Is there a fix for the camera?

[slinky]

When you guys shrink the 5MP images down to a low resolution like you do, the pictures look OK. The only good picture above is the one of the car, which is an extremely rare good shot. Even that picture has lousy jpeg effects in the dark area below the front bumper. The picture of the slug is out of focus and has an odd effect on the sides. But that is far from a true 5MP picture at full resolution. The pictures of the kids below are "very good" for this camera but still are extremely poor. In every instance the shots are blurry and not in focus and, in the last one, that awful double flash has caused the boy's face to reflect all the white light.

I'm not asking too much. Honestly, my iPhone 3GS which consistently takes pictures too dark (they all do) takes better pictures. My brother's Blackberry Tour smokes them all... sadly. It's really sad!

 

[eliassami5]

When you guys shrink the 5MP images down to a low resolution like you do, the pictures look OK. The only good picture above is the one of the car, which is an extremely rare good shot. Even that picture has lousy jpeg effects in the dark area below the front bumper. The picture of the slug is out of focus and has an odd effect on the sides. But that is far from a true 5MP picture at full resolution. The pictures of the kids below are "very good" for this camera but still are extremely poor. In every instance the shots are blurry and not in focus and, in the last one, that awful double flash has caused the boy's face to reflect all the white light.

I'm not asking too much. Honestly, my iPhone 3GS which consistently takes pictures too dark (they all do) takes better pictures. My brother's Blackberry Tour smokes them all... sadly. It's really sad!

but honestly were talking about a camera phone here..these pics are more than good enough. And people forget that megapixels are just a marketing tactic..just like "Max power" when you buy a sub woofer, or a stereo, or an amplifier, and contrast ratio on tvs/computer monitors. They are just numbers..if you are really that serious about your pictures then you should carry around a dedicated camera around with you.

 

[kbayer]

Agreed... megapixels are important when considering the size of the image more than quality. For quality, the lens is probably what seperates the pro cameras from the really-good cameras. Still, with Droid's camera, the images look a tad washed out, but this makes them generally easier to work with when editing. And I mean basic editing, like contrast and color tweaks. If pics are over-exposed, they are more difficult to fix, but can still be made nice.
When you are comparing the camerphone to a real dedicated camera, it's going to be hard for the Droid to come out on top. But camerphone vs cameraphone -- Droid does quite well.

Here's a cool comparison that Phonearena did... Verizon Cameraphone Comparison Q4 2009 (Phone Arena Reviews)

 

[hinky]

When you guys shrink the 5MP images down to a low resolution like you do, the pictures look OK. The only good picture above is the one of the car, which is an extremely rare good shot. Even that picture has lousy jpeg effects in the dark area below the front bumper. The picture of the slug is out of focus and has an odd effect on the sides. But that is far from a true 5MP picture at full resolution. The pictures of the kids below are "very good" for this camera but still are extremely poor. In every instance the shots are blurry and not in focus and, in the last one, that awful double flash has caused the boy's face to reflect all the white light.

I'm not asking too much. Honestly, my iPhone 3GS which consistently takes pictures too dark (they all do) takes better pictures. My brother's Blackberry Tour smokes them all... sadly. It's really sad!

but honestly were talking about a camera phone here..these pics are more than good enough. And people forget that megapixels are just a marketing tactic..just like "Max power" when you buy a sub woofer, or a stereo, or an amplifier, and contrast ratio on tvs/computer monitors. They are just numbers..if you are really that serious about your pictures then you should carry around a dedicated camera around with you.

The pic of the car is good enough. Virtually anything indoors, including with decent lighting, looks horrid. It looks good enough on a camera but so pitiful that it cannot be used as a background for a standard xvga monitors. The pictures of the kids outdoors is OK but the pictures of the kids indoors are not in focus and in one instance the flash does more to hurt the picture than to help. Most of the time without it, the pictures are blurrier.

I too thought "it's just a camera phone." But when the pics of my white board were noticeably worse than using my OLD curve, I knew just how pitiful this camera really is. The flash is less than worthless. I realized this by simply taking a picture of two pages on a pad on a desk with medium light. The flash illuminated and created a circle radiating light unevenly. I'm no camera buff but the result was laughably bad. The photo of the boy above represents the least obvtrusive and even that adds whiteness to his face that just shouldn't be there.

 

[Eufouria]

For those of you who say a camera phone isn't meant to be used as a primary camera I think you are missing the point of a smart phone.

The Droid and even my previous Omnia1 replaced my GPS, MP3 player, Notepad, and laptop in some instances. Why would the camera be the one incorporated function of our phone that we need another device to carry around for?
My Omnia took beautiful images that easily rivaled some point-and-shoot cameras.

I have a Rebel XT for photographic excursions, my Droid should fill in the rest of my photographic needs.

It's really sad, if it weren't for the hardware keyboard I would drop this thing like a hot coal for the Nexus One just in hopes of getting somewhere closer to the quality of my year-old Omnia's camera.

 

[mitchb2]

Why would the camera be the one incorporated function of our phone that we need another device to carry around for?

Exactly. I don't carry a purse!
My little Flip Mino takes AMAZING quality video. And it boots in one second. When I import the video into the PC, I use the snapshot function to grab a frame and use that as a photo. Even doing that gives me better pictures than the Droid.
When I got my Droid I gave the Flip to my wife, thinking I had an all-in-one device.

The pictures posted here as examples show that people are easily pleased. Those pictures are not good. I mean, yes, they are pictures in the sense that they are images that were captured. But they're drab and blurry.

 

[virtualhuman]

I'll take speed over brightness. Little kids and animals refuse to sit still for the time it takes to push the button until the time the picture is taken.

Yes, taking pictures of my parrots is a challenge. Try getting a bird to sit still for a couple of seconds. It's not easy.

Beautiful blue & gold you have there.

I've had the same problem with my two green cheek conures. Especially since I don't use the flash since they don't like it. Same problem with video, which has been way too dark. Just the other day, my girlfriend asked me to record them dancing to Lady Gaga (they love it when she plays her for them) but it wasn't even usable.

 

[adrynalyne]

For those of you who say a camera phone isn't meant to be used as a primary camera I think you are missing the point of a smart phone.

The Droid and even my previous Omnia1 replaced my GPS, MP3 player, Notepad, and laptop in some instances. Why would the camera be the one incorporated function of our phone that we need another device to carry around for?
My Omnia took beautiful images that easily rivaled some point-and-shoot cameras.

I have a Rebel XT for photographic excursions, my Droid should fill in the rest of my photographic needs.

It's really sad, if it weren't for the hardware keyboard I would drop this thing like a hot coal for the Nexus One just in hopes of getting somewhere closer to the quality of my year-old Omnia's camera.

A smart phone isn't just about the camera though. I will take a better OS any day.

As for the N1, is the superior camera worth the problematic touch sensitive buttons, or the faulty multitouch tracking?

 

[tootsookay]

camera flash issue ?

well the issue im having is its slow on opening and also the big issue is when i take a pic at night and the flash comes on the picture is dark .. so are u guys having the same issue im guessing? as stated previous..:motdroidvert:

 

[bruceduhamel]

Hello,
I've found the video camera also takes a tad longer than I'd like to start recording from when I push the button too though. The quality of the video is great, no complaints there. While it is a tiny camera and we are stuck with the low light situation I would think software could speed up the shutter issue.

 

[DessoThumbs]

As I've posted before, my daughter's droid eris takes a better looking pic than my droid. (under same conditions). hope firmware update can help.

 

[takeshi]

It's really going to depend on what the actual cause of the issue(s) is. If the specs of the sensor are the limiting factor then we're stuck with what we have. If it's poor coding of the camera app then there's some hope.

The optics on cameras do make the biggest difference but the sensor itself is important as well. You can't rely solely on MP for comparing cameras any more than you can rely on a single spec to compare any other products out there.

I mean really. When you can go out and buy a digital point & shoot camera about the same size as the Droid, and get better photos, who needs the in-phone camera?

If I want high quality photos I'll bring along a real camera. However, when it comes to snapshots, a major point of a smartphone for me is convergence. If I have to carry a separate camera, media player, GPS, etc then I might as well have a dumb phone IMO.

 

[Riley]

Good daylight shots are great on my Droid, but lower light and video clips in lower light are awful. Also what i find weird is that a 5MP shot is only 1 MB in file size tops.....that's way small for 5MP.

 

[Brokn68]

I don't mind the camera. I've always carried a small digital camera in my backpack for those moments that I want a better picture. I've never used a phone for a primary picture taking device and I've owned a lot of different phones. My 2 cents