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Help S4 vs S3 Camera

C

cgfw201

Well-Known Member
Lost my S3 last week, replaced with with an S4 active...had that for a week and swapped it because the camera was absolutely awful (relative to S3) and couldn't get any reception where I previously was fine.

Got a normal S4 yesterday as a replacement for the Active. Was hoping for the camera to be fixed....

So far it's been completely inferior to the S3's camera. I've taken pics indoors and outdoors and the photos are all coming up blurry, there seems to be at least half a second of shutter lag and switching modes to Sport/HDR/Continuous hasn't helped at all. I was taking pics with the S3 in the exact same places in the same conditions and had no issues at all.

I've googled it and theres a monster topic on XDAdevelopers (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2286244) about the problem, but not seen much on here.

Any tips?
 
Compared to my GNwx and my wife's S3, my S4's pictures are far superior! I only have my camera set for 6MB pics, so that may be part of it, but I was really pleased at what I have taken so far.

Here's a few tips that may improve your picture-taking experience:

1. Set your pic size at 6MB (9MB max). Not only will the picture "take" faster, but it won't take up as much room on your storage.

2. If you're sending your pics to your micro SD, make sure you get a Class 10 card! That way, the pics will copy to the card as fast as possible (and hopefully decrease the shutter lag you may be experiencing).

3. Use the Voice Command feature to take pictures. It allows you to hold the camera steadier, and will help eliminate the blurring (this helped me a LOT). Plus, it will really wow people when you're take pictures!

4. Hold the camera steady for a second AFTER taking the picture. I read this somewhere and have gotten into the practice of doing it myself. It sounds strange, but it does help eliminate blurry pics.

5. Turn on "Auto Night Detection" in Settings. That should improve pictures you may take in low light conditions.

I'm rooted, but still on the stock ROM. Don't know what you're running, but I'm still using the factory camera software (and I have not taken the latest update, so I can't comment on that). I never switch camera modes (always stay on "auto").

Hope these suggestions help.
 
joesixpack said:
Compared to my GNwx and my wife's S3, my S4's pictures are far superior! I only have my camera set for 6MB pics, so that may be part of it, but I was really pleased at what I have taken so far.

Here's a few tips that may improve your picture-taking experience:

1. Set your pic size at 6MB (9MB max). Not only will the picture "take" faster, but it won't take up as much room on your storage.

2. If you're sending your pics to your micro SD, make sure you get a Class 10 card! That way, the pics will copy to the card as fast as possible (and hopefully decrease the shutter lag you may be experiencing).

3. Use the Voice Command feature to take pictures. It allows you to hold the camera steadier, and will help eliminate the blurring (this helped me a LOT). Plus, it will really wow people when you're take pictures!

4. Hold the camera steady for a second AFTER taking the picture. I read this somewhere and have gotten into the practice of doing it myself. It sounds strange, but it does help eliminate blurry pics.

5. Turn on "Auto Night Detection" in Settings. That should improve pictures you may take in low light conditions.

I'm rooted, but still on the stock ROM. Don't know what you're running, but I'm still using the factory camera software (and I have not taken the latest update, so I can't comment on that). I never switch camera modes (always stay on "auto").

Hope these suggestions help.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Have just tried downsizing from 13mp to 8/6. Will have a play at lunchtime.

One thing that is annoying, the screen flashes when taking a picture, but doesn't appear that correlated with when the picture is actually taken. Is there a way of stopping the flash on the screen? think half the problem is that this creates the perception of awful shutter-lag, when its probably only bad.
 
Disappointingly, having just been out and taken around 50 pics at lunchtime using all the modes, and all the picture sizes, being saved to both SD/internal memory...

The S3 camera is definitely much better. The S4 has awful shutter lag and is hopeless indoors.

Annoying to say the least.
 
My S4 takes way better pictures then my S3 and also my N2. Low light shots are still not great but with the night mode it helps out a lot.
 
cgfw201 said:
Disappointingly, having just been out and taken around 50 pics at lunchtime using all the modes, and all the picture sizes, being saved to both SD/internal memory...

The S3 camera is definitely much better. The S4 has awful shutter lag and is hopeless indoors.

Annoying to say the least.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like you should consider trading your hardware in for another phone. Have you tried anyone else's S4 to compare it? Seems to me that is you best option (besides rooting and using a different camera app).

I've heard good things about the AOSP camera regarding shutter speed. Maybe try that?

Wish I could help, but that's about all I got :dontknow: .
 
You might have "auto night mode detection" turned on, which slows down the viewfinder and the shutter.

my gf recently got her S4 and this setting was turned on by default for some reason. turn it off and see how it is then.
 
Also check and see if that little piece of clear plastic is covering the lens. (it looks like a screen protector) I took mine off on day 1. That could be causing blurry photos.
 
ballsagna said:
Also check and see if that little piece of clear plastic is covering the lens. (it looks like a screen protector) I took mine off on day 1. That could be causing blurry photos.
Click to expand...

This is something that I also realized after a couple of days of taking inferior photos. Really helped quite a lot after removing that blurry little lens protector.
 
ballsagna said:
Also check and see if that little piece of clear plastic is covering the lens. (it looks like a screen protector) I took mine off on day 1. That could be causing blurry photos.
Click to expand...

that was still attached, will see if that makes a difference
 
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