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Help How to get the Most From the Captivate Camera?

B

barr08

Member
Hey all,

I have been messing around with the camera on the Captivate, and was wondering if anyone had any advice on ways to make the image quality better.

I'll just go ahead and say it - I am not pleased with the camera quality on the Captivate thus far. Compared to the iPhone 4, the picture quality for still shots is way below par. Things just seem more fuzzy in good light. In low light, I find the camera unusable.

There are a lot of settings, and I don't know a whole lot about digital photography, so if there are any settings I can mess with to try and make the picture quality better, please let me know.

I am attaching some shots taken from my Captivate for reference. This one was the best of 3 or 4 shots I took of the same thing. This is in my room, at night, with good lighting.

Pic 1

Here is one from my office, with excellent lighting, during the day. This picture is much better, but still isn't quite the quality that I would like.

Pic 2

(is it possible to make images with thumbnails on this board?)

I may very well be expecting too much from this camera, and I am fully expecting to get a lot of heat back from the community, as I did with my last thread that questioned the quality of our device, but I would like to be able to use this phone like I used the iPhone - as a digital camera replacement. Right now, the quality is not there.

Any advice, tips, etc. would be great. Thanks for reading!

Camera settings:
Outdoor visibility - unchecked
Autofocus
Highest resolution
Auto white balance
Auto ISO
Centre-weighted metering
Anti-shake - checked
Auto contrast - unchecked
Image quality - superfine
 
For picture one, did you do the "tap to focus" thing? It looks like you didn't which is why the image quality is blurred, but if it's always under low light, there's not much you can do about it. Most cell phones, or almost all, can't really take good pictures in low light; even the phones with a flash doesn't help that much since they're pretty weak.
 
@the OP-you must not be doing something correctly. Those pictures do suck actually-the Captivate is capable of very good pics
 
yahoowizard said:
For picture one, did you do the "tap to focus" thing? It looks like you didn't which is why the image quality is blurred, but if it's always under low light, there's not much you can do about it. Most cell phones, or almost all, can't really take good pictures in low light; even the phones with a flash doesn't help that much since they're pretty weak.
Click to expand...

Yes, I tapped to focus on the TV.

Yeah, the LED flash on the iPhone 4 was only useful as a flashlight. It didn't make any noticeable difference in the low-light picture quality.

fldude99 said:
@the OP-you must not be doing something correctly. Those pictures do suck actually-the Captivate is capable of very good pics
Click to expand...

Any ideas of what I may not be doing correctly? I would love to try everything possible, if you have something more solid to give me.
 
barr08 said:
Any ideas of what I may not be doing correctly? I would love to try everything possible, if you have something more solid to give me.
Click to expand...

Hard to say-first thing I would have thought is it didn't focus. On the indoor shot did you use the indoor mode? You can also use the anti shake setting..maybe you're moving
 
Whether it's a camera phone or a $4,000 Canon DSLR, low light photography isn't as simple as shooting when it's sunny outdoors. The Captivate has many settings, few which work in low light at all.

Any low light photography requires you to be pretty steady with your hands.

A flash is good for those cameras with it, but only marginally.

It wouldn't hurt to do some testing with your camera phone. Take some pictures with different settings and write down which ones you use with what picture. See what works for you.

I'll note also that if you zoom in low light you have even less of a chance of your picture being worth anything.

I took this in a casino, light was pretty low.

2010-11-13231657.jpg
 
Possibly dumb question - are you holding your finger on the camera icon until the crosshairs turn green before releasing to take the photo? That will focus the lense.

Also, I find the Captivate's camera to be excellent in low-light conditions.
 
If you want decent pictures, you're going to have to adjust the iso and contrast yourself for each pic. I would say that the iphone take better auto pictures, but if you adjust your pictures right, I think the captivate takes pictures just as good as any phone camera out there.

You also might need to adjust the white balance. This camera will change the white balance from pic to pic. I can take one pic inside under incandescent light and the picture will turn out normal looking, but then the very next pic will change the white balance and the picture will be yellow
 
cmt074 said:
Possibly dumb question - are you holding your finger on the camera icon until the crosshairs turn green before releasing to take the photo? That will focus the lense.

Also, I find the Captivate's camera to be excellent in low-light conditions.
Click to expand...

For most pictures, I am tapping on the item I want it to focus on, but it hasn't really helped so far.

mttfrog13 said:
If you want decent pictures, you're going to have to adjust the iso and contrast yourself for each pic. I would say that the iphone take better auto pictures, but if you adjust your pictures right, I think the captivate takes pictures just as good as any phone camera out there.

You also might need to adjust the white balance. This camera will change the white balance from pic to pic. I can take one pic inside under incandescent light and the picture will turn out normal looking, but then the very next pic will change the white balance and the picture will be yellow
Click to expand...

Is there an easy way to do this, or do I have to navigate through the settings every time?

Also, is there a way I can assign the button that takes the picture to one of the physical keys? Thanks
 
if you have not tried it yet...in the settings for different styles of shots...there is a cartoon one....it is pretty cool to take a picture of a friend or something and see them instantly animated.....
...something i just discovered on the settings a week ago. tre cool!
 
barr08 said:
For most pictures, I am tapping on the item I want it to focus on, but it hasn't really helped so far.



Is there an easy way to do this, or do I have to navigate through the settings every time?

Also, is there a way I can assign the button that takes the picture to one of the physical keys? Thanks
Click to expand...

If you want to assign say for example, the power button to take pictures in the Camera, and your phone is rooted + you're willing to make some modifications then...(not sure if I'm allowed to post links on androidforums)
[APP] Hacked Camera.apk - xda-developers
I have sucesfully used the above method as explained @ xda to make camera shutter from the power key:p
 
When you use the camera, point the phone at an object and tap the "focus" square. Just before the indicator turns green, you should hear a very faint "click" sound like the camera is focusing or something. My Captivate makes the very faint click sound as its focusing and takes very good sharp pictures, even in low light. Now, understand that the Captivate even with 5MP chip, will never match the quality of a dedicated digital camera because of the size of the lens. But for a phone camera, it's pretty good. I took pics in Vegas at night using ambient light from the Strip and the pics came out clear, sharp and bright.
 
Setting the ISO for the highest number will without a doubt create a really grainy image. It helps a lot to know enough about cameras where when you select Night, Portrait, Candle light, etc that you know what settings the camera will try to adjust to compensate for the lack of lighting.
 
Not to hijack this thread..but has anyone figured out that "add me"setting? I've tried it but have no idea what it's supposed to do..
 
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