disappointed with epic's camera

[ItsBenaWhile]

i mean the single shot mode takes good pictures. but why do the limit the size when i choose anything esle? i hate that. think they will make a update which will make you able to take pictures in all settings with all 5 mexapixels? let me know thanks

 

[dbpaddler]

processing capability? Not sure, but it's almost a waste of a great panorama feature. Continuous I could see. I might not be able to handle continuous at 5mp, but panorama is a bunch of single shots. Don't see why it should be an issue there. I took some nice panoramas at the Phillies game and they're just muddled by the shoddy resolution. I think the AF gets turned off too because they're not as sharp. It should focus for the first shot and maintain from there.

 

[hydralisk]

Actually most of my single shots are pretty bad. I don't know what settings to use to make them not blurry. I tried anti-shake. Didn't seem to help. While I think the colors are more accurate than they are on the EVO, my EVO takes much sharper pictures. Kinda sad. I'm yet to be impressed with the Epic's camera But I love everything else...

 

[dbpaddler]

A little half press gets me the focus confirmation beep. I don't have any real bad shots when that happens unless the lighting is bad.

 

[unknown zone]

I make it a habbit to clean my lens before using the cam. The lens is always getting smugges from either my hand when i hold the phone or when i lay it down. It also does not help that it is kinda flush with the cover.

 

[nickw511]

I'm not really one to complain, but I'm very disappointed in my pictures. I have tried everything andthey are just not sharp. Color is "ok" but everything seems grainy....even after pausing for autofocus to lock and adjusting the ISO settings. Love the phone but this makes me sad. oh, I should note that videos are sharp so I can't think its my lens.

 

[jessep28]

Yeah, the images do seem to go out of focus easily unless the phone is super stable when the picture is taken.

 

[Mistiq]

You guys that are complaining? Are u holding the button halfway down first before taking the pictures?

Reason I'm asking is because I thought the Epic was supposed to take pretty good pictures and I would be disappointed if that wasn't true

 

[gme109]

Actually most of my single shots are pretty bad. I don't know what settings to use to make them not blurry. I tried anti-shake. Didn't seem to help. While I think the colors are more accurate than they are on the EVO, my EVO takes much sharper pictures. Kinda sad. I'm yet to be impressed with the Epic's camera But I love everything else...

Are you tapping the focus area on the screen? If not, your photo will be out of focus.

 

[Tyrahn]

First of all, you can't expect too much - it is a cell phone camera after all.

Those of you recommending half-pressing the camera button to focus; how are you doing that? I've tried multiple times since I got the phone to get it to focus on partially pressing the camera button and have never been able to manage it. Worked fine on my Moment, just not on the Epic.

I've found with the Epic I always have to tap the screen to get it to focus. When I do that the focus bracket thing will jump to where I tap, the camera focuses, beeps, and the bracket turns green. If you're not doing that I can certainly see how you would get blurry photos as they wouldn't be in focus.

Not being able to take full resolution photos when in continuous or panorama mode makes perfect sense, these things take a whole lot of processing power. A DSLR has a whole processor (sometimes two or more) dedicated solely to image processing. The Epic, being a phone, simply does not have the hardware chops to deal with 5MP photos at any reasonable burst rate. In panorama mode at 5MP, each photo component would be 5MP - at the maximum frame count of 8 images that would be a 40MP picture. That would be A LOT of pixels to crunch for a device with a CPU that is trying to run the rest of the camera software on top of Android and everything else your phone is doing.

Clark

 

[daddyd302]

My Epic took way better pictures and videos then my old Evo.

 

[dbpaddler]

It's a dual action button. If yours doesn't work to focus then take it back and get a new phone. Mine focuses, beeps and turns green when half pressing the camera button.

I can understand continuous being limited to low res, but panorama can store each pic on the card and them stitch them together. There's no speed involved that should stress the buffer. And it can't go down to 2mp or something reasonable? 5 to .3 is a huge jump, especially a .3 fixed focus shot. At least allow an initial autofocus before you start shooting.

 

[cruiser771]

all i do is tap the screen where i want it to focus, the square turns green and it takes great pics. if I dont do that, its kinda blurry but as long as i tap the screen where i want it focused, it does a great job

 

[gme109]

It's a dual action button. If yours doesn't work to focus then take it back and get a new phone. Mine focuses, beeps and turns green when half pressing the camera button.

I can understand continuous being limited to low res, but panorama can store each pic on the card and them stitch them together. There's no speed involved that should stress the buffer. And it can't go down to 2mp or something reasonable? 5 to .3 is a huge jump, especially a .3 fixed focus shot. At least allow an initial autofocus before you start shooting.

You're right, I just confirmed that the camera button has a dual action. Press it slightly, it beeps and turns green. The only reason to tap the screen, is if the area you wish to focus on is not in the center. Doing this will ensure sharp and in focus photos.

The panorama photos are disappointing. I've been able to improve them somewhat using Adobe Lightroom.

 

[dbpaddler]

yeah, .3mp isn't much to take a nice panaorama. Here's my latest from the Phillies game. I just want a little more sharpness and a little more detail. Did a little unsharp mask, but that's about it. 2mp of that 5mp sensor would even be a big improvement.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

That looks pretty good!

 

[badankles]

First of all, you can't expect too much - it is a cell phone camera after all...

agree. if a comparison is a must, compare it with other phones and not with true camera.

it's actually pretty complicated with all the available options, and since i don't have a lot of photographic knowledge, i'm never sure if the settings i'm choosing or should choose to maximize the image.

 

[Mistiq]

yeah, .3mp isn't much to take a nice panaorama. Here's my latest from the Phillies game. I just want a little more sharpness and a little more detail. Did a little unsharp mask, but that's about it. 2mp of that 5mp sensor would even be a big improvement.

I'm not up to date on the whole camera technology but that picture you took looks pretty damn good IMHO

 

[dbpaddler]

I was just hoping for a little more detail further towards the field. Was actually pretty impressed when I found out it had the panorama feature. Wish my regular cameras would do it that well.

 

[TheAlien]

I'm confused. My camera works fantastic. No, the ones that are taken to send via mms are kinda bad due to compression factors, but regular pictures are fantastic. It's 5 megapixels, what did you want, 3D? I can post some of them here if you really need to see. But I'm figuring someone doesn't know all the features or settings.

 

[dbpaddler]

Don't think you bothered to read the posts. It's the modes that reduce the res from 5mp down to .3mp. No one is complaining about the overall picture quality.

I'm confused. My camera works fantastic. No, the ones that are taken to send via mms are kinda bad due to compression factors, but regular pictures are fantastic. It's 5 megapixels, what did you want, 3D? I can post some of them here if you really need to see. But I'm figuring someone doesn't know all the features or settings.

 

[kendermouse]

I haven't used the panoramic feature yet - haven't had a reason to, or a place. But the pics I have taken with it aren't half bad. For example - a pic I took of a fortune gotten at yesterday's lunch, which, considering the bad lighting, small size of the subject, and my shaking hands, came out quite well, don't you think?

 

[ItsBenaWhile]

do you think they will make it in a update so its more than alittle .3? cause i mean its okay? but come on. lets be real...it could be real good

 

[ItsBenaWhile]

I'm confused. My camera works fantastic. No, the ones that are taken to send via mms are kinda bad due to compression factors, but regular pictures are fantastic. It's 5 megapixels, what did you want, 3D? I can post some of them here if you really need to see. But I'm figuring someone doesn't know all the features or settings.

dude im happy with single shots...there great. ima talking about the other ones that onlu use low ass megapixles

 

[RickJ]

yeah, .3mp isn't much to take a nice panaorama. Here's my latest from the Phillies game. I just want a little more sharpness and a little more detail. Did a little unsharp mask, but that's about it. 2mp of that 5mp sensor would even be a big improvement.

Im late to the party on this thread, but I do gotta say that photo is pretty damn good. I understand the wish for better res, but even at .3 that is an awesome feature I wasnt even aware the epic had. I was pretty happy with the features that vignette added to the evo's camera, but after seeing what comes with the stock epic camera (and of course its sensors) im drooling just a little more. I could use a higher res panorama feature pretty much daily which would beat the socks off photostitch.

FWIW, the evo did receive camera and video optimization after it had been out a while (though the biggest benefit was the inclusion of h264) so it is within the realm of possibilities that there may be a camera improvement somewhere down the line. Just hope Samsung is listening.