• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

my testing on HTC M8 vs Galaxy S5 camera ONLY.. more photos uploaded 4/24

mach1man

mach1man

Android Expert
Ok so I took some time to take photos with both the HTC ONE M8 and the Galaxy S5 today. All pictures are on auto mode, I'm not analyzing anything or any other modes but this one. This is a basic everyday case, like hey that looks good I'm going to snag a pic. This is what I found.

I found that the M8 shows more in the back ground compared to the GS5, the GS5 seems to zoom in on an object kinda removing the background. Now when it came to low light setting the M8 did great, the GS5 was a little behind. Though in low light settings with evening light coming through the windows photos seemed blown out on the M8, you'll see. In daylight with the sun hitting the object the M8 seemed to make the main object to dark, if I readjusted the focal point then it washed out the background. The GS5 seemed to over lighten the object and the background. I really liked the M8's fast focus, which seemed to focus faster and show the green "ok" box quicker than the GS5.

It seems like the M8 doesn't know how to manage the light when there is an abundance of it, which sucks. I'm going to be taking some more tomorrow with hopefully another vehicle in the same type of scenarios as today. I take a lot of car pictures, from shows to drag racing and just crusing, so daylight performance is a big issue with me. I'm still torn between the 2, I love the M8 on all other aspects, but I need that quick daylight performance.

Here are some sample pics of things I shot today. Sorry for the long rant
 
anmqvr.jpg

M8

ztzuys.jpg

GS5

2r3a0wm.jpg

M8

k3x14x.jpg

GS5

28khbpz.jpg

M8

34g8ppg.jpg

GS5

2uysv3k.jpg

M8

1zwzodg.jpg

GS5

2i6ot47.jpg

M8

30kas2g.jpg

GS5

2rmo9du.jpg

M8

2cmkvwp.jpg

GS5
 
Definitely appreciate the in-depth review and the amount of pictures you took or comparisons. My only concern is the really dark pictures during the day with the M8 (your photos) . It looks like the focus for the EV is set to the sky for balance instead of the scene in front of you. Tapping in different areas of the screen to focus where you want the exposure set to, or simply changing the exposure and ISO manually at the bottom of the screen has always adjusted the photos so they look like they should. You can further refine it by going in to manual mode which gives you full control over all the settings to get the perfect picture in almost any lighting conditions.





HTC definitely needs to work on the software side to compensate for the increase in sensitivity of the sensor, but I very rarely find a scene I cannot adjust to get the right balance, though occasionally I will run into issues where it is a choice between a blown out sky or a darker main image.
 
I did tap in different areas as well just playing around but when I did that with the jeep it really blew the sky out. I know we can change and fiddle with the settings to help get those great pics, this was more of a comparison for oh snap look at that I need a quick picture, no time to tinker, kinda thing.

I'm just really fighting between the 2 phones, I love sense and the dual speakers. Just dont want to have to fiddle with the settings on almost every picture :(
 
Wish I could find a way to upload the videos I shot!! The M8 is way more clear, even when played on my computer
 
mach1man said:
Wish I could find a way to upload the videos I shot!! The M8 is way more clear, even when played on my computer
Click to expand...

Youtube is probably your best best, but if you shot them with HFR (60 fps) enabled, they are going to be reduced down to standard 30 fps.

If you want a plain file host, you could probably use Google Drive or Mega.co.nz (Mega gives you more public bandwidth). Those are probably better than many of the alternatives since they have relatively few ads.
 
Wow, the GS5 camera is impressive. I didn't have high hopes given how much I hate the camera on the Note 2, but in nearly every shot the GS5 wins out. Even in the low light ones, which I wasn't expecting at all.

I'm officially impressed Samsung. Too bad I've been spoiled by a phone with a 5'5" screen, so neither of these phones are a choice for me!

Thanks for the pics!
 
I can't get pictures that bad unless I actually make an effort to. Every single HTC picture you have taken looks terrible. The colors are completely off, the exposure and white balance is wrong. My thought is that you have a defective camera, especially after seeing its performance in the low-light situations.

Thank you for sharing though, that is a lot of comparison photos, which is what we like to see. I would definitely get that phone checked out though, it just isn't taking good pictures at all.
 
SolApathy said:
I can't get pictures that bad unless I actually make an effort to. Every single HTC picture you have taken looks terrible. The colors are completely off, the exposure and white balance is wrong. My thought is that you have a defective camera, especially after seeing its performance in the low-light situations.

Thank you for sharing though, that is a lot of comparison photos, which is what we like to see. I would definitely get that phone checked out though, it just isn't taking good pictures at all.
Click to expand...

um Wow I didn't think the M8 looked that bad. :confused::( but I'll tell you the GS5 had a harder time focusing at the concert then the M8 did.
 
Everyone has their own opinions, but compared to the pictures in the main camera thread the M8 here looks really bad, it can't seem to figure out what settings to use. It is very dark and the colors are way off in several of the pictures. I am using calibrated monitors and I was cringing looking at those pictures lol. The S5 pictures have a lot better color accuracy, white balance, and the exposure is much better.

I would love to get more opinions on the pictures from other members. The more people that can chime in the better!
 
I agree with Sol here; Something is off about them. Can't really compare the Concert pictures because of the light show and constant changing light source. Thank you for taking the time to snap all those shots though :)
 
I can't believe all the talk about the camera on the M8! If you want to take real pictures use a real camera. People store thousands of pictures on their phones and never do anything with them except complain about quality. How can you expect a lens smaller then a dime to take pictures as good as a real camera. And then you have people buying the S5 because it has a better camera. It's a PHONE not a camera.
 
mach1man said:
So how would I bring this up to them at verizon?
Click to expand...

I would just take it up there and tell them the camera is taking bad pictures. Show them this thread. Get an exchange

ncampbell21 said:
I can't believe all the talk about the camera on the M8! If you want to take real pictures use a real camera. People store thousands of pictures on their phones and never do anything with them except complain about quality. How can you expect a lens smaller then a dime to take pictures as good as a real camera. And then you have people buying the S5 because it has a better camera. It's a PHONE not a camera.
Click to expand...


Agreed, but it should operate as advertised. The pictures posted here are subpar, and for a $700 device there is a certain level of expectation
 
Its horses for courses IMO. To some the camera is a priority in the phone they purchase, for others its just a tool that is there for those spontaneous moments. I tend to agree with the post a couple up, where if you want these fantastic high def pics use a proper camera. Any pic I take on my phone is forgotten about shortly after and barely looked at again.

Im more about the "Phone" side of things, its UI usability. You watch any top YouTubers reviews these days on the current high end phones and their review is almost everytime focused on the bloody camera and you almost forget you are watching a review on a phone
 
ncampbell21 said:
I can't believe all the talk about the camera on the M8! If you want to take real pictures use a real camera. People store thousands of pictures on their phones and never do anything with them except complain about quality. How can you expect a lens smaller then a dime to take pictures as good as a real camera. And then you have people buying the S5 because it has a better camera. It's a PHONE not a camera.
Click to expand...

Well you can't instantly upload photos to facebook and instagram with a "real" camera while your out and about. I do have a professional style camera at my disposal but in this day in age I should be able to take Great looking photos with out having to lug around a huge camera. Just my opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom