yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Thanks, another great comparison post.

So to summarize:

1) To date,

all photos taken at the exact same time in the exact same environment

have shown that the Samsung Z- sensor is NOT horribly inferior as some have originally screamed bloody murder about.

2) To date,

all photos taken at the exact same time in the exact same environment

have shown that the S3 is NOT horribly inferior to the S2 in either indoor low light situations (Andrew and several other posts previously) or extremely dim situations (my comparison post here) with default settings... as some have also ranted and raved about.

If you claim otherwise, post up

comparison photos taken at the exact same time in the exact same environment

(just like the rest of us have) to show exactly what you're having heartburn over. Otherwise, like everyone has noted, your claims are meaningless as they cannot be validated.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
is the S 2 on ICS or gingerbread?
[Galaxy S III General] Andrewtst:
ICS stock ROM.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
I asked cuz the pics from S2 have blueish tint which should have been fixed in ICS but I guess not in all phones/roms :)
[Galaxy S III General] Andrewtst:
I think it was fix. I not seeing any blueish issue.
[Galaxy S III General] penfold:
i should post this in another thread since this one has completely veered off into a hate filled slagfest, but in any case, for want of anywhere else to post, as per my previous review, i just flashed and updated my GD sensor to GDFF02 and the focusing issues i previously noted in low light are gone, it now focuses clearly and sharply in low/indoor light.

strangely enough, the flash mode shooting seems to be now overexposed and grainier than before for mid range shots, close ups are still perfect.

that's my opinion on the update
[Galaxy S III General] zodiaxe66:
Ooh no my friend , there is is no hatred among posters, just a lively discussion in different opinions and "limeaid"s last post's is a contribution to the thread,so everyone is happy.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
nice, last 6-7 pages of pointless fights deleted :)
[Galaxy S III General] OrionBG:
Hi all

My camera firmware is: GDFF02 and every CM9/10 ROM I've tried tel's me "can't connect to camera" when I click on the Camera app! On standard Samsung ROMs I have no problems with the Camera! Ideas? Sorry if this have been mentioned before but I've been searching for the last half an hour and couldn't find anything!
[Galaxy S III General] zodiaxe66:
Try this camera on cm9.

Flash it in cwm
[Galaxy S III General] limeaid:
Thanks for posting these.

Any chance you can do a similar comparison in low light? And by low light, I mean very dim... such as candlelight. I don't think anyone denies that the GS3 takes great photos under good lighting.
[Galaxy S III General] ficti0n851:
Goto /data/cfw and chmod 777 the two .bin files in there and reboot. This did fix ZD camera on cm9 for me. Although i did still get the error sometimes and rebooted to access the camera again.

Not able to test this on the GD firmware as i dont have the same camera module.

Give it a shot. Everything you need is in the cm9 development thread.
[Galaxy S III General] Andrewtst:
Only when I go out with another friend at night time. Then I just can compare, probably not so soon.
[Galaxy S III General] insomnia:
My guess is that you have the Samsung Z sensor (not sony) in your own phone right?
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Yes I do. And, several posts on the previous page show side by side comparisons of the Samsung vs Sony sensor in dark/low light conditions with very little variance between the two.

I also have an S2 on hand with the good OCE- sensor, which I took very dark comparison photos with. Even though both resulting photos looked crappy, the Z- sensor camera produced better results than the S2. Looks like mods deleted the post in their troll purge, will post up the comparison photos again tonight as the photos are on the home computer.

If you are claiming otherwise, post up comparisons. That's the only objective way to discuss this "issue," opinions without comparative proof are useless.
[Galaxy S III General] jgalvez21:
only way to know which sensor u have opening the devices guys

G and Z are just firmware. i am reading of some people that had GD before but they were updated to ZD when they installed another firmware

remenber s2 have as supplier fujitsu /call recall correct spelling

but the sensor were either sony or samsung (or korean supplier)

not fujitsu.

as for me my Z firmware produces better photos than my old s2, in all conditions, specially macro
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Couldn't agree more, macro shots are fantastic on the S3 whereas my S2 with OCE sensor had a hard time focusing.

As I mentioned previously, here are the S2 vs S3

VERY

dark/low light comparison shots that I recently took. Note the following:

1) All settings at default with anti shake and auto contrast disabled. Resulting photos were very noisy, and quite frankly, sucked.

2) S2 has the purportedly better OCE sensor. S3 is the Z- Samsung sensor.

3) S2 had a hard time focusing in such dim conditions.

4) S2 defaulted to ISO400 but already had way too much noise. This means ISO800 would have been ridiculously noisy, which has been my experience with the S2 when manually setting the exposure... and why I NEVER bothered with ISO800.

As you can see, the S3 is is not horribly worse than the S2 in such dim conditions as some have proclaimed. In fact, out of the two pictures below, it's obvious the S3 shot is the better of the two.

(Originals have been attached in the zip below for EXIF details.)

Disagree? Post your comparison shots and prove it.
[Galaxy S III General] gee2012:
+1 Found the photo taken with the S3 clearer and crisper and more detailed.
[Galaxy S III General] zodiaxe66:
For better on phone picture quality(and cool ass features) use this gallery app.

Press options,go advanced and choose advanced features and alter image quality

The app is called "fish bowl photo gallery" and is free.

Play with it a bit

Just install it as a normal app.

Edit: i just took it from my data folder and didn't rename it.

it is the exact same version as from market.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
nice app, thanks

heres the link btw Take a look at "Photo Gallery (Fish Bowl)" - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.littlefatfish.photo
[Galaxy S III General] Daelyn:
Some new info:

These are snippets of logcats in response to the call "s5c73m3_get_sensor_fw_version":

Sensor_version = ZDFE02, Sensor_Type = CML0801-M017
Sensor_date = FE02, Phone_date = FE02

Sensor_version = GDFD06, Sensor_Type = CML0801-M017
Sensor_date = FD06, Phone_date = FE01

After some discussion with the CM guys we believe ZD and GD are different versions of the Samsung sensor.

There are supposed to be three different cameras sensors/versions. Two Samsung and so far one Sony.

The Sony one, we suspect, are yet to be seen as nobody has reported a logcat with any other output than ZD or GD.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
hm...interesting, thanks for the info :)
[Galaxy S III General] insomnia:
So no one, so far, has reported the fw for Sony sensor? hmmmm maybe none of the production units had the sony sensor, just the test units and review units. Then apple bought all the sensors from Sony and Samsung snuck in their own ****ty sensor.

---------- Post added at 11:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 PM ----------

Good riddance, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

what a drama queen....
[Galaxy S III General] duowing:
Oh man this information could make people go crazy! Is it possible that the Sony sensor is maybe a Sony design, yet Samsung was just producing it?

As for pretty much any of the review units I was saving pictures from various sites and most of the review units in the EXIF data had GD listed. Although oddly enough I think it was phonearena which in their review seemed to notice no difference between the US and International SIII and their pics from the US version had the ZD firmware listed.
[Galaxy S III General] kannanX10:
I do believe this would be the actual scenario both made by Samsung and may be ZD will have some revisions from earlier GD......
[Galaxy S III General] I am Legend:
I find them actually better on the gs3... But I have to say that when the light isn't perfect you have to be absolutely still or you'll get blurred pics.
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
CSC: XABLG6

Default CSC: BTU

Modem: XXLG6

Running on: 4.0.4

Cam FW: GDFF02

Phone FW: GDFF03

->

Image ID, without updating:

GDFF03 @ 3264x2448

(see pic attached)
[Galaxy S III General] jody2k:
Any improvements on the new cam firmware?
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
Not really seen any differences

EDIT:

Was just reading back on the thread.

And the conclusion was basically: "better luck next time"

Well no actually.

I found the S2 to have a "higher ISO"-esk look/washed out look vs the S3's more vivid and accurate colours.

Both in low light and normal light conditions.

So what I'm saying, yes the S2 looks "better" and by better I mean BRIGHTER than the S3's camera, however that said, both looked bad in low light, with their noise levels in the background.

Long story short:

If you want to take low-light shots, either buy yourself a camera, or USE THE DUAL LED FLASH.

I found comparing them a little useless to be quite honest, especially under such conditions.

Yeah in bright daylight, and photographs of coloured patterns are good.

What one should test is the difference of both phones with FLASH ON.

I might do that when I have time, and both phones in front of me.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
will try to do pics with flash tonight, been rly busy lately so didnt have time to post some comparison pics :(
[Galaxy S III General] Nghtmare:
Guys i have installed Foxhound 1.3 and im on firmware GDFF02, white S3 with metal casing around camera. I wanted to ask since by mistake i had pressed the write button, eventhough it didnt change anything on the camera firmware, will it affect me in any way?? Because i wasnt able to find a clear answer to that in the threat. Thanks.
[Galaxy S III General] jgalvez21:
well pictures of GD and ZD look the same even in low light,

mine is ZDEF01 and ZDFF02

compared GD pictures, mine are sometimes sharper, GD are warmer.

so it could be all made by samsung but they maybe got sony fabrications method, from the start.

like how samsung make nissan cars. B10 or Almera here in latam.

so far pictures looks the same except artificial light indoors, where GD less sharp warm colors,

other theory, apple bought all the sensors from sony a bit after s3 announce and samsung was force made their own (still under sony tech).

quality doenst differnt enought to say they are difference specs.
[Galaxy S III General] SParKlingCyaNide:
You are absolutely correct. I had first gotten the 16GB GD version and decided I wanted the 32GB version which happened to have ZD firmware I then took extensive pictures of Identical scenes in different conditions and honestly both versions are basically exactly the same in quality. I did that for ten days before finally returning the 16GB GD version and keeping the 32GB ZD version. People are so paranoid looking for flaws in that they actually create artificial flaws that don't exist. Everybody needs to just give it a rest and enjoy their Amazing 600 dollar phone, I know I am. - )
[Galaxy S III General] cruzargel:
more blurry shots :)

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=29373346&postcount=620
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
i've updated the op with more comparison pics. I think it should answer some questions that have been asked over and over again :)
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
try using HDR mode and let us know how did that go :)
[Galaxy S III General] foxy4270:
camera firmware

night mode
[Galaxy S III General] bala_gamer:
all the images taken with s3 in op are good enough!!
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
yeah

i think there is sth wrong with the camera app, hdr mode is perf! but auto sucks :X
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
nice pics in OP - thanks.

I stand behind what I said before.

S2 seems artificial vs S3's perfect colours.
[Galaxy S III General] Yusei:
I've updated mine to GDFF03 and camera works great in stock based roms.

But after change to CM10 i'm getting "can't connect to camera".

It's possible downgrade fw?Or i've to wait until CM10 support this new fw?
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
i think maybe that's something to do with cm10 lol

By that I mean the rom, might have a bug in the camera.
[Galaxy S III General] Yusei:
Actually I'm the only one with this problem with that cm10 based Rom.

With cm9 doesn't work too.
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
wiping then? Should do the trick & try clearing the cache of the camera app.

I don't use CM much, and have never installed it on my S3.

I prefer TW much more on the S3
[Galaxy S III General] Yusei:
I've wiped everything, even flash stock through Odin camera FW doesn't downgrade.
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
No idea mate.
[Galaxy S III General] mahendra1020:
I dont think there is a possibility to downgrade the camera FW. After installing CM10, did you try the following to see if the camera works. This was posted in CM10 discussion thread.

Navigate to the /data/cfw/ folder.

In this folder you will be able to find two files, SlimISP_GD.bin and SlimISP_ZD.bin. Click on properties and change permissions and tick every box.
[Galaxy S III General] Yusei:
Only have the _GD file
[Galaxy S III General] mahendra1020:
Update the permissions for that file..
[Galaxy S III General] Yusei:
I got both, sorry.

Either way. I've thick all permissions and didn't work.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
search the thread, i think someone posted both files sometime ago :)
[Galaxy S III General] DeadSOL:
The camera absolutely sucks! This is sad! :(
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
trollin much? have u even seen the OP...
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
Well...the camera is very nice (These were all taken on S3) - see attached

FYI: All are compressed & pics taken of the Eiffel Tower, were whilst we were on a boat, moving, in low-light.
[Galaxy S III General] DeadSOL:
Yes, I've seen it. I actually believed it too before I bought my Galaxy S3. I took some pictures last night in low-light conditions. They turned out absolutely rubbish! I can observe an inordinate amount of noise in the pictures. I'm very, very disappointed.

Well, I have had no firmware update for my region (DX firmware). I don't even have the brightness controls in the notification bar. So, there may be some improvement in the later firmware but my phone tells me that there is no update available. :(
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
DX?

That's a new one....
[Galaxy S III General] DeadSOL:
Oh, I mean my Baseband version says I9300DXLE8.
[Galaxy S III General] NoOneCanHelpMe:
ok this time, try reading it... and then post the relevant info about ur firmware

and read a bit from the thread as well... geez
[Galaxy S III General] DeadSOL:
Camera firmware: ZDFE02

It still sucks, mate. No matter how much I read about it. (>_>)
[Galaxy S III General] TotallydubbedHD:
oh well - turns out good for me here ;)!

A lot of comparisons etc, long story short for me, as some others said:

It's a nice camera, and allows me to snap where ever I want.

I compared it to the 4's camera recently, and unlike the 4's choppy imaging, and bad processing of the image, the S3 eat it for breakfast, and then still had leftovers.

If you really don't like the camera, and it really troubles people - I suggest buying a DSLR, or a handheld camera, or exchanging the phone you got for a HTC, or even an Crapple.

I'll be unsubbing from this thread now. :highfive:
[Galaxy S III General] jody2k:
I dont see the real purpose of this topic anymore, points have been made...some people are never happy. s3 has a good camera, low light conditions depends on your own usage/skills I have seen great night pictures made by s3. Also there is no real difference between the 2 camera modules. Quit whinig and enjoy your phone ;)
[Galaxy S III General] foxy4270:
camera firmware

i was an owner of the Galaxy S3.

i forced to sell this phone because i had camera issues.

Now i own the Xperia Arc S.

i know it's not the right forum but here some night shots

with Xperia.

Compare these pics with your Galaxy S3 low light pics.

Conclusion is yours.

Cheers.
[Galaxy S III General] tom369:
And what about full HD video recording? ;)
[Galaxy S III General] DeadSOL:
I like these shots but I'd never trade my beloved Galaxy S3! :D

I don't know what's wrong with people. We all know that cameras and firmware differ! Why can't they accept our opinions of the camera on the S3 not being up-to-par.

I've seen the One X take excellent low-light images. My S3 would be an embarrassment if I pulled it out in low-light conditions. I know that its Sony camera module is THE BEST in the 8MP range but it's not performing!!!!

On a side note- I love my S3 no matter what! Best phone ever!!! :)
[Galaxy S III General] foxy4270:
camera firmware

it can record 720p at 14mb/s.

i will post tonight a night video to see the capabilities of the

sensor during night and low light conditions.
[Galaxy S III General] Poker gypsy:
Wow! You downgrade just because of night pics?
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Agreed, we're all basically doing this at this point:

1) There is little to no difference between the GD- vs ZD- firmware/sensors. Not even sure if I can use Sony vs Samsung anymore as someone posted interesting info above that both might be Samsung sensors!

2) With all the comparative shots of the S2 vs the S3 in extremely low light conditions, there is little difference. In some shots, the S3 even looks better. Turn the ISO way up on the S2, and you get a sh*t ton of noise.

(If you disagree with this assessment, post comparative shots as we have. Random shots at different times in different environments proves nothing.)

3) Are there other phones with BETTER cameras for low light conditions? Absolutely. Is that one point alone worth the trade-off for everything else where the SGS3 is far superior? No, no, and twice again on Sunday... NO.
[Galaxy S III General] penfold:
this thread still lives?

ok, well thanks for the samples.

yes those are much better night shots than my S3 can take, but yeah, seriously .....u traded down to an xperia for the night shots?! :eek:

and btw, i'm not bothered by the noise, it's the low-light focusing issues that are a problem with the GD sensor, the ZD sensor focuses fine in low light, but as long as it takes great daylight shots i'm fine with it

*edit*

i take that back, i just went out to take some night shots as a comparison and i think mine are better, sharper, and if using HDR mode hardly any noise, you just need a steady hand
[Galaxy S III General] Poker gypsy:
I agree with you,I didn't buy my s3 for taking pictures that's why they sell camera's I got it because I wanted a good smart phone with great battery life!
[Galaxy S III General] Poker gypsy:
Make that a great phone! Lol
[Galaxy S III General] penfold:
just to compare with the xperia samples

taken in almost complete darkness

pic 1 - original

pic 2 - HDR mode

pic 3 - a little sharpening enhancement for the heck of it
[Galaxy S III General] Bohn101:
First and most importantly, I love your GT-R signature. Do you give rides?

I noticed almost instantly that for the most part, my S3 pictures are more blurry that the S2 for the exact same non-bright lighting conditions. Typically I have to take like 4 pictures and try to go semi-catatonic.

The HDR mode is pretty amazing, impressed with that feature.

Is there a way to jack up the automatic ISO setting? That could prolly fix everything and make things more equivalent. S3 constantly takes more blurry pictures for me. I'm mainly concerned when I have someone take a picture for me and they don't know how to compensate properly. Get home and realize the picture sucks.

The S3 is pretty awesome though. I think I get at least 2x the battery life. I don't love the pentile config, but it will make do for now.
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Thanks for the compliment. And of course, I've given rides to potential buyers (the stealerships around here are real Nazis about test drives) and wide eyed kids from the neighborhood (once they've gotten parental consent of course). I've even offered the keys to close friends, but they usually turn that down... out of fear of doing something bad to the car I think.

Back on topic, I've noticed the blurriness you're describing, but I can't tell if that's because of the bigger screen/finer resolution on the S3 or because it's actually taking blurrier pictures. So far, the resulting pictures on my computer look about the same in clarity. Another point of contention: During a 2 week vacation in Asia earlier this year, the S2 was my main snapping/sharing device. While some of the pictures looked crystal clear on the phone (ie, macro shots of sushi at Sushi Dai at the Tsukiji Fish Market/Tokyo), they were actually quite blurry after uploading them to Facebook. At some point, I'll have to do a side by side quick snap shot with both devices to test.

And you're right, HDR is fantastic, really makes the picture pop in certain conditions. As far as jacking up the ISO mode, you can do that under camera setup. But, I generally avoid using it as auto mode is pretty good about what the phone believes is best fit. Plus, jacking up the ISO often results in photos with ridiculous amounts of noise/grain.

Here's actually a really good write-up on the S3's various camera modes, including ISO. As you can see, you have a much wider ISO range when using ISO as it can go from 80 all the way up to 1600: http://thegalaxys3gallery.blogspot.com/2012/06/guide-samsung-galaxy-s3-camera-usage_6850.html
[Galaxy S III General] cosmin_f:
s3 camera is like a vga camera when takes pics in the low light. sorry but htc dhd was incredible good for pictures.

when I take pics in bright light photos comes with no sky, just white and burned image...

I feel sorry for samsung but with this camera they f**** the phone.
[Galaxy S III General] thyttel:
It's a phone, not a camera ffs. Anyone who bought this phone for the camera seriosly needs a reality check.

And no, I don't care that some people say that a phone at this price range should do better. The fact is it's a smartphone. Not a camera.
[Galaxy S III General] Aimara:
pics ? or it didnt happen
[Galaxy S III General] v1rtu4l:
in your case, the problem is not inside the phone, but probably behind it (meaning the operator)
[Galaxy S III General] LiquidNarwhal:
Statements like this make me question humanity in general. It's a MIRACLE that you have a phone with a color screen on it none the less one with HD resolution, a top end processor, a GPS, and on top of that if you think this camera looks vga then you sir are going blind. this thread really needs to be closed it's just turned into a flame fest.

everyone be thankful for whatever phone you have.
[Galaxy S III General] Aimara:
well this is a first complain on daylight shots , curious to see what's it is about
[Galaxy S III General] Hunt3r.j2:
If anyone is getting smears from bright light shots, you need to clean your lens cover because it's badly distorting the light. If you haven't cleaned it properly with at least some rubbing alcohol and microfiber cloth, there is nothing to talk about. If you still get bad results after cleaning it, then post back. I'm willing to bet that the camera is either not focusing properly because it was on the wrong mode (macro and normal modes cannot be used interchangeably!), or that the amount of ambient light is too low and the camera doesn't have autoflash enabled. The SGS3 should be very sharp when there is enough light to let it do it's work.
[Galaxy S III General] omar300:
Holy mother of god, im not sure if i have the worst galaxy s3 in world or you did some magic to your phone. what rom are you using. im using cm10 and its camera to say the least is worst than my last phone ( blackberry 9900)