Help Camera sucks ?

[botasboke]

is it me or does the camera on this phone really suck ? i dont know if im doing it wrong but it doesnt have manual focus ? cmon

edit: tap-to-focus, not manual

 

[dsjr2006]

is it me or does the camera on this phone really suck ? i dont know if im doing it wrong but it doesnt have manual focus ? cmon

It's not that great, but to my knowledge there hasn't been a camera-phone with manual focus. Tap-to-focus maybe, but not manual.

 

[tag4]

no, the pictures are really bad, this is a major fail for the camera in this phone and i messed with all the settings. the flash is horrible too.

 

[newwales]

This is disappointing to hear, I want a camera phone, with led notification light & 4" screen Max, so am looking at this & now very disappointed, now there is NO phone can upgrade to from my HTC desire. All HTC microphones suck & all LG phones do not have LED notification, I hope motorola update the software to fix other wise I have NO phone to upgrade to & my HTC Desire is almost out of storage even though all apps are on SD card.

The video on this phone does look good but the photo quality indoors is not looking good (

 

[Deleted User]

This is disappointing to hear, I want a camera phone, with led notification light & 4" screen Max, so am looking at this & now very disappointed, now there is NO phone can upgrade to from my HTC desire.

I too have a Desire and while I have no issues with storage (I don't download every app) or any other serious issues, I do like the processing power and battery life of the Atrix. The Atrix has a slightly larger screen with more power all in a phone about the same size as my Desire. And the big thing for me would be the laptop replacement concept - I could actually stop using my laptop and use the Atrix for most of my computing needs on-the-go. Also my daughter needs (wants) an upgrade to a smartphone and if I get this, then my daughter gets the HTC Legend, my wife gets the Desire, and I get the Atrix, making all of us very happy.

The video on this phone does look good but the photo quality indoors is not looking good (

Many cameras, including my $2000 Nikon DSLR, has issues using auto white balance with incandescent lighting indoors. Whenver I take indoor shots at night, I often use flash to compensate for slow shutter speeds and white balance. But in some cases I want the incandescent look so I manually adjust the white balance and photos look great. I can do that with the HTC Desire, and I presume you can do it with the Atrix.

If graininess is the issue, then turn off auto ISO and set it manually from 100-400 ISO to keep grain minimized. Even the iPhone 4 has issues with dimly lit indoor shots without flash and graininess. I've done side by side comparisons using the iPhone 4 and Desire, both indoors and out, and the results are actually fairly similar.

Now if the Atrix has poor results, it's likely a software issue related to default settings which an update could easily fix. People should try adjusting manually and see how that affects the shots.

 

[Roze]

If graininess is the issue, then turn off auto ISO and set it manually from 100-400 ISO to keep grain minimized. Even the iPhone 4 has issues with dimly lit indoor shots without flash and graininess. I've done side by side comparisons using the iPhone 4 and Desire, both indoors and out, and the results are actually fairly similar.

Where is the ISO in the camera setting? I can't find it

 

[Boomer Dog16]

The atrix doesnt have a good assortment of refined user settings for the camera. Its pretty much a stock 5mp camera with the average setup of most of the phones out there. An the software is the same. Moto didnt invest in the camera to any degree, an it shows by the only average by cellphone standard type of pic it produces. I have spent more time than i care to admit trying to make mine take a decent pic, finially realizing it just aint gonna happen.

 

[egDonald]

Bringing an "old" thread back.
Anyway, I'm not sure if this is a "new" capability with the GB2.3.x update, as I never tried this when I was on android froyo2.2.x.

Anyway, that "box" that usually shows up at the center of the display, if you press-and-hold it, you can drag it to a specific spot within the display.

As I understand it (from my point-and-shoot camera knowledge) that box indicates the point of focus for the lens/software to focus in on.

I performed 2 texts to check if the focusing was working as described above:

[a] Orientation of objects for focus: I apologize for the crudity of this model:
[aa] {atrix} -- {close text} ----------------- {background}

[1] move/adjust Atrix camera focus-box on "close text"
[11] Result: close up text was in focus, background was visibly blurry compared to the close up text

[2] move/adjust Atrix camera focus-box on "background"
[22] Resut: close up text was visibly blurry compared to the background.

Hope this helps.

 

[WolfmanRobby]

There are some other improvements in GB.

Click the little notch on the right side to pull out the menu. Click the "A" at the top to change the autofocus settings. There are a few... AUTO, Landscape, Portrait, Macro (Closeup)....

 

[Roze]

Has the picture quality improved with gingerbread? This is the only area where I find that the Atrix is lacking.

 

[WolfmanRobby]

To me, the picture quality was fine on FroYo and no different on GB.

But, I also take into consideration that it IS a cellphone, not a digital camera. I have a 6 year old (Also 5MP) digital camera that will blow it away. WHY? Mechanical Auto-Focus on the lense (not software) and it was DESIGNED for taking pictures... not a secondary function like it is on phones.

I think too many people expect too much out of those tiny little, software controlled, lenses on the phones. The only phone I ever had that took GREAT pictures, my BlackBerry 9700. It too was 5MP, but it has a mechanical Autofocus. You could even see the lens move in there.

I love the camera on the phone, and it's great when I'm out and need a quick shot for something. But, if I want a quality shot, or it's an important picture, I'm always going to pull out my digital camera.

 

[Roze]

To me, the picture quality was fine on FroYo and no different on GB.

But, I also take into consideration that it IS a cellphone, not a digital camera. I have a 6 year old (Also 5MP) digital camera that will blow it away. WHY? Mechanical Auto-Focus on the lense (not software) and it was DESIGNED for taking pictures... not a secondary function like it is on phones.

I think too many people expect too much out of those tiny little, software controlled, lenses on the phones. The only phone I ever had that took GREAT pictures, my BlackBerry 9700. It too was 5MP, but it has a mechanical Autofocus. You could even see the lens move in there.

I love the camera on the phone, and it's great when I'm out and need a quick shot for something. But, if I want a quality shot, or it's an important picture, I'm always going to pull out my digital camera.

Yes I know that the Atrix's camera is nothing compared to a dedicated point and shoot camera but some smartphones have decent/good cameras. My Nexus One shot better photos than the Atrix. It's just annoying to see that the same lens that shoots OK pictures for the Atrix can shoot great videos. In my eyes, there's something wrong with the software. I'll just stick it with a 3rd party camera app.