Photography question.. Quality of phone pics.

David_VI · 24 Jul 2014 at 13:13

Just took a pic of my new mug intending to show off on facebook but god what's with all the odd artifacts and colours?

I've noticed this a lot with phone photos.. Could anyone tell me why this happens and what should be done differently?

I'm using a Z2 mostly on auto.
I thought i'd learn a bit about taking decentish photos with a phone camera as I keep taking some at work and notice Google photos edits them for me.. some look rather artistic! But I often end up adding effects to hide the bad quality..

One of said photos (it's been slightly edited on google photos, I like messing around).

It's like bad JPG compression? Is that just what happens when it's auto-uploaded to my google photos?

Raymond Lin · 24 Jul 2014 at 13:14

Lack of light, ISO is bumped up automatically so it is still free from camera shake. I guess it has only 1 shutter speed.

What you see is noise from the sensor.

ElDude · 24 Jul 2014 at 15:04

You see that a lot in camera phones. I can't stand how they're used as a selling point on phones, after all, who'd want a phone on their camera?

In good light you can get some very nice photos with phone cameras, but as soon as the light goes, they rapidly descend into rubbishness (it's a word!

)

englishpremier · 24 Jul 2014 at 18:04

Yep seen thousands of pictures like this. They usually appear on Facebook by girls on nights out, not realising that even DSLR will struggle in doors without a decent flash.

Basically your evnironment wasn't light enough to take the shot at decent blur free shutter speed to the phone turned up the gain (iso) on the sensor. It basically amplified the singal, and as we all know with amplification comes noise.

oldbag · 24 Jul 2014 at 18:14

Even in light they can look bad once you view them on anything other than a phone.

koolpc · 24 Jul 2014 at 18:15

My immediate thought was light.

An Exception · 25 Jul 2014 at 00:23

I'm not familiar with your phone but if possible look for some apps that allow for manual exposure.
This will really help for outside pictures where yours seem to be underexposing. For indoors you can try and find a way to hold the phone still and use a slower shutter speed. This will remove noise.
Also consider something like Lightroom to process the photo's on.

Below is from tonight with iphone 5s using manual camera app.

David_VI · 25 Jul 2014 at 00:59

Thanks guys. Good to learn stuff.

Going to look up an app to be able to tinker more

D.P. · 25 Jul 2014 at 01:37

With good light I can get reasonable results at we sizes with my samsung S5

David_VI · 14 Aug 2014 at 19:15

Can anyone recommend an app and a few tips ?

I'm currently on nights and a bit of down time means a bit of wandering. I keep stumbling across good ideas for photos but they come out awful.

This one is just awful.

I keep wanting to frame trains using the shed doors but it always fails. I think the fence ruins it... (ignoring the quality).

englishpremier · 14 Aug 2014 at 19:27

You just can't use a phone in those circumstances. The light is just too low. The sensor is too small to get any sort of DOF perspective.

Phal · 15 Aug 2014 at 01:42

englishpremier said:
You just can't use a phone in those circumstances. The light is just too low. The sensor is too small to get any sort of DOF perspective.

Not strictly true but you will need certain things to get good shots from a phone in those conditions.

You'll need some method of steadying the phone (either rested on something steady or using a tripod of some kind with a special attachment to join it to the phone). The Nokia 1020 has a battery grip attachment which also has a tripod fixture

You'll also need a phone that allows you to set a fixed ISO like 100 and then to have a much longer exposure. Most of the new Nokia windows phones have this and I believe iPhones do too along with most of the premium android handsets

Dof could be an issue if you want bokeh but you can still get decent enough pics if you don't mind everything being in focus.