TL;DR: Unhappy with noisy photos/videos from camera. Not sure if I'm being unreasonable, or if this device has hardware/software issues. Your thoughts?
I'm curious as to what other people's thoughts are on the Pixel camera? The pictures and videos on this phone do not seem up to par with what Google represented, or else I possibly received bad hardware. Here's my experience so far...
I ordered the device from the Google Store and received it early December. First thing I did was update the firmware and updated the apps, which included the Google Camera app. Every photo I took, in varying degrees of lighting, seemed to have a great deal of noise or pixelation. Even 4K video in daylight looked like I ran it through a noise filter in editing software. I contacted Google Support and they ran through a series of tests while the engineer was remote viewing my screen. We deleted the Google Camera app's cache/data, put the device in safe mode, and performed a factory reset. After each step the photos looked no better than before. The engineer then stated my hardware was defective and issued an RMA for the device. Now that I'm on my second Pixel XL, I can't say the camera is any better and I'm still disappointed with the results, but I'm reluctant to contact Google again because I feel like it's more than likely a software/firmware issue at this point.
How could both devices (brand new, second was not a refurbished device) have the same hardware defect and this not be a widely reported issue? I've read articles about the "Halo" issue and people having pink lines on the camera viewer, but Google claimed it was software related and I believe they already released a fix. I've also flashed ROMs before on old devices that didn't have proper drivers, which resulted in similar experiences similar to my current problem when I knew for a fact the hardware was just fine.
Anyway, sorry for the meandering post, but I'd love for anyone to share their thoughts about the camera. Does it live up to your expectations and take photos worthy of the highest rated smartphone camera of all time?
In well lit environment, high megapixel cameras win for me due to detail. But for low light, this camera is awesome
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Pictures sometimes turn out fantastic, and sometimes average.
The camera seems to not know what to focus in on which leads to weird looking images. Also, for some reason, my pictures all have a somewhat yellow tint.
Maybe my expectations for "the highest rated smartphone camera...ever" was set a bit too high.
Mr Hoff I would have to say no, as the camera works awesome I would say its the best smartphone camera on the market, and that is even without ois to boot.
As much as I don't wanna admit it but iPhone 7 camera is definitely a better all around camera. There's no debating it. Yes the pixel can beat it out in perfect circumstances taking still photos.. but the iPhone exceeds in more areas.
The pixel is horrible at capturing the slightest movement without blurring the picture. I heard this is because the camera uses a slow shutter speed compared to other devices.
Same thing goes for videos. Taking a video of someone standing there talking.. the pixel will likely win..But try to follow a moving person or object and that's where you notice the lack of OIS and the pixel looses by far.
I take riding pictures (BMX) with a normal DSLR but always have my cell phone to take some pics to.. the pixel doesn't do much better than my s5 did
aholeinthewor1d said:
As much as I don't wanna admit it but iPhone 7 camera is definitely a better all around camera. There's no debating it. Yes the pixel can beat it out in perfect circumstances taking still photos.. but the iPhone exceeds in more areas.
The pixel is horrible at capturing the slightest movement without blurring the picture. I heard this is because the camera uses a slow shutter speed compared to other devices.
Same thing goes for videos. Taking a video of someone standing there talking.. the pixel will likely win..But try to follow a moving person or object and that's where you notice the lack of OIS and the pixel looses by far.
I take riding pictures (BMX) with a normal DSLR but always have my cell phone to take some pics to.. the pixel doesn't do much better than my s5 did
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Yep. This is my biggest issue as well. I have a newborn and half my pictures are blurry due to him moving his arms when I'm taking pics.
Here's what I'm referring to. Granted this is low light, but when the camera does hit the light you can really see the noise I'm referring to. This can't be normal.
4K Video taken tonight: https://goo.gl/photos/MCTbfb96Cpw74bkFA
If you're having issues with motion blur (will be more prominent in middle and low light) disable HDR for those shots. It keeps the "shutter" capturing longer. Your image quality will take a hit but the motion blur should be reduced.
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I'm disappointed but I'm so used to my rx100 so it's not fair at all
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biggiestuff said:
I'm disappointed but I'm so used to my rx100 so it's not fair at all
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I have an rx100m3 as well, which is partly why I'm wondering if I'm being unreasonable. Guess I'll have to keep carrying that with me when I want higher picture quality.
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chrisstl said:
I have an rx100m3 as well, which is partly why I'm wondering if I'm being unreasonable. Guess I'll have to keep carrying that with me when I want higher picture quality.
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I'm pretty sure that plays a huge part in it. There isn't a smart phone camera that can compare. Once you've become accustomed to the quality of the Sony, it's hard to downgrade. I take it with me to anything that is going to involve low light.
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The low light is absolute garbage, worse than the Note 4 I had before it.
I loved my note 7, the panoramas were amazing on that phone. Thought camera was great on pixel but after more use I have some quirks I dislike. If I want to take quality photos or video I bring my Nikon D3300.
Are you guys trying to compare a DSLR vs. a smartphone camera in low light?
Ok, consider this. Low light shots require a lot of light collection. How much bigger is a DSLR lens vs. a smartphone lens.
I'm looking at the Pixel XL lens, and it's about 2.5mm in diameter. That's about 5 mm squared of area.
A DSLR lens would be about 2 inches wide, that's 50.8mm in diameter or about 2000 mm squared of area.
The difference in light captured in low light, with the same exposure, is a factor of 400!
It is a miracle that enough light is even captured by a tiny smartphone camera lens for low light shots. If I were completely unaware of the actual quality of pictures but was only given the specs of both cameras, I would say that they couldn't even be compared!
nabbed said:
Are you guys trying to compare a DSLR vs. a smartphone camera in low light?
Ok, consider this. Low light shots require a lot of light collection. How much bigger is a DSLR lens vs. a smartphone lens.
I'm looking at the Pixel XL lens, and it's about 2.5mm in diameter. That's about 5 mm squared of area.
A DSLR lens would be about 2 inches wide, that's 50.8mm in diameter or about 2000 mm squared of area.
The difference in light captured in low light, with the same exposure, is a factor of 400!
It is a miracle that enough light is even captured by a tiny smartphone camera lens for low light shots. If I were completely unaware of the actual quality of pictures but was only given the specs of both cameras, I would say that they couldn't even be compared!
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I'm certainly not comparing a DSLR vs a smartphone. And also an rx100 isn't a DSLR either. My disappointment, which I didn't really mention, was mentally comparing my iPhone 6+ and the Pixel XL. I think I'm having issue with the HDR overcompensating and causing noise.
Edit: To clarify my rx100m3 comment, I just wished that a smartphone camera quality could improve to the point where I would be comfortable leaving the rx100m3 at home sometimes. I thought the Pixel would bring me closer to that dream, but it hasn't.
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chrisstl said:
I'm certainly not comparing a DSLR vs a smartphone. And also an rx100 isn't a DSLR either. My disappointment, which I didn't really mention, was mentally comparing my iPhone 6+ and the Pixel XL. I think I'm having issue with the HDR overcompensating and causing noise.
Edit: To clarify my rx100m3 comment, I just wished that a smartphone camera quality could improve to the point where I would be comfortable leaving the rx100m3 at home sometimes. I thought the Pixel would bring me closer to that dream, but it hasn't.
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I think this is not a general consensus, but this is what I got out of reviews of modern flagship phone cameras.
iPhone 7, Galaxy S7, Pixel cameras have similar capabilities in terms of hardware. What makes a difference is the software processing and noise reduction.
Galaxy S7 seems to have the best algorithms for noise reduction, and the fastest autofocus in very dark scenery. That means less noise, and sharper photos in the dark for the Galaxy. Pixel has an excellent HDR, with good color reproduction in HDR screnery, where dark and bright objects are present simultaneously. iPhone has a good all around camera not excelling at any particular feature.
That said, all smartphone cameras are not even close to large dedicated cameras - the sizes of lenses and sensors are literally two orders of magnitude better in low light. At the current level of technology, you cannot replace a large camera with a smartphone in low light.
Honestly, there's really not much of an upgrade from the 6P to the Pixel camera.
I've actually been pretty impressed. Coming from the S7 Edge the Pixel does not offer huge improvements in any single area, but subtle improvements across the board. When it comes to the camera, I spent weeks and hundreds of shots in different settings trying to decide which camera was better as I was weighing the decision of which device to keep. Ultimately, I found them both to be great but the Pixel seemed to do a little better when taking shots of my kids who are 1, 3 and 5 and are thus always moving and very active. I'm quite surprised with some of the comments in this thread because I've been quite pleased. When comparing photos to those of my wife's iPhone 6s+, the gap becomes a little larger and the Pixel is significantly better in most every situation, especially with moving targets. I cannot comment on comparisons to the iP7 because I don't have one and would only base my opinion on the many reviews I've read and watched over the last month or so. The one aspect of my S7 Edge camera I really miss is the wide angle FFC and probably the S7 Edge low light performance overall.
In all honesty, I do have mild regrets about keeping the Pixel and selling the S7Edge. Overall I think the S7 is a slightly better device with its design, waterproofing, form factor, and features. But the Pixel is solid enough to get me through to Pixel XL 2 or Galaxy S9.
chrisstl said:
I'm certainly not comparing a DSLR vs a smartphone. And also an rx100 isn't a DSLR either. My disappointment, which I didn't really mention, was mentally comparing my iPhone 6+ and the Pixel XL. I think I'm having issue with the HDR overcompensating and causing noise.
Edit: To clarify my rx100m3 comment, I just wished that a smartphone camera quality could improve to the point where I would be comfortable leaving the rx100m3 at home sometimes. I thought the Pixel would bring me closer to that dream, but it hasn't.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
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The RX100 is darn good and can give some of the lower DSLR/mirrorless camera competition. The video you posted is the incredibly hard for a sensor this size and we know the pixel is not great at low light. RX100 is also a excellent F/1.8 lense on it.
I think you are just expecting too much out of a sensor much smaller than the RX100s. Assuming the IMX 378 has the same aspect ratio to the RX100 it is 4.1 time smaller in area.
IMX378 - 7.81mm diagonal (28mm^2 assuming same W/H ratio as RX100)
RX100 III - 8.8mm x 13.2mm, 15.86mm diagonal, 116.16mm^2
If you are comfortable shooting manual and RAW try it on the pixel (manual camera is simple and effective). It will at least show you the limits of the sensor and should help you understand when and why it will fall on it face in certain lighting conditions. It will also so you why HDR+ is so amazing.
nabbed said:
I think this is not a general consensus, but this is what I got out of reviews of modern flagship phone cameras.
iPhone 7, Galaxy S7, Pixel cameras have similar capabilities in terms of hardware. What makes a difference is the software processing and noise reduction.
Galaxy S7 seems to have the best algorithms for noise reduction, and the fastest autofocus in very dark scenery. That means less noise, and sharper photos in the dark for the Galaxy. Pixel has an excellent HDR, with good color reproduction in HDR screnery, where dark and bright objects are present simultaneously. iPhone has a good all around camera not excelling at any particular feature.
That said, all smartphone cameras are not even close to large dedicated cameras - the sizes of lenses and sensors are literally two orders of magnitude better in low light. At the current level of technology, you cannot replace a large camera with a smartphone in low light.
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I would not agree that the S7 has better image processing. It is by far the worst by overdoing the noise reduction and overcompensating with too much sharpening. It is a better sensor/lense underneath though.
rancor22 said:
The RX100 is darn good and can give some of the lower DSLR/mirrorless camera competition. The video you posted is the incredibly hard for a sensor this size and we know the pixel is not great at low light. RX100 is also a excellent F/1.8 lense on it.
I think you are just expecting too much out of a sensor much smaller than the RX100s. Assuming the IMX 378 has the same aspect ratio to the RX100 it is 4.1 time smaller in area.
IMX378 - 7.81mm diagonal (28mm^2 assuming same W/H ratio as RX100)
RX100 III - 8.8mm x 13.2mm, 15.86mm diagonal, 116.16mm^2
If you are comfortable shooting manual and RAW try it on the pixel (manual camera is simple and effective). It will at least show you the limits of the sensor and should help you understand when and why it will fall on it face in certain lighting conditions. It will also so you why HDR+ is so amazing.
I would not agree that the S7 has better image processing. It is by far the worst by overdoing the noise reduction and overcompensating with too much sharpening. It is a better sensor/lense underneath though.
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I am sorry, but do you own any of the phones/cameras in question? Do you speak from experience or from rumor mill?
I put the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus's cameras up against its predecessor the S9 Plus, in an attempt to determine how much has improved and whether or not it's worth upgrading to.
Overall. I've found that there isn't a lot separating both these phones when it comes to the main camera and the telephoto lens that is. Actually, just a little difference, I find that the S9 Plus took pictures that were
slightly more detailed and the high dynamic range on the S9 Plus was also a little better. The pictures taken with the S9 Plus were also more vivid and saturated but whether or not you like that, would depend on personal preference.
Now, where the S10 Plus shines, is the ultra wide camera, the S9 Plus doesn't have that at all, so in that area the S10 Plus wins hands down, capable of capturing nearly as much as the eyes can see, and of course it's generally more fun to shoot landscape images with that ultra wide camera.
Another area the S10 Plus wins in is Video stabilisation at 1080p, trust me when I say the video is really stable.
If video stabilisation and ultra wide images aren't of any interest to you, then, the S9 Plus in my opinion shoots better images so there's no point in upgrading, otherwise if you want something that's versatile go ahead and upgrade to the S10 Plus.
You can either take my word for it or watch the video below, you'll find that everything I said above is mentioned in the video so it isn't mandatory to watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=993mzj7aeiw
xdaman85 said:
I put the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus's cameras up against its predecessor the S9 Plus, in an attempt to determine how much has improved and whether or not it's worth upgrading to.
Overall. I've found that there isn't a lot separating both these phones when it comes to the main camera and the telephoto lens that is. Actually, just a little difference, I find that the S9 Plus took pictures that were
slightly more detailed and the high dynamic range on the S9 Plus was also a little better. The pictures taken with the S9 Plus were also more vivid and saturated but whether or not you like that, would depend on personal preference.
Now, where the S10 Plus shines, is the ultra wide camera, the S9 Plus doesn't have that at all, so in that area the S10 Plus wins hands down, capable of capturing nearly as much as the eyes can see, and of course it's generally more fun to shoot landscape images with that ultra wide camera.
Another area the S10 Plus wins in is Video stabilisation at 1080p, trust me when I say the video is really stable.
If video stabilisation and ultra wide images aren't of any interest to you, then, the S9 Plus in my opinion shoots better images so there's no point in upgrading, otherwise if you want something that's versatile go ahead and upgrade to the S10 Plus.
You can either take my word for it or watch the video below, you'll find that everything I said above is mentioned in the video so it isn't mandatory to watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=993mzj7aeiw
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I'm an enthusiast photographer with currently the Canon EOS 5DSR, I'm not making a lot of pictures with my phone except at work (another story )
When I received my 9+ last year, as I had heard so many good words about the camera, I test it in a shopping mall garage and it was impressive for a phone...
After that I used it indoors at work with very good results but when It tried in dark/night shots it was regrettable at least (Lot of noise)...
I received my 10+ last Thursday and Friday night I tried 2 night shots in normal view and one in tele, they where the same as 9+ with MAYBE a REALLY slight improvement...
I haven't try the super-wide yet but I will! I agree that if the reason to upgrade your phone is the camera maybe the PIXEL 3 will be better choice as it have some really impressive effects in camera... I really hope someone port the PIXEL 3 camera to my EXYNOS
Terry.666 said:
I'm an enthusiast photographer with currently the Canon EOS 5DSR, I'm not making a lot of pictures with my phone except at work (another story )
When I received my 9+ last year, as I had heard so many good words about the camera, I test it in a shopping mall garage and it was impressive for a phone...
After that I used it indoors at work with very good results but when It tried in dark/night shots it was regrettable at least (Lot of noise)...
I received my 10+ last Thursday and Friday night I tried 2 night shots in normal view and one in tele, they where the same as 9+ with MAYBE a REALLY slight improvement...
I haven't try the super-wide yet but I will! I agree that if the reason to upgrade your phone is the camera maybe the PIXEL 3 will be better choice as it have some really impressive effects in camera... I really hope someone port the PIXEL 3 camera to my EXYNOS
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Yep, the Pixel 3 is great for taking pictures at night, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro also takes really great shots at night.
Using A7 (2017) and thinking of upgrading to A70, but not sure technical specs wise if the Front-Selfie Camera, would be much better than A7 (2017).
The Culprit = Aperture.
A7 (2017) - 16 MP, f/1.9
A70 - 32 MP, f/2.0
Now I take loads of selfies and low aperture is very important for me. The new A70 has one stop higher aperture as compared to my 2 year old phone but yes the megapixels is big but tht hardly matters in how much light the module lets in.
So according to specs, shall I conclude the front shooter is equal or maybe slight worse than my current phone ?
Need inputs.
The difference between f1.9 and f2.0 is not very significant, the quality would depend more on the noise in the chip I'd have thought. In whole f-stop numbers, you'd need to go down from 2.0 to 1.4 to double the amount of light allowed in by the lens, f2.0 to f1.9 isn't even a third of a stop, even if these were real f-stop numbers anyway.
Andre
UPDATE: I got the chance to demo Live A70 and I was shocked with the performance.
The selfie camera takes photo as if heavy beauty mode is applied by default. The rear camera takes "Greyish" pictures and even video colors were way off.
Compared to my A7 2017 it was a clear downgrade and even the Samsung representative in the store agreed with my inputs...
So am sticking with my current phone for now and possibly will switch to Oppo Reno !!
So you took a couple of quick photos with store demo unit and decided that camera is bad? I'll rather trust reviewers who spend days with the device before giving impressions and actually provide picture and video samples and comparisons with other devices.
Glotttis said:
So you took a couple of quick photos with store demo unit and decided that camera is bad? I'll rather trust reviewers who spend days with the device before giving impressions and actually provide picture and video samples and comparisons with other devices.
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I thought something was fishy with that demo unit... as it was on Demo mode and while taking selfies there was no option to disable beauty mode.
I again tried a demo in a local shop with consumer mode - and I am happy to inform that the pics and video all seem normal and satisfactory.
BTW, Greyish tone in pics can be widely seen in reviews too!
Camera is not great at all. It is normal as other low cost phones. Also
Bluetooth is breaking a bit with head phones.
audio for receiving calls is poor.
cannot connect to external monitor with type-c to hdmi which I feel is a basic feature.
it is high cost product.
Overall for this price, it is not a good product.
Until unless some one want new phone like me, its good to wait and check for other models.
I love the Note 10/+ cameras, but the lack of support for the Wide Angle and Telephoto cameras in Pro mode and not being able to get DNG/RAW files with that sensors is a reason for me not to fully love the phone's camera setup. As far as I know, all cameras have the same sensor, so really it wouldn't be much difficult for Samsung to let us use those cameras in Pro mode via an OS Update.
Other manufacturers like LG and Huawei let me take RAW files with other cameras (I've had the LG V30 and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro), and if you are a photographer or at least know the importance of RAW files, you should understand me.
I shoot professional photography on my DSLR, but when I leave my camera at home to go with friends or to a live show, having full camera control on my phone would be really appreciated knowing how easy would be for Samsung to let us do by software update.
Edit. Misunderstood at first
Each sensor is different: normal and telephoto are 12MP, ultrawide is 16MP, telephoto and ultra wide are 1 micron sensors, normal has 1.4 micron pixels so it's best for low light and I think ultra wide has no auto focus? But that's no excuse, those cams I think are the same as S10+, so are around for at least 6 months and should have enough time to properly update software.
I remember when Note3 came out it was one of the first, if not the first phone with 4k video etc., I don't see that bleeding edge anymore. For example Huawei has 40 MP sensors and better low light capability. Maybe Samsung is adopting Apple strategy to make the phone just good enough and leave newest tech for next generations, but that could bite them back.
Are the cameras on the 3 Samsung s20/ plus and the ultra all pretty much the same quality? Are is the camera on the Samsung CEO ultra way better than the CEO plus and the base model CEO device? I'm just wondering if it's worth spending the extra $ on the CEO ultra device. Basically is a camera on the s20 ultra way better than the base model s20 and s20 plus. Get somebody please let me know thanks in advance!!! I'm using the LG cup right now. Is the camera on the s20 plus s20 Ultra in the base model s20 way better than the v 60 LG device camera.
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( Exynos S20 U )
I like the camera, it has its limitations to take close-up photos, you can limit that by taking more distance and then zooming in, auto focus on the S20 Ultra is a bit restless, don't expect to take 1 photo there take several photos and pick the best ones out and tinker with snapseed until a good result is achieved for you, you are not familiar with taking and editing photos, 108 MP with the TOF sensor is perfect in certain situations, video recordings at 4 K and now the 21: 9 format is great, only manual, autofocus is unreliable !!. , in short, buy what you can handle, amateur? don't buy samsung!>
No, the S20 & S20+ crop into the sensor for the tele lens not an actual tele lens and the IQ from it is poor, the S20U is an actual tele lens. The UWA is similar in both, and the std lens is 108 mp vs 12mp the S20U takes a range of photos with the 108mp and combines them into a single 12mp photo, and when i compared the 12mp from my S20+ to my S20U the S20U is better detail wise.