality. The transition from in focus to the blurred parts are so sharp that the photo ends up looking fake, for lack of a better word.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk