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Droid Turbo 2 Camera

Kimbo

Lurker
Nov 1, 2015
1
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From what I have read the camera is improved on the Turbo 2 (vs. Turbo), but some sites have said there is no image stabilization. The Moto website says it has Video Stabilization, but I'm not sure that's the same thing.

I like to take pictures with my phone (currently S4) and want to be sure the Turbo 2 will produce quality shots. Any thoughts on the topic, or feedback on the camera?

Thanks
 
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The Droid Turbo 2 is a fantastic phone with tons of cool features. Unfortunately, the camera is mid-range. There's no action shot mode and it's really difficult to get a sharp picture as soon as objects or people start moving. By comparison, the camera on the Note 5 is in a totally different league and has many free downloadable camera modes while being totally customizable, including an excellent sports mode. The auto mode shows blurriness with fast movement in the Note 5, the sports mode doesn't. I wish Motorola had thought this through. Yes, you can take 10 pictures in 2 seconds, but they're all blurry if the subject is moving.

I had read the DxOMark review enthusiastically (84/100 compared to the Note's 86/100), and this was a selling point for me. Baloney! Now I find suspicious that articles about the Droid Turbo 2 camera test by DxOMark started popping up everywhere a week before the official presentation of the phone when DxOMark is often pretty slow to publish tests of some of the other popular phones. The Note 5 has the same camera module as the Galaxy S6 Edge (and S6) which gets an 86/100.

My wife has the Note 5, so I know what I'm talking about. I challenge anybody to show me even the slightest shred of real-life-use evidence that the Turbo 2 warrants an 84% when the Note 5 gets an 86%. The Turbo 2 takes great outdoor pictures with no moving subjects and plenty of sunlight. It also has pretty good low light capabilities, again when nothing's moving.
The front flash also helps a lot for really good selfies (the Note 5 lacks a front-facing flash).

Despite this, I prefer my Turbo 2 to the Note 5 for various reasons: better battery, original UI and software, actually slightly faster, durability out of this world, faster charging, sd card, cheaper...) The list goes on. The S-Pen does nothing for me.
 
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The Droid Turbo 2 cannot seem to capture movement (photo). Its camera with its total lack of shooting modes and customization is mid-range in my opinion when it comes to any real-life challenging environment (enough of the flowers, buildings and Starbucks coffee cups sample pictures already!) All or part of the picture ends up blurry if the subject moves, which is a shame for a 2015-2016 flagship phone. The 10-photo-in-two-second burst does not help: either you get strictly identical pictures if the environment is still or you get 10 partially blurred pictures if something moves.

However, I found a real game-changing trick and the only way, as far as I know, to capture a moving person or object with no blurriness with the Droid Turbo 2: you have to film the subject in 1080p or 4k and tap the screen (no viewfinder while filming) whenever you want to take a picture (multiple taps for multiple shots works just fine). I have taken many pictures like that, and I have had very good results, on par with the sports mode of the Galaxy Note 5 which takes outstanding action shots.

The first picture below was taken on a sunny weekend morning and snapped while filming the action in 4K. This picture has been cropped from the original 2160x3840 resolution but not resized or retouched in any way (resizing entails compression and/or loss of quality). It was saved in "lossless encoding" JPEG format. Yes, that’s right, the white ball on the right is in mid-flight, in focus and sharp and the ball player is also still moving! The second picture shows the original photo resized but not retouched.

Of course, it’s a production and I wish this kind of shot was possible without having to film the subject first. I guess it’s better than nothing.
 

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I agree the camera software is really lacking in options. Even the Google camera has some more options. I have been playing with the camera this morning and trying different apps. I have noticed the lens blur mode of the Google Camera has been getting some good results.

I am hoping when root is available I can use some of the ported camera apps from other phones.
 
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