Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

[Haalcyon]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Ok, can't take it anymore. I am tired of these assanine statements about us not having a DSLR camera or any other dedicated camera, that's its only a phone. News flash - "WE KNOW THIS". Our expectations are well within reason. The Note 2, Nokias, Sony's, EVO LTE, Iphone 5, heck even the Galaxy S2 aren't dedicated cameras or DSLRs but they certainly take quality photos that have established a standard for us to meet or exceed. In other words, we know , FROM EXPERIENCE, what a good camera on a phone looks like. This is supposed to be a next generation camera, a substantial improvement over the current crop of mobile shooters but is not. Now, this might be software related, which I actually believe and hope that it can and will be fixed soon. However, don't tell us to accept a substandard camera simply because its on a phone. I remember going on vacation and taking pics with my GS2 while my wife took pics with our Canon 13mp powershot. When I got home and browsed through the more than 100 pics on the computer, I had to eject the memory cards to tell which camera took what pics. They were damn near identical and I was blown away with the image quality of the GS2. I ahve been equally impressed with quailty of the Note 2. I have pics from Daytona that I took with my Note 1 that people still don't believe came from a phone.

I think some are getting worse quality photos than others and I don't think it's just a matter of some interpreting the same photo differently. As you know lighting makes a lot of difference. In low light there's more software molesting of the image and that clearly shows in the OP's original shot. If they can address the Moto X's camera issues we can hope they can do the same for the Note 3. However, some folks' Note 3's just take great shots all around. Why there's a discrepancy is puzzling.

 

[FanOfAnything]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

I did have it set to 13 .... I don't get your 2nd sentence! How does that make everyone disappointed? I don't think your reading everything here!

Cheers, Jon

omg!! I guess I didn't read all of it apologies.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Andy Mei]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Here is a shot I took from my weekend hiking trip. I think pic is crisp with good detail. Better than my old HTC one. I don't have a iphone 5s to compare with though.

 

[kilofoxtrot]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Ok, can't take it anymore. I am tired of these asinine statements about us not having a DSLR camera or any other dedicated camera, that's its only a phone. News flash - "WE KNOW THIS".

What people DONT KNOW, is how to best use the camera's settings to take a good photo. They think/hope they can take any picture in any condition with AUTO Mode and they will get a good photo. NEWS FLASH... it doesnt work that way. Even the best DSLRs and P&S cameras can get "fooled" and take under exposed, washed out photos in AUTO Mode.

Auto Mode, while good, doesnt always give you the best result. Learn your camera settings... you will have a lot more "keepers".

 

[CR6]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Pic 1 - Note 3
Pic 2 - Note 3
Pic 3 - HTC One


To me the all look good... Guess I am not picky .

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

I only saw two pictures as well. They both look great, but the second one is a little dark, due to the low lighting problem that most smartphone cameras suffer from.

If you want an awesome third party camera app, give Camera Zoom FX a try. They have a free version, but I was so impressed with it, I bought the pro version. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ps/details?id=slide.cameraZoom&token=AavudJAC
Excellent app!!

tap'n

 

[Casey Cunningham]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Here is a shot I took from my weekend hiking trip. I think pic is crisp with good detail. Better than my old HTC one. I don't have a iphone 5s to compare with though.View attachment 86800

Looks fantastic. If anyone doesn't like this then they don't know a good picture looks like.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Haalcyon]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Looks fantastic. If anyone doesn't like this then they don't know a good picture looks like.

Posted via Android Central App

Well lit photos are generally thought to be fine, me thinks. I believe it's the indoors and low light stuff some are struggling with.

from my '14 Note 10.1

 

[linzgeneral]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

What people DONT KNOW, is how to best use the camera's settings to take a good photo. They think/hope they can take any picture in any condition with AUTO Mode and they will get a good photo. NEWS FLASH... it doesnt work that way. Even the best DSLRs and P&S cameras can get "fooled" and take under exposed, washed out photos in AUTO Mode.

Auto Mode, while good, doesnt always give you the best result. Learn your camera settings... you will have a lot more "keepers".

I feel you lol... But again, this is like conducting an experiment. We already have a control to compare results to. I rarely take my camera off of auto and the pics from the other phones come out just fine - rather impressive for a phone. I understand that in certain circumstances, of course a little fiddling will be expedient. However, I am just trying to compare apples to apples. The Note 3 seems to struggle taking pics at an auto setting whereas the other good cameras take excellent pics with the same settings. I don't have time to fiddle with changing settings back and forth, especially when its a quick grab and shoot moment or in rapidly changing scenes and conditions. That's what these cameras were made to do, to conveniently snap a nice pic at a moments notice. Trust me, I think that this phone has the hardware to do what I expect, I am actually confident that this camera is indeed superior to its predecessors. I just think something needs to be adjusted; a software update maybe?

 

[linzgeneral]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Looks fantastic. If anyone doesn't like this then they don't know a good picture looks like.

Posted via Android Central App

This pic looks terrible. Very, very blurry unless that was the intent - special effects maybe. It just hit me that this must be a joke, meant for sarcasm, lol....

 

[Sooks]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

This pic looks terrible. Very, very blurry unless that was the intent - special effects maybe. It just hit me that this must be a joke, meant for sarcasm, lol....

Your not looking at the subject that is IN FOCUS lol.... geesh people lol.....

 

[linzgeneral]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Looks fantastic. If anyone doesn't like this then they don't know a good picture looks like.

Posted via Android Central App

Just noticed the plant in the foreground...lol...

 

[ZarathustraHead]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

"A Better Camera" app really makes a huge difference. This phone takes some incredible pictures with the right settings.

I've downloaded this app and like four others in a fit of frantic desperation. Any idea how to get the photos with "A Better Camera" to save in the same folder as the stock camera?

sent from my Note 3

 

[crester]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Here is a shot I took from my weekend hiking trip. I think pic is crisp with good detail. Better than my old HTC one. I don't have a iphone 5s to compare with though.View attachment 86800

Daylight photos are not a problem... the Note 3 is great at that. It's the low light photos that are a problem. Samsung needs to make a software update so it doesn't try smoothing the photos so much... then the pictures will be fine. I rather have a bit of noise in the photos and have them SHARP as opposed to the over-smoothed photos we are getting now in LOW light.

 

[titaniumSS]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

I feel you lol... But again, this is like conducting an experiment. We already have a control to compare results to. I rarely take my camera off of auto and the pics from the other phones come out just fine - rather impressive for a phone. I understand that in certain circumstances, of course a little fiddling will be expedient. However, I am just trying to compare apples to apples. The Note 3 seems to struggle taking pics at an auto setting whereas the other good cameras take excellent pics with the same settings. I don't have time to fiddle with changing settings back and forth, especially when its a quick grab and shoot moment or in rapidly changing scenes and conditions. That's what these cameras were made to do, to conveniently snap a nice pic at a moments notice. Trust me, I think that this phone has the hardware to do what I expect, I am actually confident that this camera is indeed superior to its predecessors. I just think something needs to be adjusted; a software update maybe?

Auto is the worst way to compare cameras. Even the same shot can look different based on how the software interprets light in order to adjust exposure, temperature of the White balance, aperture, shutter speed, etc. Once again, it comes down to people not being aware of the real issue; inexperience with composition. This is being aware of light and surroundings. Most people don't think about that, and let's face it, "handy" apps like Instagram have made everyone satisfied with an adequate photo with a layer on top to make it look "good." Have you tried playing with the settings? It can teach you a lot about the camera.

 

[Bobbman]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Outside pictures are fantastic. Inside well lit photos are good. Low lighting pics are fair to mediocre. That is just about the same for all android cell phones (and most cell phones in general). If the camera still "sucks" with good lighting either the camera unit is bad or it not being used properly. My outside pictures look clear, detailed with great exposure. The same can be said with most outside or good lighting pictures being posted in this forum.

 

[linzgeneral]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Auto is the worst way to compare cameras. Even the same shot can look different based on how the software interprets light in order to adjust exposure, temperature of the White balance, aperture, shutter speed, etc. Once again, it comes down to people not being aware of the real issue; inexperience with composition. This is being aware of light and surroundings. Most people don't think about that, and let's face it, "handy" apps like Instagram have made everyone satisfied with an adequate photo with a layer on top to make it look "good." Have you tried playing with the settings? It can teach you a lot about the camera.

Have played with settings before and certainly not a fan - did this extensively on the EVO 3D , which had by far the worst camera on any of my phones of the last four years or so. Scenarios differ and that's what auto if for as it supposed to automatically adjust, albeit at a potentially slight cost to image quality. If I see something that's going to be gone in a flash, it is a bit unrealistic to be playing with settings. My whole argument is that I don't have to play with the settings of other top camera phones, and to be honest, I wouldn't stand for it. I understand there will always be exceptions and situations were a setting adjustment will be optimal but for the most part I want to pull out my phone, snap and go. I have always been able to do that until now?

BTW, the camera isn't by any means terrible. It is just not nearly what I anticipated. Perhaps I set the bar too high but matching its predecessor seemed like a feasible expectation.

 

[linzgeneral]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Your not looking at the subject that is IN FOCUS lol.... geesh people lol.....

You are right, I noticed it after I posted, lol.....

 

[Scotly50]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

wow, i guess eye of the beholder because i personally think the note 3 photos are crisper.....the bottom of the first iphone pic is a bit fuzzy....and you can more clearly see the blades on the knife in the note 3 pic of the second pic....mission accomplished i'm convinced the note 3 pics are better....

- - - Updated - - -



wow....that's beautiful....

I have to agree. I like the Note 3 pics better.

(I don't have a dog in this fight either. I don't own either brand.)

 

[ZarathustraHead]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

Stock Camera vs 3rd Party Apps

Having had more time with the Note 3, I've experimented with a number of 3rd party camera apps and found none of them are consistently better than the stock camera. In fact, some have created archiving problems for the photos which confused my phone - the photo I would click in the camera app would be 15 or so down from the photo displayed. This problem seems to have been resolved by my deleting all the third party app folders.

Note 2 vs Note 3

Low Light: In my opinion the Note 3 will not perform as well as the Note 2 in low light conditions. The best setting for the Note 3 in low light is Auto with stabilization on, obviously. Its low light photos are not as crisp as the Note 2's (with low light setting), but one could argue they are more natural looking.

Medium light: In regular indoor medium lighting conditions, I think the best setting for the Note 3 is HDR. Comparing the Note 3 in HDR to the Note 2 in low light setting (I would recommend the Note 2's low light setting in all but the brightest conditions), I would probably give the advantage to the Note 2, but only slightly.

Motion shots: HDR is not designed to capture movement. Set your camera to Auto. Neither Note camera fairs particularly well capturing motion shots.

Bright outdoor light: Both Note cameras perform very well in bright conditions and can capture amazing shots. I tend to shoot in HDR outdoors with the Note 3 unless there is movement in which case I'll switch to Auto. I can't tell much difference between the Note 2 and Note 3 outdoors. Both are great.

Advantages of Note 3 camera over Note 2: The most obvious advantage I see in the Note 3 camera compared to the Note 2 is the ability to shoot in 16:9. A second advantage, and I'm not sure of this because my experience with the Note 3 is limited, but it seems the Note 3 may shoot better pics while the video is running. I shot some pics with video over the weekend with the Note 3 and was impressed. In my experience, the Note 2's video pics are generally unimpressive unless you are in very bright light. Lastly, there is a neat edit function on the Note 3 that can be used when you scroll through your photos in the landscape position. I've found the auto color enhancement to work very well in sharpening photos.

All in all, I'm disappointed with the Note 3 camera but can live with it. It's not all bad. Using the HDR setting has really helped a lot.



sent from my Note 3

 

[rurutia]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

I've downloaded this app and like four others in a fit of frantic desperation. Any idea how to get the photos with "A Better Camera" to save in the same folder as the stock camera?

sent from my Note 3

Mine are saved in the same folder by default. I haven't had any issues.