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Help camera takes terrible pics......

I am kind of getting tired of hearing, its not the camera its the photographer. I was playing with the camera settings a lot last night, indoor people shots, mid level lighting. My dad's iPhone 4 took far better shots no matter what I did, WITHOUT any adjustments.

So if you have some practical tips to make this POS work better, great. Otherwise, its getting old.

It's not the photographer, don't feel badly. I've used some very nice SLRs, digicams etc. and I still can't get good indoor shots with the Nexus. Yes, you can use the flash, but you get the typical 'flash' look together with a white balance that's not really accurate.
 
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Don't take me wrong here as in flaming, just hard facts from a photographer....

I gots ta tell ya. If you have never taken some kind of course or instruction in photography, you got no business knocking even a cardboard film camera.:)

You cannot just snatch up a camera and start snapping off at random and expect a $10,000 camera to take great pics unless you have some kind of inkling.......

Without knowing the principles of that the metering system is trying to do, how auto focus works, what to expect in lower light as far as shutter speeds and moving subjects, forget it. If you get a good pic with any camera feel lucky.:eek:

I see shots here from a moving vehicle through a wndshield hand held....... funny. Kids are the toughest especially in low light. They move so fast most pros know they better have at least 1/60th a sec shutter speed just to freeze a kid at a party. And then if in low light he has to jump through other hoops to make the 1/60th make use of the light.

Some of us don't realize what we are asking form a camera.

Then there is the Auto mode we are stuck with in a phone cam. Auto mode gives a cam thousands of choices to choose from, including what to focus on, what to pic for white balance, f/stop, ISO, shutter speed and more and it has to pic one in a split second or we scream "Shutter lag", "shutter lag!":mad:

When I knew I wanted to get into photography I was steered to a community college course that cost $65.00 for 4 two hour classes from a super talented instructor. The class was captioned as "So, you want to know how to take pictures". The prerequisites were only to have a camera with you. Any camera, large or small.

It was fun and everyone in the class was enlightened and more excited about shooting.

Heh! 99% of the time humans take bad pics.
 
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sunset.jpg
 
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My main problem is that it just sucks at motion shots. It seems like no matter what i do, I cant change that. The action mode doesnt seem to help. The Droid X was far better at motion.

Even with a $1000 entry level DSLR and $1000 chunk of f/1.4 glass, you will still have problems in very low light and not a fast enough shutter. :D:D

If it's not light enough, use flash. Even for fill lighting when it IS light enough, use flash. It's not rocket science, but you can't bend the rules of physics by saying, "I just don't want to use the flash". Where's a banghead icon when you need one?
 
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I exchanged my GNex this morning because of issues unrelated to the camera and received a new one. Unbelievable how much better the pics are on this one. Night and day difference. I can definitely live with and be happy with the results I am seeing. Only thing I noticed was that like some others, the images I see directly after the pics are taken seem much higher quality than what ends up in the gallery. Not sure why. If it is indeed a bug or issue, I would think that is something that is fixable.
 
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some of the above have a slow shutter speed, way too slow for hand held photography, like 1/15.

Not so sure about the blurry fishtank group.

There's probably some room for improvement with the software, since iso could have been bumped in those examples. (I'm looking at the exif data embedded in the pics).

Since you are basically in auto... well... the camera is choosing the best settings. Flipping to a mode might help with that, but auto should be the best of everything.
 
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IMG_20111226_155624 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

If you click on the above I think you will find that this set of pictures is much, much better than what I previously posted in this thread. They are not perfect, but I think they look pretty good.

One of two things happened. Either I went out and took a photography course last night to learn how to be a better photographer....or I exchanged for a new Nexus today ;)
 
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Don't take me wrong here as in flaming, just hard facts from a photographer....

I gots ta tell ya. If you have never taken some kind of course or instruction in photography, you got no business knocking even a cardboard film camera.:)

You cannot just snatch up a camera and start snapping off at random and expect a $10,000 camera to take great pics unless you have some kind of inkling.......

Without knowing the principles of that the metering system is trying to do, how auto focus works, what to expect in lower light as far as shutter speeds and moving subjects, forget it. If you get a good pic with any camera feel lucky.:eek:

I see shots here from a moving vehicle through a wndshield hand held....... funny. Kids are the toughest especially in low light. They move so fast most pros know they better have at least 1/60th a sec shutter speed just to freeze a kid at a party. And then if in low light he has to jump through other hoops to make the 1/60th make use of the light.

Some of us don't realize what we are asking form a camera.

Then there is the Auto mode we are stuck with in a phone cam. Auto mode gives a cam thousands of choices to choose from, including what to focus on, what to pic for white balance, f/stop, ISO, shutter speed and more and it has to pic one in a split second or we scream "Shutter lag", "shutter lag!":mad:

When I knew I wanted to get into photography I was steered to a community college course that cost $65.00 for 4 two hour classes from a super talented instructor. The class was captioned as "So, you want to know how to take pictures". The prerequisites were only to have a camera with you. Any camera, large or small.

It was fun and everyone in the class was enlightened and more excited about shooting.

Heh! 99% of the time humans take bad pics.

The problem is when you have many people that have used many cameras and typically getting excellent results with those cameras. You also have some of these same people that have used camera phones and gotten excellent pictures. Yet they take pix with the Nexus and all of a sudden they've lost that talent for taking good pictures and it's now their fault?

Nope. I see far too many excuses made for the Nexus in its weak areas on many threads here. I love the phone, I really do, but I can certainly admit it's failings. The Nexus is simply poor at taking indoor pictures with typical indoor ambient lighting. Give it enough lighting and it does quite nicely. Yes, you certainly cannot take actions pictures in indoor lighting with the slow shutter speeds that the camera must use. Understood.

But try taking indoor pictures with an IPhone with its backlit sensor (ala Sony) and you'll get better results under the same conditions, same lighting, same photographer. Yes, it's easy to blame the photographer and sometimes (often) it's quite justified. But with many pictures shot indoors with the Nexus, you can stand on your head and spit nickels and you still won't get a good shot by any kind of decent standards. That's just MO.

BTW, I do video for a living and I know all about the ins & outs of videography/photography & the equipment and lighting involved for quality results.
 
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IMG_20111226_155624 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

If you click on the above I think you will find that this set of pictures is much, much better than what I previously posted in this thread. They are not perfect, but I think they look pretty good.

One of two things happened. Either I went out and took a photography course last night to learn how to be a better photographer....or I exchanged for a new Nexus today ;)

Nice flash shot and I don't see the yellow bias I see in many of the Nexus shots done with flash.
 
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The problem is when you have many people that have used many cameras and typically getting excellent results with those cameras. You also have some of these same people that have used camera phones and gotten excellent pictures. Yet they take pix with the Nexus and all of a sudden they've lost that talent for taking good pictures and it's now their fault?

Nope. I see far too many excuses made for the Nexus in its weak areas on many threads here. I love the phone, I really do, but I can certainly admit it's failings. The Nexus is simply poor at taking indoor pictures with typical indoor ambient lighting. Give it enough lighting and it does quite nicely. Yes, you certainly cannot take actions pictures in indoor lighting with the slow shutter speeds that the camera must use. Understood.

But try taking indoor pictures with an IPhone with its backlit sensor (ala Sony) and you'll get better results under the same conditions, same lighting, same photographer. Yes, it's easy to blame the photographer and sometimes (often) it's quite justified. But with many pictures shot indoors with the Nexus, you can stand on your head and spit nickels and you still won't get a good shot by any kind of decent standards. That's just MO.

BTW, I do video for a living and I know all about the ins & outs of videography/photography & the equipment and lighting involved for quality results.


I have a $8k Canon professional camera that has the potential of taking lousy pictures in inadequate light too. Most of the time it lies in the technique and skill of the operator.

http://www.nylen.com/gallery.shtml
 
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I have a $8k Canon professional camera that has the potential of taking lousy pictures in inadequate light too. Most of the time it lies in the technique and skill of the operator.

Yes, that's true, but sometimes the low light functionality of a camera may be so bad so that no matter how skilled the hands of the photographer are, the results will be poor or at the very best, significantly limited.

The difference between your Canon and the Nexus is that the Canon IS capable of taking great low light shots when used properly. The Nexus does not have that capability in low light. Hell, even the differences between the low light capability of the Nexus and an Iphone can't be ignored. Unless one is so totally biased toward the Nexus, it's very obvious that any given photographer will have a better chance of getting better low light shots with an IPhone than a Nexus. The backlit sensor in the Iphone is an immediate leg up over the sensor in the Nexus. That doesn't mean the Iphone is a better overall 'phone', it just simply has a better camera that gives the photographer a better chance of getting better photographs.

To read some of the posts here you'd think the only reason that someone can't get great low light shots with the Nexus is because the guy behind the lens is a bumbling fool.

For this discussion to have more objectivity, there has got to be some recognition that the Nexus is significantly limited in terms of taking quality low light photos...even against some other camera phones.

The Nexus is a great phone, but it isn't a great camera phone IMO. Yes, if you are careful and pay attention to certain rules of photography you can get better results than someone that doesn't, but it doesn't mean you're going to get wonderful indoor pictures no matter what your skill level or no matter how many years you've been a professional photographer.
 
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Agreed that my photos look terrible and and grainy indoors no matter how carefully taken. Mine too look better when snapped as opposed to how they look in the gallery. I'm hoping there is some weird compression going on that can be corrected with a software fix.

The auto brightness is responsible for that. When using the camera, the brightness is turned up, while in the gallery, it is turned down making the pictures appear less vibrant.

Set the brightness to a constant level, and the gallery will look the same as the camera app.
 
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Some peoples pictures look good and others look bad. My experience is bad when camparing it to my TB. It has to be a bad batch of phones. Could the bad batch be related to the vertical banding visible on the Gnex screen only with certain color backgrounds?


I'm almost starting to believe there might be a bad batch of phones, the difference between some of the shots posted here look to be from two completely different cameras.
 
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I'm almost starting to believe there might be a bad batch of phones, the difference between some of the shots posted here look to be from two completely different cameras.

Some peoples pictures look good and others look bad. My experience is bad when camparing it to my TB. It has to be a bad batch of phones. Could the bad batch be related to the vertical banding visible on the Gnex screen only with certain color backgrounds?

I am half tempted to believe this to be possible. If you look at the pics I posted in #103, and then click my link in comment $135 and view the 9 pics I have saved there...I think you will see a fair amount of difference in the quality. I didn't take the pictures differently....just had a new Nexus.
 
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Again, these are nice pix but all are outdoors or indoors with lots of outdoor light streaming in. The problem is not these conditions, but true indoor lighting conditions (no bright outdoor lighting coming in) where the results are in the toilet.

all smartphone/cellphone's camera sensor is small compare to ordinary digital cameras, so difference is noticable when amount of light is limited. (like at night or indoor)

here's tip on taking good pic with smarphone cameras.
dont turn on camera mode and rush to take pictures, u gotta wait till it focus. (i advise to aim it on object for at least 10 sec, GNex has zero shutter lag not zero focus time)

also image stabilization of smartphone is very limited, so one of key to take good picture is try to do best not to shake it.
those pictures with lotta noise is due to shake also, not only light.

cuz most of cellphones use digital image stabilization by sub optimal image exposure time, it will end up pictures with less motion blur but more noise.
 
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I currently have a Rezound, but i've been itching to buy a Nexus, for the sake of having a "Nexus". I've been really worried about the camera though. The Rezound's is pretty nice. Here's a couple shots I took with a GN in a Verizon store the other day. Per the previous poster though, there was some pretty decent daylight coming into the room, so these turned out ok. Any darker, and I'm not sure what the result would have been. This is enough to make me want to pull the trigger on a GN though!
 

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I currently have a Rezound, but i've been itching to buy a Nexus, for the sake of having a "Nexus". I've been really worried about the camera though. The Rezound's is pretty nice. Here's a couple shots I took with a GN in a Verizon store the other day. Per the previous poster though, there was some pretty decent daylight coming into the room, so these turned out ok. Any darker, and I'm not sure what the result would have been. This is enough to make me want to pull the trigger on a GN though!

Daylight is excellent, just make sure to turn on flash in lower light... also in bright light where you need some fill lighting.
 
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One thing a lot keep forgetting, when comparing to that crapple thing, is that most of it's clear photos comes purely from software processing after the photo is taken. You will find (if you actually mess with it) that in certain conditions, it's methods also fail. Some like the fact that it autoprocesses, but due to color loss and other things...its better to do those edits yourself later on for a nicer photo to send to the grandparents rather than some fuzzy thing that looks like it came from a 1995 ink jet =).
 
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One thing a lot keep forgetting, when comparing to that crapple thing, is that most of it's clear photos comes purely from software processing after the photo is taken. You will find (if you actually mess with it) that in certain conditions, it's methods also fail. Some like the fact that it autoprocesses, but due to color loss and other things...its better to do those edits yourself later on for a nicer photo to send to the grandparents rather than some fuzzy thing that looks like it came from a 1995 ink jet =).

Yeah, post processing shows that there's a ton of detail in the pics, but not necessary here.

In my 30 years of photography, you take pics with expensive dslr's and expensive glass, and then you HAVE to post process.

SGN camera is awesome in the right hands. Same could be said of any camera... I think there are 4s photo links here that are worse than the SGN!
 
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