[G4 General] Ramsey:
Update: I no longer have the LG G4 so I cannot help with this. You are free to use this thread to continue the discussion!

I've been playing around with the stock camera's manual mode, trying to figure out why sometimes pictures in both day light and low light have major noise reduction (NR) and other times pictures have some noise but details are preserved. At first I thought it was a software bug where NR wasn't correctly applied, but then I realized it had to do with the camera software and ISO.

I tested using ISO 50, 300, and 500.

I found that from ISO 50 to 400, NR is heavily applied and details are lost, making the G4 the same as other phone's cameras

in day light

. I took some pictures at a swimming pool on a sunny day and I didn't like the results with stock camera.

From ISO 450 (or 500) and up NR is reduced so much and details are mostly preserved.

Samples of my daughter's toy :D - download to see full resolution to be able to zoom in at 100% - look at the fur on the toy dog and the fabric on the bed sheet:

ISO 50: https://app.box.com/s/4xj0eaf1euaaff8d1mnjevfdu6zzzyup

ISO 300: https://app.box.com/s/mffl4yp6ycdhr4tk7nd29815kuxw2pu6

ISO 500 - this is where details are preserved even though there is more noise: https://app.box.com/s/1vmsv6ajyz41mb8vj6sljsg82unzftif

That is a weird behavior. In DSLRs it is the opposite. Between ISO 100 and 800 there isn't much NR because there is no need for it and then you start getting a bit more NR, or you can disable it, usually it's called High ISO Noise Reduction. I'm not sure what LG was thinking to apply so much NR at ISO 50, seems like it's low ISO NR with LG lol. It does need some NR because the sensor is small but this is too much at such a low ISO. I really like that there isn't much NR applied after ISO 450/500.

Note that I'm not talking about the difference between post processing of auto mode using night shot and the post processing of manual mode (less NR).

I know I can solve that by using Raw but I don't always have time to process the .dng file and I know I can use ProShot and disabling NR but there's nothing like the stock camera on the G4.

I also believe that LG applies heavy noise reduction as soon as it detects skin. It feels like beauty mode with the rear camera, I don't like that!

Look at this shot of my daughter on a sunny day - ISO 50 - she was swinging so it was hard to capture but it worked: https://app.box.com/s/392vbptfazsw5hzblwt33o1btb6vgjme

I also saw it in many other shots that I took of my wife and other people without them moving :).

What do you all think?

Is there a software tweak in build.prop that we can apply to disable noise reduction like with the HTC M9?

EDIT - Camera mod:

defcomg made a mod that disables noise reduction in LG's stock G4 camera. http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=63025959&postcount=71

You must be rooted.

Go to System/Priv-app and copy/backup the LGCameraApp folder somewhere safe.

Take the LG camera apk file from defcomg's post above and put in the root of LGCameraApp folder in system/priv-app.

Overwrite and then launch camera. It will crash first time and then work fine.

Issues:

Clicking on Mode in Auto will always crash though, needs to be fixed.

Noise reduction is applied even in Auto. I would have liked it only in manual but seems like there's no way to do this yet. So, defcomg is trying to add a button that lets us disable noise reduction on the fly, that would be awesome because in higher ISO, there is a lot of chroma noise.