yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Crewville96:
It's not just about hardware, software matters too. Example, the 2014 Moto X, LG G3, and Samsung Note 3 all have the same sensor (Sony Exmor IMX135), but everyone knows Moto can't make cameras and pics to save their lives. How can these three phones all have the same hardware (literally) but produce such wildly different pics?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exmor
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] hawkeeyee:
I have z3c for few days but camera is big step from m7 and so far I've got pretty good pictures (manual mode, 15.5Mpix)
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
Despite the fact that you switched to manual mode (we're taking auto mode here)...Yes, it has more resolution, and can take nice pictures outdoors, but it's indoor performance is the issue. The HTC one has always been known for lacking sharpness and detail because it was only 4mp, but when compared to other 8mp shooters of today and even yesteryears, the z3c still isn't as sharp when viewed side by side.

Once again, the article in the first post supports this. It's just disheartening to see our brand new $500 flagship phone get publicly embarrassed by finishing dead last in nearly every category. It's almost like Sony never checked their picture quality against the competition before releasing the phone.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] handasan10:
The things that keep holding me now to Z3C is battery life, waterproof and magnetic charging..

Camera only produce stunning details when capturing close object other than that nothing to be proud of..
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
OIS might have something to do with it in those examples at least. Making it very much a hardware issue. What if with such small high mp sensors the digital stabilization is just not enough anymore? Are there any examples of this sensor producing consistent good results without OIS?
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Crewville96:
Sony isn't a couple of guys on a forum though, they are f'ing Sony. They should be able to figure this sh*t out. At least make a damn camera that produces pics better than a phone from 4 years ago that by today's standard is a low end device in every single way imaginable. At least give me Moto X capable pics. Seriously, I had the first gen X before this, and while it took some truly awful pics, it was capable of good shots without having to play with the settings for 20 minutes.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] pipspeak:
The camera is frustrating as h3ll... but IMO it's primarily a software issue. On occasion I've discovered that it is capable of producing great images, which suggests the hardware can work well. But more often than not it gets things terribly wrong usually due to bad WB, slow shutter speed, wrong ISO or overdone jpeg compression ( which are all software issues).

The crummy camera is the one thing that would make me dump this phone in an instant if there were any competing-sized phone with decent battery life.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Crewville96:
Yeah, ditto. I just shattered the front of my Z3C yesterday :( I went with Sony because I didn't like the options from the other 4 big OEM's. Now I'm debating fixing my Z3C or going with the GS6. Battery life isn't great with the GS6, and it's front and back glass as well, but the camera looks great and I think I can handle 5.1 inches. Dunno what to do....
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
I'm actually thinking about getting a Nokia to try out Windows Phone. Their cameras tend to be superb too, which is a nice perk. The Lumia 925 is a bit wider than my Z3c but not any taller, Plus I like the rounded edges. Not sure though, would be a big step down spec wise. But I only use my phone for email, web browsing, texting and taking pics anyways. So its not like i need a quad core. Honestly the first gen Moto X would have been perfect for me if its camera was better.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] degraaff:
If you're going for Windows Phone then the Lumia 930 is much better than the 925, much much sharper photos and it's said that the 925 is very slippery due to the thin, rounded aluminum sides; it's said to provide very little grip while taking photos
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
Yea I agree on the image quality points, still I feel like the 5 inch phones are just too big for me. Even the 925 is pushing it. Plus I can get a 925 in mint condition for $80 :)

Also I like the rounded edges, why everyone is going square and blocky beats me. Something thats been amazing about the Moto Xs is how they conform to the hand. I think thats one of the things I just have not gotten used to with the Z3c as a daily driver, its just not comfortable to use day in day out. The glass back is frankly unpleasant and a poor choice in materials, adding a case makes things worse since the phone stays squarish and just gets thicker.

I will probably watch the market for a bit and see what comes out in the next few months, selling my z3c in the meantime and just using a Moto G or Lumia 925 to tide me over till then.

I honestly do not think things will improve for the Z3c Camera. I doubt RAW is the fix everyone wants either, that just adds the ability to fix pictures after the fact. With a smartphone cam you need to be able to take nice pics right off the bat, not after heavy editing. Sure it will give devs more options, but by that time this phone will be so old the Z5c or Z6c will be out.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] dizzyman44:
That must be frustrating. I don't have SLR camera and I love taking photos, so a quality camera is always on priorities when I'm looking for a new cellphone.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] degraaff:
The back of the 930 is actually shaped to fit in the hand a bit better, more so than the 925. The 925 does have rounded sides, but the back is almost completely flat and the corners are relatively sharp and angular and it's very thin. It's nothing like a Moto G. But it would be best if you could find both phones in a shop so you can know exactly which one lies in the hand better. The 930 has very slim bezels so I don't think it's much bigger than the 925.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] handasan10:
Well till now there are no much option left in market on compact size phone that provide good battery life and performance.. Let's see Z4 compact camera. Would be happy if sony just use 16mp or less camera, as long as the picture quality can match others' flagships..

plus dual sim, ir blaster -just dreaming
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] ray_J13:
anyone tested the htc camera app that is in another xda thread?

http://xdaforums.com/android/apps-games/app-htc-camera-gallery-t3104288/page10
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
Yea I think a lot of us were hoping the Z3c would be THE phone. unfortunately, while it is a very good phone, and probably the best compact out there right now, it seems to falter a bit in the camera arena.

I'm actually wondering if we might be looking twords the chinese makes in a year or two for good compact phones. I probably would have given the IUNI U2 a try if it had US LTE bands. SHARP seems to be testing the waters too in the sub 5" phones.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] charliebigpot:
Yes, those are two things that I'd love to see in the z4, especially the IR blaster so I can use the phone as a remote for TV, hi-fi, etc..
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cazteclo:
Fiddling with Manual

Superior Auto sucks, there is no question about that. But when you fiddle with manual you can take great photos.

Manual remembers your last setting so all I have to do is set the White Balance between photo ops (because Auto WB is not the best either).

I hope that Sony will update their camera software because it is only the camera that is lacking on this otherwise excellent phone.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Wajk:
Z3+ will get almost full manual Control (Camera2.api)

source

I hope we will also get it, or we will port it :D
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cazteclo:
According to Google then if we get android M then we also get Camera2.api

I don't want to have to get a new phone just to be able to control exposure, shutter speed, and such (though I could just get a proper camera... but that is not as futuristic as having it all in my excellent phone)

source
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] pipspeak:
Nine times out of ten I just want a camera that gets things right in auto mode (and doesn't then apply crappy jpeg algorithms that destroy all detail). Fiddling around with manual controls is not what a cellphone camera is about IMO, but sadly it's usually necessary with the Z3 to get a decent result. Totally kills the spontaneity though.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] clouds5:
With the z3c I never take bad photos like with my older smartphones (Galaxy s3 was my last). And the reason for that is the shutter button. With my s3 every second picture was blurry because it was really hard to stabilise it, with the Z3c every picture I take is sharp and calm because it's more like a camera. I'm a complete noob in photography though and I have no idea what good and bad quality is to be honest but I love the Z3c camera. I've made some amazing shots and my cousin even printed some of them professionally because she liked them so much...

What can I say, while taking it out of my pocket I hit the button I'm instantly ready to point and shoot and I get a good picture. That's all I need :)
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
In glad you like it, but just imagine how much better your pictures would look if you had any other flagship phone from the past two years. Sony was rated dead last in a comparison against the other major brands. They shouldn't be happy about those results and should be doing something to fix it.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
Mind linking the ratings? Most of the ones I saw rated the z3c pretty highly. One of the reasons I got the phone was for the good camera reviews.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
It can also be found in the original post...

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/C...3-LG-G3-Galaxy-S5-Galaxy-Note-3_id3822/page/7

I also was mislead by all the "reviews" praising this camera. Not often than not, the reviewer simply lists the features of the camera and assumes they result in high quality photos, or they take a few snap shots in a bright room and only check the image quality on the phone's screen. Those aren't real camera reviews and I hate that I let them influence my purchasing decision.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] mad-marco:
I made the same mistake by believing the reviews that said the camera in the Z3C was good.

I took some lovely picture of my cats a few days ago. They were outside and the light was decent, the quality was really good apart from 2 where the focus was inexplicably missed by just enough to ruin the shot. As soon as you move indoors it goes quickly downhill and turns to crud.

It's really frustrating because the phone is almost perfect for me, great performance and battery life, mSD storage and a small form factor.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Crewville96:
I'm thinking of doing a shootout between my Z3C, Droid Incredible 2, and Moto G. Might be interesting.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
I did the same with my Z3c, HTC one mini, iPhone 4, and HTC one S. The Sony didn't do so well...

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] clouds5:
Only with the Z3 you can take these kinds of shots (while driving at 120km/h) :) I know the quality is not good compared to other smartphones but the camera is extremely efficient and always there when you need it - tell me one other recent smartphone that lets you take focused pictures with one hand!

As I said I know it's not the best in the world but it's also not horrible like you would think when you read through this thread. It's not the kind of camera you use to make that shiny printed album of your safari. But as a snapshot grabber its a beast.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
Thank you for sharing that photo, but once again, we are not complaining about the camera quality in bright daylight. The issue consistently arises with the indoor photo quality; especially in low light situations. It's too noisy and the white balance is anything but balanced. When phones from years ago take better and more consistent photos, then there is definitely a problem.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] clouds5:
Yeah you're right about night time pictures, but I have yet to see a smartphone that is reliable at night. There are better ones than the Z3/Z3C, I can see that, but even the best still don't take good pictures at night :P

And I have to say I expected more from Sony in that department. I mean they've made cameras for years and should have more experience doing good camera software than some of the other guys in the game.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
Sorry, but we are not talking about night photos either. None of the samples I provided were taken at night. All indoors and some with flash. That's the issue. Well, really, everything except macro seems to be the issue... That's why this phone placed dead last in the comparison article. It's just disappointing to say the least.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
Eh for all the negative press this cam is getting here, to the amature eye its at least equal if not superior to the iPhones (4s, 5s and 6) my family uses. got a lot of comments on the great pics (sharpness, color etc), when we ran through a slideshow of all the pics we all took on our vacation.

I tend to use Manual mode exclusively though, auto mode is almost always the lesser option. half press on the shutter to focus then shoot, thats really critical, give the cam time to focus correctly.

Auto WB tends to work well outside, though poorly inside. Use indoor WB option tends to warm up the images appropriately. Also the image stabilization should be on, it makes a usable difference for me. I used auto ISO for the most part and it seemed to do a good job overall, though I question some of the choices it made indoors.

Thats kinda a guide for an easy auto mode, manually adjusting the WB and ISO can help but requires a lot more effort to do well.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] bananya:
Hello people ,

I would like to ask someone/s experienced about somethings like , do the sh*tty picture processing of Z3 compact's camera's software could be solved by using different camera app than the stock , like camera-fv 5 or Procapture without the need to spend minutes with setting the camera manually everytime to different situations? Because most of the time i cant stop for minutes just to set things manualy during my travels and have to be quick. Or that problem not related to the stock app at all? I plan to buy the xperia z3 compact and the camera would be one of the most important "thing" for me in a new phone for around 350-400 euro , but after a lot of search on the net all i saw is dissapointed people and reviews about the camera.

I know the hardware of the camera itself is one of the best but its worth nothing if the software f*ck things up like people said so , maybe they used the "superior" auto focus and this is why the bad quality , i dont know , and i wonder if there is any camera app where i could save manualy setuped settings as profiles and load them fast , for example like for really bright weather load iso 100 etc etc settings , for cloudy weather iso 200-800 etc n save them as profile 1 , 2 . . .

My last questions would be that if i would set things manually on the xperia z3 compact it would increase the quality significantly to have the same or even better quality than other flagships like samsung s 5-6 iphone 6 etc ( the camera hardware of z3compact is superrior than these phones if im right this is why listed them ) or no way i could solve this issues and would be better if i look for another phone for around 350-400 euro?

Sorry for the uber long post and my lack of proper english , maybe someone will have patient to read it and hope so i did write too much nonsense im not really experienced in such topic, anyway thanks for the responds in advance.

Cheer
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Crewville96:
No
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] bananya:
You should have keep such usefull comment to yourself kid
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Crewville96:
Two things:

1) I wasn't born in 96 and am most likely older than you.

2) I've used multiple cam apps, pic quality is pretty much the same. Manual helps a little, but the cam still sucks compared to samsung and lg, period. My old HTC droid incredible 2 from 2011 takes better pics.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
With a question this detailed, you would likely do better by starting a new thread; however, the entire point of this thread is to discuss how the stock app actually produced the better photos. 3rd party apps have all fallen short in my tests. So in essence, the answer to your question most likely is "no"

....Sorry
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Foxhunter123:
Hello all :)

I must say that I really cannot understand this thread... In my opinion the camera in Z3 compact is the best I have ever had... Before my compact I had a Nexus 4, HTC M7 just to name some "recent" phones...

I live in Denmark and in 2014 - when the Sony Xperia Z3 compact came on the market - a danish mobile tech page made a comparison between the phones on the market back then:

Apple iPhone 6 og 6 Plus

HTC One (M8)

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 930

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact

It was a blind test in both daylight and at night time

The result was:

Best quality in daylight:

% = of the total votes

1. Sony Xperia Z3 (33,1%)

2. LG G3 (24,18%), iPhone 6 og 6 Plus (20,4%)

3. Nokia Lumia 930 (9,5%), Samsung Galaxy S5 (8,6%) og HTC One (M8) (4,26%)

At night time it was this result:

1. iPhone 6 Plus (62,1%)

2. Xperia Z3 (11,4%), Nokia 930 (8,2%), iPhone 6 (7,7%)

3. G3 (4,4%), Galaxy S5 (3,4%), HTC One (M8) (2,8%)

(some people mentioned that because the night test were on two different evenings with different weatherconditions it was not comparable and that this was the reason for the high vote % for the iphone...)

The full test (in danish):

http://www.mobilsiden.dk/nyheder/vi-karer-den-bedste-kameramobil-2014,lid.33236/

Could there be different camerasensors in the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact around the world? (where can I see what sensor I have...?)
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Corrion:
It's worth bringing up again that everyone should give Google's Camera application a try. My pictures turn out much better than the Sony Camera application, and I have stuck with it since the beginning.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Crewville96:
Thats odd, because I've tried that app, and others, and get what seem to be essentially the same results.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
It's even more odd considering my first post attempts to show how inferior google camera is to the stock app. I'll upload links to the original uncompressed pictures tonight so you guys can really see the difference.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
Google translate was a complete fail for me, so I can't really review that article, but the one I linked to in the original post actually shows the full resolution photos that were taken and judges the phones under various conditions. The Z3 came in dead last in nearly every category, and wasn't even close in some categories. I feel like it's one of the few truly objective camera reviews available.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Foxhunter123:
:angel: Sorry about your luck with danish and google translate... In short all you need to know is that they made a blind test with the mentioned mobile phones and the people who visited the website could vote which picture they found to be the best.

The different pictures are scaled to the same resolution however the colours and white balance are unchanged.

The winner in daylight was Z3/Z3C and the Z3/Z3C came in second in the dark environments :good::cool:

(still I would like to know if there are different camerasensor in our Z3Cs...)
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
Alright - so I've finally uploaded the original 3 comparison photos where you can view them at full resolution (8MP Auto Mode) side by side. These three photos were taken using the Stock camera app, Google Camera, and Open Camera. The stock app is the only one that managed to avoid over exposing the scene, plus, it is the only one where the word "directions" can clearly be read on the back of the can of WD40 in the top right. So, like I said, even though our camera falls short of most others INDOORS, the stock app seems to handle it better than 3rd party apps.

https://goo.gl/photos/ihkstAg95Ag8rybX7
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] pipspeak:
Interesting comparison... thanks for doing it. I'm generally happy using stock Auto mode outdoors in good light. As you suggest, it's indoors where auto mode really sucks, and sadly it's indoors where most of my spontaneous photo opportunities are. I'm fed up being the only person at an indoor gathering unable to capture decently-lit, sharp photos. About 90% seem to come out blurred or under-exposed (or both). It doesn't seem to be focus-related, but more to do with slow shutter speed, perhaps related to the woefully underpowered flash.

Outdoors, my main gripe with Sony's software is the jpeg processing that over-sharpens everything and the fact that even in well lit scenes the camera seems to choose a very high ISO (when set to auto-ISO), rendering everything too grainy.

The Z3c camera is capable of delivering very good images, which is why the reviews all seem to think it's a great camera. For my usage patterns, however, I find it lacking in several important areas, which makes it a bit of a failure overall for me.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
Your observations are spot on! The specs make everyone assume the camera will perform well, but the sacral results, sadly don't live up to the hype.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
Frankly your exaggerating quite a bit. The camera rewards people who are willing to tinker with the settings little. Granted its not a good auto mode cam (which arguably phone cams should prioritize), but still nowhere near as bad as you are making it out to be.

If you want a good auto mode cam get a S6, Note or iPhone. The Z3c is not the phone for you.

What I would like is a way to adjust auto mode on the Z3c. Like get it to save my manual settings so that if I press the shutter button it opens up to my custom settings, not the dumbed down auto mode.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Dsteppa:
But you know what the thing is, almost every single phone is made for people who want their products to work perfect out of the box, they don't want to mess with settings.

People here at XDA aren't really your average users.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
I agree that good results can be had by tinkering, but as you mentioned, it's all about auto mode performance. Every comparison made in this thread and in camera review articles compare the point and shoot capabilities in typical scenarios. But it's not just 2015 flagship devices that trump the z3c, it's phones dating back to 2012!

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] `Ghost`:
Personally I find the auto mode to be pretty decent and I enjoy manual mode when I want to make the shot juuuust right. Then again I'm coming from a Droid Mini whose camera was complete anus so anything is a step up. But for quick shoots the auto mode has been pretty good to me
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] Cronis:
Coming from a 2013 Moto X I can commiserate. Now THAT was a pretty poor cam all around.
[Xperia Z3 Compact General] PuffDaddy_d:
Ha-ha, yeah, Motorola cameras were legendarily bad! As the title says, Sony's isn't great, but it could be worse...

There is another thread in the Z3 forum where someone is claiming that camera fv5 app produces better pics than stock. I personally won't pay to test the app, but they will supposedly upload samples to compare soon. I'll let you guys know if the results prove to be promising.

Sent from my Xperia Z3 Compact