How Do I Take Pictures At Concerts?

[JOSHSKORN]

First of all, I haven't been to DroidForums.net in a little while. Before, I was able to click on my phone and it'd take me right to the forum section. Apparently, that feature has been ditched and has made navigation a bit harder. Thought I'd rant about that for a bit. Now, onto my issue.

Basically, I was at a concert last night, it was a pretty small venue and I was in the front of the standing area. The stage was about 3 feet in front of me. When looking up towards the stage, there were several lights floating around the ceiling area and they were all moving.

I tried taking pictures with my MAXX and the outcome was horrible. They were very blurry. I tried Auto setting (with the environment), Auto Flash, Flash On, Flash Off, and then I tried a Party environment setting. They were both all awful. Mind you, I was taking pictures of people performing, not just standing in one place. I use the camera app Camera ICS as I was never impressed with the stock app.

Same venue, but one time I sat upstairs and took pictures. Same problem. Although considering the lights were on the ceiling, they were hitting the camera at a different angle.

Are there better ways to take pictures with this phone in a concert environment? Is there another app that can do this better?

 

[Jeffrey]

It's most likely the camera's inability to handle the changing conditions you described. I don't think a different app will help much.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

It's most likely the camera's inability to handle the changing conditions you described. I don't think a different app will help much.

Thanks for the reply, Jeffrey. Would I see a better result with newer SmartPhones? For instance, the Galaxy S5 or the upcoming Galaxy Note 4? I'm looking to say goodbye to my MAXX later this year because the battery just isn't performing like it use to, and it runs much too slowly for what I need it for.

 

[Jeffrey]

The optics on the new smartphone are indeed much better. You will most likely get better results. Keep in mind, we are talking smartphones and not SLR's.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

The optics on the new smartphone are indeed much better. You will most likely get better results. Keep in mind, we are talking smartphones and not SLR's.

Thanks again. I'm not really into the terminology of cameras, but what terminology should I look out for when comparing the cameras of new phones to the MAXX? Does the amount of MP make a difference at a certain point? I say this because the latest iPhone (5s) has a 8MP camera, where as Android phones which came out roughly at the same time I believe have 12-16MP cameras. I'm guessing this is only significant in situations where the light and objects/persons you are taking a picture of are not moving.

For me, it's not practical to carry around different devices, which is why I'd like to get all this in a phone as much as possible. A couple of years ago, I took a video with my MAXX in 1080p of my nephew riding a bike, streamed it through the HDMI mini port to the TV's HDMI (this was a 55" TV) and the picture quality was amazing, considering it's from a phone. The footage was taken outside on a clear day.

That said, would I have seen better results, had I taken video instead and just maybe screen capped certain parts of the video to produce an image?

 

[dezymond]

As good as cell phone cameras have become, remember they're still not at the same level as today's point and shoot cameras, nevermind SLR's. The camera on our phones are still a feature and not the phone's purpose, so as good as it may be, they're only meant to document moments in certain qualities.

A concert environment would prove to be a difficult task for any cell phone camera and many P&S cameras even. At this point, imo, it's not so much software/app based as it is hardware based.

A newer phone would certainly mean better shots, but you still may not get what you want/expect.

 

[Jeffrey]

The reviews state you can't get much better than the S5 or HTC's M8. You may want to visit your local retailer and compare the S5 & M8 for yourself.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

What is so far the best app to use for taking pictures on the MAXX? Is it the stock app? Camera ICS? Something else? I'm looking into CameraZOOM and Camera ZOOM FX.