I recently switched to an AOSP rom and found that the samsung voice recording app sounds very good. I'm not sure, but i'm guessing it utilizes both mics. The first app from the market i tried, smart voice recorder, sounded horrible. I couldn't hear the lecture at all. Does anyone know of an app that utilizes both the mics or sounds as good as the touchwiz app?
for general recording I use recforge...i bought pro, you can swap formats, decrease gain It can successfully record vocals during band practice with a loud guitar, so i can find harmonies after if I'm struggling or if a new soong. I highly recommend this app for recording. There are also convert tools and other options
as for lectures, I use lecture notes pro version with lecture note recordings. The recording is not as nice, but good enough and when listening to a play back, i can search, then press a place on my handwritten notes and it will automatically synch the play back to the time when i wrote the notes. I use it with a stylus and it take what i wrote in the window at the bottom and places it on a line in the "paper", it does multi pages, has so many options for tweaking size, font, and way more than I can list here. There is a trial version however the recording add on is purchase only. the lecture notes printed out really nice from phone and tablet or i can share them to google drive, evernote etc. I tried 7 notes and like lecture notes much better with regard to fluency when in a lecture.
and if just a recorder I would go with recforge...HTH!
Kathi
implodingspace said:
for general recording I use recforge...i bought pro, you can swap formats, decrease gain It can successfully record vocals during band practice with a loud guitar, so i can find harmonies after if I'm struggling or if a new soong. I highly recommend this app for recording. There are also convert tools and other options
as for lectures, I use lecture notes pro version with lecture note recordings. The recording is not as nice, but good enough and when listening to a play back, i can search, then press a place on my handwritten notes and it will automatically synch the play back to the time when i wrote the notes. I use it with a stylus and it take what i wrote in the window at the bottom and places it on a line in the "paper", it does multi pages, has so many options for tweaking size, font, and way more than I can list here. There is a trial version however the recording add on is purchase only. the lecture notes printed out really nice from phone and tablet or i can share them to google drive, evernote etc. I tried 7 notes and like lecture notes much better with regard to fluency when in a lecture.
and if just a recorder I would go with recforge...HTH!
Kathi
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i need recording only. doe recforge sound fine when recording a lecture standing about 15 feet away from the professor? I just am kinda looking for something to match the sound quality of the touchwiz app that comes with the phone.
smac7 said:
i need recording only. doe recforge sound fine when recording a lecture standing about 15 feet away from the professor? I just am kinda looking for something to match the sound quality of the touchwiz app that comes with the phone.
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Def will...there is a free version i believe where options are limited within app for formats mono vs stereo etc but you can check out quality for yourself its my go to recording app for sure...hope you like it or find what you need
Tape-a-Talk Pro. Its unbeatable. It sounds excellent from 30 ft and works fantastic on all of my devices, even my tab that has a pretty bad mic.
Sent from my SIII
Never tried that one but will certainly check it out...what kind of options come with that? Do they have a free or trial app?
Is there any way to disable the audio zoom when recording video?
I've noticed and seen it reported that the audio becomes almost muffled when zooming in while recording a video. It would be nice to experiment with that feature toggled on/off.
refresh
speedzioch said:
refresh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Refresh? What kind of answer is that? Refresh what?
I have the same question about the audio zoom btw.
danielscissorhands said:
Refresh? What kind of answer is that? Refresh what?
I have the same question about the audio zoom btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no way to disable the audio zoom in the native camera app. I've even emailed LG support about it and they have no workaround from inside that app.
I have been experimenting with a bunch of third party camera apps in the meantime and it seems that most of them do not show this effect so it must be baked into the native camera app or something. I would recommend looking into apps like ProShot or Camera FV-5. I know for sure ProShot does not have the audio zoom effect. I'm singling out those two cameras because they have EV (exposure value) compensation right on the interface when taking pictures/video which is really helpful because this phone doesn't seem to auto-adjust the EV properly in many situations I'm in when trying to take pictures/video.
monrovian said:
There is no way to disable the audio zoom in the native camera app. I've even emailed LG support about it and they have no workaround from inside that app.
I have been experimenting with a bunch of third party camera apps in the meantime and it seems that most of them do not show this effect so it must be baked into the native camera app or something. I would recommend looking into apps like ProShot or Camera FV-5. I know for sure ProShot does not have the audio zoom effect. I'm singling out those two cameras because they have EV (exposure value) compensation right on the interface when taking pictures/video which is really helpful because this phone doesn't seem to auto-adjust the EV properly in many situations I'm in when trying to take pictures/video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. In another forum (here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/general/lg-g4-cameras-problems-t3180240), someone mentioned that when they used a 3rd party app that, while the audio zoom was no longer a factor, the sound quality at a concert was worse than with the LG G4 camera app itself. I want to film a lot of concerts, and I have until Monday to make a decision about returning my LG G4. I don't think I'll have time to test it out at a concert before Monday. Have YOU tried it at a concert with these apps? How was the sound with these apps. Was it better or worse? Do loud sounds still get distorted easily? I have hear that the LG G4 has a bad mic. Do you think so?
Should i spend the extra $150 or $200 to get the Samsung S6? There is also the Nexus 6P, but I have heard that the frame can bend easily on that camera. And as for the Samsung, it has a really bad quality speaker when you are playing stuff back.
PS: If the audio zoom is baked into the native camera app, like you said, that sounds like a SOFTware issue, right? So could a future update fix that, possibly?
Thanks.
danielscissorhands said:
Thanks. In another forum (here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/general/lg-g4-cameras-problems-t3180240), someone mentioned that when they used a 3rd party app that, while the audio zoom was no longer a factor, the sound quality at a concert was worse than with the LG G4 camera app itself. I want to film a lot of concerts, and I have until Monday to make a decision about returning my LG G4. I don't think I'll have time to test it out at a concert before Monday. Have YOU tried it at a concert with these apps? How was the sound with these apps. Was it better or worse? Do loud sounds still get distorted easily? I have hear that the LG G4 has a bad mic. Do you think so?
Should i spend the extra $150 or $200 to get the Samsung S6? There is also the Nexus 6P, but I have heard that the frame can bend easily on that camera. And as for the Samsung, it has a really bad quality speaker when you are playing stuff back.
PS: If the audio zoom is baked into the native camera app, like you said, that sounds like a SOFTware issue, right? So could a future update fix that, possibly?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I primarily use my phone to video concerts as well and it's way above most other android phones in that regard, imo. Now, I wouldn't necessarily say that equates to much since non-HTC android phones have been known to record garbage at concerts. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why my old HTC One X could record concert sound so much better than any newer phone I got and I'm finally satisfied with this phone. I tried to look over some concert videos I've been to, comparing videos recorded with the native camera app and with an app like ProShot. I can't definitively say one has better sound quality than the other but it sounds like the native app tries to soften certain louder noises (this could be a good or bad thing depending on what you want and the exact sound conditions). I don't think the phone has a bad mic either but I have experienced distortion in videos, for parts of a second - nothing too long, which I don't think can't be expected when recording in such loud environments. Otherwise, my videos have been pretty distortion free. You will want to watch where your hand is around the recording mic, at the bottom of the phone though. I've had varied results when I'm not paying attention and my hand is covering or partially covering the mic.
I don't think you'll have any better results with the Samsung phone and I've never heard particularly good things about their phones recording in concert environment. These companies don't put as much effort into their audio recording capabilities like Apple, Nokia or HTC do but LG did a pretty good job with this one. Although, the iPhones record in mono (and you can absolutely distinguish between that and how this phone records in stereo) and the feedback on HTC's camera has been pretty negative so you gotta balance the good with the bad.
This is an absolute software issue since the third party camera apps don't experience the audio zoom. Ideally, LG should have provided a way to toggle the audio zoom in the camera app like they did for the LG G2. I originally posted this hoping someone went through the camera code and found a flag to toggle to control the audio zoom as well but it doesn't look like anyone has put any effort in there or that flag is not exposed in the code?
Anyway, I don't think you're gonna find a much better, or anything better, in terms of recording concerts if you want to stick with Android. If you stick with it, I would again recommend using a third party camera app like the two I previously suggested since it eliminates the audio zoom and allows for EASY EV control. Video with the phone isn't too bad when it comes to auto-EV compensation but the photos can be horrendeous, especially if you're focusing on the lead singer's face where they usually have a spotlight. I can't even count the amount of photos I've tried to take where the lead singer's face is almost completely "whited out", if that makes sense, until I found one of these apps with easy EV control. Now, whenever I recognize that happening, I turn the EV compensation down (sometimes all the way down to -2) and I get pretty good results.
Check out my instagram if you want some real examples. Keep in mind, there's a ton of compression thrown on them from IG. The ones on there from this phone will be the ones dated July of this year and later. I can guarantee the last 9 posts on there were with the ProShot app.
instagram (dot) com (slash) monrovian (I don't know how they handle URLs around here so I'll put it like this to be safe)
Completely agree with you. Wasn't aware of that problem at all, now after I came back from a football match with many videos I realized that the sound is so crap... So still they haven't fixed it because I'm on latest MM update. How do you deal with it use ProShot app?
F-L-Y-E-R said:
Completely agree with you. Wasn't aware of that problem at all, now after I came back from a football match with many videos I realized that the sound is so crap... So still they haven't fixed it because I'm on latest MM update. How do you deal with it use ProShot app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I accidentally used the native camera app to record part of a concert two weeks ago where I zoomed in slightly and the effect is still there after a few OS updates.
I have gotten around it since learning about the ProShot app by using that app since it does not experience the audio zoom effect if you're trying to zoom at all during the video. I would highly recommend using that specific app or you could probably use any third-party video recording apps. ProShot, in particular, lets you zoom while retaining the original audio sound and lets you control EV very easily, even while recording. This may be a lot more important to me than you since I attend many indoor concerts. I have also found that ProShot usually takes more accurately colored images than the native camera app if there's any large difference in lighting around where your photo will be (ie. in terms of an indoor concert, darkness surrounding a spotlight on the singer), without even accounting for the EV control. For other cases where the lighting is pretty consistent around where the photo will be, I've found ProShot and the native app comparable.
I have pretty much replaced the native camera app with ProShot unless I'm somewhere well lit or want to snap something quick (double-tap the volume down button with the screen off to turn on the camera app quickly) and don't particularly care how it comes out.
monrovian said:
Yeah, I accidentally used the native camera app to record part of a concert two weeks ago where I zoomed in slightly and the effect is still there after a few OS updates.
I have gotten around it since learning about the ProShot app by using that app since it does not experience the audio zoom effect if you're trying to zoom at all during the video. I would highly recommend using that specific app or you could probably use any third-party video recording apps. ProShot, in particular, lets you zoom while retaining the original audio sound and lets you control EV very easily, even while recording. This may be a lot more important to me than you since I attend many indoor concerts. I have also found that ProShot usually takes more accurately colored images than the native camera app if there's any large difference in lighting around where your photo will be (ie. in terms of an indoor concert, darkness surrounding a spotlight on the singer), without even accounting for the EV control. For other cases where the lighting is pretty consistent around where the photo will be, I've found ProShot and the native app comparable.
I have pretty much replaced the native camera app with ProShot unless I'm somewhere well lit or want to snap something quick (double-tap the volume down button with the screen off to turn on the camera app quickly) and don't particularly care how it comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So do you use pro version or demo one? If you know what are the difference, does it limit something or not, thanks.
I found the problem, I told you guys, the only way to fix it is when you want to record a gigs and zooming at the same time, you have no choice to record it in PORTRAIT mode, the audio zoom is not activated when you record in portrait mode... It's LG I don't know why they have stupid ideas, it's not even fix with the LG G5, they think it's a good feature lol.
Edit : but obviously, the stereo is not good as when you shooting in landscape mode.
Edit 2 : I don't think ProShot use completely the stereo mics, the pictures are better but the sound are worst than the native camera app.
I found a workaround for this issue with the "best ever feature" of LG called Audio zoom. Just use external microphone and everything will be fine with recorded sound. No distortion, no cutting, no filters - just raw sound even if you use zoom with the official Camera app. Forget about video recording with 3-rd party apps - the sound is terrible and the zoom is not full zoom as with the original Camera app, but some low res digital video picture cropping.
You can use any external microphone you want, but since you are about to record a gig / concert for example you would like to have the smallest one, this is what I bought also from aliexpress for 2$ - Cellphone Smartphone Portable Mini Omni-Directional Mic Microphone for Recorder:
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Hi all,
Is there any way to modify stock camera post processing libraries to achieve the results we want? Cinema 4K app is the only one on the market that seems to do the trick - using the camera2 api it can modify the way how the sensor process pixels (that's what they say in the description).
The app itself is extremely buggy, and lacks many features - strange resolutions to choose from, no way to select super-wide lens camera.
LG G6 can make pretty photos (RAW and in manual mode) - auto mode sucks especially in low light. The only con of photo camera is over saturation and awful handling of overexposures.
But my main concern is about videos:
On the firs snapshot you can see video taken with highest bitrate with the stock app with manual settings. The amount of over-saturation, contrast and sharpening is just awful.
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Here you can see different snapshot from the same day, lightening and environment taken with Cinema 4k, which is the only app for android, that offers "Flat" video profile and control of noise reduction processes.
The picture here may appear a little dull - but that's the image to use with post-processing. There is no default sharpening, huge dynamic range and not so saturated colors to grade later. Whole picture is a bit greenish - but it can be easily corrected in post.
If the creator of the app managed how to capture video without any stock processing there must be a way to do it by customising the camera libraries in the stock rom. If we can find out what files are managing the capture process we can not only easy our lives but help people with other phones - i think that too much processing is the main issue everyone encounters these days with phone cameras.
the only thread I found about the topic, but it only covers this one specific phones without any details.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/themes/modcamera-aggressive-sharpening-noise-t3604458
I just bought LG G6 after long struggle between the newest flagship models, tempted by the super wide lens. I switched from Mi 5s on which the video quality was more than superb - especially when using 3rd party flat video mode. The video quality is my main goal in smartphone - I use my mobile for video projects in addition to DSLR's.
EDIT:
I send an email to Cinema 4K devs about: either clues on which files to modify to achieve similar results on other camera app based on open camera/stock camera app, or the info if they plan to continue to develop the App (the last update was made 11.2016)
Out of curiosity what is your G6 model? I've seen a lot of people with H870DS complaining, might be it.
+1
a camera mod would be great
+1 I agree. There is a big potential in the G6s camera but the default algorithms can ruin every photo makes it unnatural and oversharpened. From my side I can promise a donation for those who will work on the mod.
eneuro said:
Out of curiosity what is your G6 model? I've seen a lot of people with H870DS complaining, might be it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have LG-H870, the non dual-sim EU version.
+1 I agree. There is a big potential in the G6s camera but the default algorithms can ruin every photo makes it unnatural and oversharpened. From my side I can promise a donation for those who will work on the mod.
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Click to collapse
I can also declare to donate! Maybe someone knows the issue and can link us the thread from other phone, or some clue about which files are handling the camera processing?
For everyone who is searching for post-processing solution!
I forget about one wonderful project called FreeDcam,
It basically reads RAW data from a camera and lets you change some interesting variables hardcoded in system app! What is more, it detects all 3 cameras, let you record in every aspect and resolution! You can select a picture profile there and settings like denoiser, edge sharpening etc. What is more is currently still developing - new version came out 2 weeks ago.
The app is prepared for all the devices based on camera2 API, and the results are very good!
Find best settings for yourself, just in case I will give you what I found out to work the best:
- Edge Mode to off
- turn off Wavelet Denoise
- hot pixel correction: High quality
- tonemap: contrast curve - and adjust it for your needs (for me the nice little flat image you can achieve by turning the knobs to [10] | [30] | [55] | [80] | [95]
It brightens the shadows a bit while making more natural a bit overexposed look (stock camera tends to clip out high very intense highlights while preserving most of the image which results in pretty unnatural sun/bright light clipping)
The results in color saturation and sharpness are huge - in photos and videos. The app is not so intuitive and it lags sometimes but the results are outstanding.
https://github.com/troop/FreeDcam/releases
I had a strange problem with installing - I couldn't press the install button, but cancel button was responsive. Try to turn off always-on display for a while - worked for me
tomashix said:
For everyone who is searching for post-processing solution!
I forget about one wonderful project called FreeDcam,
It basically reads RAW data from a camera and lets you change some interesting variables hardcoded in system app! What is more, it detects all 3 cameras, let you record in every aspect and resolution! You can select a picture profile there and settings like denoiser, edge sharpening etc. What is more is currently still developing - new version came out 2 weeks ago.
The app is prepared for all the devices based on camera2 API, and the results are very good!
Find best settings for yourself, just in case I will give you what I found out to work the best:
- Edge Mode to off
- turn off Wavelet Denoise
- hot pixel correction: High quality
- tonemap: contrast curve - and adjust it for your needs (for me the nice little flat image you can achieve by turning the knobs to [10] | [30] | [55] | [80] | [95]
It brightens the shadows a bit while making more natural a bit overexposed look (stock camera tends to clip out high very intense highlights while preserving most of the image which results in pretty unnatural sun/bright light clipping)
The results in color saturation and sharpness are huge - in photos and videos. The app is not so intuitive and it lags sometimes but the results are outstanding.
https://github.com/troop/FreeDcam/releases
I had a strange problem with installing - I couldn't press the install button, but cancel button was responsive. Try to turn off always-on display for a while - worked for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome ! That is what we needed . I get great results. Thanks for sharing. cheers
tomashix said:
For everyone who is searching for post-processing solution!
I forget about one wonderful project called FreeDcam,
It basically reads RAW data from a camera and lets you change some interesting variables hardcoded in system app! What is more, it detects all 3 cameras, let you record in every aspect and resolution! You can select a picture profile there and settings like denoiser, edge sharpening etc. What is more is currently still developing - new version came out 2 weeks ago.
The app is prepared for all the devices based on camera2 API, and the results are very good!
Find best settings for yourself, just in case I will give you what I found out to work the best:
- Edge Mode to off
- turn off Wavelet Denoise
- hot pixel correction: High quality
- tonemap: contrast curve - and adjust it for your needs (for me the nice little flat image you can achieve by turning the knobs to [10] | [30] | [55] | [80] | [95]
It brightens the shadows a bit while making more natural a bit overexposed look (stock camera tends to clip out high very intense highlights while preserving most of the image which results in pretty unnatural sun/bright light clipping)
The results in color saturation and sharpness are huge - in photos and videos. The app is not so intuitive and it lags sometimes but the results are outstanding.
https://github.com/troop/FreeDcam/releases
I had a strange problem with installing - I couldn't press the install button, but cancel button was responsive. Try to turn off always-on display for a while - worked for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting, gonna try this out..
Would you mind sharing the rest of your settings? I have no idea what stuff means... :silly:
(Also can't find where to edit the contrast curve.)
I found out that "Snap Camera" and "Open Camera" supports Camera2 api as well so you can switch between all 3 lenses. FreeDcam was too buggy and unstable and could not set right wide angle lens.
Snap Camera offers to fine tune everything for advanced user (switch off denoise, postprocess, etc.) and I get nice HDR.
I got rid of my G6. It was worst than my G4 at taking photos. Really disappointed tbh. Still trying to get a phone that beats the G4 camera is tough. Wish lg would sort the water colour processing out its driving me crazy.
+1 def need a camera mod
ipmanwck said:
I got rid of my G6. It was worst than my G4 at taking photos. Really disappointed tbh. Still trying to get a phone that beats the G4 camera is tough. Wish lg would sort the water colour processing out its driving me crazy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to go to the V-series they have better sensors and not overprocessing like the G6. It's still hard to beat the image quality in the G4.
dannejanne said:
You need to go to the V-series they have better sensors and not overprocessing like the G6. It's still hard to beat the image quality in the G4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tell me about it. Really Impressed by my OP3T camera processing but lg G4 was really special.
It has been four weeks since I received my device. One of the reasons I purchased this device was the nice features around the pro mode of its camera.
After I saw the comments from the reviewers/press regarding the standard Camera App and the Auto mode, I was curious to test the AUTO mode myself.
In this post I will try to share my findings around the AUTO mode, explain how I interpreted the different apps around the camera and share some thoughts. I hope you will find it useful.
Device Software (Build number): 58.0.A3.39
Thoughts around AUTO Mode
I have noticed that many reviewers kinda refused to use the Photo Pro app when they did compare this device with other devices. Their explanation/reasoning for that was that many times the users (even the pro users) will need to capture something fast and straight away without spending five mins in the settings or using a tripod. Now, If you check the comments in any of these reviews/videos, you will find at least ten guys screaming about the fact that Photo Pro has AUTO mode as well.
Personally, even I do enjoy the program mode etc I do agree that having a decent AUTO mode (no matters the app) it’s very important for any smartphone.
I took multiple shots with the standard camera app (which provides only the default mode, the AUTO mode) and the Photo Pro AUTO mode. I think I managed to understand what's the main difference between these two.
(for the rest of this post, please assume that any reference to the Photo Pro is regarding the AUTO mode unless I specify a different mode)
Standard Camera App vs Photo Pro AUTO
As long as you don't change the focus point by touching on the screen, the results from the two apps (standard camera app and the Photo Pro in AUTO) are almost identical.
Both applications will use HDR when it is required and they will provide decent results. You can't control whether the HDR will be used or not, you can’t turn it off, but it's there, fully automated.
In order to prove my findings around the HDR, I compared photos taken with AUTO (both apps) with photos taken with the P Mode in Photo Pro with everything in default settings(auto) by setting the HDR OFF. I did that as it’s not possible to control HDR in AUTO mode.
For the Photo Pro you can go to Menu -> Exposure/Colour -> DRO/AUTO HDR and set your preference: a) D-Range Optimiser, AUTO HDR, Off but this is applied only for the special modes (P, S, M).
For the AUTO mode the DRO/AUTO HDR is set to AUTO, which it seems to be a special config just for the AUTO mode. I guess that it will apply the D-Range Optimiser, or HDR or none of these depending on the scene.
Quick test for the HDR in AUTO modes:
Standard Camera App: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/2FgY1d
Photo Pro AUTO: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/08z99k
Photo Pro P Mode, default, HDR Off: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/1rf185
As you can see, the results from the two apps are similar for AUTO and in both cases HDR was applied. If you compare them with the third image where the HDR was set to off, it’s quite obvious.
Things are getting interesting when you touch the screen with the aim to change the focus point - lets use Sony’s term for now on: “touch to adjust”.
For the standard app, it's not possible to configure what will be happened on that action but it seems that it adjusts the focus and the brightness/exposure. In the Photo Pro you can choose whether the application will adjust only the focus or the focus and the brightness (Settings -> Touch to Adjust). That choice will be applied in all modes including the AUTO mode. Btw, adjusting both, the focus and the brightness is a common/expected behaviour and you will find it in other apps by other manufactures or developers.
Based on the above, someone would expect that if you choose for the Photo Pro to adjust both the focus and the brightness (as the standard camera app does), the results from the two apps would be identical when you touch to adjust. The reality is: not always!
The reason is that the HDR gets disabled in the standard app when the following two things happen at the same time: a) you touch to adjust and b) there is enough light in the scene so no special mode (low light or night mode) is applied. This is not the case for the Photo Pro AUTO where the HDR remains on auto (only if it’s required as described above). I have to add that the standard app provides you the ability to adjust the brightness/exposure for the focus point once you apply touch to adjust. This is not possible in Photo Pro AUTO - If you want to have this kind of control, you will need to switch to P mode. Based on that, it's obvious that the two apps follow different approach for the particular scenario.
Before I continue with further analysis of that scenario, I need to provide a clarification for the low light cases: you should expect similar results from both apps (AUTO) no matter if you touch to adjust or not. Low light or Night mode will be applied in both cases.
So, let’s discuss further the behaviour of the standard app for the touch to adjust and when it will result to a different outcome in comparison to the Photo Pro.
Based on what I mentioned above, if you “touch to adjust” and there is enough light in the scene (so the app can achieve correct exposure for the focus point without applying any special mode), the HDR will go off. The application adjusts the ISO and the shutter speed in the attempt to achieve the right exposure for the specific point. The truth is it does that correctly most of time. However, the outcome depends on the scene (basically the light) and on the user’s choice regarding the focus point.
Usually it is a photo with the right exposure for the focus point but with blown highlights for the brightest parts of the scene e.g the sky. If you understand the concept around the exposure, I guess it’s quite clear why this is the case. The focus point becomes the reference for the right/correct exposure, so anything brighter than this point will appear over exposed. In the case of really bright parts - light sources e.g sun, clouds etc, that over exposure causes blown highlights. A possible solution to mitigate that effect is to adjust the exposure manually for the focus point in an attempt to capture some of the missing highlights.
Quick example/test:
Without touch to adjust: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/bo9TL6
With touch to adjust: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/8eZ4ZX
In the Photo Pro AUTO mode, just because the HDR doesn’t go off during the above scenario, the outcome will be a photo without blown highlights. However, the reference for the exposure will still be the focus point (assuming you selected the touch to adjust to adjust focus and brightness), so the result won’t be the same with a photo that was taken without applying touch to adjust. It’s usually a brighter photo and this is because the HDR is applied with the provider point as a reference for the exposure.
You can observe all the above in the following test I did: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mlqKaFObgkV6ZyV2X7B1y1kYzmpNBrtZ/view?usp=sharing (pdf file with the photos)
I tested the touch to adjust for both, the standard camera and Photo Pro in AUTO.
You can see from the results that the photos from the Standard Camera are similar to the photos taken using the P mode with the HDR off, while the photos from the Photo Pro AUTO are similar to the photos from the P mode with HDR on AUTO.
When it comes to AUTO mode, I am not convinced what would be the right thing to do around HDR for that particular scenario - the touch to adjust. Both options/behaviours (HDR to go off but be able to adjust the exposure vs HDR on AUTO) can be valid depending on the use case. My personal preference would be to have the control around the HDR.
We can’t say that there is an issue or a bug with any of the two AUTO modes. It seems to me that the two apps were developed separately and different decisions have been made. Atm, If you would like to have some control around the HDR but you don’t bother about anything else, you can still use the P mode with everything in the default config and adjust DRO/AUTO HDR, as I demonstrated in my tests.
Just for completeness: In Photo Pro, If you select the touch to adjust to adjust only the focus, the results won’t be similar as the tests above. In that case, when you touch to adjust, the exposure doesn’t change based on the focus point. As a result, the exposure of a photo taken with that setup will be identical to the one taken without applying touch to adjust.
I will close this part around that particular scenario with a quick tip/advice: if your aim is to have everything in focus and have balanced/correct exposure across the whole photo, there is no reason to try to focus on something in a distance (e.g the mountain in a landscape, a building etc) using the touch to adjust feature. Due to the fact that smartphones camera sensors are small in general, the depth of field is large/wide so everything will be in focus (this is applied for any smartphone, it’s not only for this device). Use the touch to adjust for things in close distance unless you intentionally want to adjust the exposure of the photo based on a particular point.
Overall, I would say that the AUTO mode is decent and I can trust it, especially if I want to snap something quickly.
I saw comments from reviewers mentioning blown highlights and this is the reason I spent some time to explain the touch to adjust.
If someone experienced blown highlights in AUTO mode without applying touch to adjust, I am really curious to see that.
Thoughts around the camera apps
It’s more that obvious that Sony targets the enthusiasts with this device. You can see in the product’s page that they target photographers, cinematographers, cinephiles etc
When it comes to camera, they want people to use the Pro apps. However, I am not convinced that the Cinema Pro can be used by everyone.
So, this is how I interpreted the three apps:
Standard Camera app (video): that’s easy. The default app for video for most of the people.
Cinema Pro: 100% for people interested to shoot mini projects and happy to use tripod, gimbal, maybe filters etc and they are happy to spend reasonable time to take the right clip. There is a room for improvement, mainly around the fix exposure after starting recording, so more people can use it.
Standard Camera app (photos): I saw people saying: forget about this one, use Photo Pro only. I kinda disagree. If this device is your daily driver, it means that you take a lot photos with that camera beyond the nice shots of different memorable scenes. I believe that this app is intended for the moments when you want to take a quick photo without thinking too much. Possibly this is the reason they chose to have all the special modes be applied automatically (HDR, low light, night mode etc). If you don’t have time, you don’t want to mess with settings, just point and shoot. It does provide decent results.
For the daily stuff this is a no brainer. Examples: random photos of items that you need to show to people , a meal you cook etc
For more “critical shots”, between missing the shot, and having the perfect shot after 3 mins in the settings, I choose to take the shot.
So let’s say you have spent some time taking photos of a landscape using the Photo Pro. Job done, phone in the pocket. Suddenly you see something nearby that you want to photograph. What do you do? Photo Pro is in M/P/S mode as you left it 5 mins ago with the configuration for that scene. Yes, you are 2 clicks away from setting it to AUTO but you may miss the shot. Standard camera is your friend in that case.
Photo Pro: My default option if I want to shoot anything and I have reasonable time. It can be AUTO mode, it can be the P mode and taking multiple shots by experimenting with HDR off/AUTO etc. It can be any other mode. It depends on the amount of time I want to spend on taking the shot and my mood
General thoughts
HDR
I do like the convenience of computational photography, however I am not a big fun when camera apps end up over-processing the photos. The usual example: taking a photo of a landscape during a cloudy day and the HDR makes the photo looks like you are in the middle of a hurricane.
Fortunately, Sony’s HDR appears to be not that aggressive and I really like that part.
Having that said, I still believe that there is room for improvement/optimisation with:
a) the algorithm that calculates whether the HDR will be triggered or not.
b) the HDR algorithm itself on how it blends the images and what images should be taken (how many stops above and below)
It’s really good but not perfect. There is no perfect anw.
As mentioned above, it would be nice for Sony to provide the users the option to adjust HDR in the auto mode.
Portrait Mode
I still try to understand why Sony chose to add that mode in the standard camera app. I don’t see the reason of adding a non well optimised mode to a device that is advertised so much about its photography capabilities.
For now, If you want to take some portrait photos, switch to the 70mm lens and that’s it. Nice natural portrait photos with decent bokeh effect. That bokeh effect is not comparable to any portrait mode that uses computational photography, but it still look good enough. The nice thing about that is that you get consistent results cause it's 100% natural effect by the lens (no issues with hair etc).
Not the best example: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/m2152a
Night Mode - low light
These modes are triggered/applied automatically. I took some decent shots under low light. I can see that Sony didn’t follow the path of the other manufactures. Similar to the HDR, the night mode algo is not that aggressive. Sony tries to remain close to reality and avoids over processing. Maybe this is not something that everyone will appreciate but I think it's nice to have different approaches by different manufactures. It results to more options for the consumers, more competition and innovation etc. Personally, I don't really understand why some reviewers are giving credits to manufactures for over processing.
Back to Sony, It would be nice to provide the users the option to enable/disable night mode during the auto mode or provide a dedicate night mode.
Some photos:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/5fZ25B
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/0rfGPZ (I was a bit surprised looking that one)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/vK61N9
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/A4U34R
Macro
At Auto, both apps are able to recognise a macro shot and actually in the standard app if you enable the photography hints, the app will guide you to "move further away" in case you are too close. Photos look natural, there is not any kind of computational photography processing in that mode. The blur parts in the photo is a natural outcome from the lens and it happens when parts of the scene lie outside of the depth of field.
Some photos (main lens - 24mm, standard app):
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/BM00v8
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/s6p1Sh
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/257gts
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/H75112
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/396Ac0
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/Z83oh4
Hardware
Through my tests I did notice that the zeiss optics help a lot by reducing reflections and flares especially when I was pointing directly to a source of light (e.g sun, lamb etc). I compared it with Pixel 2 xl and Samsung s9 (whatever I had access) and the difference was obvious.
However, I noticed that when there is light coming from a particular angle (it's an edge case), there is a specific type of lens flare only for the main lens, 24mm.
Example: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/vp48Jd
The album with all the photos in the post and some additional photos: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/K343dG
Sony released an update while I was writing this, I will try to update the post if they changed anything around the stuff I covered.
Update: added macro shots.
Very nice review of the cameras! Wish tech reviewers could understand 10% of what you wrote here
Great post and write up. After coming here and just browsing for a couple years I literally signed up because of your post. Thanks for taking the time.
great detail and time spent, very much appreciated, post of the year IMO
it is obvious that certain reviewers didn't quite understand what simple PAS is
and I agree totally with your night shot comments - who wants a night shot that doesn't look like night and is way over exposed and processed
again many thanks and looking forward to further experiences from you my friend as the phone receives a few updates going forward, I am now hoping Sony don't change too much as it seems perfect as is
thank you so much!
@stsdema28 Great post! Do you know how I can calibrate white balance in pro mode? I have seen the adjust button in P mode for white balance but how do I get it right? In Photo Pro auto mode, photos look red-ish to me.
mehdi_s82 said:
@stsdema28 Great post! Do you know how I can calibrate white balance in pro mode? I have seen the adjust button in P mode for white balance but how do I get it right? In Photo Pro auto mode, photos look red-ish to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure what you mean/expect when you are saying "how can I calibrate WB". White balance can be different even between two clicks in the same scene when the light changes significantly. So there isn't a concept of calibrating the WB of the camera once so it can be right every time. What you can do is to adjust WB every time based on the scene. Another option is to adjust WB in post processing (this is what I usually do when I shoot with my DSLR, but I shoot RAW).
Back to the Xperia, I usually use AWB but I tried some of the predefined options (cloudy, daylight, incandescent etc) and they were quite accurate. Did you try any of them? It's important to choose the right option for the scene.
short article about WB: https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/setting-white-balance.html (it's by Nikon, but it doesn't really matter)
If you are not happy with the predefined options, you can try to set and use one of the custom options but you need to remember that it would be valid/correct only for the scene you set it for. Check the following video how you can do that: https://youtu.be/ehK8zJ2up98?t=454 (I set the exact moment he describes the WB options)
one of the reasons I was looking at this phone is because sony mentions its supposed to be good at capturing motion shots. How is it in your experience? Is it as good as the pixel in being able to capture a motion shot with one snap in auto?
billybobjones said:
one of the reasons I was looking at this phone is because sony mentions its supposed to be good at capturing motion shots. How is it in your experience? Is it as good as the pixel in being able to capture a motion shot with one snap in auto?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The motion feature of pixel has nothing to do with burst shooting.
The Xperia 1 ii can shoot up to 20fps with autofocus and auto exposure. It's all about capturing the right photo. You can see the burst shooting in the following videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQEXla29P9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVJtmP8Ckfg
The motion feature in pixels (or similar feature in other apps) captures several frames or a short video with sound before and after you take a photo. The idea here is to capture additional material to accompany the photo for future reference with the aim to help the user to recall that moment.
So, it depends what you are looking for. There is no other phone that is able to shoot 20fps with autofocus and auto exposure (as far as I know). But given that you referred to pixel's feature, I guess you are looking for "motion" photos.
stsdema28 said:
So, it depends what you are looking for. There is no other phone that is able to shoot 20fps with autofocus and auto exposure (as far as I know). But given that you referred to pixel's feature, I guess you are looking for "motion" photos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the difference is video frames vers 20 actual full res photos
and there is a huge difference
stsdema28 said:
The motion feature of pixel has nothing to do with burst shooting.
The Xperia 1 ii can shoot up to 20fps with autofocus and auto exposure. It's all about capturing the right photo. You can see the burst shooting in the following videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQEXla29P9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVJtmP8Ckfg
The motion feature in pixels (or similar feature in other apps) captures several frames or a short video with sound before and after you take a photo. The idea here is to capture additional material to accompany the photo for future reference with the aim to help the user to recall that moment.
So, it depends what you are looking for. There is no other phone that is able to shoot 20fps with autofocus and auto exposure (as far as I know). But given that you referred to pixel's feature, I guess you are looking for "motion" photos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry i meant a moving object. for example a dog running or a bicyclist or a kid running. with a pixel you can take 1 shot and get a good photo. With other smartphones when you take one photo you usually get a blurry mess. How is the sony?
billybobjones said:
sorry i meant a moving object. for example a dog running or a bicyclist or a kid running. with a pixel you can take 1 shot and get a good photo. With other smartphones when you take one photo you usually get a blurry mess. How is the sony?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check some real examples from reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/i9kbox/burst_mode_is_the_killer_feature_especially_if/ (it contains an animation as well)
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/i634x9/ive_complained_about_focus_tracking_while_doing/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia...ng_with_professionals_burst_shot_on_xperia_1/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/i9687m/testing_the_high_continuous_shooting_mode/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/i7m08k/20_fps/
anyone notice that with Camera Pro, raw and 70mm lens ... it produce a 13,8mpx photo?
if you save it in jpg it's a 12,2mpx, if you select raw, it produce a 13,8mpx with 4288x3216 resolution
I'm on XQ-AT52 HongKong with 3.88 firmware
my thoughts
This is very faithful review by stsdema28, great job thank you.
I have come to the same conclusion as stsdema28 while testing it.
I have my xperia 1II for a week now and after testing it I'm sure that I made a good chose buying it.
There are some things that are important to me while taking pictures with a phone and I like to share them with you.
First of all I think that main camera app does amazing job in recognising scenes, focus, white balance, it's reliable.
It's fast and convenient; for me, I don't see s reason to use Pro app.
In my opinion using Pro is good for RAW output if someone needs it.
I personally have used raw in cameras for years but I consider it a waste of time for me right now.
Main camera app also in my opinion has flawless noise reduction, jpg's from Pro mode have different noise reduction; more looking like "alfa" camera output.
So, what is important for me with this camera phone:
-all 3 cameras output same resolution 12mpix photos
-colours are true to life on all 3 cameras and they remain the same on each one of them
-auto white balance is correct in different scenes where I had problems before with my Huawei p30pro
-pictures have natural look, not overprocessed
-there are no artifacts when the light is to bright on a shiny surface and around red light sources in the dark
-glow around light sources look natural like from a real camera, don't know if this is due to good optics or the lens coating
When it comes to video all that I can really say is that I have no complaints and find it very high quality.
What I need to point out is audio quality which is on par with video quality.
Wind noise filter does awesome job, all that is left of wind in strong wind; is something like old low bitrate mp3 artifacts but very faint.
Sound positioning is very good too.
Selfie camera take sharp shots, no artifacts in bright light, I almost never use it, but if I did; I would be happy with the results.
Thx
Paweł
Thanks to @stsdema28 and @starepiernikowe for the excellent real life reviews of the phone. It is so helpful and so much better than watching the YouTube reviews.
---------- Post added at 09:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:25 AM ----------
Thanks to @stsdema28 and @starepiernikowe for the excellent real life reviews of the phone. It is so helpful and so much better than watching the YouTube reviews.
ISO3200 PRO and default app
Just wanted to show the differences in jpg from PRO app and default camera app noise reduction.
The exposure is different on those pictures, so the colors are too.
Left is PRO right is default camera app.
https://
freeimage.host/i/26zkCJ
Sorry I have problems with putting links here since i don't have enough posts.
Thx
Pawel
stsdema28 said:
It has been four weeks since I received my device. One of the reasons I purchased this device was the nice features around the pro mode of its camera.
After I saw the comments from the reviewers/press regarding the standard Camera App and the Auto mode, I was curious to test the AUTO mode myself.
In this post I will try to share my findings around the AUTO mode, explain how I interpreted the different apps around the camera and share some thoughts. I hope you will find it useful.
Device Software (Build number): 58.0.A3.39
Thoughts around AUTO Mode
I have noticed that many reviewers kinda refused to use the Photo Pro app when they did compare this device with other devices. Their explanation/reasoning for that was that many times the users (even the pro users) will need to capture something fast and straight away without spending five mins in the settings or using a tripod. Now, If you check the comments in any of these reviews/videos, you will find at least ten guys screaming about the fact that Photo Pro has AUTO mode as well.
Personally, even I do enjoy the program mode etc I do agree that having a decent AUTO mode (no matters the app) it’s very important for any smartphone.
I took multiple shots with the standard camera app (which provides only the default mode, the AUTO mode) and the Photo Pro AUTO mode. I think I managed to understand what's the main difference between these two.
(for the rest of this post, please assume that any reference to the Photo Pro is regarding the AUTO mode unless I specify a different mode)
Standard Camera App vs Photo Pro AUTO
As long as you don't change the focus point by touching on the screen, the results from the two apps (standard camera app and the Photo Pro in AUTO) are almost identical.
Both applications will use HDR when it is required and they will provide decent results. You can't control whether the HDR will be used or not, you can’t turn it off, but it's there, fully automated.
In order to prove my findings around the HDR, I compared photos taken with AUTO (both apps) with photos taken with the P Mode in Photo Pro with everything in default settings(auto) by setting the HDR OFF. I did that as it’s not possible to control HDR in AUTO mode.
For the Photo Pro you can go to Menu -> Exposure/Colour -> DRO/AUTO HDR and set your preference: a) D-Range Optimiser, AUTO HDR, Off but this is applied only for the special modes (P, S, M).
For the AUTO mode the DRO/AUTO HDR is set to AUTO, which it seems to be a special config just for the AUTO mode. I guess that it will apply the D-Range Optimiser, or HDR or none of these depending on the scene.
Quick test for the HDR in AUTO modes:
Standard Camera App: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/2FgY1d
Photo Pro AUTO: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/08z99k
Photo Pro P Mode, default, HDR Off: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/1rf185
As you can see, the results from the two apps are similar for AUTO and in both cases HDR was applied. If you compare them with the third image where the HDR was set to off, it’s quite obvious.
Things are getting interesting when you touch the screen with the aim to change the focus point - lets use Sony’s term for now on: “touch to adjust”.
For the standard app, it's not possible to configure what will be happened on that action but it seems that it adjusts the focus and the brightness/exposure. In the Photo Pro you can choose whether the application will adjust only the focus or the focus and the brightness (Settings -> Touch to Adjust). That choice will be applied in all modes including the AUTO mode. Btw, adjusting both, the focus and the brightness is a common/expected behaviour and you will find it in other apps by other manufactures or developers.
Based on the above, someone would expect that if you choose for the Photo Pro to adjust both the focus and the brightness (as the standard camera app does), the results from the two apps would be identical when you touch to adjust. The reality is: not always!
The reason is that the HDR gets disabled in the standard app when the following two things happen at the same time: a) you touch to adjust and b) there is enough light in the scene so no special mode (low light or night mode) is applied. This is not the case for the Photo Pro AUTO where the HDR remains on auto (only if it’s required as described above). I have to add that the standard app provides you the ability to adjust the brightness/exposure for the focus point once you apply touch to adjust. This is not possible in Photo Pro AUTO - If you want to have this kind of control, you will need to switch to P mode. Based on that, it's obvious that the two apps follow different approach for the particular scenario.
Before I continue with further analysis of that scenario, I need to provide a clarification for the low light cases: you should expect similar results from both apps (AUTO) no matter if you touch to adjust or not. Low light or Night mode will be applied in both cases.
So, let’s discuss further the behaviour of the standard app for the touch to adjust and when it will result to a different outcome in comparison to the Photo Pro.
Based on what I mentioned above, if you “touch to adjust” and there is enough light in the scene (so the app can achieve correct exposure for the focus point without applying any special mode), the HDR will go off. The application adjusts the ISO and the shutter speed in the attempt to achieve the right exposure for the specific point. The truth is it does that correctly most of time. However, the outcome depends on the scene (basically the light) and on the user’s choice regarding the focus point.
Usually it is a photo with the right exposure for the focus point but with blown highlights for the brightest parts of the scene e.g the sky. If you understand the concept around the exposure, I guess it’s quite clear why this is the case. The focus point becomes the reference for the right/correct exposure, so anything brighter than this point will appear over exposed. In the case of really bright parts - light sources e.g sun, clouds etc, that over exposure causes blown highlights. A possible solution to mitigate that effect is to adjust the exposure manually for the focus point in an attempt to capture some of the missing highlights.
Quick example/test:
Without touch to adjust: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/bo9TL6
With touch to adjust: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/8eZ4ZX
In the Photo Pro AUTO mode, just because the HDR doesn’t go off during the above scenario, the outcome will be a photo without blown highlights. However, the reference for the exposure will still be the focus point (assuming you selected the touch to adjust to adjust focus and brightness), so the result won’t be the same with a photo that was taken without applying touch to adjust. It’s usually a brighter photo and this is because the HDR is applied with the provider point as a reference for the exposure.
You can observe all the above in the following test I did: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mlqKaFObgkV6ZyV2X7B1y1kYzmpNBrtZ/view?usp=sharing (pdf file with the photos)
I tested the touch to adjust for both, the standard camera and Photo Pro in AUTO.
You can see from the results that the photos from the Standard Camera are similar to the photos taken using the P mode with the HDR off, while the photos from the Photo Pro AUTO are similar to the photos from the P mode with HDR on AUTO.
When it comes to AUTO mode, I am not convinced what would be the right thing to do around HDR for that particular scenario - the touch to adjust. Both options/behaviours (HDR to go off but be able to adjust the exposure vs HDR on AUTO) can be valid depending on the use case. My personal preference would be to have the control around the HDR.
We can’t say that there is an issue or a bug with any of the two AUTO modes. It seems to me that the two apps were developed separately and different decisions have been made. Atm, If you would like to have some control around the HDR but you don’t bother about anything else, you can still use the P mode with everything in the default config and adjust DRO/AUTO HDR, as I demonstrated in my tests.
Just for completeness: In Photo Pro, If you select the touch to adjust to adjust only the focus, the results won’t be similar as the tests above. In that case, when you touch to adjust, the exposure doesn’t change based on the focus point. As a result, the exposure of a photo taken with that setup will be identical to the one taken without applying touch to adjust.
I will close this part around that particular scenario with a quick tip/advice: if your aim is to have everything in focus and have balanced/correct exposure across the whole photo, there is no reason to try to focus on something in a distance (e.g the mountain in a landscape, a building etc) using the touch to adjust feature. Due to the fact that smartphones camera sensors are small in general, the depth of field is large/wide so everything will be in focus (this is applied for any smartphone, it’s not only for this device). Use the touch to adjust for things in close distance unless you intentionally want to adjust the exposure of the photo based on a particular point.
Overall, I would say that the AUTO mode is decent and I can trust it, especially if I want to snap something quickly.
I saw comments from reviewers mentioning blown highlights and this is the reason I spent some time to explain the touch to adjust.
If someone experienced blown highlights in AUTO mode without applying touch to adjust, I am really curious to see that.
Thoughts around the camera apps
It’s more that obvious that Sony targets the enthusiasts with this device. You can see in the product’s page that they target photographers, cinematographers, cinephiles etc
When it comes to camera, they want people to use the Pro apps. However, I am not convinced that the Cinema Pro can be used by everyone.
So, this is how I interpreted the three apps:
Standard Camera app (video): that’s easy. The default app for video for most of the people.
Cinema Pro: 100% for people interested to shoot mini projects and happy to use tripod, gimbal, maybe filters etc and they are happy to spend reasonable time to take the right clip. There is a room for improvement, mainly around the fix exposure after starting recording, so more people can use it.
Standard Camera app (photos): I saw people saying: forget about this one, use Photo Pro only. I kinda disagree. If this device is your daily driver, it means that you take a lot photos with that camera beyond the nice shots of different memorable scenes. I believe that this app is intended for the moments when you want to take a quick photo without thinking too much. Possibly this is the reason they chose to have all the special modes be applied automatically (HDR, low light, night mode etc). If you don’t have time, you don’t want to mess with settings, just point and shoot. It does provide decent results.
For the daily stuff this is a no brainer. Examples: random photos of items that you need to show to people , a meal you cook etc
For more “critical shots”, between missing the shot, and having the perfect shot after 3 mins in the settings, I choose to take the shot.
So let’s say you have spent some time taking photos of a landscape using the Photo Pro. Job done, phone in the pocket. Suddenly you see something nearby that you want to photograph. What do you do? Photo Pro is in M/P/S mode as you left it 5 mins ago with the configuration for that scene. Yes, you are 2 clicks away from setting it to AUTO but you may miss the shot. Standard camera is your friend in that case.
Photo Pro: My default option if I want to shoot anything and I have reasonable time. It can be AUTO mode, it can be the P mode and taking multiple shots by experimenting with HDR off/AUTO etc. It can be any other mode. It depends on the amount of time I want to spend on taking the shot and my mood
General thoughts
HDR
I do like the convenience of computational photography, however I am not a big fun when camera apps end up over-processing the photos. The usual example: taking a photo of a landscape during a cloudy day and the HDR makes the photo looks like you are in the middle of a hurricane.
Fortunately, Sony’s HDR appears to be not that aggressive and I really like that part.
Having that said, I still believe that there is room for improvement/optimisation with:
a) the algorithm that calculates whether the HDR will be triggered or not.
b) the HDR algorithm itself on how it blends the images and what images should be taken (how many stops above and below)
It’s really good but not perfect. There is no perfect anw.
As mentioned above, it would be nice for Sony to provide the users the option to adjust HDR in the auto mode.
Portrait Mode
I still try to understand why Sony chose to add that mode in the standard camera app. I don’t see the reason of adding a non well optimised mode to a device that is advertised so much about its photography capabilities.
For now, If you want to take some portrait photos, switch to the 70mm lens and that’s it. Nice natural portrait photos with decent bokeh effect. That bokeh effect is not comparable to any portrait mode that uses computational photography, but it still look good enough. The nice thing about that is that you get consistent results cause it's 100% natural effect by the lens (no issues with hair etc).
Not the best example: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/m2152a
Night Mode - low light
These modes are triggered/applied automatically. I took some decent shots under low light. I can see that Sony didn’t follow the path of the other manufactures. Similar to the HDR, the night mode algo is not that aggressive. Sony tries to remain close to reality and avoids over processing. Maybe this is not something that everyone will appreciate but I think it's nice to have different approaches by different manufactures. It results to more options for the consumers, more competition and innovation etc. Personally, I don't really understand why some reviewers are giving credits to manufactures for over processing.
Back to Sony, It would be nice to provide the users the option to enable/disable night mode during the auto mode or provide a dedicate night mode.
Some photos:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/5fZ25B
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/0rfGPZ (I was a bit surprised looking that one)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/vK61N9
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/A4U34R
Macro
At Auto, both apps are able to recognise a macro shot and actually in the standard app if you enable the photography hints, the app will guide you to "move further away" in case you are too close. Photos look natural, there is not any kind of computational photography processing in that mode. The blur parts in the photo is a natural outcome from the lens and it happens when parts of the scene lie outside of the depth of field.
Some photos (main lens - 24mm, standard app):
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/BM00v8
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/s6p1Sh
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/257gts
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/H75112
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/396Ac0
https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/Z83oh4
Hardware
Through my tests I did notice that the zeiss optics help a lot by reducing reflections and flares especially when I was pointing directly to a source of light (e.g sun, lamb etc). I compared it with Pixel 2 xl and Samsung s9 (whatever I had access) and the difference was obvious.
However, I noticed that when there is light coming from a particular angle (it's an edge case), there is a specific type of lens flare only for the main lens, 24mm.
Example: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/vp48Jd
The album with all the photos in the post and some additional photos: https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/K343dG
Sony released an update while I was writing this, I will try to update the post if they changed anything around the stuff I covered.
Update: added macro shots.
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Really appreciate that detailed info, thanks!
Quick question from me - in the Photo Pro app Auto mode, if RAW or RAW+Jpg is the selected format, have you found that the phone doesn't use HDR? Seems to be my experience. Make sense, but I wondered if it might still use HDR for the JPG and perhaps save each of the RAW files it generated, too. Doesn't seem so.