Is my Nexus 5 defective?

[Shilohcane]

I think this is a pretty good review of the Nexus 5 vs other phones including the i5c in different conditions each has something over the other. This is a really good read since it shows strengths and weakness.

Google Nexus 5 - Camera

This is my issue that I am still working on.

Performance
We would suggest using the HDR mode 24/7 when not shooting action, but speed is a significant issue. At the best of times, the Nexus 5 is not the fastest camera around.

Upon pressing the shutter button, the phone both focuses and takes a shot, and there's about a two second pause between standard shots – longer if you're shooting in poor lighting. With the HDR mode engaged, this gap is increased to 3.5-4 seconds – about as bad as the Lumia 1020, which has to cram a 41-megapixel image down to a 5-megapixel file. It has a pretty good excuse, the Nexus 5 doesn't.

With an iPhone you're looking at about a quarter of a second between standard shots and 1.5-2 seconds between HDR shots. There are reasons beyond image quality why iPhones are fun to shoot with.

 

[dsdxp]

Try switching the focus mode to "infinity" in Camera 360.

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I've tried that and then ALL pictures taken are really dark. If I put it in auto focus mode, they are brighter again but still subtly blurry like the stock camera. Again, mainly any people in the pics are subtly blurry, not background elements.

 

[dsdxp]

I think this is a pretty good review of the Nexus 5 vs other phones including the i5c in different conditions each has something over the other. This is a really good read since it shows strengths and weakness.

Google Nexus 5 - Camera

This is my issue that I am still working on.

This is good info... Part of my issue is probably the extra few seconds between normal shots. Taking a picture of a scene with people in it from my iPhone (in low light with no flash) results in a pretty crisp picture with no blurryness (even if the people are subtly moving), but with the nexus 5, it's blurry every single time and not as bright.

 

[srkmagnus]

There are lots of people reviewing this HDR+ with the Nexus 5 that know a lot more about it than I do. Here is one review that shows two pictures with a N5 with and without HDR+ turned on.

HDR+ on Google Nexus 5 detailed: smarter, reduces motion blur

This one has even more pictures of with and without HDR+ mode. I love the difference with the water shot.

Shooting with the Nexus 5

Sorry, I meant for the OP to post pictures since photos seem to be blurred or not focusing properly. I have a Nexus 5 and know what the image quality is like. I'm not experiencing the problems that the OP is so I'd like to see what results are being produced.

 

[dsdxp]

Can you take two pictures (one with HDR+ and one without) and post it here for us to take a look at? I'm interested in seeing the image quality.

I will do this soon. A majority of the pictures I take are indoor and not always in the best lighting. I rarely use flash, but so far I've never had a problem when using the iPhone 5, the images pretty much always turn out good, rarely blurry. I know using HDR+ indoor with somewhat low-light is going to make matters worse, but i'll post examples of each when I get a chance. Thanks!

 

[Zendroid1]

You have 2 things going against you:

1. Indoor lighting blows. I'm guessing most are indoors that you are taking?
2. Moving objects are hard to capture with a camera phone (especially kids). My iPhone does much better than the Nexus but these conditions are tough even with non-camera phones.

Once Google tweeks the software I am guessing it will be at least on par with the iPhone cameras.

 

[srkmagnus]

I will do this soon. A majority of the pictures I take are indoor and not always in the best lighting. I rarely use flash, but so far I've never had a problem when using the iPhone 5, the images pretty much always turn out good, rarely blurry. I know using HDR+ indoor with somewhat low-light is going to make matters worse, but i'll post examples of each when I get a chance. Thanks!

No problem, hopefully we can help solve your problem!

 

[dsdxp]

You have 2 things going against you:

1. Indoor lighting blows. I'm guessing most are indoors that you are taking?
2. Moving objects are hard to capture with a camera phone (especially kids). My iPhone does much better than the Nexus but these conditions are tough even with non-camera phones.

Once Google tweeks the software I am guessing it will be at least on par with the iPhone cameras.

Yes, mainly indoor with somewhat low light situations. Yes, most pictures are of kids. Even with my older child, when she stands perfectly still, it still can't quite take the picture fast enough to get a completely in-focus shot. Sounds like I either need to wait for the software update, or continue using the iPhone (which I don't want to do).

Also, NO other camera app works any better. I tried about 10 different ones. They're actually worse than the stock camera in terms of the final quality of the picture.

 

[Diesel6401]

I've tried that and then ALL pictures taken are really dark. If I put it in auto focus mode, they are brighter again but still subtly blurry like the stock camera. Again, mainly any people in the pics are subtly blurry, not background elements.

Interesting. Like mentioned indoors is tough, especially with kids. The one thing the S3 had that made things better is you could change your ISO in the camera. I did just root my S3 to CM10 which has similar camera interface to the N5. Might have to find away to get the touchwiz photo software back on.

I just downloaded this: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...m.flavionet.android.camera.pro&token=1CgE3ZqM

Free version, but limits something like image size.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e....flavionet.android.camera.lite&token=OhPwGJgH

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[dsdxp]

Can you take two pictures (one with HDR+ and one without) and post it here for us to take a look at? I'm interested in seeing the image quality.

Attached are two pics from the nexus 5 and 1 from an iphone 5s. the nexus pics arent as bad as usual, maybe due a little more light. can barely tell the difference between hdr and non hdr in this case.

nexus no HDR:


nexus HDR:


iphone 5s:

 

[dsdxp]

The funny thing is, the nexus pics almost look better than the iPhone in this example. Huh.

 

[ring o fire]

These pics aren't helping your case! I see no issue, not saying there isn't one though. Great pics!

 

[dsdxp]

These pics aren't helping your case! I see no issue, not saying there isn't one though. Great pics!

I know haha.. these are probably the best indoor pics i've taken with the nexus 5 so far. Literally every other picture has had at least a touch of blurryness to it. The lighting was definitely better though when I took these.

 

[JRDroid]

Try taking some pics outside. Most indoor lighting are not good enough for any camera phones. Some might be a little bit faster than others. But without flash on, it will be very slow and hard to focus on. The shutter lag of the default camera app is also mentioned in many reviews.
Here is what you should do: take a picture in the condition you describe in OP and open the picture, choose menu->Details. Report the aperture and exposure time here. From what I can gather, the rear camera has a fixed aperture of F2.53 (which is not that fast). Indoor pictures can often in the range of 1/15 sec to 1/30 sec of exposure time. At 1/15, your subject should stay steady. The OIS can only compensate minor hand shake of who takes picture, not for the subject movement.

Not to undermine your point or anything, but my wife and I take excellent pictures of our daughter indoors on my HTC One and her iPhone 5c, and our appartment is particularly dim as we get no direct sunlight ever as we live north of the 45th paralell and have a north facing apartment. There are pleanty of camera phones that can do just fine with typical indoor lighting.

 

[foxbat121]

Not to undermine your point or anything, but my wife and I take excellent pictures of our daughter indoors on my HTC One and her iPhone 5c, and our appartment is particularly dim as we get no direct sunlight ever as we live north of the 45th paralell and have a north facing apartment. There are pleanty of camera phones that can do just fine with typical indoor lighting.

Good enough or not is a subjective thing. I will never consider any camera phone, indoor or out door, take acceptable pictures.

Both phones you listed have faster lens than N5. HTC One is F2.0 and iPhone 5 is F2.2. This will help raise the shutter speed a little which is what causes the blurry pic. Coupled with better camera software to reduce shutter lag and boost ISO to maintain a usable shutter speed (trading for slight rise of noise), it should produce better pic than N5.

 

[JRDroid]

Good enough or not is a subjective thing. I will never consider any camera phone, indoor or out door, take acceptable pictures.

Both phones you listed have faster lens than N5. HTC One is F2.0 and iPhone 5 is F2.2. This will help raise the shutter speed a little which is what causes the blurry pic. Coupled with better camera software to reduce shutter lag and boost ISO to maintain a usable shutter speed (trading for slight rise of noise), it should produce better pic than N5.

True enough, excellent was the wrong word. Sharp is what I was implying. There are pleanty of phones that can take sharp indoor pictures of people.

 

[srkmagnus]

The pictures above look good to me. I don't think the picture captures motion very well, especially in very low lighting. If you are trying to take pictures with motion (i.e. kids or pets) then it's likely to produce some blurriness compared to other devices, such as the iPhone 5/S.

 

[DroidGuy1990]

The picture above look excellent to me actually...Keep in mind this is a 8mp shooter. This isnt the Sony sensor LG G2 or the Note 3...then again this phone starts at $350 also.

 

[dsdxp]

The pictures above look good to me. I don't think the picture captures motion very well, especially in very low lighting. If you are trying to take pictures with motion (i.e. kids or pets) then it's likely to produce some blurriness compared to other devices, such as the iPhone 5/S.

Yeah those ones do look good. So basically if I keep the N5, i'll have to deal with some subtly blurry pictures if the lighting isn't the best and there's even the slightest movement of the kids (compared to what certain other camera phones can produce).

So based on this, do you think the rumored upcoming software fix from Google will solve my issue (or at least reduce it substantially), or should I be looking at a different phone?

 

[Diesel6401]

The iPhone is pricy phone, the N5 isn't. Software can definitely help, at the end of the day it just doesn't have the higher end lens. Even my S3 would have the occasional blur inside with low light and movement. It's just difficult in general for those conditions.

I got some decent pics of my newborn twins the other day and even a few of my 2yr old son.

Outdoors though the camera really shines (ideal conditions mind you).

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