Lets face it.... THE DROID CAMERA SUCKS!

[nickc50310]

Hi guys!  I have been a big defender of the Droid camera until now.  I just cant figure out why the camera sucks so bad.  Some of the pics taken with it look as bad as the pics taken with my old 1.3mp Samsung Ace camera! 

To me, the issues make no sense.  Some picture look great, some look aweful.  Also, I NEVER get the red brackets.  Mine are always green.

Heres the types of pics I have taken, and the results:

Food (inside, natural light)- These pictures look AWESOME.  As a foodie and awesome cook, I always take pictures of food.  For some reason, with the droid they ALWAYS come out beautiful.  They look like a 5mp camera should.  Sometimes the flash goes, sometimes not (auto).  Either way, they always look great. 

Outside, day time, natural light- Decent pics but not 5mp quality.  I took one of some windmills yesterday in overcast.  They look OK but definately not 5mp good.

Night time, indoor portrait, flash- These pictures look aweful.  They are downright embarassing.  They are grainy and out of focus, with or without the flash.  And yes, I get green EVERY time. 

I can provide examples of each situation if needed.  I think this issue needs to be discussed.  Thoughts? 

[supitsmike]

How about you link a photo with what you consider to be bad, and one to be good so I can do a small comparison between the two?

[nickc50310]

You got it! 

Good quality.  Yes that is a brat taco.  LOL!  Made it as a joke but it was fairly tasty.

Windmills.  Decent quality but not great.

Pic of my brother.  HORRIBLE.  Had green brackets and everything. 

I cant understand how these can all have come from the same camera.......

[yewslus]

Agreed that this camera is worse than my 3.2MP Dare.  However, I hand it to Moto to have an auto-adjusting flash.  Flash pictures are never washed out, always just enough light.  Very nice.

I am waiting for an app or OTA that will replace the current camera.  I don't think the HW is bad, but the software and drivers sure do stink.

[n0yxl]

It doesn't "suck" -it just has high ISO noise issues.  That is mostly due to the incredibly small image sensors that are stuffed into these phones.  I'd say it's on par with other devices with the same sensor/driver combo.

I've actually been very pleased with my camera since the 24.5 day bug issue has past and (hopefully) gone. 

[nickc50310]

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n0yxl wrote:

It doesn't "suck" -it just has high ISO noise issues.  That is mostly due to the incredibly small image sensors that are stuffed into these phones.  I'd say it's on par with other devices with the same sensor/driver combo.

I've actually been very pleased with my camera since the 24.5 day bug issue has past and (hopefully) gone. 

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So basically they skimped on hardware and the 5mp camera will never be as good as it should or live up to the hype? 

[supitsmike]

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nickc50310 wrote:

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n0yxl wrote:

It doesn't "suck" -it just has high ISO noise issues.  That is mostly due to the incredibly small image sensors that are stuffed into these phones.  I'd say it's on par with other devices with the same sensor/driver combo.

I've actually been very pleased with my camera since the 24.5 day bug issue has past and (hopefully) gone. 

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So basically they skimped on hardware and the 5mp camera will never be as good as it should or live up to the hype? 

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No, doesn't neccesarily mean that. Just means that you'll have to wait  till December for it to work as it should.

If you all think THIS is bad, you should have seen the G1's camera when it was first released. It was abysmal in all it's glory.

[n0yxl]

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nickc50310 wrote:

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n0yxl wrote:

It doesn't "suck" -it just has high ISO noise issues.  That is mostly due to the incredibly small image sensors that are stuffed into these phones.  I'd say it's on par with other devices with the same sensor/driver combo.

I've actually been very pleased with my camera since the 24.5 day bug issue has past and (hopefully) gone. 

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So basically they skimped on hardware and the 5mp camera will never be as good as it should or live up to the hype? 

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Let's be realistic here; it's a phone -not a Nikon D90.....  It is what it is.  You just can't fit a big image sensor into a phone that's already cramped for space; not possible.  

5mp = marketing hype.  The silly marketing term "Megapixels" really says nothing about image quality, i've made exellent 8x10 prints from an 1.3mp olympus!  It's all about learning how to shoot with what you have, good composition, available lighting, etc...

[skidemn]

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n0yxl wrote:

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nickc50310 wrote:

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n0yxl wrote:

It doesn't "suck" -it just has high ISO noise issues.  That is mostly due to the incredibly small image sensors that are stuffed into these phones.  I'd say it's on par with other devices with the same sensor/driver combo.

I've actually been very pleased with my camera since the 24.5 day bug issue has past and (hopefully) gone. 

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So basically they skimped on hardware and the 5mp camera will never be as good as it should or live up to the hype? 

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Let's be realistic here; it's a phone -not a Nikon D90.....  It is what it is.  You just can't fit a big image sensor into a phone that's already cramped for space; not possible.  

5mp = marketing hype.  The silly marketing term "Megapixels" really says nothing about image quality, i've made exellent 8x10 prints from an 1.3mp olympus!  It's all about learning how to shoot with what you have, good composition, available lighting, etc...

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Thank you for your post, I'm glad to see someone actually gets it! 

Image quality has less to do with the stupid MP rating, and everything to do with the size of the image sensor (and quality of image processor).  I'm sick of seeing 10+MP point-and-shoot cameras with a smaller sensor than a 6MP DSLR camera and people expect the photo to be better on the point-and-shoot.  At some point manufacturers need to educate the public on what makes a good image, instead of relying on marketing hype which leads to disappointment. Let's take that a step further- the Canon 20D, 30D, 40D and 50D DSLR cameras all have the same size image sensor yet the MP ratings have grown each year to where the 50D is double a 20D's MP rating.  Yes, there is an image quality difference- not because of the MP rating, but because of the processor improvement (or the addition of multiple processors) that has lowered noise and increased color sensitivity, etc.

Do you honestly expect the microscopic image sensor on the Droid to compete with a much larger image sensor found on a 5MP dedicated camera?  Now compare your Droid photos in the dark to an iPhone or as in my case, my old Dare...  How can you be unhappy with the high ISO noise of a Droid picture taken in the dark when you can't even take the picture on other camera phones?  Sure the image may not be great on the Droid photo in the dark, but when you compare apples to apples, it beats the competition hands down since other camera phones can't take the shot to begin with!  I'm starting to believe that Motorola would have better satisfaction ratings if they had called it a 3MP camera so people would be surprised by the good image quality, rather than be let down people's unrealistic and uneducated expectations for a 5MP cameraPHONE.

[droidannoyed]

Do you honestly expect the microscopic image sensor on the Droid to compete with a much larger image sensor found on a 5MP dedicated camera?  Now compare your Droid photos in the dark to an iPhone or as in my case, my old Dare...  How can you be unhappy with the high ISO noise of a Droid picture taken in the dark when you can't even take the picture on other camera phones

THis must be a Verizon rep.  If we are all happy with out other Camera phones and this one sucks perhaps you could understand our frustration when the 5mp implies to the uneducated or sheepish Verizon customer that its better than their older phone with a 2.x mega pixel . Does the word trust me sound familiar here. The Iphone might be a lot of things but I could and will wait a little more to get a better camera phone or one that actually does not mask its defects with promises of a December 11 secret trust me fix.

[skidemn]

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droidannoyed wrote:

Do you honestly expect the microscopic image sensor on the Droid to compete with a much larger image sensor found on a 5MP dedicated camera?  Now compare your Droid photos in the dark to an iPhone or as in my case, my old Dare...  How can you be unhappy with the high ISO noise of a Droid picture taken in the dark when you can't even take the picture on other camera phones

THis must be a Verizon rep.  If we are all happy with out other Camera phones and this one sucks perhaps you could understand our frustration when the 5mp implies to the uneducated or sheepish Verizon customer that its better than their older phone with a 2.x mega pixel . Does the word trust me sound familiar here. The Iphone might be a lot of things but I could and will wait a little more to get a better camera phone or one that actually does not mask its defects with promises of a December 11 secret trust me fix.

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I have no affiliation with Verizon other than being a customer. Other than saying the camera sucks, how about you take some images under the same conditions using your Droid and using another camera phone.  Then scale both picures to the same size and compare them or link them here so we can see what you are describing as a poor image.  The problem I see with the Droid images compared to those with any of my other phones is that the 5MP image of the Droid is much larger and therefore easier to see any flaws.  If I scale the image down to the size of my 1.3 or 3.2MP image from my other phones, the Droid image is clearly superior, especially in low light.  That's not to say the images of the Droid are fantastic, just that they are better than other camera phones I have used.

[supitsmike]

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skidemn wrote:

I have no affiliation with Verizon other than being a customer. Other than saying the camera sucks, how about you take some images under the same conditions using your Droid and using another camera phone.  Then scale both picures to the same size and compare them or link them here so we can see what you are describing as a poor image.  The problem I see with the Droid images compared to those with any of my other phones is that the 5MP image of the Droid is much larger and therefore easier to see any flaws.  If I scale the image down to the size of my 1.3 or 3.2MP image from my other phones, the Droid image is clearly superior, especially in low light.  That's not to say the images of the Droid are fantastic, just that they are better than other camera phones I have used.

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This.

I took a picture of the same thing at home with the myTouch3G and the MotoDroid. The myTouch 3g had seemed to be of better quality, however, the resolution was lower--thus not having to push as many pixels out. On the Droid, because the images were so large, it was easier to get 'nit-picky' with the picture,

Here's what people are not getting: The Droid has more functionality than other cameras on phones, it can take pictures in the dark. Last time I checked bad picture in dark with flash>really dark picture.

Just because a 3MP camera can smooth out images, it doesn't mean that it carries the sharpness of an image that doesn't. It's like being able to see the eyelashes in a picture, on my MT3G, you really couldn't, on the Droid you can.

People are complaining about a phone, that doesn't take as good pictures as an actual digital camera. While I agree that my phone should be the swiss army knife of all phones, I don't believe out of everything it needs to be excelling in taking photographs.

I'd prefer performance over videos/picture any day.

[yellowboy74]

Some of you are still not getting the point and are trying to defend the droid a little too much. I've had the imagio for 4 weeks and its a 5mp camera phone and the quality of the pics came out twice as better on the imagio than the droid. So now i am comparing apples to apples.So just like nick said, the guy who started this thread, the camera on the droid just sucks. So next time you guys go into the verizon store. Takes pics with Imagio or omnia1 , then take pics with the droid and you will see that motorola did a bad job with its camera .

[viper3two]

Agree totally. It's not about the small sensor or what have you....you can take an imagio and it blows the droid out of the water with quality. The droid has a LOT of noise without a doubt. Even during day shots you can see a big difference between different 5mp cell cameras. They did a rotten job on the camera....it sucks!!

[droidannoyed]

"It doesn't "suck" -it just has high ISO noise issues"

Hmm His ISO eh ... well I just looked it up in the winkypedia and it says ISO issues= sucks

[nickc50310]

So Mike, the update will correct the horrible picture quality in certain pics? 

[supitsmike]

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nickc50310 wrote:

So Mike, the update will correct the horrible picture quality in certain pics? 

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 Edit for Clarity:

The internal clock or whatever you call it, has the auto balanced fixed every 24.5 Days, hence the reason why people on these forums were all "[edit] ITS FIXED WHEN WAS THE UPDATE?!" There wasn't one. It was all internal.

The patch, however, will permanantly fix everything so yes, it will fix the quality in it.

It seems as though the biggest problem in prictures is the noise level -- which is caused by the flash itself.

[kenyu73]

Can you manually set the ISO instead of using Auto? I've heard that setting that (higher or lower?) in low light areas helps with the noise... I'm no camera expert, I'm just relaying what I've heard.

I also have Eris so I cant test

[AFguy]

If you are that particular about the camera and picture quality, then buy a digital camera.  I mean come on guys, its like you expect a "perfect" do-it-all-in-one device.  What will you expect next, for your cell phone to tuck your children in bed for you.  come on.

[supitsmike]

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AFguy wrote:

If you are that particular about the camera and picture quality, then buy a digital camera.  I mean come on guys, its like you expect a "perfect" do-it-all-in-one device.  What will you expect next, for your cell phone to tuck your children in bed for you.  come on.

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Well to be honest, 5MP isn't really all that great anymore. It's not like you're going to get astounding pictures as opposed to using a Nikon or something. However, I believe people's gripe is for the phone to take pictures with the quality that it says it does. Just by looking at these pictures I know for a fact that they are not 5MP quality (I graphic design a lot), and, not only that but the camera is gimped due to the problems with internal software.

So until people complain about their Droids not putting their kids to sleep I think your statement is a little irrational, as anyone who says "My camera isn't taking the quality pictures that it said it would" is being rational.

[Ardoreal]

The Droid takes some pretty nice pictures.  Stick to your strengths and photograph in the outdoors.  Even my iPhone 3GS use to stink horribly at taking indoor pictures.

The video on the Droid is unmatched, even compared to iPhone.  So...just chill.....