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

[ZarathustraHead]

Any word of an update to fix this miserable camera?

 

[JellyBeanGurl]

My 10 year old used the camera and recorder on my phone to take pictures of stuff. Came to me a few days later and said that my camera was horrible and the quality stinks! She proceeded to grab her daddy's iPhone. I laughed because even a 10 year can tell that the camera stinks on this phone. We've been using the iPhone camera instead. Sad.

 

[z06mike]

My 10 year old used the camera and recorder on my phone to take pictures of stuff. Came to me a few days later and said that my camera was horrible and the quality stinks! She proceeded to grab her daddy's iPhone. I laughed because even a 10 year can tell that the camera stinks on this phone. We've been using the iPhone camera instead. Sad.

What stuff was she taking pics of?

 

[z06mike]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

The only thing I have an issue with the camera on the NOTE 3 is when I take a simple pic it takes too long to auto focus. As a result my photos looks blurred it I move slightly during the auto focus. That's not good..

You can tap the screen to focus or you can tap the screen to take pictures if you enable it.

 

[Madonna Warwick]

I find the camera works best in Sports mode. I take a lot of photos on the phone for work. It does not focus as fast as I would like but it is a cell camera.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[magichoward]

I feel cheated by samsung the note 2 camera was better. The stupid golf and other modes just plain stupid.
Why not a night mode?
I wonder if true that the early models had a faulty sensor and they put a better sensor in later models.
I hope they read these forums and update our software.
By the way any third party apps that allow the photos to be stored to memory card? (thanks Google for that stupid change).

Posted via Android Central App

 

[anon8380037]

I feel cheated by samsung the note 2 camera was better. The stupid golf and other modes just plain stupid.
Why not a night mode?
I wonder if true that the early models had a faulty sensor and they put a better sensor in later models.
I hope they read these forums and update our software.
By the way any third party apps that allow the photos to be stored to memory card? (thanks Google for that stupid change).

Posted via Android Central App

The camera is exceptionally good in most circumstances. This thread has been beaten to death many times. There have been much more positive threads, and posts in this thread, a very good guide written by a member, and there is a long running Sticky thread - "Pictures, let's see them' on the top of the Note 3 forums page.
You can still always save photos to sd card from the camera settings, after KitKat. If you have a modified phone , faulty phone or sd card, you can seek advice for those.

ADDED:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?p=3398032

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[horangeh]

Re: Does anyone else think the camera sucks?

I have seen people lamenting this camera and praising the S4 and Note 2 camera in this thread. Has anyone in the 35 pages of this thread mentioned that this is the EXACT SAME camera that is in the S4. The issues with low light quality is all software related. The S4 takes great pictures in low light so this issue should get resolved with a software update.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

The pics of S4 in low light are either too noisy (if it raises ISO above 200) to the point the noise destroying the pic details OR not noisy but soft and loosing most detail due to noise reduction in Night Mode (or Auto Night Detection which uses the same algorithm for noise averaging). See the "great pictures" taken by S4 here GT-I9500 13MP Camera not as expected

 

[ZarathustraHead]

Just got back from vacation. Can't believe how poor the photos were. I guess that update will never come.

 

[z06mike]

While the photos this phone takes in good light are amazing, I must finally admit that the iPhone camera is just that much more consistent. I realize now what people were complaining about when they said the iPhone took much better pics. There is no BS processing going on, just a quick snap and constantly good photos. I am seriously contemplating switching over now.

 

[Yogi217]

I've found the camera to be awesome in some conditions and poor in others. My indoor low-light photos are not great :-(

 

[yarnsrj]

Play around with other camera apps. Camera FV-5 and camera HD Ultra are 2 that I personally like. We all bought the phone first and foremost for the what we liked most about the "Phone" over what's currently on the market. For me, the camera was secondary. And, in my humble opinion, the camera is pretty darn good for a phone.

from "Ms Note 3"

 

[elfonzo]

Recently purchased a second hand galaxy note 3 with the camera not working. Tried updating software, factory reset delete cache. And nothing. Took the phone apart and it looks like there is slight water damage but it only effects the camera.
Does anyone have any ideas of how I can fix it? Thanks

 

[z06mike]

Buy a new camera module

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[haints]

I have owned a lot of phones, including the original Note, the Note 2--and now the Note 3.

My Note 2 just died a few days ago, so I went from it directly to the Note 3. Meaning that the experience of using the Note 2 camera is still somewhat fresh in my mind.

There is absolutely no question that the Note 3 camera sucks compared to the Note 2.

I noticed it immediately. It is exactly as the TS describes--the images appear grainy, and slightly blurred compared to the Note 2, especially when used indoors. If I zoom in on a shot I've taken, the level of detail which I'm used to seeing from the Note 2 simply isn't there. It looks low res even at the highest settings.

The difference shocked me. I was expecting the camera to be better, not worse, and none of the reviews I read mentioned the drop in picture quality. But that drop is there, and it is not a subtle difference.

Like I said, I've owned and used many different phones. I also have a DSLR and know the difference between a cell phone camera and a dedicated camera. This has NOTHING to do with that difference, so all the people posting to say that "You can't expect a cell phone camera to be as good as a dedicated camera," are completely missing the point. To say nothing of the people posting stuff like "Best phone camera ever!" Are you completely blind?

Switching to another camera app like the one from Google offered some improvements, particularly in fine detail, so it looks like the poor quality isn't entirely hardware related, which is something to be thankful for at least ...

To the TS, you have my sympathies and I can only suggest you try another camera app, if you haven't already.

 

[ZarathustraHead]

I think I've found the solution. Buy the Note 4. My early impression is the Note 4 camera is better than the Note 3 and possibly even the Note 2 with low light setting.

sent from my Note 4

 

[Major153]

I have owned a lot of phones, including the original Note, the Note 2--and now the Note 3.

My Note 2 just died a few days ago, so I went from it directly to the Note 3. Meaning that the experience of using the Note 2 camera is still somewhat fresh in my mind.

There is absolutely no question that the Note 3 camera sucks compared to the Note 2.

I noticed it immediately. It is exactly as the TS describes--the images appear grainy, and slightly blurred compared to the Note 2, especially when used indoors. If I zoom in on a shot I've taken, the level of detail which I'm used to seeing from the Note 2 simply isn't there. It looks low res even at the highest settings.

The difference shocked me. I was expecting the camera to be better, not worse, and none of the reviews I read mentioned the drop in picture quality. But that drop is there, and it is not a subtle difference.

Like I said, I've owned and used many different phones. I also have a DSLR and know the difference between a cell phone camera and a dedicated camera. This has NOTHING to do with that difference, so all the people posting to say that "You can't expect a cell phone camera to be as good as a dedicated camera," are completely missing the point. To say nothing of the people posting stuff like "Best phone camera ever!" Are you completely blind?

Switching to another camera app like the one from Google offered some improvements, particularly in fine detail, so it looks like the poor quality isn't entirely hardware related, which is something to be thankful for at least ...

To the TS, you have my sympathies and I can only suggest you try another camera app, if you haven't already.

I am in the same boat. I had the original Note 1 and Note 2, which just crapped out on me. I defaulted to the Note 3 as my default replacement phone (just cause it's cheaper now since the Note 4 is out). Everything was great - fast, smooth, thin. But OMG the camera pictures are atrocious. I tried turning off burst mode and image stabilization. It helped a bit (faster shots, no more processing lag) but the quality is still not as nice as the pictures from my NOTE 1. Is this a software issue? How does Samsung make a crappy 13mp camera.

Any recommendations on non-OEM camera apps? Is the google one any good?

 

[MS3GT]

Hopefully the next software update will fix some things.

I am Aquaman!

 

[shaleem]

I don't know if I'm using the camera wrong or if my phone is a lemon or what. But I am not happy with the camera quality of the Note 3. It just seems like every picture I take is really grainy and almost as if it has a filter applied to it to make it look like brushstrokes. It doesn't seem like 13mp at all, it acts more like it's a low quality front facing camera.

For instance, these photos of my cat have this filtered blurry effect. I took these with the auto mode.
View attachment 86431
View attachment 86434

When I turned on the flash the photo turned out a little better, although I'd rather have a crisp photo like this without the flash on.
View attachment 86433

So what's the deal, is this camera just bad with indoor lighting? I'm holding it extremely steading when taking photos, so the quality can't be due to that.

Cute cat!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Kalvin Kerns]

Yes it sucks even compared to my wife's old iPhone 5. It's slower and the pics aren't as good. Very disappointed. However from everything I've read iPhone pics are always generally better than ALL Android phones. Again I'm very disappointed.

Posted via Android Central App