What am I doing wrong with the camera?

[rushmore]

I can't make any claims about the camera quality as I've only taken a couple snaps with mine, but the predominant issue with the blurriness in that picture you posted is motion blur, which is user induced.

I think the fast shutter on this phone is causing people more camera shake issues compared to phones that used to take a second or two to take the picture. The phone is taking the picture while you are still poking the back of the screen and that motion is blurring the results.

-Suntan

I was hoping that were the case, but even setting the phone down to avoid this results in the same blur. Taking pictures with FXcamera does not have the issue.

The good news is it appears not to be a hardware issue.

Added. Case in point, currently driving to a business meeting in Cincinnati and the driver (not me) seems to not be the best and the road not the smoothest. Stock app is taking blurry pics and FX is taking sharp pics. Raining and dark, so good environment for lower light tests.

 

[ColdBrew]

Ive had some luck. Just gotta make sure you hold down the shutter button if you want it to focus right somtimes.
Outdoors

Those look great!

 

[peteypab2133]

Make sure its NOT in macro mode. I used a D800 and have a D90 and this camera in the correct light is "almost" as crisp in ededited auto mode on my D90.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Suntan]

I posted about this same issue over at Phandroid. It appears to be a stock app issue, since FXcamera takes great indoor pictures. The stock app takes blurry pictures in lower light.

Again, I'm betting its the person behind the phone.

These were taken with the stock app just a moment ago in my office, which is rather dark. Here's one with flash and one without.

Blurry? I don't think so.

-Suntan

 

[tekhna]

Well, I've been playing with it a bit more, and I've managed to reduce the blur, but it's noisy as hell. I'm wondering if I have a bad camera. This thing takes crap pictures.

 

[OWybPPgO]

Ive had some luck. Just gotta make sure you hold down the shutter button if you want it to focus right somtimes.
Outdoors
Click to view quoted image


Indoor Macro type thing.
Click to view quoted image

Beautiful shots.

Hold down the shutter or click on the screen to make the square turn green? Do they do different things?

 

[WhoMe]

Beautiful shots.

Hold down the shutter or click on the screen to make the square turn green? Do they do different things?

Ya know Ive tried both. The hitting the square on the screen thing is good for close up things, or maybe even for isolating somone's face in a still. But a wide shot it isnt really practical to do that.

But holding down the button allows for a slower but more accurate focus...it beeps when it hits the sweet spot and you let it go. Ergonomically it works better too.

Sure its slower than the quick *one click* fast pics but its the quality that counts right? Would be nice to have both but I dont think they are there yet with these smaller cameras.

 

[qdtphotog]

Wow I'm coming from a DX as well, and I couldn't disagree more. I've found the SG3 camera to be great, and a HUNDRED times better than the absolutely useless camera from the DX. Zero shutter lag, and images come out crisp and clear. My girlfriend even tried taking some pictures of me in the dark with the flash and my face came out crystal clear with no noise (a little TOO detailed actually haha). The HD video is fantastic as well - moving around the camera caused almost no blurring, unlike my DX where I literally would have to pan at a snail's pace for it to be remotely watchable.

I really don't see what everyone is talking about with the blurring issue. The only time I've had any blurring taking pictures is if I drastically move my hand right before taking the shot. Holding it normally results in a crisp shot for me, and that's without spending more than a second pointing the camera OR using the anti-shake feature (haven't needed it).

The only issue I have is with the gallery...you can only use the editing features prior to taking the picture, not after (which is hard to understand cuz you could apply all of the same features either in the camera app or in the gallery pics on the DX).

Agreed. I also came from a Droid X and I think the S3 camera is much better. This is one example I took this morning in the lobby of my office building which is kind of dark but the picture doesn't look bad or blurry at all. I used the stock camera with default settings.

 

[ColdBrew]

Beautiful shots.

Hold down the shutter or click on the screen to make the square turn green? Do they do different things?

Where you touch the screen is where it will try to focus. So if you want a picture of someone or something that isn't in the center of the screen move the focus square to what you want it to focus on. Then hold your finger down on the shutter button until it beeps and then release.

 

[OWybPPgO]

Where you touch the screen is where it will try to focus. So if you want a picture of someone or something that isn't in the center of the screen move the focus square to what you want it to focus on. Then hold your finger down on the shutter button until it beeps and then release.

Cool, thanks!