topic Re: Camera quality very poor in Galaxy Note Series

Camera quality very poor

Harry1978 — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 09:17:03 GMT

I've had my note 10+ 5G for 4 weeks now and honestly underwhelmed which considering the cost is very disappointed.

I would say that my main frustration is the overall quality of the camera in which I was expecting great things yet most pictures are blurred, bad exposure, low light shocking. Actually considering flipping back to my my pixel 3a...

Can anybody confirm if any updates are coming to improve this or provide any pointers that might help? I have trawled YouTube etc and haven't found anything major, at least for better "point and shoot"?

Failing this, I guess I should consider selling the handset altogether...

Thanks

Re: Camera quality very poor

AndrewL — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 10:07:57 GMT

@Harry1978: Sorry to hear of your disappointment with the Note 10+ camera. Tips-wise, when taking a picture in Auto mode always make sure to tap a point of focus so the on-screen square turns green. Scene Optimiser is also a great way to breathe life into an image. In Low light, use night mode to brighten the photo without the need for a flash, making sure to hold the camera as steady as possible to prevent blurring. For a bit more insight into the camera features on the Note 10 range, check out the link below.

https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-note10/camera/

Re: Camera quality very poor

MadalinK — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 10:38:15 GMT

@Harry1978 You are not the first to complain about the performance of the camera on the Note 10 series.

To be honest I haven't experienced any of the issues you have described, even though my overall experience with the Note 10+ is rather disappointing, but that's by the by.

Try cleaning the glass that is covering the lenses regularly, I find myself doing it almost every time I want to take a photo.

Also, is HDR set to auto?

Low light photos are very good on this device, and like @AndrewL mentioned, using Night Mode makes all the difference!

Maybe you can upload some pics which you took and are disappointing you ?

Re: Camera quality very poor

Harry1978 — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 14:44:53 GMT

Thanks for these suggestions. It's really appreciated that you have taken the time to respond and provide support.

With regards to clicking on a focus subject in auto, I get a yellow circle appear called AF / AE Lock. Is this the same as a green circle?

As for pictures, I have attached two pictures taken. One with my note 10+ and the other with a pixel 3a. As what is happening for the majority of time, the note 10+ image has a blurry ness and just doesnt have the detail that the pixel 3A image does (my opinion anyway).

Thanks

Re: Camera quality very poor

MadalinK — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 19:03:49 GMT

Can't see any pictures

Re: Camera quality very poor

Harry1978 — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 20:03:03 GMT

Hmm. Cant see how to add them in this app?

Re: Camera quality very poor

MadalinK — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:05:14 GMT

@Harry1978 wrote:
Hmm. Cant see how to add them in this app?

Look for this icon

Re: Camera quality very poor

Harry1978 — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 09:13:50 GMT

A straight "point and shoot" on pixel 3a. No filters.

A straight "point and shoot" on Note10+. No filters added.

Re: Camera quality very poor

MadalinK — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 12:00:11 GMT

I see what you mean @Harry1978

Have you tried using the Live Focus feature on the Note 10+ ? Unlike the normal Note 10, it has an additional ToF sensor which should mean that portrait photos will come out great.

Re: Camera quality very poor

Harry1978 — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 18:45:08 GMT

This is a picture taken with live focus. Very blurred.

Re: Camera quality very poor

Harry1978 — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 18:48:09 GMT

Picture taken using Live Focus. No better. I cleared cache, data, etc.

Re: Camera quality very poor

DL31 — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 19:15:49 GMT

@Harry1978 @MadalinK @AndrewL

There is unfortunately nothing much to say or talk about the Samsung photo app. It just doesnt do the job.

However the hardware is really great, and outdoor it is fine, great pictures and ultra wide (and zoom lens to some extend) is just awesome. Night shot is fine, but could do better (color wise).

But indoor shots, or average light portraits, are really bad. They are noisy, skins textures are lost, and everything look like a bad paint from a 2 years old baby when you zoom in.

To get the best out of this great hardware, look for google camera (ZGcam) on XDA-developers forums for the link to telegram forum on this topic, and spend a little time tweaking this great app. For Note10+ it is rather easy as you will get much support and your daughter shots will never look the same.

Hopefully Samsung will fix their application someday...

Re: Camera quality very poor

MadalinK — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 21:09:16 GMT

@Harry1978

As far as I can tell, Live Focus did not kick in for your last two photos ! The background should have been blurred.

When using this mode, you get on screen instructions like Stay within 1 to 1.5m of the subject and Effect Ready when Live Focus will be applied to your photo. It works best in daylight, and it's not great in dim light or when dark.

When the light is dim, try Night mode, and remember to keep the phone still while its taking the photo.

Re: Camera quality very poor

Nofear — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 10:25:53 GMT

The camera on this phone is ***** - end of. No point in going through settings. Its definitely one of the weaker camera software on a 2019 flagship.

Re: Camera quality very poor

roastedwookie — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 15:31:07 GMT

This is the reason I sold my s10 plus and now my Note 10+. The camera results are simply garbage indoors. How on earth hasn't anyone at Samsung, among all their enginners, noticed this catastrophic quality??? Seriously, is this their quality level when it comes to the camera? I remember back when I was using a Galaxy S8, having none of these problems! Indoor, outdoor, did not matter, everything was top notch: skin tones, skin and hair details...simply great. How did they manage to get from that to this mess, I do not know...

Re: Camera quality very poor

GeorgeKop — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 23:25:16 GMT

Its been a week sincei upgraded from galaxy s7 to the note 10 and I was so shocked to realise the s7 has better camera quality and even screen quality that I was really hoping I got a defective phone.

I simply can't believe how much worse this camera is compared to my old s7. Even the colours on the screen are washed out.

But mostly from all the things I heard about it's great camera , I was shocked!

Video looks grainy with ton of noise in every shadow or lower light conditions, pictures indoors are horrible, sometimes way too much exposure on the darker parts , making the blacks look greenish and grainy. Tried every possible setting and always compares to my s7 the s7 did a better job. I was thinking maybe I got a defective batch but looks like this is how it is for all of the phones...

The couch behind the cat should be total black. Galaxy s7 gets it black with o grain.

And here, look at my legs, green , grainy parts, horrible looking quality on the carpet. Well lit room!!! Again s7 camera clean and clear.

Re: Camera quality very poor

roastedwookie — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 07:02:03 GMT

Believe me, I know.

I bought the S10 plus 3 months after release. While I was expecting bad results since the Note 9 was close to this garbage camera, I did not expect such catastrophy! Same goes with the Note 10. Indoor photos with either natural or artificial lightning, mid light and shade situation..it's a mess. Skin looks like wax paint, hair looks like *****, noise and excessive noise reduction (weird, both at the same time with ***** results), no details at all. How on earth can they release such a great phone overall, but with this below mediocre camera???

Now the S20 comes out but I am not gonna fall for their lies again. I expect the same garbage photo processing.

Re: Camera quality very poor

bdt_1978 — Sun, 09 Feb 2020 20:41:02 GMT

This is not the first time I have read this. I have unfortunately sent my note 10+ 5g back. The camera quality on a basic auto mode was, in my view, very , very weak. This is a very expensive handset and you should be able to take pictures indoors without worrying about quality.

Good luck finding a Gcam that works - the ones I discovered required tinkering with system settings... them I thought why am I teting to make a £1k phone work with tweaks - it should be working as expected straight out of the box!

I mentioned earlier that I'm now using an A71 from argos for much less which pretty much delivers what I expected from this very expensive heap of garbage...

Re: Camera quality very poor

Nivi — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 01:29:23 GMT

I agree and I had the pixel 2xl. I'm getting frustrated with all the pics.

Re: Camera quality very poor

phrozen — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 14:42:50 GMT

Live focus on this is MILES off of portrait mode on the pixel. Although reviews online allude it to being up there with iphone 11 this is not the case in real world use. The live focus images are washed out, blurry and usually not with portrait effect applied. Samsung saying that this is because lighting conditions are not optimal is a cop out as my pixel 2xl can do a MUCH better job with only one camera.

The exynos processor means I can't even use gcam which means I have to carry my pixel 2xl with me incase I want to take portrait mode photos.

Now that s20 etc is out I'm sure samsung won't even care but this is a £1300 phone!!! ridiculous.