I've been reading all the posts about the bad photo quality on Android 10 but honestly i didn't had the chance to test it in detail before.
However today, i had a spare time and it only took a couple minutes to see what everyone are talking about.
I already had taken some indoor photos and i noticed the high noise in darker areas but i went outside and i couldn't believe on what i was looking at. Slightly blured photos (like a shaken photo) and no detail at all, it looked like a watercolour painting. On some photos, darker areas were pinkish, something that i complained before in Pro mode on long exposures but never noticed it in any other mode.
However, i don't know if it's related or not but the few Gcam versions that works, aren't much better neither. Still a little better than stock app but really really worse than before. I'm not sure if they aren't already optimized or somehow related with the stock app bad quality. I don't know how Gcam works but what if the main issue isn't the stock APP itself but something behind it that makes Gcam works so bad also?
Sorry Asus, but i can't accept this quality from €500 device. One of the things that made me buy this phone was his night photo quality and now it takes worse photos than my old device?
I know you are looking at the problem already but i become frightened when i read that the differences you found aren't considerable. They are. If you didn't tested yet at night, outside, please do it. Theres were i found the major differences, not indoor.
I don't a have photo took in Android 9 under the same circunstances in this same places but please look at this photo. This isn't acceptable at all.
However today, i had a spare time and it only took a couple minutes to see what everyone are talking about.
I already had taken some indoor photos and i noticed the high noise in darker areas but i went outside and i couldn't believe on what i was looking at. Slightly blured photos (like a shaken photo) and no detail at all, it looked like a watercolour painting. On some photos, darker areas were pinkish, something that i complained before in Pro mode on long exposures but never noticed it in any other mode.
However, i don't know if it's related or not but the few Gcam versions that works, aren't much better neither. Still a little better than stock app but really really worse than before. I'm not sure if they aren't already optimized or somehow related with the stock app bad quality. I don't know how Gcam works but what if the main issue isn't the stock APP itself but something behind it that makes Gcam works so bad also?
Sorry Asus, but i can't accept this quality from €500 device. One of the things that made me buy this phone was his night photo quality and now it takes worse photos than my old device?
I know you are looking at the problem already but i become frightened when i read that the differences you found aren't considerable. They are. If you didn't tested yet at night, outside, please do it. Theres were i found the major differences, not indoor.
I don't a have photo took in Android 9 under the same circunstances in this same places but please look at this photo. This isn't acceptable at all.
CH_ASUS@CH_ASUSWe've had some calls and syncing with our camera team.
From P to Q, we have not changed the algortihms or any other image related tuning for night mode or auto low light.
They should / do perform equally. In earlier P (.191 for example) , there was this pink hue in longer exposures (Night Mode, Pro Mode long exposure) - this was addressed in Q.
Your experience may tell you differently but from our intentions - there are no changes. And really, there is no reason for the camera team to make this up.
We've done some testing ourselves, we will do more also, but here are some you may consider. These are all done in hand-held - and three photos taken each time - to show more of an average. Variations will exist even between shots for same phone/firmware.
Tripod will be sharper than hand-held.
Android P , (.191) AUTO
Android P (.191) Night Mode
Android Q Auto
Android Q Night Mode
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Can you test the Q camera implementation against the 189 firmware from August?
That 189 version seemed to provide a good balance between noise reduction and detail before the aggressive noise reduction of later firmwares kicked in.
Separately, would it be possible to build in professional level noise reduction controls for people to crowd source and test their own approaches to dial in settings to their own taste?
This is one advantage of the robust testing and experimenting around Gcam. I have yet to see a company take that open source approach to give users pro level controls. As effective as AI image algorithms can be, it would be pretty awesome and a first for a company to give users true professional control to create looks.
I come from the photo/film world, and professional control over saturation, noise reduction, white balance, and other exposure tools are standard for giving shooters the ability to capture images that meet their tastes.
Thanks for trying to figure this out, and I'm looking forward to the next update to keep improving image quality. ?
mastershuCan you please help differentiate between HDR Auto, HDR off and HDR++ (HDR+ Enhanced).
i can say it has... hdr off hdr on hdr-- (what im calling it) hdr-- is actually darker than no hdr an its just awful as far as detail an range an smudging an color goes.... timestamped as well so no one can say i picked an chose to suite my argument
this is when i started to notice it ...it is less detail again.. softer.. range is meh ...even my one eyed cat ... does NOT approve the lizard pic alone i took 2x... still looked just wrong.. light smudges unclear at all an the leaves on the tree.. the only place in those pics that looks ''normal'' is the center... everything else is soft almost no detail or smudged an the before an after in nightmode of my go to tree an stream... you can see alot of differences
before an after the tree on right in backround has much less detail AFTER an the whole pic is fuzzier in general with smudge all over it both on a tripod an the leaf detail is next to nothing.... if this was maybe 20 people saying somethings wrong that would be one thing.. but theres a whole thread of people saying somethin aint right an postin pics left an right of same time differences an before an afters.... there is something wrong with the camera... it was my main selling point to buy this thing!!! an now for me i cant do squat with it... the phone itself is great... best thing ever... but there ARE INDEED CAMERA ISSUES THAT NEED FIXING
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These are distinctly different (depending on scene).
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Are there camera changes in P? Yes, there have been plenty, from day 1 (not necessarily every update).
But what we are discussing here is Q from latest P - correct? Yes, some want to throw in more variables - P-189, this and that, and we'll try to get to those as well, but in order to systematically discuss this topic, throwing things around is not helpful.
We cant fix what we havent changed in the code. What we are trying to do here is to help everyone figure out where the discrepancies are.
We've already said that HDR+ Enhanced has been adjusted , and from our own testing we see generally this being visible in shots where there is a strong light source in the scene (like the sun).
The changes in HDR++ (HDR+ Enhanced) is to give the scene more contrast in "most" situations (no, it wont be in all ) due to feedback that HDR++ generally produced "flattish and bright" images.
For Auto and Night Mode, there are no changes made from P to Q (latest P to Q).
If some dont want to believe this, then no matter what we do or say here won't help you.
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Some users say they notice camera quality improving if they clear their camera settings (by clear camera app data) and/or restore camera settings to default (inside Camera app's own settings).
It has also been mentioned that there is a suspicion that those units which experience performance issues would have camera image quality results impacted.
These speculations I currently have no judgment on, whether it is possible or not. From what we know, it is unlikely - but I wouldnt rule it out as impossible.
These issues might resolve themselves then by a device reset, or not, or some may have their issues resolved with a future update.
However they still do not change that from what we know, our camera team has not altered any algorithms for Night Mode or Auto, or low light, or noise reduction/etc. going specifically from P to Q.
@isaac.brody
All shots by hand. All shots confirmed that in HDR++ mode it is using HDR++ by checking the processing cue.
(Camera will still judge if it should use HDR++ or HDR, judging mechanisms unchanged from P to Q - so not 100% every shot will be HDR++ even if this toggle is selected)
P (189) HDR++
Q (HDR++)
All shots by hand. All shots confirmed that in HDR++ mode it is using HDR++ by checking the processing cue.
(Camera will still judge if it should use HDR++ or HDR, judging mechanisms unchanged from P to Q - so not 100% every shot will be HDR++ even if this toggle is selected)
P (189) HDR++
Q (HDR++)
