yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
With all due respect Chef, I was one of the guys on this thread that said the Z3 camera is not as good as the iPhone 6+ and esp the Note 4. But not repairing a cracked screen? Or using it at all? Sure, it's your call sir but did you get the Z3 PURELY for its camera function? LOL, you do as you please, I love the Z3 even though the camera does disappoint me.
[Xperia Z3 General] helper85:
If you ask that way, then indeed I was not present at the workshop and did not see that the camera was replaced by the technician. On the other hand I do not have any reasons to suspect that an official repair workshop commits that kind of a fraud. In addition to the fact that I was given a paper regarding the repair and which showed that the camera has been replaced, the back panel of the phone had been removed and put back again. I think they hardly just remove the cover to put it back without doing nothing.
[Xperia Z3 General] Chefproll:
Indeed, that's true. I believed I'd get a 20.7 MP camera capable of being a match to e. g. Samsungs old S4. What I got, was no match but a hopeless victim.

Z3's GPS receiver is not the best, glass is unpredictable, both speakers sound totally different, chassis is slippery to the max, IR transmitter missing. So what's left ? Blurry low light shots and water resistance.

Not sufficient to make it a keeper; at least not for me. :/

I am SO disappointed with the Z3, with the ugliest problem being that "camera".

---------- Post added at 12:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 PM ----------

Which device is it ?
[Xperia Z3 General] helper85:
I was too hasty by saying that the problem (blurry left side) is gone. Today I took a picture from the exact same spot where I did the picture that spotlighted the left side (especially the left top corner blurriness) problem. Now, after the camera replacement not only the left top corner is blurry, but the right top corner as well. On the other hand the area of left side blurriness has decreased and only the left top corner is blurry.

I tried to attach also pictures illustrating that, but I do not know whether the problem can be seen from such a low resolution. Nevertheless, the picture with trees having still leaves on, is taken with the old camera, and the one trees without leaves, is taken with the new camera.
[Xperia Z3 General] tel033:
Hi, could the pink spot issue be solved via software? Since the Galaxy s2 and HTC hd2 both resolved it that way..

Thanks
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
Maybe a piece of dust? That's what the Sony reps been telling me when I rant about the pink spot in the center. :/ If they replaced the sensor or something on it, we can maybe conclude it is hardware related as well.

Thank you for delivering! One week and the leaves have fallen. The blur looks pretty bad there. I think if you take photos of buildings where there are more lines (such as windows, walls, etc.), the blur might be more visible. Also, try macro shots--maybe on specific zoom, it is more apparent. Are you going to bring it back to the shop? I would.

This gives me hope now it's a software issue.
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Meizu MX4.
[Xperia Z3 General] ChristianBale:
Wow the Google Camera looks so much better!
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
Hi radicans, I thought the Meizu MX4 produced better photos, last time I checked.

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 PM ----------

So this is Google Camera app vs. Sony's camera original app? I might give this a try!
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Well, to be fair I only saw the photos from one review, but those were pretty horrible, at least in the detail. Didn't think so much to evaluate the color balance etc, was just interested to see if the artifacts were gone. And there were no Z3 equivalent comparison photos, so I guess it was a bit of a bold statement from me to say one was better than the other. Will try to not judge a camera only on one aspect next time :)
[Xperia Z3 General] ChristianBale:
So is the general condenses to stay away from Superior Auto and use manual with auto settings?
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
In low light scenarios you want superior auto.
[Xperia Z3 General] Silverdace:
Yes, The google camera doesn't overexpose like Sony's which has been a problem since the Z. Their phone camera team obviously likes bright, harsh watercolours perhaps.

Google camera also lets you take 20mp camera in auto mode. I think it will be worthwhile trying some of the other camera apps too. I want to find one where we can get HDR at high res.

Does anyone know a way to remap the camera button to launch custom camera instead of the stock one?
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Hmm, I had another look at some more photos from the MX4, this time from phonearena ( http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Meizu-MX4-Review_id3809 ). And I actually stand by my first statement. I do think they have a similar washed out look as the Z3 photos. To investigate further I also decomposed the photo into luma and chroma channels, as I did with the iPhone5 vs Z3 post. And as I suspected, the chroma channels are again very very blurred with the MX4! This is something I have not seen in any of the photos I have checked from Samsung Note3, Note4, or iPhone5. I'm guessing here that the MX4 also comes with Sonys BIONZ hardware image processing chip (which would then be responsible for the chroma blur), instead of making their own processing. Apple and Samsung on the other hand, I believe have their own processing from RAW.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
It's definitely software since [MENTION=3241487]Zanr Zij[/MENTION] comparisons of unlocked boot loader showed almost zero pink hue.

---------- Post added at 08:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:30 PM ----------

How come I'm the only one who thinks the Sony camera did better than Google's? Stock camera seems to have MUCH better dynamic range (and Z3 dynamic range is weak anyways) I'm not gonna bother zooming in for detail on either since both will have poor detail as confirmed by all of us.

---------- Post added at 08:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------

I'm not sure to be honest. SA does a decent job in determining the correct settings automatically. Also, our friend who did the comparisons of 8mp and 20mp and Auto showed that the difference is VERY negligible. Low light is enabled in auto as well although you CAN enable it on manual too. Just additional steps.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
I use 'A Better Camera' premium version. Their HDR can be OTT, but you can actually manually set the sensitivity in the app. I found their DRO option to be a more subtle version of their HDR and I prefer that. BUT it may suffer from over exposing the bright areas of a scene. AFAIK, it let's you shoot in 20mp and all the other options the stock camera offers.
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Ok, so I got curious now again about the chroma channels. I decided to check the chroma channels in all the photos (6 cameras!) from "Scene 1" in this blind test:

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...comparison-iPhone-6-is-distant-second_id61676

Yeah yeah I know, it's phonearena, I don't understand what you have against these guys :)

Anyway, here is a crop from the blueness channel:

I think all the Samsung phones do an excellent job here! The Z3 and Note4 are just worlds apart! The iPhone6 is blurrier than I expected, and the LG G3 is only somewhat better than the Z3. It's probably not a coincidence that the photos with the most blurred out chroma channels are the dullest looking ones out of the lot.

Ok, I'll try to stop ranting now :) But I do find these comparisons very interesting and illuminating!
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
[MENTION=6079771]radicans[/MENTION], did you send this link on another thread?

http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/10/meizu-mx4-camera-samples-impressions.html

Might have been someone else but in any case, I thought the images taken by the mx4 were very good there, bear in mind it isn't a side by side comparison, so I'm going on my hunch feeling that the pictures looked surprisingly good! What do you think?
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
I think those look good on the slideshow where they are ~1000 pixels wide. But when I looked closer at the full res image I think it was quite muddy in general. But it seems that maybe they got the color balance better on the MX4, thereby giving a better impression in the low res? The cross hatching is not as prominent either. But, as I wrote in a post just before, when looking at the chroma channels, they are every bit as blurry as the Z3.
[Xperia Z3 General] Dom3000:
So you all say that you can not use z3 as an replacement for dslr?
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
From your photos, looks like Google camera is the winner in sharpness and details. But there is a catch. I did the same test today with Sony vs. Google camera on my Z3. I found out that the auto mode on Sony's camera app does 8MP (16:9 ratio), while the default for Google's phone is 20.7MP (4:3 ratio). The Google camera outputs very clear tree details because it's higher resolution. When I switched it to 8MP (4:3 ratio), it's worse than the Sony's 8MP.
[Xperia Z3 General] Silverdace:
I've posted some full res images of some comparisons. All camera's in their auto modes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127371734@N05/

Yes, Google camera does use 20.7mp which gives better detail. However, the biggest difference is that Google camera doesn't overexpose. and has better colours. This leads to a much nicer image.

When looking at the histograms of these pictures I noticed that the google camera's has a close match with the canon EOS, The only significant difference is a flattened and brighter blue channel for some reason, possibly because the pics are slightly different (light from monitor). The de-noising is still there and noticeable compared with the canon. However, I don't think it's too bad, it's certainly less of an issue than the overexposing and colour destruction happening in Superior Auto mode.

The stock SA pic has a very flat histogram with colour peaks spread all over the place and main peaks heavily to the right indicating the overexposure. The shutter speed on stock was 1/20 compared with 1/30 for canon and google camera.

The Olympus just sucks so probably can ignore.

My opinion thus far is that for auto mode GCam trounces Sony's SA. No overexposure and better colours.

This is perhaps why the MX4 looks better, it still has the de-noising issues but the colour and exposure controls are much better.
[Xperia Z3 General] ChristianBale:
I also did some testing with the Google Camera vs the Xperia camera and found that the Google one looks much better in daylight, but for low light photos the Xperia is the only way to go. Really which the Google Camera supported the two stage camera button.
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Thanks for adding valuable input to the discussion.
[Xperia Z3 General] ChristianBale:
How likely is it that Sony will release an update in the near future improving camera quality?
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
I think they are waiting for Android L to come around, so it's one effort to make it right instead of two. E.g. doing it again.

---------- Post added at 11:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------

Did you crop your Sony and Google photos to aspect, or was that already like that? I can't seem to do 8MP (16:9) on the Google camera--only 4:3 ratio.
[Xperia Z3 General] Silverdace:
I had settings on Google and SA set to 4:3 ratio so each pic was same aspect.
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
Oh, right. I forgot we can do 4:3 on Sony's. :facepalm: Thanks! I'm going to do some more testing with this.
[Xperia Z3 General] Silverdace:
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201410/14-107E/index.html

They've swapped leadership so perhaps this might prompt a change in strategy......and fix the camera? :p
[Xperia Z3 General] Morpheus NS:
Two night shots, just to insert some images into camera test thread... :D Superior Auto 8MP
[Xperia Z3 General] clAssymeerKat:
Has anyone seen if Sony has acknowledged the camera problem in any way? They must know there is an issue with the software..
[Xperia Z3 General] Silverdace:
I couldn't find anything. Businesses don't normally acknowledge a fault unless they're forced to. They've had same problem for two years so I don't think that they think there is a problem otherwise they would have fixed by now.
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
For whatever it is worth, I posted a summary of the flaws along with photo examples to the Sony xperia support forums.

I don't really expect a reply, but there might be a slim chance that it will find its way to the right people.

Edit:

https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z3-Compact/Camera-flaws/td-p/874139
[Xperia Z3 General] clAssymeerKat:
It's a shame really.. The camera really is the only thing holding this phone back, sure someone gets a defected phone every now & again but it happens with phone's from any manufacturer, otherwise this is a great phone. I really hope Sony make the effort to fix the camera software in the 5.0 release.
[Xperia Z3 General] itsjustJOH:
They do read it, but you'll either be ignored or you'll get a reply asking you to do a software repair via the PC Companion or get your device looked at the nearest Sony repair store. They are a bunch of clueless idiots and the only thing they could do is to assure those who posts things like these that they relay complaints to Sony's devs, but they just won't.
[Xperia Z3 General] jonmorris:
They're not clueless. They simply won't or can't admit a fault unless there's a fix, or else their only suggestion would be to get a refund.

Apple does the exact same thing. In fact most companies will, for obvious reasons.

Sony didn't admit the camera overheating problems for ages either, and only seemed to admit it was a problem once it had a new camera app that gives better warnings and shuts down when not in use (and this can mean the camera shuts just as you're about ready to take a photo) to try and reduce heat. After all, the phone can get hot with the viewfinder on only, nothing more.

When Sony finally does tweak things, it will announce camera improvements as if it's an added bonus, not a fix for anything.
[Xperia Z3 General] One Twelve:
Hah, only in terms of ease of use and in n00b hands. people also say the 6+ does better than the 6. how much better. Think again.

General pattern of xperia photo threads, first 3 months lots of whining by the new owners.

After 3 months those owners or most of them are no longer n00bs and get more adventurous.

There is a learning curve.

Check out this

comparison

between note 4 & lumia 930. Year old phone. Daylight & indoor shots are similar, WB is a problem with lumias but not details.

Check out this note 4

shot

. Looks pretty good, night mode kicked in.

See the lumia 930 auto

shot

. Not as good right. Did the note 4 beat the 930 in this case ? not yet but the arena websites would say it did because they only test auto. In fact this is a pattern i notice with most reviewers because they themselves do not have the skills to get the best out of the cameras they test. A primary failing IMO.

See the manual 930

shot

now.

What is the difference ? lower iso and longer shutter. The POINT is does the xperia software allow you to get that shot or not. yes. it does.

People have been pulling off similar shots since the Z1 with night scene modes. Takes practice but is possible. Do people go through 100+ page photo threads on XDA ? No. They want 10 minute review by reviewers.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
Agreed. That's why I'm on this thread trying to implement all the tips here. I'm still getting to grasps with even the most basic terms in photography like iso, aperture etc.

The point I was making was that the smartphone is now an everyman's consumer friendly populist utility. Ordinary Joe's and little high school girls are able to achieve great results with their smartphone if they just use an iPhone and now the Note 4, since the S4 really. Sony needs to be like this and then give the versatility and manual power that more informed photo savvy peeps demand and need.
[Xperia Z3 General] helper85:
Today I took it back to the repair center (for the third time :D). Actually I am pretty mad about this! Let´s see what they gonna do or say this time. But without the relevant decision of the repair center that the phone is irreparable, the seller of the phone (in my case Tele2) will send me directly into ***** and won´t refund it. Of course another thing would be to take recourse to the court, but it would be too burdensome.
[Xperia Z3 General] One Twelve:
Here is one

trick

you can try with high contrast scenes with HDR. Unfortunately its in german but the idea is you point to something brighter (aka exposing to the right) and then recompose the shot. See what he does at 1:12.

HDR

Results

with the m8 but it could help to improve HDR with the Z3 as well.
[Xperia Z3 General] ChristianBale:
I honestly have no idea why I thought the Z3 camera would turn out better then the Nexus 5. I think it was that stupid dxomark that did it.

Anyways, my Nexus would take clear photos with good color and they looked good. The Z3 looks bad. Thankfully I'm still within my return period for T-Mobile and I plan on taking it back and getting the Nexus 6.
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
Coming from a Nexus 5 as well, I know how you feel about the camera. My Nexus had some focusing issues sometimes, and the Z3 was an improvement on that part. However, the Nexus took some amazing photos in an indoor car show without hesitant, even in darker areas, it shines. I'm still holding onto my Z3 as I don't see any phone worth getting at the moment with the nice design and specs, and anything greater than 5.2" is just too crazy for me. I'm giving hope for Sony to improve the camera, just like Google did with the focusing issue on the Nexus 5. If Sony fails, I will not buy any phone from them for a long time (hint: HTC One M7).
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Exactly! I'll expand my thoughts on this a little if you don't mind :) There are many ways to evaluate a camera, but in this context I think there are two ways in particular that seem pertinent.

A camera can on the one hand be judged by its ability to produce good looking photos in auto. Since, as you point out, this is how most people use it. If other cameras consistently produce better photos in auto, then there is something wrong with the camera, not the user. People tend to tell me when I bring issues up - "It's not a DSLR for gods sake". Exactly, and therefore we shouldn't have to fiddle with settings in manual mode until the moment is gone. As you say, auto mode is very important for phone cameras! Having said that, I don't believe that Sonys auto mode is that bad, it's just what some people tend to blame when the Z3 photos come out looking poor. Although it is no doubt possible to find better settings in manual mode, I would say it's mainly the camera image processing which is responsible for poor quality. The whole "blame the auto" argument is just a straw man.

The other point of view would be to judge by the best photo the camera could possibly produce, given ideal settings. Sure, there is a learning curve to get the most out of any given camera, but you can never take better pictures than the camera allows. Here I argue that the Z3 is inferior to the Samsung and Apple phone cameras, given ideal settings. No matter what the settings, the chroma channels are always going to be blurred. And when you see artifacts from over processing, I have yet to find the magic setting that will eliminate them (and I have tried!). The excpetion here, as we all know, is low light where the Z3 excels.
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
Well done sir! This whole thread summed up in one post. :good:
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
My thoughts exactly. Thanks.
[Xperia Z3 General] ChristianBale:
So I'm thinking of getting either the Note 4 or Nexus 6. I'm leaning towards the Note 4 and want to know if the camera as good as I hear?
[Xperia Z3 General] Elfsiren:
I feel the same. My Nexus 5 took awesome photos. I got a lot of compliments about the photos I took with it. I was sort of forced into getting a new phone and I thought the Z3 would be a definite step up in all areas (except the look. I think the N5 is sexier). I thought the camera for sure would be better. I was so disappointed with the picture quality of the Z3. Sure I can fiddle with the settings and get some decent shots, but in the end, I still need my phone to take great pictures on the fly.
[Xperia Z3 General] Elfsiren:
Some pictures I took when I took a break from studying and some random snaps on my way to get some dinner.
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
Yes, "on the fly" is what most users are comfortable with using their phone's camera. Attached is a shot taken in a low-light car show from my old Nexus 5. My question now is whether the Z3 will perform the same on auto.
[Xperia Z3 General] One Twelve:
These are good conditions, exposures etc. What happens when you move away from ideal conditions ?

Try with a couple of different parameters

1) high ISO like 400 or 800. Can't go higher with manual (reszing helps to reduce noise)

2) use digital zoom 4x is the limit (resizing improves details)

Now compare 20MP with resampled from 20MP to 8MP (Bicubic sharper)

i tried cropping your originals down to 40% and compared but even here in ideal conditions the differences were slight.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
I can guarantee you that the Z3 will perform better in low light than the N5, hands down. The N5 had similar camera hardware as the LG G2, which I owned until my Z3. The G2 was v impressive in low light but the Z3 was in another league altogether.
[Xperia Z3 General] pchetan2:
I can assure you ,it takes much better pic in superior auto mode
[Xperia Z3 General] abhinav.tella:
I too come from a G2, the G2 daylight shots are better but low light difference is like night and day, Z3 is much better.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
iP6+ hdr auto mode vs Z3 many apps/modes

So I've taken maybe four scenes using a tripod yesterday. My first ever, so NOOB alert guys! I wasn't able to control a couple of variables like the sun peeping and hiding behind clouds and wind in the trees. Be gentle guys...

Dropbox Folder contains full size and other scenes. Trees are where the Z3 looks v bad.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p93p08rshh46bs2/AABuYUUZxJmylE2uSbN76ofoa?dl=0

iP6+ in auto hdr mode only.

Z3 in the following order:

Better Camera DRO on

BC DRO off

Google Camera HDR On

Gcam HDR off

Sony SA (auto)

Sony manual 20mp*

DSLR (low end Canon EOS 100D I borrowed from my friend, AUTO settings as I don't know how to operate it LOL) for reference purposes.

I should point out that the dslr shot of the red brick building got spoiled after i knocked the tripod a little bit.

*Also, I later found out that my Sony manual 20mp shots were done in EV -1! SORRY GUYS, i don't know how i missed that. Noob fail.

iP6+ in auto hdr mode

Z3

Better Camera DRO on

BC DRO off

Google Camera HDR On

Gcam HDR off

Sony SA (auto)

Sony manual 20mp

Canon
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
After comparing on a larger display, I was surprised to find a LITTLE bit more detail in the Sony pictures over the iP6+. The boat looks sharper and the HSBC logo including the window separation on canary warf is more defined. Even the water looks less murkier on the Z3. This is after zooming into images REAL close.

Otherwise, the iPhone captures shots much faster and leafs A LOT better. The dynamic range is better too, when just comparing auto. I'm pleased to say the least but I'm weary that the Z3 can really only produce this kind of acceptable result using a tripod.

Sent from Z3 using Tapatalk.
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
This is true. Last night I shot the same scene (low-light garage) on the Z3 as I did on the Nexus, and noticed the difference in noise level. The Z3 was the winner.

Agreed. The noise level is reduced on the Z3, but the distortion is still there. On darker areas, the Z3 tend to smear down the area a bit too much. So a photo with straight lines will end up having non-straight lines.