So why don't HDR apps work properly on our phones?
One manufacturer I contacted insisted that it was because the EVO 3D doesn't utilize the android api properly to adjust the exposure setting. I even confirmed this with HTC. You can try it out as follows: If you open the camera app and play with the exposure slider in the options, you'll see that instead of changing exposure, what it does is just bumps up the brightness of the image.
HOWEVER, yesterday I noticed that the exposure does change properly but not when you use the slider. Best way to try this is sitting next to a window on a sunny day. If you point the camera towards the window, the exposure auto adjusts you can see the details outside but anything inside the room still in the frame just looks dark. However, if you point the camera so it's mostly pointing inside the room, you'll notice that the exposure auto-adjusts again so you can now see details of objects inside the room but any part of the window still in the frame is now completely washed out. So..auto-adjustment of exposure works.
Now in most of the these HDR apps work by taking a picture on high, medium, and low exposure and then stitches them all together. However, the app isn't able to adjust the exposure settings properly and this is probably because it's tapping into the "exposure setting" in the camera's api...the same thing we are able to change when using the exposure slider on the camera app. As I said before though, the exposure slider is actually controlling the brightness. But I'm now certain that the camera is actually able to adjust the exposure but only does so through auto-adjustment. What's broken is the ability to set the exposure manually. How would one fix this?
where should i post this to get the attention of the devs who might know how to fix this?
The issue is it is a hard question. lol I don't have any idea. haha. I think the issue is we have two front cameras.
runcool said:
The issue is it is a hard question. lol I don't have any idea. haha. I think the issue is we have two front cameras.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
two rear cameras my man. There's only one in the front
Interesting... I've used a couple of hdr apps on gingerbread and they appeared to work. Although I didn't do rigorous testing. All I did was compare normal pic against hdr app and I noticed a difference. However this was last summer. Maybe something changed since then.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
Oh and the stock camera app in ICS, or at least in the couple of roms I've tried, has hdr as a feature. Except it isn't true hdr I don't think. It snaps 1 pic then processes it. I didn't think there was any difference at first, but I did notice a slight improvement.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
There will always be slight differences between stock vs HDR pics because the HDR app usually does some post-processing however, if it's not taking 2 or more pictures that have the exposure adjusting drastically, you're not really getting the HDR effect.
Yes, I know about hdr... The processing and everything. I just hadn't tested these things like you have and sharing my experience.
Anyhow... I had also read others claim htc didn't use the app right months ago. Not sure why they messed that up. I'm going away for the weekend and might mess with this myself. If I see anything worth adding I will.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
Just wanted to share hdr works as it should on the latest ics leak. I just tried it on mean rom ics 1.6. Exposure adjustments in their stock app also works as it should.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
That's excellent news! Are you sure the exposure setting works properly and doesn't just change brightness? I know you probably tested it before posting but if you could do this for me and write back, i'd really appreciate it.
From inside a room from a distance, point camera towards a window. Are you able to see detail inside and outside the room by changing the exposure slider to either extreme?
abdeviation said:
That's excellent news! Are you sure the exposure setting works properly and doesn't just change brightness? I know you probably tested it before posting but if you could do this for me and write back, i'd really appreciate it.
From inside a room from a distance, point camera towards a window. Are you able to see detail inside and outside the room by changing the exposure slider to either extreme?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had a lot of time to play but it did work. I'm a photographer and video producer so I know what to look for. My quick test however was as a passenger in a car. I pointed it to the seat where part was in bright sun and then other was in shade, plus some of the frame of the car in shade. Stepping down showed the detail in the seat in sun, increasing it showed it in the shadows.
I also tried hdr + (I think that's the right one) and each of the 3 photos was at a different exposure, granted not by much.
There is still a bug where the front camera flips the photo left/right after it's taken, however, you only seems this after reviewing the pic.
Edit: the app was hdr camera
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
Oh also fyi... The first leak did not work in relation to this.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
awesome, perhaps HTC got around to fixing it in ICS. Several months ago, I actually contacted them describing to them what was wrong with the camera. After a lot of back and forth and escalating the issue internally, I was finally able to reach the team that actually works on the stuff and they confirmed the issue and said they will include a fix "in a future release" but did not make any promises. Maybe they got around to it
I'm going to have to flash a ICS rom to test this myself once I find some spare time
Related
Hi,
I have searched from all over the web app that could change camera's exposure time. I like to take good nigh photos, or anyway as good as it's possible with mobilephone camera, but like in mine HTC Desire exposure time is way too short.
I have tried many of those camera apps from market, like camera 360, but non of them can adjust shutter speed/exposure way I wanted. Say, I want a long exposure for night photo. For example I would like input exposure value to app, so that it would expose photo for 10 seconds.
So, do anyone know app to change exposure/shutter speed?
And my Desire is not rooted and I'm currently not planning to do so.
Would love to know about this, too; any ideas for this?
Sign me up for this as well.
Long exposures would be great. Would need some sort of remote shutter release or time delay ideally and a mounting system, tripod fashion.
Problem is - you'd also need a mount or tripod of some sort to hold the camera still enought to make long exposures work
I don't know about the rest of you but I can only handhold steady my DSLR down to about 1/80th of a second
Argent36 said:
Problem is - you'd also need a mount or tripod of some sort to hold the camera still enought to make long exposures work
I don't know about the rest of you but I can only handhold steady my DSLR down to about 1/80th of a second
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have managed 1/15 and 1/8 (the latter very rarely) handheld with my Pentax (image stabilisation built into body FTW), but yeah, you would have to use a tripod or to prop it up and have a timed shutter release for the phone. This isn't a problem as such, even just being able to specify the aperture would be welcome.
Well a mount can be anything...jumper, phone leaned against a wall. Would be awesome for cityscapes and such. Anyone found anything which indicates this is possible with a software patch? New to android and just tearing through my first rom package
Exactly, it doesn't have to be anything serious, just lean it against a beer for example.
I can't see a reason why you couldn't manually control everything, I can control ISO, metering, etc on my SGS, adding aperture and shutter shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility.
Had a look around as a noob to Android dev/roms etc. and I don't think it's possible to control the hardware to that level :/
Would love to be corrected on this, though!
I don't have the SDK installed anymore, can someone test what camera.getParameters gives on a device?
This would be great, the DX has a nice camera but additional lens control would put the icing on the cake
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Tachikoma_kun said:
I don't have the SDK installed anymore, can someone test what camera.getParameters gives on a device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Parameters not found I'm doin it wrong?
Epic is as Epic does
Argent36 said:
Problem is - you'd also need a mount or tripod of some sort to hold the camera still enought to make long exposures work
I don't know about the rest of you but I can only handhold steady my DSLR down to about 1/80th of a second
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can handhold my Leica down to 1/15. You need more practice (a lot of it).
Argent36 said:
Problem is - you'd also need a mount or tripod of some sort to hold the camera still enought to make long exposures work
I don't know about the rest of you but I can only handhold steady my DSLR down to about 1/80th of a second
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to be too big a jerk here, but if you can only hand-hold an SLR steady, any SLR, at 1/80 or faster then I'm sorry to say that you may have a serious case of parkinson's, or are the most ADHD person who ever picked up a camera.
1/60 is recognized as the speed at which regular hand-held motion is mitigated, and unless you're actively moving the camera (or standing on top of a paint-mixer), you will not get camera-shake at that speed. Most photographers are able to hand-hold, and get a shake-free shot, down to about 1/8 on a good day.
PokeAsheep said:
Parameters not found I'm doin it wrong?
Epic is as Epic does
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What was the rest of the code? and did you try this on actual hardware or the emulator?
I will try to code an app for that. Plus FFC Support...
but you'll have to wait until I'm back from Japan
EDIT: It's not possible to really influence the shutter-speed or the aperture, because it is non-existent in the hardware, but there can be an interpolation of both values that are calculated from ISO settings and exposure calculation. It won't be perfect in any way, but it might be possible to do something similar... probably it is possible to gain more control via the ndk or by "cheating".
Thanks Flokey!
Does anyone knows if there is such a program?
I don't think a long shutter on todays camera phones would be useful as the sensor noise would be crazy bad.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Fv-5 camera in the market. Try that
I had been disappointed the camera app didn't apparently support tap to focus. Turns out it has something similar, just hidden behind an awkward user interface.
You can slide the focus box in the middle with your finger to whatever you want to focus on.
I thought I had explored the app pretty thoroughly, but didn't find that one until I read the review of the Photon on Phonescoop.
If i am not mistaken (and usually i am) lol, I thought I was able to do that as well on my EVO 4G running MikG. I don't have my EVO with me at the moment here at work, but I'll see once i get home. Either way, good to know.
Thanks for the tip.
Edit: just checked with my sis and nope I must have imagined it doing that.
TS out
OK so whatever you move the box to center on is the point of auto focus for the photo....very cool !
now, how do we turn off the extremely annoying shutter sound?
Even with manually adjusting the focus, have you noticed that this camera is particularly bad at taking close-up photos? My Nexus One never had a blurry or out-of-focus photo, but for some reason the camera on my new Photon takes crap pictures. I've even tried the macro mode and it still looks terrible. This is at about 4 inches away from the object being photographed. I tried in various different light settings too.
Is it me or does our camcorder suck?? I recorded my dog in the house blinds were open and everything so I can have light in the house but my video still came out dark which is crazy really starting to think our camera is wack I love the phone don't get me wrong but I'm considering trading it in I mean its like I have to be outside to get decent quality....in the daytime anyway
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
You forgot to turn on the camera light.
phatmanxxl said:
You forgot to turn on the camera light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it was light in my house tho open blinds and everything.....
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Maybe too much light or cam was pointing the bright areas. All cameras will do this. The shutter is taking in all that light.
Rydah805 said:
Maybe too much light or cam was pointing the bright areas. All cameras will do this. The shutter is taking in all that light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok ill do a couple more test then
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
I'm a professional video producer and hobby photographer. I haven't tested the Evo 3D's camera for video yet, but the problem you described is common in all auto cameras.
When a camera is automatically adjusting exposure, shutter, iso, etc. it adjusts for the brightest dominant subject in frame. The camera thinks you want everything perfectly exposed and is programmed not to blow out the highlights. So, what happens is it sees the bright window and thinks "ok, lets expose to that so it isn't a white blob." If you want to avoid this type of thing, lighting has to be as even as possible to the windows (which is almost always impossible) or you frame your subject without the window in the background. You also avoid this by using manual exposure settings, but I'm not sure how much control you'll have on the E3D.
What I would be weary of is the bitrate the E3D records video at. HD is only a resolution, but if it's a crappy bitrate, the video will look like crap. If you're not familiar with that, search youtube for some sample clips of videos in different bitrates. This probably can't be adjusted in the settings, but might be adjusted with some development if this is lacking. I remember when I was on my Samsung Moment which was android 2.1, that was adjusted in the build.prop but I don't know if that's the same here.
EDIT:
Some examples of what I described -
Bitrate comparrisons:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xNG6gw4cxU
Some background to the above clip, this is testing the Q scale of a hacked firmware for a DSLR. The Q scale is just the piece of the firmware that controls the video compression/bitrate. The lower it is set, the higher the bitrate it uses. He starts at about a 44Mbps bitrate in the above video and moves down to about 10Mbps or lower. I'd be surprised if the E3D records even 2 or 3 Mbps. But if you jump from the beginning to about 1 min 30 sec. you can see the difference more. Watching it through, the changes are so subtle you might not notice much.
Couldn't find a video to demonstrate, but this forum post about the subject might help:
http://forums.cnet.com/7723-7594_102-282799.html
@GK1984 THANKS A LOT your info makes sense even tho imo my EVO 3d camera is kinda wack ....specially in low light
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Chauleyboii said:
@GK1984 THANKS A LOT your info makes sense even tho imo my EVO 3d camera is kinda wack ....specially in low light
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. There's a lot to factor into better low-light picture. The tiny lens on mobile phones doesn't help. The new Mytouch HTC just released this summer has a back-lit sensor which lets more light hit the sensor, for example (the sensor is built backwards so the wiring is behind it - in a nut-shell). It's like a "duh" technology but JUST emerged recently. A lot of cameras compensate by adjusting the ISO (digital equivalent to film speed or sensitivity to light) but that causes more noise/fuzz to appear. You may want to try that though if you can for video, I know you can on photos. But feel free to ask me anything about video or photography and I'll do my best to respond. I don't sign in to XDA often, but I'd be glad to exchange emails or something.
Turn up the exposure, under image adjustments.
Does wonders for me.
Noiro said:
Turn up the exposure, under image adjustments.
Does wonders for me.
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Click to collapse
I did I mess with all the settings .....stop not satisfied lol .....just think HTC could if done better I know back in the day BAKED SNACK would tweak the camera and camcorder to make it better....just hope eventually the devs will do the same
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
That's the only settings change I would make to get the best results, aside from dancing with a higher ISO... I keep it at max on both the camera & camcorder.
Noiro said:
That's the only settings change I would make to get the best results, aside from dancing with a higher ISO... I keep it at max on both the camera & camcorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotcha
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Whenever I am recording video it seems to be constantly going in and out of focus. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
Care to expand so we can help?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA App
You couldn't ask both your questions in one thread? Post some examples.
I'm not sure what else to say besides it oscillates constantly, meaning fractions of a second.
Miami_Son said:
You couldn't ask both your questions in one thread? Post some examples.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think they should be in the same thread because they are different issues. Perhaps they are related, but then it would be do to a hardware issue.
What's the preferred means of posting examples?
If your having problems with both stills and videos, then it is likely related. You can attach jpg files to your post. You can upload vids to YouTube and post the links here.
Here are a few example shots.
The 1st shot is with the camera settings at default. The 2nd shot has anti-shake on. The 3rd shot has auto-contrast enabled.
As you can see they are all grainy and blurry even though I'm taking an image of something that is not moving.
The light produced from an overhead halogen. However, the pictures turn out similar under standard incandescent, fluorescent, or any other non-natural lighting. Also I tried out several other settings without any improvement (e.g. setting white balance to incandescent, setting the scene to party indoor, using macro focus instead of auto, etc.).
That's sensor grain. It happens when there is insufficient light as the sensor has to work harder to expose the scene and it heats up. Also, since the scene is so dim the camera is using a slower shutter speed, which results in some camera shake that causes a less sharp photo. Can you take a pic with the flash on? Also, if you are expecting Canon-level photography from this (or any cell phone camera) expect to be disappointed more often than not.
Miami_Son said:
That's sensor grain. It happens when there is insufficient light as the sensor has to work harder to expose the scene and it heats up. Also, since the scene is so dim the camera is using a slower shutter speed, which results in some camera shake that causes a less sharp photo. Can you take a pic with the flash on? Also, if you are expecting Canon-level photography from this (or any cell phone camera) expect to be disappointed more often than not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, thanks so far. I will try it with the flash on. I have taken pictures in a lot of indoor light and if anything is moving the whole image is blurry. Sometimes it looks like the air is shimmering.
Perhaps what I need to do is to use something other than auto ISO?
DLarva said:
Cool, thanks so far. I will try it with the flash on. I have taken pictures in a lot of indoor light and if anything is moving the whole image is blurry. Sometimes it looks like the air is shimmering.
Perhaps what I need to do is to use something other than auto ISO?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, just like Miami_Son said, auto flash will make the difference. That or bright enough lighting. Try it during the day time.
Sent from my páhhōniē
Like I said, in low light the camera will pick a slower shutter speed, which causes camera shake and blur of anything moving. What seems well lit to the eye is different for a camera sensor. Either use flash or turn on more lights. You can try turning up the ISO, but that can also increase grain.
Record video in 720p and the autofocus issues should go away.
okay so ever since i got the LTE EVO iv been seeing people take AMAZING close up pictures of bugs/insects that are in FOCUS!
HOW?!?!?!?!?
Ill find a bug outside and take out my LTE evo, open up the camera app and put the macro on "close up" and i can NEVER get it to atuo focus/touch focus good enough to see that its even a bug!
..
i also tried it and this is the best I could get...
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
im in the same boat as you guys. People say the camera is awesome but i think its sub par. My GS2 was way better than this. I get great out door pics but thats it. nothing inside.
I've been using "Depth of Field" effect for close ups and I've been getting some really good results.
I've had inconsistent results with up close pictures.
I agree that indoor pictures are bad on the auto mode.
Sent from my EVO using XDA
jaime2563 said:
I've been using "Depth of Field" effect for close ups and I've been getting some really good results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where is this effect?
Warrior 3000 said:
where is this effect?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the Camera app, it is the blue semi-transparent button above the camera shutter button. That gives you different options for effects when taking pictures (and video also if I'm not mistaken)
Make sure you're in close up mode. Hit the A and scroll down to close up it's near the bottom.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
donatom3 said:
Make sure you're in close up mode. Hit the A and scroll down to close up it's near the bottom.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes do this. Here's a close up of my otterbox clip I took and it looks pretty clear and closeup.
SENT FROM MY EVO 4G LTE!!!
Sounds like a focusing bug in the app on some phone. Try camera 360.
Sent from my EVO LTE
First one was normal setting but zoomed fully. Second was closeup setting unzoomed.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
drdagreenphd said:
From the Camera app, it is the blue semi-transparent button above the camera shutter button. That gives you different options for effects when taking pictures (and video also if I'm not mistaken)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that actually makes it even worse. it does focus on anything close up.
Close up work for me, i was probably less than an inch from the keyboard in this photo. Are you half pressing the shutter button or pressing on the screen to focus the image?
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE using Tapatalk
When I press the camera button on my phone it doesn't focus at all
Sent from my EVO using XDA
schnergun said:
When I press the camera button on my phone it doesn't focus at all
Sent from my EVO using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You press it halfway and it will focus, press it down all the way and it snaps a shot. You can also focus by pressing on the object in the frame on the screen, it will actually make a noise when you do that.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE using Tapatalk
Lots of user error in this thread.
schnergun said:
im in the same boat as you guys. People say the camera is awesome but i think its sub par. My GS2 was way better than this. I get great out door pics but thats it. nothing inside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not the camera's fault. That's user error. Mine works flawlessly indoors and outdoors as well as with closeups and panoramic shots.
drdagreenphd said:
From the Camera app, it is the blue semi-transparent button above the camera shutter button. That gives you different options for effects when taking pictures (and video also if I'm not mistaken)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That changes effects (similar to Instagram) not the ability to render quality closeups.
Noiro said:
Sounds like a focusing bug in the app on some phone. Try camera 360.
Sent from my EVO LTE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. It's people blaming the phone instead of taking the time to learn their phone inside and out and understand exactly how it works.
donatom3 said:
Make sure you're in close up mode. Hit the A and scroll down to close up it's near the bottom.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct. The phone's camera has various modes to which it can be set and take a wide variety of picture types.
Concordium said:
Lots of user error in this thread.
That's not the camera's fault. That's user error. Mine works flawlessly indoors and outdoors as well as with closeups and panoramic shots.
That changes effects (similar to Instagram) not the ability to render quality closeups.
Wrong. It's people blaming the phone instead of taking the time to learn their phone inside and out and understand exactly how it works.
This is correct. The phone's camera has various modes to which it can be set and take a wide variety of picture types.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, the OP mentions using the mode in the 1st post.
It works perfectly for me as well but clearly not for him.
Hence a possible bug in the camera application. Just because is fine for us doesn't mean its fine across the board.
Sent from my EVO LTE
Concordium said:
Lots of user error in this thread.
That's not the camera's fault. That's user error. Mine works flawlessly indoors and outdoors as well as with closeups and panoramic shots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's unfair for people to immediately blame the camera, but by the same token, it's unfair for you to claim it's simply user error. There's a degree of subjectivity (not sure if that's even a word LOL) that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about camera and picture quality.
With that being said, my personal opinion is is that the camera software on this phone is certainly flawed. It's good, but it can be better in so many ways. The camera itself is very very good. Tons of potential there, but the software is holding it back.
As for my personal experience when I had this phone, it consistently takes very good outdoor shots, but was very hit or miss when it came to indoor, lowish light shots. I have 2 pictures that was able to find that illustrate my concern. I think the problem is with the AUTO settings. Manually changing settings prior to taking the shot will produce better pictures, but it's a bit impractical to expect that (EVEN from a phone). In regards to the physical camera button, maybe my phone was defective because the first step of the button did absolutely nothing. I was told it's supposed to SEEM like it does nothing, but that it's actually auto-focusing. In my experience, that wasn't the case. The auto-focus usually happens automatically (kind of like the iPhone 4S) center-weighted, unless you use tap-to-focus. Pressing the button didn't refocus anything. In fact, it didn't seem to do anything AT ALL. Again, my phone may have just been defective. Going to make sure to try this again when I get another one in my hands.
I'm adding a few pictures. The one of the boxes and of the notebook is a prime example of the kind of shots I would get when shooting AUTO in indoor and low-light conditions. As you can see, the shots are terrible. For some reason the camera is maxing the ISO (among other things) so they came out extremely grainy. They are perfectly focused, the image simply isn't optimized. The keyboard picture shows a much better shot. In this shot the camera did a better job of optimizing under AUTO settings. It also maxed the ISO, yet it still produced a good looking shot. This one had better light, as you can see.
Overall my grade of the camera was an 8/10, and only because of the software limitations. As a reference, I also give the Samsung Galaxy S II an 8/10. On that phone the camera itself isn't as good, but the software (or maybe just the capture algorithm) is significantly better when shooting in AUTO.
Just my 2 cents.
gnarlynick said:
You press it halfway and it will focus, press it down all the way and it snaps a shot. You can also focus by pressing on the object in the frame on the screen, it will actually make a noise when you do that.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, no it doesn't.
Press it down half way to lock focus and exposure, not to command a focus.
The camera is constantly focusing. Half-pressing the shutter button only maintains the focus at the time it was pressed.
vulcZ said:
It's unfair for people to immediately blame the camera, but by the same token, it's unfair for you to claim it's simply user error. There's a degree of subjectivity (not sure if that's even a word LOL) that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about camera and picture quality.
With that being said, my personal opinion is is that the camera software on this phone is certainly flawed. It's good, but it can be better in so many ways. The camera itself is very very good. Tons of potential there, but the software is holding it back.
As for my personal experience when I had this phone, it consistently takes very good outdoor shots, but was very hit or miss when it came to indoor, lowish light shots. I have 2 pictures that was able to find that illustrate my concern. I think the problem is with the AUTO settings. Manually changing settings prior to taking the shot will produce better pictures, but it's a bit impractical to expect that (EVEN from a phone). In regards to the physical camera button, maybe my phone was defective because the first step of the button did absolutely nothing. I was told it's supposed to SEEM like it does nothing, but that it's actually auto-focusing. In my experience, that wasn't the case. The auto-focus usually happens automatically (kind of like the iPhone 4S) center-weighted, unless you use tap-to-focus. Pressing the button didn't refocus anything. In fact, it didn't seem to do anything AT ALL. Again, my phone may have just been defective. Going to make sure to try this again when I get another one in my hands.
I'm adding a few pictures. The one of the boxes and of the notebook is a prime example of the kind of shots I would get when shooting AUTO in indoor and low-light conditions. As you can see, the shots are terrible. For some reason the camera is maxing the ISO (among other things) so they came out extremely grainy. They are perfectly focused, the image simply isn't optimized. The keyboard picture shows a much better shot. In this shot the camera did a better job of optimizing under AUTO settings. It also maxed the ISO, yet it still produced a good looking shot. This one had better light, as you can see.
Overall my grade of the camera was an 8/10, and only because of the software limitations. As a reference, I also give the Samsung Galaxy S II an 8/10. On that phone the camera itself isn't as good, but the software (or maybe just the capture algorithm) is significantly better when shooting in AUTO.
Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your hardware button isn't defective. It's programmed to lock focus and exposure settings instead of manually focusing.