HTC Camera or Microsoft Camera?

[Mike Majeski]

Back when I had a Lumia the choice was obvious, I used the excellent Lumia Camera app. But since one of the biggest issues with the One M8 is the poor camera performance, I was wondering if anyone had better luck with the default Microsoft camera app.
I know you lose some of the features you get with the HTC app but I honestly rarely use them.

 

[gpobernardo]

Hmm... not sure if the apps in the HTC One (M8) for Windows is different from an HTC 8s, but I don't remember seeing an "HTC Camera" there... only "Camera" which is the default Microsoft Camera. Could you post a screenshot of these two, if they are indeed different?

In several of my camera app reviews for the L1020 in terms of detail recovery at high levels of magnification, Microsoft Camera with real-time digital zooming came on top. It also launched faster than most of the other camera apps. But, that's for the L1020 whose large camera is notoriously known for being slow in launching.

 

[jdballard]

Hmm... not sure if the apps in the HTC One (M8) for Windows is different from an HTC 8s, but I don't remember seeing an "HTC Camera" there... only "Camera" which is the default Microsoft Camera. Could you post a screenshot of these two, if they are indeed different?

I'll help the OP out with a screen shot of the menu items from the HTC Camera app. I'm assuming the MS camera app looks like the standard app.

It is definitely different - you can change the camera app under settings-->applications-->Photos + Camera.

As for which is better, I've used the HTC Camera app myself and been happy with the results given that it's just not a great camera. I haven't really tried to take pictures under different conditions for comparison. It would make for an interesting test although seeing as how I'm probably going to ditch my M8 for the 640 next week (assuming T-Mobile actually gets it) I probably won't take the time myself.

 

[onlysublime]

No matter what, the HTC camera is not good. There's not much of a benefit to using the Microsoft Camera app versus the HTC Camera app. The Microsoft one is only marginally faster. The HTC one has more features and I think it focuses faster.

I believe that with Windows Mobile, they will implement the Lumia Camera app as the default camera app but don't hold me to that. I hope they can do the Lumia Camera app but make it faster. Or maybe it'll just be faster because the hardware will be beefier for newer Windows Mobile phones. If you can't make it faster through software, you do it through hardware.

 

[Mike Majeski]

Yeah, the only thing I have really been disappointed with so far with the HTC one is the camera. It would be great if the Lumia Camera is included in Windows 10.
Trying out ProShot as well, but seems like you really need to know your stuff to get better results with it.

 

[jeetu4444]

I have been using Lumia 1020 for good 2.5yrs now....always uses Lumia camera....thou I agree microsoft camera is faster....but not sure of the pic quality....anyone done a comparison between the 2 apps...

 

[dirtyvu]

I love ProShot but the HTC camera is too bad. Nothing can save it.

 

[gpobernardo]

I have been using Lumia 1020 for good 2.5yrs now....always uses Lumia camera....thou I agree microsoft camera is faster....but not sure of the pic quality....anyone done a comparison between the 2 apps...

I've done some comparisons between Lumia Camera and Microsoft Camera (along with other camera apps) in the Proshot Thread. There are several of them: page 74, page 75.

Basically, Lumia Camera takes better photos than Microsoft Camera. But when it comes to "zoomed" photos, Microsoft camera takes sharper zoomed-in photos than Lumia Camera, provided that Microsoft Camera has been zoomed in while the photo is being taken.