topic Re: Sony Xperia S issues in XPERIA archive

Sony Xperia S issues

doministry — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:51:00 GMT

Hello.

It's my first post here however I use SonyEricsson (and now Sony) phones for years.

Xperia S is definitely brilliant phone and one of the best if not the best on the market.

However there are annoying things and problems which spoil the joy of using this top smartphone.

1. Camera has some problems with Night Mode! It's quite hard to make a sharp, not blurry night photo!

It has to be improved. Xperia S is supposed to be top smartphone in camera department on the market.

Also, in the night mode after looking at the pictures in camera mode, when I come back to shooting photos, the screen stays BLACK, not showing the picture actually! The picture appears again after changing the mode.

2. Email application. The app itself works great however it has one totally idiotic limitation:

it always saves 25 emails per account! So even if in one session I download 100 emails, at the next one phone ERASES everything beyond 2 emails!

Forcing me to redownload it again each time! This is totally unprofessional and idiotic.

I hope it will be corrected very soon. These things are not acceptable.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:08:20 GMT

one suggestion, please don't use that language

1) night shots can you post an example, also which settings are you using?

SCN auto or normal with which scene? exposure value, image stabilizer? etc?

2) this is the stock email app made by Android, it will get better with Android 4.0, but remember you have a SMARTPHONE, you have the whole market to download another app that will fit your needs, like

K9 or MailDroid

Don't forget to mark the Correct Answers & Helpful Answers

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:13:48 GMT

also if you use

Normal mode -> scene night scene or night portrait you MUST hold the camera steady for 1 to 2 seconds, to take a clear shot, this is not a glitch, bug, error this is how cameras work, this allow more light to be capture by the sensor, a tripod its recommended with this setting (not just for cameraphones but cameras in general).

Don't forget to mark the Correct Answers & Helpful Answers

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:15:00 GMT

this is a great article

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm

CAMERA EXPOSURE

A photograph's exposure determines how light or dark an image will appear when it's been captured by your camera. Believe it or not, this is determined by just three camera settings: aperture, ISO and shutter speed (the "exposure triangle"). Mastering their use is an essential part of developing an intuition for photography.

UNDERSTANDING EXPOSURE

Achieving the correct exposure is a lot like collecting rain in a bucket. While the rate of rainfall is uncontrollable, three factors remain under your control: the bucket's width, the duration you leave it in the rain, and the quantity of rain you want to collect. You just need to ensure you don't collect too little ("underexposed"), but that you also don't collect too much ("overexposed"). The key is that there are many different combinations of width, time and quantity that will achieve this. For example, for the same quantity of water, you can get away with less time in the rain if you pick a bucket that's really wide. Alternatively, for the same duration left in the rain, a really narrow bucket can be used as long as you plan on getting by with less water.

In photography, the exposure settings of aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed are analogous to the width, time and quantity discussed above. Furthermore, just as the rate of rainfall was beyond your control above, so too is natural light for a photographer.

EXPOSURE TRIANGLE: APERTURE, ISO & SHUTTER SPEED

Each setting controls exposure differently:

Aperture: controls the area over which light can enter your camera
Shutter speed: controls the duration of the exposure
ISO speed: controls the sensitivity of your camera's sensor to a given amount of light

One can therefore use many combinations of the above three settings to achieve the same exposure. The key, however, is knowing which trade-offs to make, since each setting also influences other image properties. For example, aperture affects depth of field, shutter speed affects motion blur and ISO speed affects image noise.

The next few sections will describe how each setting is specified, what it looks like, and how a given camera exposure mode affects their combination.

SHUTTER SPEED

A camera's shutter determines when the camera sensor will be open or closed to incoming light from the camera lens. The shutter speed specifically refers to how long this light is permitted to enter the camera. "Shutter speed" and "exposure time" refer to the same concept, where a faster shutter speed means a shorter exposure time.

By the Numbers. Shutter speed's influence on exposure is perhaps the simplest of the three camera settings: it correlates exactly 1:1 with the amount of light entering the camera. For example, when the exposure time doubles the amount of light entering the camera doubles. It's also the setting that has the widest range of possibilities:

Shutter Speed	Typical Examples
1 - 30+ seconds	Specialty night and low-light photos on a tripod
2 - 1/2 second	To add a silky look to flowing water Landscape photos on a tripod for enhanced depth of field
1/2 to 1/30 second	To add motion blur to the background of a moving subject Carefully taken hand-held photos with stabilization
1/50 - 1/100 second	Typical hand-held photos without substantial zoom
1/250 - 1/500 second	To freeze everyday sports/action subject movement Hand-held photos with substantial zoom (telephoto lens)
1/1000 - 1/4000 second	To freeze extremely fast, up-close subject motion

How it Appears. Shutter speed is a powerful tool for freezing or exaggerating the appearance of motion:

Slow Shutter Speed		Fast Shutter Speed

With waterfalls and other creative shots, motion blur is sometimes desirable, but for most other shots this is avoided. Therefore all one usually cares about with shutter speed is whether it results in a sharp photo — either by freezing movement or because the shot can be taken hand-held without camera shake.

How do you know which shutter speed will provide a sharp hand-held shot? With digital cameras, the best way to find out is to just experiment and look at the results on your camera's rear LCD screen (at full zoom). If a properly focused photo comes out blurred, then you'll usually need to either increase the shutter speed, keep your hands steadier or use acamera tripod.

For more on this topic, see the tutorial on Using Camera Shutter Speed Creatively.

APERTURE SETTING

A camera's aperture setting controls the area over which light can pass through your camera lens. It is specified in terms an f-stop value, which can at times be counterintuitive, because the area of the opening increases as the f-stop decreases. In photographer slang, the when someone says they are "stopping down" or "opening up" their lens, they are referring to increasing and decreasing the f-stop value, respectively.

By the Numbers. Every time the f-stop value halves, the light-collecting area quadruples. There's a formula for this, but most photographers just memorize the f-stop numbers that correspond to each doubling/halving of light:

Aperture Setting	Relative Light	Example Shutter Speed
f/22	1X	16 seconds
f/16	2X	8 seconds
f/11	4X	4 seconds
f/8.0	8X	2 seconds
f/5.6	16X	1 second
f/4.0	32X	1/2 second
f/2.8	64X	1/4 second
f/2.0	128X	1/8 second
f/1.4	256X	1/15 second

The above aperture and shutter speed combinations all result in the same exposure.

Note: Shutter speed values are not always possible in increments of exactly double or half another shutter speed, but they're always close enough that the difference is negligible.

The above f-stop numbers are all standard options in any camera, although most also allow finer adjustments, such as f/3.2 and f/6.3. The range of values may also vary from camera to camera (or lens to lens). For example, a compact camera might have an available range of f/2.8 to f/8.0, whereas a digital SLR camera might have a range of f/1.4 to f/32 with a portrait lens. A narrow aperture range usually isn't a big problem, but a greater range does provide for more creative flexibility.

Technical Note: With many lenses, their light-gathering ability is also affected by their transmission efficiency, although this is almost always much less of a factor than aperture. It's also beyond the photographer's control. Differences in transmision efficiency are typically more pronounced with extreme zoom ranges. For example, Canon's 24-105 mm f/4L IS lens gathers perhaps ~10-40% less light at f/4 than Canon's similar 24-70 mm f/2.8L lens at f/4 (depending on the focal length).

How it Appears. A camera's aperture setting is what determines a photo's depth of field (the range of distance over which objects appear in sharp focus). Lower f-stop values correlate with a shallower depth of field:


Wide Aperture f/2.0 - low f-stop number shallowdepth of field	Narrow Aperture f/16 - high f-stop number large depth of field

ISO SPEED

The ISO speed determines how sensitive the camera is to incoming light. Similar to shutter speed, it also correlates 1:1 with how much the exposure increases or decreases. However, unlike aperture and shutter speed, a lower ISO speed is almost always desirable, since higher ISO speeds dramatically increase image noise. As a result, ISO speed is usually only increased from its minimum value if the desired aperture and shutter speed aren't otherwise obtainable.


Low ISO Speed (low image noise)	High ISO Speed (high image noise)

note: image noise is also known as "film grain" in traditional film photography

Common ISO speeds include 100, 200, 400 and 800, although many cameras also permit lower or higher values. With compact cameras, an ISO speed in the range of 50-200 generally produces acceptably low image noise, whereas with digital SLR cameras, a range of 50-800 (or higher) is often acceptable.

CAMERA EXPOSURE MODES

Most digital cameras have one of the following standardized exposure modes: Auto (), Program (P), Aperture Priority (Av), Shutter Priority (Tv), Manual (M) and Bulb (B) mode. Av, Tv, and M are often called "creative modes" or "auto exposure (AE) modes."

Each of these modes influences how aperture, ISO and shutter speed are chosen for a given exposure. Some modes attempt to pick all three values for you, whereas others let you specify one setting and the camera picks the other two (if possible). The following charts describe how each mode pertains to exposure:

Exposure Mode	How It Works
Auto ()	Camera automatically selects all exposure settings.
Program (P)	Camera automatically selects aperture & shutter speed; you can choose a corresponding ISO speed & exposure compensation. With some cameras, P can also act as a hybrid of the Av & Tv modes.
Aperture Priority (Av or A)	You specify the aperture & ISO; the camera's metering determines the corresponding shutter speed.
Shutter Priority (Tv or S)	You specify the shutter speed & ISO; the camera's metering determines the corresponding aperture.
Manual (M)	You specify the aperture, ISO and shutter speed — regardless of whether these values lead to a correct exposure.
Bulb (B)	Useful for exposures longer than 30 seconds. You specify the aperture and ISO; the shutter speed is determined by a remote release switch, or by the duration until you press the shutter button a second time.

In addition, the camera may also have several pre-set modes; the most common include landscape, portrait, sports and night mode. The symbols used for each mode vary slightly from camera to camera, but will likely appear similar to those below:

Exposure Mode	How It Works
Portrait	Camera tries to pick the lowest f-stop value possible for a given exposure. This ensures the shallowest possible depth of field.
Landscape	Camera tries to pick a high f-stop to ensure a large depth of field. Compact cameras also often set their focus distance to distant objects or infinity.
Sports/Action	Camera tries to achieve as fast a shutter speed as possible for a given exposure — ideally 1/250 seconds or faster. In addition to using a low f-stop, the fast shutter speed is usually achieved by increasing the ISO speed more than would otherwise be acceptable in portrait mode.
Night/Low-light	Camera permits shutter speeds which are longer than ordinarily allowed for hand-held shots, and increases the ISO speed to near its maximum available value. However, for some cameras this setting means that a flash is used for the foreground, and a long shutter speed and high ISO are used expose the background. Check your camera's instruction manual for any unique characteristics.

However, keep in mind that most of the above settings rely on the camera's metering system in order to know what's a proper exposure. For tricky subject matter, metering can often be fooled, so it's a good idea to also be aware of when it might go awry, and what you can do to compensate for such exposure errors (see section on exposure compensation within the camera metering tutorial).

Finally, some of the above modes may also control camera settings which are unrelated to exposure, although this varies from camera to camera. Such additional settings might include the autofocus points, metering mode and autofocus modes, amongst others.

Want to learn more? Discuss this and other articles in our digital photography forums.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

doministry — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:30:20 GMT

Thanks for replies. However:

1. I also have Xperia Arc and it doesn't have this problem, not to that extent. I understand nightshot requiremenst but it has to be possible to make a shot otherwise it's just senseless.

I use night mode in scenes, with Normal shooting mode (no AutoScan). You may think I am complete novice but I do hold the camera steady for a long time

2. Yes I know what Android is and what market is. However the application is built into the device meaning it has to work. It's not a toy, it's a professional, expensive phone. You're offending me.

It is a stock application but ONLY on Xperia S it erases everything beyond 25 emails. I also have Xperia Arc and Xperia X10 mini where I can store locally how much emails I want.

So clearly Xperia S has a bug regarding email app.

Message was edited by: doministry

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:35:59 GMT

I'm not trying to offend you, but for the most part users don't quite get the camera modes I'm glad you do, you should post a picture taken with your S and with your Arc, so not only I but other users and moderators see the issues, also can you try other modes at night if see if the same problem persists, don't forget to post the pictures so we can see and understand the issue.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:39:10 GMT

the picture doesn't seemed to be blurry, it's a matter of trying different settings, and I can see the Over-Compression issue, that it's present on all the Xperias. Sony is aware of this issue and that's all they said :smileyangry:, they didn't said if there's a solution in the way or when will it be fixed or if its going to be fixed at all.

If I were you I would try the same shot but this time using a tripod with night mode or night mode and rest the phone on a stable base like a table, the picture should be a bit sharper but still over-compressed

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

doministry — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:08:39 GMT

Thanks for replies.

Yes that's right, the picture is not really blurry, it just looks a little moved.

The issue doesn't appear on any other mode.

Right now I can't compare it with Arc because I don't carry this phone with me.

And the email issue is also important.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

sushidushi — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:16:45 GMT

That is a very good article. I really must track down some film* and take up photography again.

* Film - a medium for storing photographic images, something like a memory card for old timers who realise that digital photography will never catch on.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:04:00 GMT

Photography with film its quite fun there is something about film photography and Polaroid that digital photography hasn't still lack

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

sushidushi — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:35:57 GMT

Yes, it seems more 'honest' somehow.

But it anyone wishes to give away a decent Canon digital SLR, I'd be happy to take it off your hands.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:53:51 GMT

lol

with the amount of pictures I take there's no way I could afford nor store so much film

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

doministry — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:44:42 GMT

Would be great to know also what is going on with the email app.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

sushidushi — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:15:16 GMT

Rather belatedly, I use the Gmail and Yahoo! Mail applications, and they work beautifully.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

Uliwooly — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:29:42 GMT

Yahoo Mail work fine with your Xperia? I had really bad experiences with the yahoo mail on different Xperias, makes the phone slow and laggy

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

doministry — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:07:03 GMT

I don't use Yahoo neither Gmail. I need email app for my other email providers.

BTW I just can't stand Gmail app, it looks so tacky compared to all the Xperia interface.

Re: Sony Xperia S issues

SONY-XPS — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 03:06:51 GMT

Did the Sony Xperia S have ISO settings for the camera as of Android 4.0.4. I doesn't have the ISO setting for the camera