topic Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality - SOLVED (IMO)! in XPERIA archive

Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Mon, 09 May 2011 18:23:14 GMT

Hi folks,

It may come as a shock, but I have to say that I'm genuinely dissappointed with the native image quality from my new 8mp Xperia Arc

I've had plenty of camera phones, but I have never witnessed such over-sharpening and over-compression in my jpegs !

I recently took 50-60 images in bright sunny conditions with intermittent cloud (availing of low ISO) and even at it's ISO 80 setting, the jpegs are being compressed and over-sharpened within an inch of their life.

How can the average file size from an 8mp sensor (3264x2448 pixels) be a miserably small 1.4mb ? I've had 6mp sensors producing, at a minimum, 1.9mb sized files.
If you can select 2mb, 6mb and 8mb resolution sizes, why can't Xperia Arc users select a desired quality / compression level ? I'm thinking low, medium, fine, super-fine.
Similarly why can't Xperia Arc users select the sharpness level : low, medium, high ?

Surely budding Xperia Arc photographers would much rather have a) image quality and b) sharpness settings over the current nice-to-have options like Metering (which is not neccessary if you simply use your Exposure Value option) ?

I'm aware that various photo editing android apps exist (and I have run a number of them through their paces), but by all accounts they're simply piggy backing the native output jpegs.

Am I missing something here - are image quality & sharpness options too much to ask from a flagship 8mp snapper ??

Regards,
Paul

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Uliwooly — Tue, 10 May 2011 00:01:38 GMT

how about trying different camera apps

https://market.android.com/details?id=vStudio.Android.Camera360&feature=search_result

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.kth.PuddingCamera&feature=search_result

https://market.android.com/details?id=ymst.android.fxcamera&feature=search_result

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Jeff — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:40:33 GMT

I've forwarded your concerns, and whlie I can't promise anything, they will be reviewed.

What do you think of the photos in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1035589

Can you pull out some examples that highlight your concerns? If possible, link me to some of your own images also.

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Wed, 11 May 2011 13:04:11 GMT

Hi folks,

I really appreciate the prompt input and feedback. I took some time out to respond to both of you, and I've provided a link to a google picasa album I created that outlines the issues I've been referring to:

Xperia Arc - Image Quality Test

You will quickly notice how comparatively pixellated the native Xperia Arc images are, no doubt due to excessive sharpening & jpeg compression, losing the fine-detail they most likely inherently possess 😞

Hopefully a 'minor' development effort on the native camera regarding new sharpness & image quality menu options will put the Xperia Arc as king of the Android cameras 🙂

Regards,

Paul

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Wed, 18 May 2011 09:38:46 GMT

Hi folks,

For what it's worth - since I returned my Xperia Arc yesterday afternoon, got my money refunded, and bought an Apple iPhone 4 instead, I couldn't resist conducting one final image quality test ... Xperia Arc 8 megapixel vs. iPhone 5 megapixel ...

I accept that it's 2-3 days later, the weather conditions are slightly different, but regardless you would assume the Xperia Arc 8mp sensor is going to beat the iPhone's "smaller" 5mp sensor for fine detail resolution ... Not so ! I almost fell off my chair in disbelief when I compared the images !

Have a look at the quick link (please view at 100%) : https://picasaweb.google.com/xleith/XperiaArcImageQualityTest?authkey=Gv1sRgCLWkxs2r_P3VigE&feat=embedwebsite#5607982434310167410

The iPhone 4 resolves the fine detail to the back and sides of the front castle tower : brick work, mortar, loose rocks in the grass, texture of the grass => but all of these are represented as harsh, pixilated black 'blobs'. In summary, the Xperia Arc's aggressive 8mp image processing is actually producing images that are inferior to Apple's 5mp sensor ...

As this is my final post on the Arc forum, can I please insist that SE immediately address the appalling HD video & camera quality issues inherent with the Xperia Arc. The phone has a lot of potential but is being let down by poor design throughput & testing = lost $$ sales = lost customers (who won't return).

Signing off ...

Regards,

Paul

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Uliwooly — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:52:35 GMT

I'll do some test today, iphone 4 v xperia arc (I must clarify not my iphone 4)

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Wed, 18 May 2011 21:29:53 GMT

I second this. The compression is atrocious! This is a big disapointment as one of the main reasons for my Xperia Arc was the camera.

The sensor looks like it could do really good though!

Please make Quality selectable, as in point-and-shoot cameras. Preferrably with a "No loss" setting that saves more or less RAW data. And make that setting global, so that any apps using the camera will also get pictures in that quality. Should not be very hard to implement.

Cheers!

Em.

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Fri, 20 May 2011 16:16:34 GMT

Hello,

I'm interested in buying an Xperia Arc/Neo

- but I also saw the bad jpg compression settings of both devices

which definitly costs some picture quality.

I checked several reviews in the web, best example is the

compare function at gsmarena:

8 MP photos on Galaxy S2 looked much better, no exmor sensor there

but the jpegs are double the size which seems to make the difference.

Therefore I also really would appreciate a lower or at least selectable jpeg compression on the Xperia devices

with the now implemented settings I'm not sure if I should buy one...

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Uliwooly — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:25:05 GMT

There's an update comming up next week, I really hope they fix certain issues. So I'll keep you posted if they fix the camera or not

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Fri, 20 May 2011 20:06:40 GMT

Thank you for your quick response,

I'm really interested to see the result and if the company listens to their customers.

If they really change it, I will buy it and SE has a new fan.

(comming from nokia ... as so many these days, thanks to Stephen Elop)

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Uliwooly — Fri, 20 May 2011 21:35:40 GMT

plus the camera doesn't have any zoom (I know it'll be digital zoom not optical zoom but still it will be nice)

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Sat, 21 May 2011 15:39:41 GMT

I really don't know about your experience, but as for me, I could say that the Arc has the best phone camera out there, beaten only by the 12.1 MP camera of the Nokia N8

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Sat, 21 May 2011 15:46:52 GMT

I guess my issue is the quality of images taken indoor or low light conditions. It's as bad as my previous iPhone 4! Noisy and pixelated.

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Sat, 21 May 2011 15:51:41 GMT

Well, I don't know any PHONE camera that performs well on low lights. Even some DSLR cameras have poor shots on low lights. You have to understand that there are certain limitations on phone cameras because of the thinness of the lens. Thinner lens = lesser quality. If you really want to have very good shots, then buy phones that have thick bodies to accomodate camera lenses, or point-and-shoot cameras

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Uliwooly — Sat, 21 May 2011 16:04:49 GMT

most if not all smarphones/phones have a small lens therefore

the bigger lens - the bigger the aperture, the bigger the aperture - the more light gets into your camera, the more light into your camera - the sharper the photo

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Sun, 22 May 2011 09:22:19 GMT

Hi folks,

I'm getting auto-emails from this thread of mine ... If you want higher quality digital images you need 3 things : a) bigger sensor, b) higher quality optics and c) advanced native image processing. Easy ...

I've taken deliberate steps in this thread to avoid subjective opinion and unnecessary digressions. All the included image links were taken at a) low ISO, b) bright lighting and c) of detailed subjects = perfect conditions to determine if the sensor, optics & processing are truely performing optimally.

The evidence & conclusion of the thread is indisputable : when compared against a low-range DSLR, a mid-range PNS (point 'n shoot), a lower spec smartphone and two 'super fine jpeg' Android apps, the Xperia Arc is the camera that obliterates the most fine detail. This is especially obvious when compared against the smaller 5 megapixel iPhone 4, and is in part due to the Arc's aggressive sharpening and compression.

Might I also add that unlike the other cameras / phone, the Xperia Arc lens is also extremely soft around it's edges ... so say goodbye to edges of your landscape snaps, as they're just a blur

I don't intend to only view my images on a 4.2" screen ... as I say, I've physically printed out images from the Xperia Arc on a high quality printer & high quality paper : hair / grass / brickwork etc. etc. is a mess However ... I recently made the same 6x4" and 9x6" prints from the lower spec iPhone 4 and the results are beautiful

The question remains - do you want to pay top dollar for substandard image output or not ? I wasn't willing to pay big money for an 8 mp camera that's only good for Facebook ... so I got my refund.

For existing and future Xperia Arc owners I only hope that my contribution here highlights the need for an immediate firmware update that offers quality & sharpness control, so that the heavily marketed 8mp sensor & lens actually earns it's keep.

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Thu, 26 May 2011 13:41:22 GMT

Hi, first of all excuse my for my english. I bought one se arc because i believe se have made a great phone,but like my satio,is a great hardware with a poor software. Se,please,let users decide about compression In his photos.thanks.

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:40:08 GMT

I've tested camera advance and although the pictures come out at a larger file size (2 something megabytes as opposed to under one) the quality seems the same in terms of artifacts and compression, so presumably this is calling the same camera routine or something?

Can anyone confirm if any of the other market cameras get roud this issue? It's really annoying! I'm seriously considering returning my phone!

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Uliwooly — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:38:36 GMT

I think its an Arc or Xperia's compression issue

Re: Xperia Arc Camera Image Quality

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:13:54 GMT

I'd like to second this - it's very disappointing to have the image sensor let down by the software in this way. There's no reason that I can see why there shouldn't be an option to save images in a low compression format. The phone's own screen flatters images captured with it but, as other users have said, the shortcomings become all too apparent when the photographs are transferred to PC. Please try to persuade the development team to address this. Thanks!