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Camera

naviwilliams

naviwilliams

Android Enthusiast
What is the trick to taking nice photos (day & night images) with the Samsung Galaxy S III?

I guess I've been spoiled coming from an iPhone 4S. Or is it simply that the iPhone 4S has a better camera, period?
 
naviwilliams said:
What is the trick to taking nice photos (day & night images) with the Samsung Galaxy S III?

I guess I've been spoiled coming from an iPhone 4S. Or is it simply that the iPhone 4S has a better camera, period?
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I was having the same problem and the one thing that made the most difference was touching the screen and waiting for a focus. For some reason "auto focus" doesn't really focus automatically! After that I messed with portrait mode, anti shake settings, and so it. It takes really nice pictures once you get the hang of it.
 
Unfortunately I think the Galaxy S3 has a poor camera.

My old iPhone took better quality pics to be honest.


Issues I have with the S3 camera include:

1. Poor DR (Dynamic range) blows highlights very easily in high contrast scenes.

2. Poor focusing
 
softgui said:
1. Poor DR (Dynamic range) blows highlights very easily in high contrast scenes.

2. Poor focusing
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You can always use HDR, although I prefer the high contrast. Or... use spot metering on the highlights if highlight details are your thing.

Can you give us an example of what you mean by poor focusing.
 
Hi Davoid,

davoid said:
Can you give us an example of what you mean by poor focusing.
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Sample of the OOF (out of focus) issue. The lens was clean too :)

20120804_095925_8x6.jpg


Granted - this is a more extreme sample of the problem but the keeper rate from a batch of shots is about 50%.

Comments welcome ;)
 
The auto focus works fine if wait till the box turns green before snapping a pic. Not so well if you just point and instantly shoot. Just give it a second to turn green then shoot, no need to touch the screen to focus. At least thats been my experience.
 
Navi the camera is just not as good as the iphone 4s in indoor or low light conditions. It can get close in good lighting conditions. It does have problem with highlights.

Tips to get good camera shots.

1. Turn on anti-shake
2. For indoors use Party/Indoors mode or else it will look really crappy.
3. Use voice activation if you have small and/or shakey hands to prevent blur
4. Use camera zoom fx if you need a quick shot without having to worry about all of the settings.
 
droblyer said:
The auto focus works fine if wait till the box turns green before snapping a pic. Not so well if you just point and instantly shoot. Just give it a second to turn green then shoot, no need to touch the screen to focus. At least thats been my experience.
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Oh dear . . . . dont I feel the fool.

I was just pointing and shooting - I didnt even know about the "wait till the brackets turn green" bit.

I'll try what you said :o :o :o

Many thanks.
 
softgui said:
I was just pointing and shooting - I didnt even know about the "wait till the brackets turn green" bit.
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And although droblyer said "no need to touch the screen to focus", it can be very useful to tap the screen on an object you want to be in focus and it focuses on that object. It is good for avoiding those shots that sometimes happen when the person you're shooting is out of focus but the wall behind them is perfectly sharp!
 
With the suggestions here, the photos look much better, thanks...
 

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Definitely tap the camera to focus on what you want and wait for it to go green before shooting. The macro settings are fun to play with. Here is a picture I took of a small daylilly.
 

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Navi after tweaking your settings how do you rate the gsiii camera versus the iPhone 4s.

I rate the iPhone a 9 out of 10. It has the best quality without tweaking settings. It's only problems for me were shots in complete darkness don't work, and I notice a slight distortion on all of the shots night or day. It is not a bad distortion it seems to slim everyone out a little bit.

I rate the gsiii camera a 7.5. It actually has no distortion. All of the images in really well lit shots look amazing almost on par with the 4s. It has problems with too much light though and causes over blown highlights. Also the camera seems to have an aggressive softening effect so even in focus pictures lack the detail in the 4s. Because of the options though I can still get a usable shot in complete darkness. Oh yeah,and the flash causes images to have a somewhat nourish tint in closeup shots.
 
universem2 said:
It has problems with too much light though and causes over blown highlights.
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Well even my Nikon D90 DSLR has a reputation for blowing highlights, and the remedy (tweak) is to set a default underexposure of 0.7 of a stop (-0.7EV). If you can adjust for this minor idiosyncrasy, it is no longer a problem. The S3 camera has +/- exposure compensation, and a touch of manual tweaking will always make your photographs better than just pointing and shooting.
 
davoid said:
Well even my Nikon D90 DSLR has a reputation for blowing highlights, and the remedy (tweak) is to set a default underexposure of 0.7 of a stop (-0.7EV). If you can adjust for this minor idiosyncrasy, it is no longer a problem. The S3 camera has +/- exposure compensation, and a touch of manual tweaking will always make your photographs better than just pointing and shooting.
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Thanks a bunch. I tried this, and it helped big time!!!!!!! I guess it just takes some practice and learning how to use it. I still believe the 4s is better but not by as much as before.
 
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