Issues with Ultra: May Return

[KeepItReal]

Well, have had the Ultra for about 11 days. Unimpressed with camera (no plastic film over lense. Went to sporting event with family. Pictures were blurry, as well as dark. We were in normal night stadium lighting. The flash was set to Auto, and never turned on. I eventually turned the flash to on, but still dark photos. My DNA was much better. Also, wearing my Bluetooth LG Tone 2, the volume at the lowest settings plays too loud, while the connection to my Bluetooth mini boombox reacts normally from low to loud volume control. The battery life is worse than my DNA. The shake to open the camera fires not always work, or the technique to activate the camera is a too strong of a motion. Have to go now, battery is giving warning that it's low! Wanted to like the new phone. Going to try factory reset and see if that cures anything.

 

[TheOldFart]

A small LED flash on a phone is not going to do anything for sporting event lighting, unless your subject is less than about 12 ft away. Forcing the flash to be on is totally useless at the distances your subjects were likely at. Pictures were blurry because the shutter speed had to be low to allow enough light to get to the sensor. The DNA camera has a f2.0 aperture, while the Ultra has a f2.4 aperture. From the reviews that I have read, the DNA has one of the better cameras in a smartphone. The DNA lens lets more light in, allowing a faster shutter speed.

 

[KeepItReal]

The pictures I took were close by, by our seats. I also took 2 shots of my daughter standing with a player, well within 12 feet. Both looked blurry, and out of focus. This was inside the stadium by the food vendors. I was hugely disappointed. Also the auto flash did not activate. If I am in a slightly darker, but well lit area, the phone's auto flash does not flash, doesn't this indicate the phone interprets no flash needed? But the picture and subjects were dark. Then I turn the flash to be on, and still picture and subjects a little lighter, but still dark. Not to mention, blurry. These were seats under the well lit stadium overhang.

 

[TheOldFart]

Sorry I can't help with the Ultra camera. I did just take a couple of pictures with my Inc2 to see how it did. One was in a well lit kitchen with the flash. The lighting was fine, but sharpness was not too good. I then took one in the dark living room with the flash. It was pretty sharp, but dark and had a lot of noise. Both were at about 10 to 12 ft. The Inc2 has 2 LEDs for the flash. I took over a dozen pictures at a mall a couple of weeks ago, no flash, and they came out good. The camera set the ISO for the kitchen picture at 661 and at 1282 for the LR picture. The 1282 easily explains the high noise. The ISO settings for the mall pictures were mostly between 100 and 200, with a couple near 500. I'm surprised at the relatively low noise at one ISO 496 pic.

I just took 2 pics in the kitchen with the flash set to auto and it never went off. I then tried a 2 ft close-up and the auto flash did go off. All 3 were sharper than the first one in the kitchen. I'm guessing that the camera decided that the kitchen lighting was better than the flash would provide at 12 ft, so it chose not to fire the flash. At 2 feet the flash is plenty powerful, so it fired it. These LED flashes are not very powerful at all, so they provide little light beyond a few feet.

Anytime I go somewhere where I plan to take pics, I will take a camera, either my good P&S, my bridge camera or my DSLR. Perhaps there are some relatively good phone cameras, but none can really compare with a good dedicated camera, especially if a flash is needed. Another thing about cameras is that small and light cameras are easier to not hold steady when taking a picture, resulting in blurry pictures.

 

[KeepItReal]

Thanks for taking the time to explain. I want the convenience of using the phone camera as my main camera. I had the Nexus, which I think was a 5MP camera, and the DNA's 8MP. Both took excellent pictures. I am puzzled why Motorola/Google would put in a 10MP camera, but put in an inferior lense. This is a deal breaker for this phone. Love most everything else about the Ultra. I am curious if there can be any software improvement via update later that could improve the camera? Or is it what it is?

 

[alafferty82081]

Would like to just say the gs4 takes stunning photos....check it out, would be s great exchange, also one of the downfall for moto has always been the camera.....oh and the battery life of the gs4 is fantastic

 

[SFGate]

Always sad to read when a new phone is disappointing.

 

[Barkleyfan]

Have you tried any aftermarket camera apps? Camera fx takes much better low light pics on my RAZR than stock. Camera ICS as well. You can also tweek white balance settings for low light.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[KeepItReal]

Just wanted to inform the group, I did ultimately return the Ultra. I did perform the Reset to see if that cleared up any issues. Everything about the phone I loved: size, o/s was quick, battery okay (DNA better). The 1080p screen not so important, so the screen looked beautiful to me. However, the camera was a deal breaker. So back to Beats on my DNA (oh I missed you)!

 

[jickracer007]

OK I was lucky enough to get the "Verizon Employee Ultra" and I am so happy with this phone.
Hi have had the Bionic and the RAZR but this camera in this ultra is horrible, has anyone installed a 3rd party software application to help with this horrible problem? Please any help would be appreciated.

 

[mrgarrison]

I recently got the Ultra as well and I am very satisfied with the camera. If you're using the stock camera, do you have the touch to focus node enabled? So it focuses before it takes the picture when you touch the screen? I assume you have tried this because if not, I'm it would solve your problem. If it isn't enabled, every picture you take will be blurry. But yeah, I love the Ultra(coming from the BIONIC) and its sad to hear some ppl want to return theirs. Anyways, I was just making sure you have tried the simple possible solutions because nobody could be disappointed if they were getting the beautiful quality images I am with the Ultra!

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