Default Camera App (Poor Quality)

[Wildman]

Now first thing I can say I very happy with my Droid X but I was wondering if anyone noticed that the X camera seems to be a little erratic at times, I can take 3 pictures of same image, same place, same time and image never even looks close to other ones and none of them are very clear (Usually Dark).  Images are clear in viewer when shot is taken but shot always process image either too light or too dark.. Camera seems to only take decent photos in day light which is very strange, my Imagio appears to take clearer pictures than the Droid X does.. I have took photo with Imagio and X of the same image at same time and Imagio is clearer no doubt.

I am trying to figure out what can be wrong or is this just the way things is, please give any suggestions because I use my Imagio camera a lot and photos where rather clear but X photos are not making the grade, I was wondering if there is a camera app that does better than stock one because I tried a free app and the photos came out better but still not close to clear inside a building.

Any Seggestions Appreciated...

[MorganB]

There is a software update available. The software update includes improvements and enhancements such as:

Improvements

• Better battery charging status indicator
• Smoother transition for camera and camcorder functions
• Redesign of weather widget icons
• Faster Exchange ActiveSync¿ email loading
• Streamlined organization of newly downloaded applications
• Organized favorite contacts by call count
• Updated Bluetooth connection for enhanced video-sharing experience
• Coordinated date and time across phone displays
• Cleaner looking status bar for GPS symbol
• Improved sync capabilities for 3G Mobile Hotspot
• Faster Visual Voice Mail loading

Enhancements

• Enhanced, preloaded My Verizon application
• Preloaded Amazon Kindle application

Please visit SOFTWARE UPDATE for step by step instructions on how to perform the upgrade.

HTH,

[Angusmerlin]

Re MorganD, Verizon wireless employee: 

"Smoother transition for camera and camcorder functions"

In real life terms, how will this new OTA software update for Droid X translate to improving still shot picture results/sharpness?

[Wildman]

It doesnt.... I did update as soon as it was released and the update did not seem to modify the cameras quality in my opion. for some reason the device seems to take better pictures at a lower pixel setting for close ups but I have not really notice any major change to the camera quality....Camera appears to also do better with a some what strong lighting situation.

[Wildman]

Update:

I have been testing the camera over the weekend and I am starting to notice that you need to play with settings to get a clearer photo and the camera seems to be able to take some quality photos but it is better not to use the auto features, under indoor lighten the flash has to be simply turn off because if flash is on at all I notice that when the flash lights as the button is half way down it seems to confuse the light sensor of camera, from what I see the issue is in the softwares way of veiwing the data from camera, strange enough I have turned off flash completely and almost all my photos have been clear...Guess taking photos with the droid x isnt a simple point and shot concept oh well.

Still working on this situation but I think I have it isolated to the brightnes of the flash is causing all the issues..

[Bandit390]

Camera seems good to me. There just seems to be a slight delay between the time its focused and actually taking the pick. If it's not 100 percent steady during that time, the pics come out blurry/etc. At least this is my experience.

[AZSALUKI]

it's an 8 mp cam....but it is still a low end cam when compared to true digital cams. on most of these newer devices the cams are getting closer to nices cams, but they are still phones. like you said, you can take pretty good shots if you do some manual adjustments. outdoor light will be better than indoor on any camera. i've noticed on most devices that an outdoor, close up will be the best quality you can get. pics of any distance will get grainy and so will pics at dusk. we have to remember that while these are great cams for a phone....they are still cams in a phone. they will never take the quality of a $300 digital cam. for that matter, we also have to keep in mind that there is a difference between a $99 12 mp kodak and a $400 12 mp canon. sure....they are both 12 mp.....but the $400 canon will give pro quality and the $99 kodak will produce junk, no matter how many mp's it shoots.

[Angusmerlin · Accepted solution]

In view of all the above comments (as well as other blog reports) about Droid X difficulties taking sharp, clear autofocus pictures, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hope that Motorola will now begin to use improved quality camera components for their flagship smartphones.  As Nokia will be doing for its upcoming N8 12MP phone, Motorola would be wise to begin using quality large image sensors, as well as state of the art camera lenses (such as the N8's Zeiss lense) for Motorola's high megapixel flagship smartphone cameras.   

The Motorola Droid X appears to be a beautiful, wonderful piece of technology and excellent quality phone.  I just hope that the onboard cameras for future Motorola flagship phones catch up to the rest of this incredible Moto state of the art technology--- providing all of us, especially the non-photographers among us, dependable good quality and accurate pictures.  Pictures for those times shooting opportunities suddenly dance up right in front of our face, from out of no where.  Picture opportunities where you do not have your camera, but yes, you do have your cell phone. 

P.S., Motorola, I personally would be willing to pay more for such a high quality point and shoot-like camera on a cell phone, and I suspect that many others would be, too.  

Come on, Motorola, you can do it.  Just do it.  And rule the air.

[deborahgfan71]

The Droid X does have the worse camera I have seen in a cell phone. Other phones I have had that were much cheaper had much better cameras. I use the Vignette app instead of the installed camera. Its much better. 

[Wildman]

Actually since the 2.2 update I have been rather satified with the images that the camera has been producing, it seemed most of the issues was the software... With 2.1 I used Camera 360 and was preatty happy with the shots I recieved but since update I have been using the stockcamera app and noticed a nice improvement ober 2.1 camera app.

[deborahgfan71]

With the flash turned off the camera does take really good pics.

[john5152]

ok i am watching this develop. i had a droid 2 and had these propblems as well,,, and the store wants me to try the droid x.   Motorola uses software that i consider substandard. 2.2 doesnt sound that promising ether because i had it on D2. The droid 2 has a 5 mp camera. and compare it to the droid x having a 8mp cam?  im kinda leary about wanting to see what people are talking about with the DX. darn it.

[mindless76]

I am also having problems with the pictures coming out dark. My buddy has the droid incredible and the pictures come out much better then the droid X.

[robimon7]

This one piece of crap camera, if you want to take good night pictures, you have to spend minutes setting up the scene and lightning and settings, as an on the go camera to take snapshots of memorable moments, it sucks {please keep your posts courteous}.  I went to 3 parties over Halloween, I used the Motorola droid x first, several blurry pictures, a few too bright lights, some too low lights, trying to get the right settings pressing the buttons to make these pics turn out decent, as I was fondling with it, sends half of my pics to FB without my consent, some memorable moments past me by as i was taking the pics because i was too busy figuring how to get the right settings, for every 1 good pic, this camera snap 3 bad ones.  On the 2nd and third party I went with my normal digital camera and shoved this droid x in my pocket for what it simply is, a phone.   Say what you all want about how nice this camera is to make you feel better about yourself, but I know everyone has these problems already, they just don't want to feel stupid for being doup'ed with the 8megapixel false advertising.{word filter avoidance} Motorola for saying this is an 8meg camera, it simply isn't that!  it looks like 2 yrs from now once my contract is up, I will be using this phone as a coaster and looking into samsung, nokia or erricson's.  This phone has only one thing and that its processor is the fastest, and android OS is new technology, so it's just a good internet phone, it's style is even lacking, exterior of this phone is so plain, you add a cover to it and you got a brick,   mp3 player and sound quality is decent but apples music qualtiy surpasses it, same goes for the droidx smartphone apps, its decent but Blackberrys smartphone apps also surpasses them, it comes down to verizons service which is the best that keeps me going with this mediocre phone.  Because it's really what it is a medicore phone. If they couldve gotten thr camera right it wouldve been a great phone! 

[Wildman]

Under low lighted situation all you usually have to do is change the ISO setting to 400 in settings and my photos come out fine, this isn't a abnormal situation even my Canon PowerShot usually has to have the ISO setting modified to get good photos under real low light.  Some software in cameras or camera phones in this case doesn't estimate light saturation levels correctly to choose the correct ISO setting, some does better than others.  Since the complaints are with low light because the camera does well on taking photos in sunlight indicates the shutter response time isn't sufficient to expose the image in low light and this is what the ISO setting is configured to do...  Point and Click isn't always possible with every camera because of the number of lighten situations that the software has to compensate for.  Besides when all is said and done this is a cellphone first and a camera second.

Another thing to consider, comparing image quality on other devices like the Incredible isn't a wise thing to do also because the screen has a factor of how the image looks on a device, I have sent images taken with the Incredible and they looked nice but one I transferred to a pc and viewed them on a pc screen I did not notice any level of  quality difference from the shots I took with my Droid X.  You can take a image taken with a somewhat grainy image and decrease the pixel density and notice a quality difference...  This is why users have reported better shots at camera setting to 5mp.

[firstlady09]

Here are the proper steps to change the ISO settings. 

From the home screen, touch the applications tab (located at the bottom of the display).

Touch Camera.

 Alternatively, touch Camcorder.

Press the Menu button.

Touch Settings.

Touch ISO equivalent sensitivity.

Touch one of the following settings:

auto

100

200

400

800

Here is a link for additional information. Click here http://support.vzw.com/clc/devices/knowledge_base.html?id=34112#iso

[Wildman]

Thanksfirstlady09 I was planning on posting that..I guess giving that information would be helpful  , it slipped my mind....

[TaeSong]

The 8MP camera was THE selling point for me when I bought the Droid X and I was SORELY disappointed it wasn't a true 8MP camera.

The picture quality is on the same level as a webcam.. about 2MP at the most.  I have used a true 3MP and 5MP camera and standard 2MP webcams so I know the difference.

[Wildman]

The issue is that you expected the camera on a cellphone to perform like a standard camera and I do not see this happening without a majpr jump in camera technology for mobile device...    I agree the quality could be better but I think the camera isnt that bad, after I learned how to use the ISO filter and other settings to maximize quality, I am satified with the devices camera but I wished they didnt go with the motorized shutter.. Its  downfall for the camera.

[Angusmerlin]

With the advent of two new high end camera smartphones, the Nokia N8 and the Altek Leo (yet to be released), cell phone camera technology appears to have significantly leaped forward.  A Carl Zeiss lense on the 12 MP Nokia, capable of shooting a  good qualtiy movie.  An actual working 3X optical zoom lense loaded on a 14 MP camera for the Altek Leo's 3.5G Android phone.  Both the Nokia N8 and the Altek Leo are said to use relatively large image sensors,  larger than some dedicated point and shoot cameras.  The Android Altek Leo, especially, will be well positioned to offer direct competition to Motorola to lure away Android users.

It's absolutely time for Motorola to move forward and update its camera cell phone technology . 

Now, before it's too late relative to the dog eat dog android smartphone wars between the major cell phone/wireless companies.

[Wildman]

The units you speak of is basically cameras hardware first with a phone second, most high quality camera devices lacks a number of smart-phone features because they focus on the camera aspect on phone and left out all other bells and whistle... I never truly consider a device that is built completely like a camera as a phone device..

I'm not defending Motorola product quality, but take in consideration that the device size, weight and price all gets considered when they manufacture the device.  To receive all the features that everyone thinks that a device should have, then there will be more complaints of price then.