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Camera and Volume Woes

C

chrisk

Newbie
Hi,

I've updated the to the latest roms and was hoping the camera would be better, does anyone know how to improve the camera on the Hero?

Also while I'm at it, I've been watching movies on the hero, is there anyway to increase the volume of the media playing through the phone? I had a samsung i8910 for a while and by a series of key presses we could up the gain and Head phone volume..

Thanks for the help.
 
chrisk said:
does anyone know how to improve the camera on the Hero?
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Dismantle the handset and replace it with a decent-sized sensor and quality optics. ;)

I've been watching movies on the hero, is there anyway to increase the volume of the media playing through the phone?
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Beyond the +/- offered by using the volume rocker on the left edge, not that I'm aware.
 
Slug said:
Dismantle the handset and replace it with a decent-sized sensor and quality optics. ;)



Beyond the +/- offered by using the volume rocker on the left edge, not that I'm aware.
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It's an option but really?? I have a 2 year old nokia with a better camera then this thing!

With the samsung (Symbian) you could type in something like #*88601# to get to the sound set up menu, I'm guessing there is something similar on android.
 
Really? I don't agree with you. The camera software is rubbish and takes an age to capture, the camera itself produces OK shots as long as the target isn't moving and in a very well lit environment.
 
All phone cameras are rubbish, without exception. Admittedly the Hero is more crappy than most, if you want a nice picture use a camera.

You can't polish a turd.
 
chrisk said:
I have a 2 year old nokia with a better camera then this thing!
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I have a 50 year old Olympus that takes better photos than the Hero. That's all it does though. :D

I'm sure there's an app in the Market that users have reported makes a big difference to the camera. Unfortunately I can't recall the name of it but maybe somebody else can? Picsay perhaps?
 
Yeah, it takes good pictures, and they look good on my computer, but then again I hardly ever use the camera on my phone.
 
I think my Hero is great, even better than expected, but the pictures it takes in anything but the brightest sunlight are terrible. Appalling. I woke up in a bright sunny bedroom the other day to see my cat lying in a silly position. Barely any light crept into my Hero's naff little lens revealing a noisy picture the contents of which would have to be explained to any potential interested party (starting with "there's a cat in it"). My girlfriend's Sony Ericsson W595 took a pretty good shot not too far off what I'd expect from my Canon G7.

It wasn't even a black cat on dark sheets, either. A light ginger cat on blue sheets. Should have been a piece of p*** ...
 
Oddly enough I bought the hero to use as a phone and to keep in contact on the internet.

If I wanted to take photos I would have bought a camera..
 
I would happily sacrifice the camera for a dedicated phone/internet device. The fact it even has a camera is a bonus for me.
 
andy d said:
Oddly enough I bought the hero to use as a phone and to keep in contact on the internet.

If I wanted to take photos I would have bought a camera..
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Wow! That smacks me in the face as a huge coincidence, me to! But if the phone has a camera, surely it should work to a satisfactory level, otherwise why bother?
 
All phone cameras are limited by the physical size of the lens which always gives a poor ability to gather light -this leads to camera shake unless conditions are generally bright. Megapixels are a marketing ploy as most people wont be printing to more than postcard size or viewing on an average monitor. Digital zooming is also a waste of time as there will always be camera shake. Built in flashes in mobile phones have a very limited range and there use usually results in only illuminating close up subjects who will be otherise surrounded by darkness.

My previous phone, a Nokia N82 is regarded as one of the better camera phones and I wouldn't say it was miles ahead of the Hero, so I'm neither disappointed or surprised at the mediocre camera performance of the Hero. Saying that, I would much rather keep the Hero's sleek shape than have the added bulk of the sort of lens needed to take bright, sharp pictures that you would get from a proper camera - my DSLR is always with me when quality matters and anything taken on my phone is a spontaneous snap where I would not normally scrutinise things to that extent. Especially when I consider all the other things the Hero is capable of.

The only thing I do feel could be improved is the resolution of video - this is really poor for a modern camera and I wonder whether firmware or software could fix this in the future?
 
phillevy said:
All phone cameras are limited by the physical size of the lens which always gives a poor ability to gather light -this leads to camera shake unless conditions are generally bright. Megapixels are a marketing ploy as most people wont be printing to more than postcard size or viewing on an average monitor.

The only thing I do feel could be improved is the resolution of video - this is really poor for a modern camera and I wonder whether firmware or software could fix this in the future?
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I agree with you with regard the technological footprint, if you want better optics then you're going to need more bulk.

That said I've owned a few camera phones in my time, all with a similar sized optics as the hero and all have been better.
 
chrisk said:
Wow! That smacks me in the face as a huge coincidence, me to! But if the phone has a camera, surely it should work to a satisfactory level, otherwise why bother?
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It does work to a satisfactory level, you take a picture, it saves the picture, you look at the picture.
 
chrisk said:
I agree with you with regard the technological footprint, if you want better optics then you're going to need more bulk.

That said I've owned a few camera phones in my time, all with a similar sized optics as the hero and all have been better.
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As a keen photographer it makes it more of a challenge to get a good picture:rolleyes:

Also the product to best compare the Hero to at the moment is the iPhone, and even my wife's gleaming new 3gs takes just as lacklustre shots, if not worse. If you compare with other phones you have to take into account that the camera is often marketed as the main feature in which case you will be heavily compromised on other features compared to the Hero.
I suspect that it will be Samsung that will make best android camera phones in the near future, but for now the Hero is probably the best in its particular class.
 
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