G1's Camera Is Really Good!!

[Stanovoy]

After reading all the posts, it seems like most people hate the G1's camera. I'm not getting it. I used it under all conditions. The results were stunning! I used to be a professional photographer. The ISO range on the G1 is great, shutter calculations are dead on, and apparently a very wide aperture. Sure, you can't take motion shots. But the flash in other phones can't do that either. Under even low light, the G1 can sometime be as good as my Canon 1Ds Mark II.

As for the "slow speed," under low light, any camera would take a long time to focus. On my Mark II, it is a lot faster. But the Mark II is a real camera and has a focus-assist light. As for smaller cameras, I didn't find the G1 to be that much slower than my Leica, which also doesn't have a focus-assist light.

All in all, please don't expect the impossible, and the G1 will live up to your expectations.

[happyandyv]

After reading all the posts, it seems like most people hate the G1's camera. I'm not getting it. I used it under all conditions. The results were stunning! I used to be a professional photographer. The ISO range on the G1 is great, shutter calculations are dead on, and apparently a very wide aperture. Sure, you can't take motion shots. But the flash in other phones can't do that either. Under even low light, the G1 can sometime be as good as my Canon 1Ds Mark II.

As for the "slow speed," under low light, any camera would take a long time to focus. On my Mark II, it is a lot faster. But the Mark II is a real camera and has a focus-assist light. As for smaller cameras, I didn't find the G1 to be that much slower than my Leica, which also doesn't have a focus-assist light.

All in all, please don't expect the impossible, and the G1 will live up to your expectations.

I should probably get my reputation whacked for this weak post but...all I have to say is..


Word homey.


EDIT** Yeah I dunno about as good as high end canons though lol

[dieSTR0ng]

After reading all the posts, it seems like most people hate the G1's camera. I'm not getting it. I used it under all conditions. The results were stunning! I used to be a professional photographer. The ISO range on the G1 is great, shutter calculations are dead on, and apparently a very wide aperture. Sure, you can't take motion shots. But the flash in other phones can't do that either. Under even low light, the G1 can sometime be as good as my Canon 1Ds Mark II.

As for the "slow speed," under low light, any camera would take a long time to focus. On my Mark II, it is a lot faster. But the Mark II is a real camera and has a focus-assist light. As for smaller cameras, I didn't find the G1 to be that much slower than my Leica, which also doesn't have a focus-assist light.

All in all, please don't expect the impossible, and the G1 will live up to your expectations.

Ok, I shoot with Canon DSLR's, but am far from a professional photographer. I haven't even shot with a 1DMII, but those are some big words their buddy... just sayin!
I think maybe your buttering up the G1's camera a bit much, especially in low light. And the pictures I did get in those situations have come out really noisy. I don't think I'm expecting the impossible, my take is that its a decent camera, might even call it good, but comparing it to a 1dMKII... a bit much for me.

[Stanovoy]

Ok, I shoot with Canon DSLR's, but am far from a professional photographer. I haven't even shot with a 1DMII, but those are some big words their buddy... just sayin!
I think maybe your buttering up the G1's camera a bit much, especially in low light. And the pictures I did get in those situations have come out really noisy. I don't think I'm expecting the impossible, my take is that its a decent camera, might even call it good, but comparing it to a 1dMKII... a bit much for me.

I understand that. Noise is a major issue for most cameras. I'm not saying the G1 can match up with the Mark II or the Leica in general, or even come close. But I wanted to point out that under certain conditions, i.e. a lot of highs and lows and few mids, the G1's pictures are actually not that much worse than the other two. Try shooting those two without a flash at 1600. Both will produce noisy photos.

I think the G1's camera is very good for a phone.

[dieSTR0ng]

I understand that. Noise is a major issue for most cameras. I'm not saying the G1 can match up with the Mark II or the Leica in general, or even come close. But I wanted to point out that under certain conditions, i.e. a lot of highs and lows and few mids, the G1's pictures are actually not that much worse than the other two. Try shooting those two without a flash at 1600. Both will produce noisy photos.

I think the G1's camera is very good for a phone.

I see what your saying...
Agreed for a phone, its a good camera! I have gotten some pretty nice outdoor shots that surprised me.

[tbv1825]

I have only taken pictures in well lit conditions, but I have no complaints, the pictures were crystal clear. I haven't tried in dim lighting, I have always just used a digital cam for that.

[Brains]

Does it compare to an SLR? Absolutely not -- even my old school EOS 10D can smoke the quality, but we're talking about a friggin CAMERA PHONE people :)

The G1's phone is easily the best camera phone I've yet used.

[RussianSolja]

I dont think the camera in the phone is that bad. When it's day light out the camera takes fantastic pictures. I have nothing to complain about. :)

[Stanovoy]

Another thing we might want to keep in mind is that the G1 stores the images as JPG, and probably without much post-processing. The ones from our SLRs are captured as RAW files, sharpened, white balanced, and with other post-processing applied to it, before saving as JPG. Go take some picture as RAW and open up the files in CaptureOne or Photoshop, remove all the post-processing data, and take at a look at the data in its true form. Not very pretty.

[All~G1]

Could you guys give me a quick refresher course on ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

[outsider]

You can increase the ISO to get faster moving objects on film but you add graininess to the picture. Aperture is basically the amount of light entering the camera and helps determined depth of field. Ideally your aperture (f-number) (say 2.7 for a closer subject or 8 for a subject 8 feet away) setting should match loosely the distance from lens to subject. Depending on your shutter speed you may need to raise or lower the f-stop to prevent under or overexposure.

[Stanovoy]

Could you guys give me a quick refresher course on ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

An image is created as a function of the amount of light hitting the sensor (or phosphorous) and the sensitivity of the sensor.

The amount of light is controlled by shutter speed and aperture. The slower the shutter, the longer the time the sensor is exposed to light. It is expressed as a fraction of a second, i.e. 1/8. Similarly, the larger the aperture, the more light will hit the sensor in a period of time. Think of it like your bandwidth. It is expressed in the inverse. So f2 is significantly larger than f5.6.

The sensitivity of the sensor is known as ISO. ISO measures the speed at which each sensor bucket fills up (in digital-camera-speak), aka exposure rate. The higher the ISO, the faster each bucket go from empty to full. However, the faster the exposure, the more likely there will be noise (overspill). Imagine you pouring water into a group of buckets. The slower you go, the better you are at controlling the fine levels in each bucket. The faster you go, the more likely it is for water to splash out into neighboring buckets. ISO ranges generally from 50 to 3200, with 50 being the slowest.

Hope this is a good enough answer for now :)

[All~G1]

An image is created as a function of the amount of light hitting the sensor (or phosphorous) and the sensitivity of the sensor.

The amount of light is controlled by shutter speed and aperture. The slower the shutter, the longer the time the sensor is exposed to light. It is expressed as a fraction of a second, i.e. 1/8. Similarly, the larger the aperture, the more light will hit the sensor in a period of time. Think of it like your bandwidth. It is expressed in the inverse. So f2 is significantly larger than f5.6.

The sensitivity of the sensor is known as ISO. ISO measures the speed at which each sensor bucket fills up (in digital-camera-speak), aka exposure rate. The higher the ISO, the faster each bucket go from empty to full. However, the faster the exposure, the more likely there will be noise (overspill). Imagine you pouring water into a group of buckets. The slower you go, the better you are at controlling the fine levels in each bucket. The faster you go, the more likely it is for water to splash out into neighboring buckets. ISO ranges generally from 50 to 3200, with 50 being the slowest.

Hope this is a good enough answer for now :)


You can increase the ISO to get faster moving objects on film but you add graininess to the picture. Aperture is basically the amount of light entering the camera and helps determined depth of field. Ideally your aperture (f-number) (say 2.7 for a closer subject or 8 for a subject 8 feet away) setting should match loosely the distance from lens to subject. Depending on your shutter speed you may need to raise or lower the f-stop to prevent under or overexposure.

Thanks guys... I took some classes in HS, but that was a LONNNNGGG time ago. I think I actually got a better understanding from these post then I did in HS :D Thanks again

[SalinFL]

Anyone getting "Please insert an SD card before using the camera" error?

[kaysesoze]

much appreciated with the info on how to get better pics

[PixelHenge]

I dont know.. i'm a photographer myself. This camera looks good on paper, but in practice.. well...

It is good outside in sunlight, i'll give it that. But its aperture stinks IMO, shutter too.. I seem to need vast amounts of light to be able to get a shutter speed even remotly suitable for hand held shots.. and the aperture, well, if i take a picture in my living room with 3 lamps on, the picture looks like i was trying to take it in the dark. ISO too... not only does it seem like its max is maybe 250, but the noise it puts out look like HIISO on my canon. So its dark and grainy. It seems like the camera software is unable to calculate a correct exposure.

I DO shoot with canons, in RAW only, and ya.. canon RAW compared to this jpg output... they arent even in the same ball park. Apple to oranges..

[doolyd]

I have to say the camera sucks!! We have two and they don't really work. The shutter speed is horrible and pictures come out sooo blurry they are unusable. On a perfectly sunny day I can get a decent but just decent photo. Just wish it was sunny all the time.

[kaysesoze]

I have to say the camera sucks!! We have two and they don't really work. The shutter speed is horrible and pictures come out sooo blurry they are unusable. On a perfectly sunny day I can get a decent but just decent photo. Just wish it was sunny all the time.
learn how to hold the camera still while taking a picture.. its not easy but you have to practice taking pics and then you will know how to press the camera button down hard and still keep your hand steady

[PixelHenge]

The max shutter speed for hand held shots is 1/60 for no blur.. anything lower than this an it will blur (unless you have experiance in being a human statue). I would have to say the average shutter speed the camera chooses is about 1/40-1/20 in good light. Outside on a sunlit day it might go above 1/60 SOMETIMES.. So holding it right isnt a matter of finess.. its going to blur 9 time out of ten with the camera wanting to choose these shutter speeds. I believe it dose this due to having a very low ISO due to the small sensor capabilites and the higher noise ratio found in small sensors with high megapixels (pixel ratio). If it had higher ISO speeds, you might not ever recognize the picture as a photo. Sure, it cant have a fast shutter, the fastest it could probably be is 1/800 maybe more... And the aperture, well, look at the lens, cant be and wider than a simulated f/5. So the physical limitations ofcoarse make this a crappy camera by camera standards, but as far as cell cams go, IMO the fault is all in the camera software and its inability to detect contrast well and calulate a reasonably correct expsure. this could probably be fixed a bit if any dev wanted to touch it, but not likely. But i really dont think those who have problems are having issue with their techniqes, its just that the camera is severly limited to its operating conditions.

[outsider]

I'm not a fan of the camera on this phone myself. I'm really hoping an app shows up that allows for more flexibility with the camera but not being familiar with what is possible my hopes aren't up. That said I have gotten a few pretty decent shots but it was when either light was plentiful or I was able to control the stillness of the subject.

Past camera phones have surpassed the quality of this camera by leaps and bounds.

[kaysesoze]

I'm not a fan of the camera on this phone myself. I'm really hoping an app shows up that allows for more flexibility with the camera but not being familiar with what is possible my hopes aren't up. That said I have gotten a few pretty decent shots but it was when either light was plentiful or I was able to control the stillness of the subject.

Past camera phones have surpassed the quality of this camera by leaps and bounds.
very true, hopefully htc programers will come up with a new version of htc camera like on the wing or the diamond

[DiscoDapper]

One tip I can give you (and I may be stating the obvious) is to hold through on the button instead of releasing it when you feel that it has taken the picture. It seems to me that everytime I let go of the button I get blurry photos, and when I keep it down, it is less blurry or not blurry.

Outside views are very well detailed:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Adrian.Culici/G1Photos#5260875907679703154

and even indoors it can be ok:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Adrian.Culici/G1Photos#5260954467816729538

Takes very good macros:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Adrian.Culici/G1Photos#5260875910954381026

Not bad overall, for a "pocket camera that does other things"

[kaysesoze]

One tip I can give you (and I may be stating the obvious) is to hold through on the button instead of releasing it when you feel that it has taken the picture. It seems to me that everytime I let go of the button I get blurry photos, and when I keep it down, it is less blurry or not blurry.

Outside views are very well detailed:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Adrian.Culici/G1Photos#5260875907679703154

and even indoors it can be ok:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Adrian.Culici/G1Photos#5260954467816729538

Takes very good macros:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Adrian.Culici/G1Photos#5260875910954381026

Not bad overall, for a "pocket camera that does other things"
these pics almost make me want to go on a photo spree...
im almost not mad about not being able to save pics from mms cause now if everyone had g1s we could all share picasa links or flickr links.. lol..
but those are some pretty good pics except for the low light ones..
the detail that the camera pics up is awsome.. the one of the little flower shows the camera s power... also people when you take pics make sure the lens cover is clear of fingerprints, that happened to me the othere day.

[doolyd]

The max shutter speed for hand held shots is 1/60 for no blur.. anything lower than this an it will blur (unless you have experiance in being a human statue). I would have to say the average shutter speed the camera chooses is about 1/40-1/20 in good light. Outside on a sunlit day it might go above 1/60 SOMETIMES.. So holding it right isnt a matter of finess.. its going to blur 9 time out of ten with the camera wanting to choose these shutter speeds. I believe it dose this due to having a very low ISO due to the small sensor capabilites and the higher noise ratio found in small sensors with high megapixels (pixel ratio). If it had higher ISO speeds, you might not ever recognize the picture as a photo. Sure, it cant have a fast shutter, the fastest it could probably be is 1/800 maybe more... And the aperture, well, look at the lens, cant be and wider than a simulated f/5. So the physical limitations ofcoarse make this a crappy camera by camera standards, but as far as cell cams go, IMO the fault is all in the camera software and its inability to detect contrast well and calulate a reasonably correct expsure. this could probably be fixed a bit if any dev wanted to touch it, but not likely. But i really dont think those who have problems are having issue with their techniqes, its just that the camera is severly limited to its operating conditions.


Good Post. This pretty much is exactly the isssue with this camera!!