I spent some time today doing controlled tests with the camera on the Droid and these tests confirmed my thoughts about the Droid camera: It will take decent pictures, but not in autofocus mode. I've posted a link to the pictures in Picasa **here**.
The EXIF data shows the following: f.2.8 is the only aperture used. High shutter speeds in hazy sunlight will enable you to steady the camera. Most of the shutter speeds topped out ~ 1/1400 of a second. The other variable is ISO and in bright sunlight it's set very low, usually around ISO 50. This is a good thing since it allows you to have a high shutter speed since these tiny cameras are inherently hard to steady. I cannot account for the fixed aperture of f.2.8. In a larger camera such a wide setting would normally assure a rather soft picture. Here it seems to work.
The sample pictures I posted were duplicated many times in my tests and the results were consistent. As you look at the samples you will first see a wide picture. I then opened the picture in Photoshop and took it to 100% (all pixels displayed) then I cropped an area of interest.
The results show the fixed focus working fine (with not as much shutter lag since it's not hunting for focus) and the autofocus mode completely broken. I think this shows a definite software issue. The hardware seems fine, although the shadow areas are quite noisy, the result of a tiny sensor and its overflowing photosites.
So go ahead and take pictures outdoors and you'll probably get decent pictures set at infinity, even when you are taking pictures of friends in groups.
I'll make a guess that this software bug is a result of a code screwup at the very last minute. If we can be patient I suspect the fix will be a simple one.
The EXIF data shows the following: f.2.8 is the only aperture used. High shutter speeds in hazy sunlight will enable you to steady the camera. Most of the shutter speeds topped out ~ 1/1400 of a second. The other variable is ISO and in bright sunlight it's set very low, usually around ISO 50. This is a good thing since it allows you to have a high shutter speed since these tiny cameras are inherently hard to steady. I cannot account for the fixed aperture of f.2.8. In a larger camera such a wide setting would normally assure a rather soft picture. Here it seems to work.
The sample pictures I posted were duplicated many times in my tests and the results were consistent. As you look at the samples you will first see a wide picture. I then opened the picture in Photoshop and took it to 100% (all pixels displayed) then I cropped an area of interest.
The results show the fixed focus working fine (with not as much shutter lag since it's not hunting for focus) and the autofocus mode completely broken. I think this shows a definite software issue. The hardware seems fine, although the shadow areas are quite noisy, the result of a tiny sensor and its overflowing photosites.
So go ahead and take pictures outdoors and you'll probably get decent pictures set at infinity, even when you are taking pictures of friends in groups.
I'll make a guess that this software bug is a result of a code screwup at the very last minute. If we can be patient I suspect the fix will be a simple one.
