I love it. And I don't know why but I think the quality has improved on my Nexus 4 since updating.
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The all new Google Camera
- Thread starter TechGod
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I don't like the massive camera button on my Nexus 5. Other than that it looks nice, is fast, so overall it's pretty good
Progress is a good word for it. It still lacks tons of features and the user interface isn't all that great but at least it's better than the old one.
I know, however I preferred the previous camera as it had the whole screen as the view finder. As the Camera is an 8MP, surely ~4-6MP 16:9 aspect ratio could be one of the options? I remember a previous 8MP camera which could do this. I think it was the HTC 8X
I've very thoroughly tested it on my (factory; no rooting) Nexus 7 2013 and found out the following:
- the new panorama support is GREAT, particularly if you enable maximum resolution (the default is high-res). Up until now, Google's implementation was a joke - far-far inferior to either Apple's one on the iPhone 4S+ or Samsung's implementation in their Android handsets. Even Nokia's WP (but not Symbian) implementation has been significantly better.
- blurring worked just GREAT in my tests. While some people did complain about it being slow(ish), I haven't noticed speed problems on my N7, which, while "only" having a 5 Mpixel sensor, has a, compared to the SD800, significantly slower CPU.
What's wrong? Most importantly, all manual modes have been removed, which is a BIG-BIG minus. There's no
- scene selection
- manual WB and ISO setting
- timer
The first two is particularly painful as, with the new Camera app, you in no way can force the system to shoot at high shutter speeds.
Only manual exposure compensation has remained. (Which means that, in this regard, Android is still superior to iOS, where there's not even proper exposure compensation. See my writeup on the implications of this at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1621351/ if interested.)
Fortunately, some people at Android Police discovered Google may have not ditched these manual settings entirely and they may add them back some time in the future. (More info: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...e-wallpaper-and-more-hiding-in-google-camera/ )
Here's my latest album of shots with both blurring and without (using exactly the same camera position) shooting subjects from low (about 40 cm), middle (about 1m) and high (about 2m) distance. The full set is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/sets/72157644113096414/
As you can see,
- in the mid-distance shots (a 17” MBP with its surroundings shot from the front, displaying a Web page at DPReview), there is some very serious artifacting in both blurred shots:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/13897514192/in/set-72157644113096414/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/13920675313/in/set-72157644113096414
On the first image, the upper right corner of the screen bezel of the MBP is awful. So is the upper bezel of the on-screen Nexus phone on the right, right over the “Google Search on Android adds voice commands for camera” title.
On the second one, it's the on-screen Nexus phone on the left that has a completely messed-up upper bezel. In this shot, the center part of the left bezel of the MBP is awful.
- the low-distance shots are significantly better.
- the high-distance ones are passable.
All in all, based on my experiments, you'll want to use the new blurring feature with subjects as close as possible – preferably under half a meter.
- the new panorama support is GREAT, particularly if you enable maximum resolution (the default is high-res). Up until now, Google's implementation was a joke - far-far inferior to either Apple's one on the iPhone 4S+ or Samsung's implementation in their Android handsets. Even Nokia's WP (but not Symbian) implementation has been significantly better.
- blurring worked just GREAT in my tests. While some people did complain about it being slow(ish), I haven't noticed speed problems on my N7, which, while "only" having a 5 Mpixel sensor, has a, compared to the SD800, significantly slower CPU.
What's wrong? Most importantly, all manual modes have been removed, which is a BIG-BIG minus. There's no
- scene selection
- manual WB and ISO setting
- timer
The first two is particularly painful as, with the new Camera app, you in no way can force the system to shoot at high shutter speeds.
Only manual exposure compensation has remained. (Which means that, in this regard, Android is still superior to iOS, where there's not even proper exposure compensation. See my writeup on the implications of this at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1621351/ if interested.)
Fortunately, some people at Android Police discovered Google may have not ditched these manual settings entirely and they may add them back some time in the future. (More info: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...e-wallpaper-and-more-hiding-in-google-camera/ )
Here's my latest album of shots with both blurring and without (using exactly the same camera position) shooting subjects from low (about 40 cm), middle (about 1m) and high (about 2m) distance. The full set is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/sets/72157644113096414/
As you can see,
- in the mid-distance shots (a 17” MBP with its surroundings shot from the front, displaying a Web page at DPReview), there is some very serious artifacting in both blurred shots:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/13897514192/in/set-72157644113096414/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/13920675313/in/set-72157644113096414
On the first image, the upper right corner of the screen bezel of the MBP is awful. So is the upper bezel of the on-screen Nexus phone on the right, right over the “Google Search on Android adds voice commands for camera” title.
On the second one, it's the on-screen Nexus phone on the left that has a completely messed-up upper bezel. In this shot, the center part of the left bezel of the MBP is awful.
- the low-distance shots are significantly better.
- the high-distance ones are passable.
All in all, based on my experiments, you'll want to use the new blurring feature with subjects as close as possible – preferably under half a meter.