yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] emtownsend:
I find it amazing how much we've come to expect from our phone cameras. It's all good; they've evolved into technical wonder workers. Cameras have become one of the differentiators now that the other phone specs are maxing out...
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] rjt378:
Looking over this thread, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that the hardware is solid. Some really solid pics next to some really wonky ones, by the same people.

Just about every phone I have had so far (Im a budget buyer before spending over $300 on this for the first time) has been capable of great photos, but just a ball breaker with respect to when it was going to do that. At this point it may be better to rank phone cameras on the pain in the arse scale. They all seem very capable these days. But when some will give up the goods, and why/how, is anyone's guess.

I must say I feel better about the camera overall, after this thread. So that's nice. And if it leads to me taking more time out of my day to take some photos, in search of great ones, that's also nice. Maybe owning something like the S7 is cheating :p.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] trasheris:
I am getting better test photos recently. Daylight are really good.

Headphones were taken with flashlight in almost dark room, else it's impossible to get a decent photo. This was posted to instagram with no postproduction, only size is small.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] hectorcde:
I hope a pro moderator or programmer here make a Camera Mod for our ZTE, for me is an incredible device really. And the camera is good enough, i personally would ask for Zero Shutter Lag, a faster shutter speed since i since the camera shutter speed is slow, hard to take good pictures with just some movement, specially when i take most photos to my 3 years old son.

Or if someone knows any apk that can improve shutter speed would be awesome.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] EightFinger:
Did an awesome photo on Sylvester, outside in complete darkness.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] masong397:
Would anybody be interested in seeing pictures I took in CyanogenMod? I went to NYC recently and was using the default camera
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] CampfireVibés:
yes please :)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] remues5:
Camera is good if u know how to use it
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] CampfireVibés:
are you on stock or cm ? and was that shot in auto or manual. :)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] max1001:
Can't. The phone doesn't support camera 2 API that's allow for low level camera mod yet. Dunno if ZTE will ever get there but I doubt it. They just fired three thousands of worker in China.

---------- Post added at 05:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 AM ----------

What you said make no sense....

The camera has bad color accuracy but that has nothing to with noise reduction or ISO setting.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] vbnm2003:
Anybody tryed the lastest "lgcamera" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rubberbigpepper.lgCamera? It has switch to "Samsung API". Maybe, it will work on axon 7 samsung camera.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] remues5:
Stock on auto :)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] LifeSupportZ:
camera with good light is not bad camera, but fails in low light compare to other devices, hopefully we see some camera improvements with android N.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] kappa546:
Camera is plenty good. The resolution isn't as good uploaded on XDA, but it is razor sharp on my phone. This was taken with snap camera, denoise turned off.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] bimzrus:
I'm wondering if its possible some handsets just got bad cameras, looking at all these pictures the quality goes from amazing to WTF? Even when I take pictures on this phone the quality at 20 mega pixels leave a lot to be desired my old HTC 7 still does impressive pictures at less resolution.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
One picture for the thread, auto mode:

View attachment 4014201

;)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
A macro of my dog:

View attachment 4015546

:)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] n1234d:
Manual mode
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] xphyle1971:
Here's my issue with the Axon 7 camera. Whether intentional or not, it seems like there's a built in Bokeh effect going on with the camera that cannot be disabled. Even in the picture of the dog above. The center of the picture is usually in focus, but the farther you get from the center to any edge of the picture, the more blurry it gets. It doesn't seem to matter what you are taking a picture of. To test this theory I printed text on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and took a picture of the page. As suspected, the text at the center of the picture was perfectly in focus. The farther away from the picture center I got, the blurrier the text became. This should NOT be happening to this degree.

Thoughts?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
If you are focusing the center, it makes sense that anything else is kind of blurry, I don't see the issue here. Even with DSLR not everything is perfectly focused the whole time.

I find this perfectly normal.

;)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] xphyle1971:
Not to this degree. It would make sense with objects in the background, and at different depths, but not when the entire object is at the same depth (ie. a flat sheet of paper with text on it). To test this I took the same picture with several different smartphones. All of them were able to keep the text mostly clear and in focus except the A7.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] trasheris:
I think you are wrong, if I position a paper with text in front of my DSLR I can get all text quite sharp (because my lens is ****ty) even with F1.8 when holding it vertically, if I lay paper with text on a table and focus in the middle of that paper I can get that effect easily because this is how depth of field works. If you need proof I can do that in 10 hours.

On the other hand his dogs photo looks like a painting actually, and a quite photorealistic one. Thats something wrong with software in your case, looks like a filter applied.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
Indeed both are right. but you forget that smartphone cameras are always focusing one particular point in the scene (continuous autofocus) the whole time, and that's why the effect is visible but is also true that on the Axon 7 is more noticeable than in other phones.

ZTE is still working on the camera improvements, and I forgot to test this with the B10 update, because I no longer have the device. Probably today my Mate 9 will arrive and after spending 1-2 weeks with it, I would take a decision which one to get.

This video also talks about the issue you are commenting, but honestly for me is not kind of a deal-breaker because I tend to use the camera for some casual amateur pictures and pretty much I found that this camera is decent enough for me:

[YOUTUBE]eq1TruYhIfs[/YOUTUBE]

:cool:
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] max1001:
Was feeding the seagulls at the beach and a whole flock came by.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] ScaryBugThing:
Any nougat photo samples?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] ekerbuddyeker:
can anyone comment if the camera has improved on N?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Fuilares:
Raw support was added, will be nice to see if someone pack RAW photos in zip or rar and upload it here
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] kidnova:
This is a topic for discussion on the official forums as well, and one comparison has been posted. Obviously more information is needed to form any conclusions, but at least in this case the post-N looks significantly better than the original.

Camera after Nougat
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] wingzfan:
Note: Image host is compressing the images

Definitely improved. Heres a quick point n shoot, no touch to focus or anything, in auto mode in a room with no lights on in very low light conditions. Not a great quality but I literally grabbed the phone off the desk and in the same motion snapped a shot. Suprised the phone actually focused at all.

[IMG="cup"]https://i.imgsafe.org/b8fd3d01e6.jpg[/IMG]

This one I allowed it to focus

[IMG="cup2"]https://i.imgsafe.org/b90f6c7209.jpg[/IMG]
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] CampfireVibés:
id love to see some low light shots since day time shots are now pretty perfect. :) very proud of zte for stepping up their game!!
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] wingzfan:
The post directly above you are low light shots lol. Those were taken in my office on a very cloudy day at dusk inside with office windows that are tinted and no lights on. The only lights were outside the office.

Heres one with no lights on in the house, just a tv. Its as dark as I could get it without being pitch black. Its slightly compressed due to hosting. Was 1.81mb and showing on here at 1.03mb

[IMG="georgia"]http://i.pi.gy/2kwV.jpg[/IMG]
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] FENIX_81:
:eek: Simply amazing!! Many thanks
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
Can any of you test if the issue described in the video is still present, please?.

[YOUTUBE]eq1TruYhIfs[/YOUTUBE]

:good:
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] wingzfan:
Im not getting any blurring on the edges from what I can tell. I also just recorded a short 4k h.264 video and didnt have any issues with the focus or any dimming when going from light to darker areas. I did move the camera a bit too fast and got some nasty motion blur however but Im not sure thats avoidable.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] wingzfan:
Decided to compare some shots from my iPhone 6s plus vs the Axon today and Im pretty impressed with the Axon. Both full auto taken at the same time side by side. Wish I could figure out how to stop image compression. The Axon does much better blacks and deeper detail.

iPhone

View attachment 4038774

Axon 7

View attachment 4038772
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] CampfireVibés:
what about low light performance :)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] wingzfan:
Lol its a long time before low light where Im at right now.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] mozerxdaven:
Could someone please try some night-time / street-light type shots using raw and stock camera app on auto?

I'm thinking of jumping over to Nougat this weekend, but gotta plan it out since I always manage to screw something up when I upgrade.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Seb M:
Hi,

Is the axon better than lg g4?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Fuilares:
My friend got g4 and I must say, that g4 does better photos
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] CyborgR:
With B09
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] xRogerxC:
[MENTION=7991233]CyborgR[/MENTION] beautiful pics, truly. May I ask, are these taken with auto mode, or manual settings? I'm thing definitely manual. What settings are you using for exposure, etc? I just picked up an Axon 7 yesterday, and it's an incredible phone.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] doneonly:
here some i took with some low light

Auto with flash off, night mode on

auto flash off night mode on

auto flash on night mode on

all on stock camera
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] story:
XDA server is down, can you upload to imgur?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] story:
Anyone else have Nougat camera low light photos in auto mode to share?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] XblackdemonX:
I have the blurring on the edges and this is with any roms, stock or custom.

EDIT: this guy has it too. Check the Axon 7 picture in the bottom left VS the center of the picture. On the bottom left it's blurry and in the middle it's perfect.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Erahgon:
That's really beautiful! Nice work!

I like shooting in manual mode and editing the RAW image most of the time. Here's a recent photo I took (I'm in L.A. as well):
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
Looks amazing, but the picture is only 1mpx....

Can you please upload the original picture to some online service with no compression?

Thanks
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Cueball74:
When you click on the image thumbnail, there's a yellow hyperlink at the bottom titled "view full image". You should get the full resolution there.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
That's exactly what I did, and it's 1mpx, just 200kB.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Cueball74:
I don't get it...

I was able to download the full resolution from both my desktop computer AND the XDA app on my A2017U.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
I downloaded it from chrome on my phone. But it shouldn't make any difference. Just check the details of the picture and you will see it's a low resolution pic...
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Cueball74:
So this is a situation where the XDA website is compressing the image when uploaded to their server. If I download my image from the "View Full Image" link, it's 3136 x 1764 pixels. If I download from my own link from my original post, it's 4190 x 2357 pixels:

http://68firebird.bravehost.com/images/IMG_20170314_185732~2.jpg
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
Video of fireworks display in Valencia, Spain.

https://youtu.be/9-3jbsKpREI

---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 PM ----------

Here I will post pictures of "Las fallas de Valencia" taken with our Zte Axon 7(A2017G) running Android Marshmallow.

All the pictures were taken on automatic mode, please click on the images to view them on flickr for full-resolution images (they're not compressed there).
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Unjustified Dev:
That looks good and the camera has improved a lot in N. I'd love to see more pictures when they release N for this variant.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
Thanks. But I don't think they touched anything related to the noise reduction, did they?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] 0Kajuna0:
The american N version of the camera allos for Raw mode, which does not involve any noise reduction at all (you can do it in post), but the european version is not getting it even in the next update, apparently
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
I'm aware of that. And someone said that raw would come in a future update.

But I'd also like to have a less aggressive noise reduction since manual post edition is time consuming.

Edit: I remember the LG G2 having the same problem and someone developed and app called xcam that allowed disabling the noise reduction.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] xanmato:
Not sure if many people know this, but you can go into Manual mode and it turns off the noise reduction. (Now that autofocus in manual mode is fixed), If I don't need HDR, I just use manual mode and set everything to Auto. It's quick and easy, and helps a lot with retaining details in low light photos. Just to be clear, you do not need to turn on RAW capture for manual mode to turn off the noise reduction.

I tested this by taking the same images in regular mode and the manual/auto. The funny thing is that the image sizes are identical yet the manual mode version has tons of grain and detail from not being noise reduced. ZTE's jpg compression setting I believe is the equivalent to 70, as tested saving a raw capture to jpg in photoshop and trying to match filesizes.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
Thanks for the information.

About the noise reduction I take it you're referring to the behavior present in nougat roms, right? I see the same noise reduction on both manual and automatic on Marshmallow.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] 0Kajuna0:
In my case (I'm running the A2017U B19 build camera on LineageOS) manual mode does not disable noise reduction at all. It's quite disastrous. Also, autofocus is still intermittently broken for me, just like it was in the previous build.

Notice how noise is only present in the Raw cutout (that's easily improvable in post), and how noise reduction and bad sharpening destroy the auto and manual images.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] xanmato:
I did some testing, and it appears Manual mode is all wacky. Above a certain light level, it will enable noise reduction and apply a sharpening filter. At low light levels, the sharpening filter turns off and noise reduction seems to be reduced, as it should smear out grain from high iso levels but it does not. If you want truly processing-free images without raw, I suggest trying Snap Camera HDR. You can turn off denoise, and should give you an unmolested photo, though this sensor's color noise is pretty high. It also has support for ZSL (zero shutter lag) and ZSL HDR.

Here is my result from testing, note that the light level was not high enough to trigger the stock camera's sharpening filter. Also note Snap Camera's superior HDR mode working in low light, and the merged images produce a median noise reduction effect.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
The picture in the middle certainly looks better than the one on the left.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] 0Kajuna0:
Possibly. What we were discussing is whether manual mode applies noise reduction or not. In that case, it clearly does.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] KennyKusanagi:
This camera sucks ass...I really hope someone mod it or find an alternative
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
I don't think it sucks, but neither is a top one, you just get an "above average" for the price.

This was my last picture on 6.0.1, when I take some with 7.1.1, I will post them as well:

View attachment 4097748

:)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] nonamesl:
Aside for low light, It's amazing. It takes excellent pictures in day light. Not in day light? Not so much.

It's important to understand this: In day light it's amazing. Other than that the pictures are average minus. It sucks but it's the only downside of the phone tbh
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
Comparison of

low-light indoor pictures

(room illuminated from the left by just two 12W energy-saving light bulbs) taken on NucleaROM with ported ZTE camera. "AUTO" pic is not exactly the same shot as the "MANUAL" ones, notice the slightly different angle.

manual_rawVSmanual

manual_rawVSauto2

manual_rawVSauto

Full width RAW pic (click to visit Flickr and see the full resolution version):

full_manual raw+snapseed

Full width AUTO-mode pic (click to visit Flickr and see the full resolution version):

full_automatic
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] aLexzkter:
Auto mode vs Manual mode (RAW)

Playing a little bit with low light pics. This time it's outdoor.

Auto:

IMG_20170428_205808-auto

Manual (RAW edited on Snapseed, ISO 100, exposure time: 2")

IMG_20170428_205756-01-RAW

You simply can't compare. But of course, to benefit from the manual mode in night pics you need a tripod and static objects.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
Some macro picture:

View attachment 4139239

:cowboy:
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] n1234d:
I feel that the camera is rather slow to focus and tends to select a lower ISO and Shutter speed resulting in blurry photos. If you have time to take a photo, you can end up with an excellent shot but moving subjects/shooting while moving is difficult.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Shadee13:
Just a fly that refused to fly away.

A2017G B02 Manual
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] n1234d:
Has autofocus/autofocus in low light speed improved significantly with A2017U B15/25?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] yosef019:
Hey any one notice pink Shadow areas with raw photos jpeg not affected
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Fuilares:
Yes because raw photos don't have any post process effects
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Galaxo60:
Some macro:

View attachment 4194176

View attachment 4194177

View attachment 4194178

:cool:
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] RojasTKD:
Recently got a LG V20 as the price has dropped considerably (paid $310 for a return or shelf pull V20). I figured it could replace the Axon 7 as my main phone particularly because I expected it to have a better camera.

Took a few pics yesterday and found I preferred the Axon 7 in 4 of the 5 pictures I took, the other one was a bit of a toss up.

I'll include the pics I took yesterday with the Axon 7, V20 and Nexus 6P. I think the Axon 7 proved to be better than I expected.

Take a look and you decide. First the Nexus 6P. Warmer/darker photos in general, but low light photoes are the most usable to me see photos 4 and 5.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] RojasTKD:
LG V20

Most pictures are over exposed. Gonna have to try manual mode and play with the settings.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] RojasTKD:
Axon 7

Notice this is the only device with readbale license plates in pic # 3. Low light not as usable as the Nexus 6P, but better than the V20 to me.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] MrMD69:
I get few shoots - low and mid light and bonus front mid light. (No edit, auto mode) + one (food) indoor mid/low light. May tommorow I will add few shoots in high light (sunny) if the weather in Poland will be better.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Spillunke:
Anyone who edited the media_profiles.xml and set the "ImageEncoding quality" to 100?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] XblackdemonX:
Please try it and tell us.

---------- Post added at 03:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:42 PM ----------

The food looks great, the picture not so much. It's blurry.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Spillunke:
I already set it to 100. What are the standard settings? 90,80,75? I cant remember.

For everyone who is interested, i attached the flashable zip.

Set the image quality to 100, so there is no compression for the pictures taken with camera.

Should also work with other Axon 7 models with stock ROM too.

Other settings like increase bitrate or FPS at 1080p take no effect at my phone. Not sure where the problem is.

EDIT: Updated MOD: https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=74065842&postcount=330
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Unjustified Dev:
Google photos automatically edited these just sharing
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] bill3508:
Nothing special but I still think the 7 takes a nice pic.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] CharlesWise:
Not awesome pixel.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] borijess:
Dog was posing for this pic.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] gecko702:
this is a pretty good one but the fps its whats broken :( any fixes?
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Spillunke:
You are right! The FPS at 720p was set to 60, but standard is 30 FPS.

Now its like stock, only the imagequality is set to 100.

I hope its the fix you asked for. Otherwise explain in detail please :)
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] gecko702:
well i tried 720p and nothing im having issues with 60fps im thinking of reflashing my ROM or something
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] gecko702:
thats a nice macro
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] RobboW:
I'm on a week away with my wife and I brought the Axon 7 and my two cameras. I find the Axon heaps better to use for taking pictures and the results are very good. The only time I now use a dedicated camera is for zoom use. Will be keen to see what ZTE do with the next Axon.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Dodgexander:
Has anyone actually noticed a difference in quality using a non-stock camera.

I am led to believe the camera performs better when you use the stock app and the stock app is nice but the main reason to keep stock seems to be the camera app.

Yes ive tried stock camera port on lineage but it's not fully functional. In my limited testing with snap camera, open camera and the apps camera the stock camera seems faster at shooting but that's about it. I can't see differences in quality.

Reading back in this thread the only comparison I saw actually made the auto settings with the stock camera look better to me but I'm interested to hear everyone's expenses.
[ZTE Axon 7 Real Life Review] Jurotan:
I got my axon 7 few days ago .I think the camera is pretty decent for its price ard 220 usd now at good light environments .

Plz do not compare it with newer generation cameras like mi6 ,honor 10plus , one plus 5 , pixel or iphone X which cause over 500 usd.

Like most reviews indicate it sucks at low light like many mid-low budget smartphones do but camera performance still ahead of alot phones around its price .

Even at current generation no smartphones are truly able to handle low light well anyways.