How's your camera quality?

[Ollie]

Long story short...the wife migrated over to Android after years of being an iPhone owner. She loves her S5 with the exception of the camera. She says that the photos never come out crisp and it doesn't focus on what she wants it to.

How's your experience been with the S5 camera? I'm beginning to think she got a dud. The camera on my Note 3 is beast mode so the S5 should be even better.

 

[bsweetness]

In good light, the S5 takes the best pictures of any smartphone I've ever used (aside from the Lumia 1020, but that's in a class of it's own). Everything about them are fantastic by smartphone standards - color, details, balance, etc. And the live HDR mode makes it even better when needed. The 16MP sensor makes cropping great as well in good light as it retains a high level of detail.

In mediocre light, the S5 takes decent shots. Sometimes you don't get exactly what you want, but it turns out reliably good shots. It's on par with most recent smartphones with decent cameras here.

In low light without a flash, the S5 takes pretty poor shots. This is the biggest weakness of the phone in my opinion, especially since many people (myself included) take shots indoors in situations where the lighting isn't the best. With the software image stabilization, you can get some decent shots, but your subject has to be absolutely still and you have to hold the camera absolutely still for several seconds. It's all but worthless unless the conditions are perfect. If you turn the software image stabilization off, it snaps photos quickly, but the quality is usually poor and the shots are often blurry do to movement (either by the subject or most likely by you). With a flash, the S5 is pretty much on par with most smartphones. Sometimes the flash washes things out too much, and at other times you can end up with surprisingly decent colors. I try not to use the flash, but it's a reasonable performer if needed.

The S5's camera is really very good, with it's only glaring weakness being low light (which is a weakness for most smartphone cameras). I've never had a problem with crispness or focus except in low light, so if she's experiencing issues with those in good light, there might be something wrong with your wife's S5.

 

[cr6]

I was a bit concerned with my S5 camera in the beginning. The pictures didn't seem to turn out as well as the photos from my S3. After messing around with it I now feel it's way better than my S3. The only thing I still don't like about it is the auto focus. Where you could tap the screen on the S3 and auto focus anytime you want, the S5 doesn't allow that, and that's a fail in my book. That said, having learned how to deal with that, I think it pretty amazing. One thing a lot of people forget to do is download the optional "modes" from the Samsung app store. Open up the camera and click on mode, scroll all the way to the right and click on download, from there (you'll have to sign into Samsung) they offer 5-6 other shooting modes that make a world of difference.
Also, I typically keep HDR set as the default, it takes much better photos then plain auto.
Have her experiment with the settings and download those extra modes. Once she finds that sweet spot, I think she'll be pretty pleased. My stock settings are HDR on, flash off & picture stabilization off. That works great for almost every situation. Have her put it in sport mode for any shots that have movement in her field of view.

S5 tap'n

 

[bsweetness]

I was a bit concerned with my S5 camera in the beginning. The pictures didn't seem to turn out as well as the photos from my S3. After messing around with it I now feel it's way better than my S3. The only thing I still don't like about it is the auto focus. Where you could tap the screen on the S3 and auto focus anytime you want, the S5 doesn't allow that, and that's a fail in my book. That said, having learned how to deal with that, I think it pretty amazing. One thing a lot of people forget to do is download the optional "modes" from the Samsung app store. Open up the camera and click on mode, scroll all the way to the right and click on download, from there (you'll have to sign into Samsung) they offer 5-6 other shooting modes that make a world of difference.
Also, I typically keep HDR set as the default, it takes much better photos then plain auto.
Have her experiment with the settings and download those extra modes. Once she finds that sweet spot, I think she'll be pretty pleased. My stock settings are HDR on, flash off & picture stabilization off. That works great for almost every situation. Have her put it in sport mode for any shots that have movement in her field of view.

S5 tap'n

Do mind clarifying that a bit? I can tap to focus with my S5 at any point, so I want to make sure that I'm understanding what you mean.

I also keep HDR on by default. I definitely agree that it takes much better photos with it enabled.

 

[jackiescivic]

I think what he is saying is that the focus does not remain on that spot. It will recompose to the center

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[cr6]

Sorry, I probably could have worded that better. While you can tap to focus originally, it "seems" like tapping again never really refocuses it "better". On the S3 you had the little green circle that popped up when it was focused. Tapping the screen again would literally blur the photo and refocus the shot as many times as you tapped, each time giving the little green circle indicator once focused. The S5 will show the circle again, but it never truly refocuses the shot in whereas it reblurs the photo. Or it could be the absence of the green circle, or simply because it doesn't "appear" to refocus to the naked eye, I just feel the S3 did a better job of displaying it.
That doesn't take away from the overall photo quality. The S5 still amazes me and as you pointed out, it's only real weakness are those pesky low light situations. Blurry photos was an issue until I downloaded sport mode. (Which I used to take this photo)

If you enlarge it and look at the individual water drops....I think that's pretty amazing for a "phone".

S5 tap'n

 

[bsweetness]

Sorry, I probably could have worded that better. While you can tap to focus originally, it "seems" like tapping again never really refocuses it "better". On the S3 you had the little green circle that popped up when it was focused. Tapping the screen again would literally blur the photo and refocus the shot as many times as you tapped, each time giving the little green circle indicator once focused. The S5 will show the circle again, but it never truly refocuses the shot in whereas it reblurs the photo. Or it could be the absence of the green circle, or simply because it doesn't "appear" to refocus to the naked eye, I just feel the S3 did a better job of displaying it.
That doesn't take away from the overall photo quality. The S5 still amazes me and as you pointed out, it's only real weakness are those pesky low light situations. Blurry photos was an issue until I downloaded sport mode. (Which I used to take this photo)

If you enlarge it and look at the individual water drops....I think that's pretty amazing for a "phone".

S5 tap'n

Thanks for the explanation.

Mine definitely focuses where I touch, and it doesn't refocus to the middle. It's not as noticeable on shots that are bigger in scope like the one you posted, but it's much more clear on tighter and macro shots. I've played around with it a lot while sitting at my desk bored. Ha ha.

 

[cr6]

Thanks for your input as well. I'll have to investigate this more on my end. Good to know.

S5 tap'n

 

[Ollie]

I appreciate your responses. I will pass along all of these tips to her. The camera is the only thing that she hates about the phone. She chose the S5 over the HTC M8 simply due to that feature and now she has problems with her deciding factor.