Lumia 950 camera experience

[TheThundax]

After almost half a year of playing with my Lumia 950 I need to release some feedback on it... Especially on the camera...

Before the 950 I owned a Lumia 1020, which was great. I used it mainly for the amazing camera... When it stopped working, I decided to buy the 950 because of the great camera(software)...
After lots of updates, it still has some bugs of which I wonder if they will ever fix it at Microsoft... I like to share those with you all...


Camera issues:

1. Focus on infinity isn't infinity
Manual mode: When setting focus on infinity (which I always used on the 1020 when the subject is more than a few meters away), results in unsharp images on the 950. I need to put the focusring just over halfway to get a sharp image. This is very annoying because it has to be put on the milimeter accurate otherwise it's unsharp again while with the 1020 it was "firing the camera app, set the ring on infinity in a second and ready!". Now I have to use this whenever I want to make a photo in low lightening conditions without a flash and it's quite a ***** (zoom in and out before capturing the photo to pre-check in detail if the focus is right)...

2. Unchoosable shutter speeds
Manual mode: Why does the ring of the shutter times have options which can't be chosen? With the ring 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/13 and 1/6 can be chosen, but the row of the manual settings on top of the screen doesn't pick up those shutters times and the photo isn't made with those shutter times. First I thought the camera hardware wasn't able to use these shutter times, but after snapping some photos in auto-mode it uses (a lot/all) of these shuttertimes too. So the ring is out of sync with the real capture setting...

3. Forced HDR still not forced
They finally implemented the 'HDR ON'-option. But like the 'HDR-Manual'-mode, the phone still decides if it uses HDR or not. When trying to change the lightening afterwards the message "Something went wrong. Please try again later" appears. The file size of the photo is still very big so it looks like it contains the 3 photos of HDR.

4. Often too heavy post-processing
The post-processing does too many things. Sometimes it offers a better photo but a lot of (manual) functionality gets broken. When using manual exposure for darker of brighter images, the camera snaps a decent picture in the first place. But after post-processing it changes the exposure itself. It's "fighting against the machine" in manual mode. Also when snapping a photo of a person the colors seem accurate in the first place, but after the postprocessing the colors look some washed out. The heavyness of post-processing should be choosable (Off, low, med, high)...

5. Editing HDR photos on a desktop pc?
Btw, is there a way to proces the HDR-captured shots on a windows 7 desktop computer? Like the 'change lightening' option in the camera?

6. Bracketing function removed
Why did they remove the bracketing function? Certainly when forced HDR without the change lightening option afterwards doesn't always work, it's pretty sucky...

7. No panorama function
Why is there still no decent panorama app? When I was on a holiday I kept borrowing the iPhone of my friend to make panorama photos... I read there were some other programs which have been taken out of the market. On the iPhone I really like the ability to move around in 360 degrees and not just taking a few shots with different lighteningconditions which are stitched together...

8. Bug in capturing photos
The last month I notified a bug when getting into the camera app which now and then occurs. Sometimes the time and icons at the top of the homescreen keep present on the camera screen. When snapping a photo, it often isn't saved as a full-resolution photo but a lower resolution photo (which can't be zoomed in in the postview). Also the filesize is small and the photo is actually failed. It sucks I can't rely on my camera when snapping photos.

9. Windows bar visible
Why do the back&home buttons always keep visible on the bottom when opening the camera app? I want to view the photo full-size when snapping my photos. I still forget to swipe them away now and then which result in differences between the image in the viewfinder and the final photo... I need to swipe the buttons away every time I get into the camera mode which takes extra time and effort: the moment is then often gone...

I already posted a lot of these things on the feedback page of the camera app but nothing have been changed in the last few months...


Other issues:

10. Shazam not working
Why does Shazam, which has been pre-installed on the phone, still doesn't work? It keeps listening to the music without any result...(Tip/workaround: When pressing the hardware lock (on/off key) to lock the phone and the same again to unlock it, then Shazam does work). It should be fixed...

11. Checking for updates takes ages
Why does searching for updates (both apps and phone-updates) take that long? I am often waiting minutes before the list of available updates is getting visible...

12. Numeric keypad during a call dissapears
When having a phonecall with an organisation which uses a menu I need to press numbers on my phone. When I am trying to do that, the screen often turns black. At that time I am not able to press the numeric keys. Also pressing the hardware unlock key shows the numeric keypad for a second and then again the screen turns black. It happened me multiple times I needed to do a second call because I could respond in the menu properly...


However, I do like the 950... The basic OS, the size, the built, etc. is great...
Also the camera-sensor with high dynamic range and the crisp of the photos are wonderful...
It 'could' be a fantastic device...
But all these flaws keep me doubting to buy a second hand Lumia 1020 which DID exactly what I wanted...

Maybe someone can share their experiences or respond on these issues... Always great to share goods and bads :grin: ...

 

[Chintan Gohel]

However, I do like the 950... The basic OS, the size, the built, etc. is great...
Also the camera-sensor with high dynamic range and the crisp of the photos are wonderful...
It 'could' be a fantastic device...
But all these flaws keep me doubting to buy a second hand Lumia 1020 which DID exactly what I wanted...

Maybe someone can share their experiences or respond on these issues... Always great to share goods and bads :grin: ...

You've just given me several reasons as to why I need to take care of my 1020 with even more care :grincry:

 

[TheThundax]

You've just given me several reasons as to why I need to take care of my 1020 with even more care :grincry:

Haha... I can imagine... Too bad it wasn't possible to fix my old 1020 and there were no other replacements in stock... I got the 950 for very cheap and it's a nice phone... But camerawise I still would like to 'downgrade' to the older 1020... :angel:

 

[realwarder]

Panorama is of course coming as we recently found out.

I hope you have filed bug reports using the Feedback app so these items can get fixed

 

[skydiverian]

1. Focus on infinity isn't infinity
Manual mode: When setting focus on infinity (which I always used on the 1020 when the subject is more than a few meters away), results in unsharp images on the 950. I need to put the focusring just over halfway to get a sharp image. This is very annoying because it has to be put on the milimeter accurate otherwise it's unsharp again while with the 1020 it was "firing the camera app, set the ring on infinity in a second and ready!". Now I have to use this whenever I want to make a photo in low lightening conditions without a flash and it's quite a ***** (zoom in and out before capturing the photo to pre-check in detail if the focus is right)...
--

Other issues:

10. Shazam not working
Why does Shazam, which has been pre-installed on the phone, still doesn't work? It keeps listening to the music without any result...(Tip/workaround: When pressing the hardware lock (on/off key) to lock the phone and the same again to unlock it, then Shazam does work). It should be fixed...

--

12. Numeric keypad during a call dissapears
When having a phonecall with an organisation which uses a menu I need to press numbers on my phone. When I am trying to do that, the screen often turns black. At that time I am not able to press the numeric keys. Also pressing the hardware unlock key shows the numeric keypad for a second and then again the screen turns black. It happened me multiple times I needed to do a second call because I could respond in the menu properly...


However, I do like the 950... The basic OS, the size, the built, etc. is great...
Also the camera-sensor with high dynamic range and the crisp of the photos are wonderful...
It 'could' be a fantastic device...
But all these flaws keep me doubting to buy a second hand Lumia 1020 which DID exactly what I wanted...

Maybe someone can share their experiences or respond on these issues... Always great to share goods and bads :grin: ...

I've chopped out the relevant bits - only had my 950 for 13 days and have experienced the above.

Tried Shazam today for the 1st time and when tagging a song it just kept going and didn't even tell me it couldn't get a track. Also spotted some stuttering while it was attempting to tag the track which spread to the notification window, only stopped when I left the app.

Dialler - just made a few calls 20 mins ago and had the dialler disappear while typing out the number. Room for improvement.

Focusing - not happy with that either. Took some pictures at Bondi beach last night and in solid moonlight the auto focus simply did not get it right. Using stage 1 of the shutter usually resulted in a poorly focused image, to the point that if I let go of the shutter button it actually got better. It's definitely not as good as either my 920 or 830 for picture taking. Results are decent but can't say it's any better than what I've had before.

 

[Krystianpants]

I have the 950XL on latest redstone and don't have most of these issues.

1.) I do have the issue with focus and infinity. I have to wait a while for it to grab focus or do it manually with camera button.
2.) When I change ISO shutter changes and vice versa.
3.) HDR works fine for me
4.) Processing takes 1 second. Even if I snap a lot of photos.
6.) Doesn't HDR make the bracketing option sort of useless? You have the one image and can choose the different exposures and then save the ones you like as separate files.
9.) Seriously? It makes sense for the bar to be visible unless you don't want it there which you can swipe away. It's the equivalent of having hardware keys always available. Only things like games that require full screen hide it. Plus people sometimes accidentally may trigger camera with camera button so it's easier to just hit back. Maybe an option in settings to "go full screen on startup" would be nice.

Anyways, you can also try an app called Proshot. Not sure if the windows 10 version has been released yet but this was one of the best camera apps on windows 8.1.

Anything else you mention I don't have these issues. Features that are missing like panorama are going to arrive later.

I suggest maybe a hard reset of your phone followed by a fresh start.

 

[TheThundax]

I have the 950XL on latest redstone and don't have most of these issues.

1.) I do have the issue with focus and infinity. I have to wait a while for it to grab focus or do it manually with camera button.
4.) Processing takes 1 second. Even if I snap a lot of photos.
6.) Doesn't HDR make the bracketing option sort of useless? You have the one image and can choose the different exposures and then save the ones you like as separate files.
9.) Seriously? It makes sense for the bar to be visible unless you don't want it there which you can swipe away. It's the equivalent of having hardware keys always available. Only things like games that require full screen hide it. Plus people sometimes accidentally may trigger camera with camera button so it's easier to just hit back. Maybe an option in settings to "go full screen on startup" would be nice.

Anyways, you can also try an app called Proshot. Not sure if the windows 10 version has been released yet but this was one of the best camera apps on windows 8.1.

I suggest maybe a hard reset of your phone followed by a fresh start.

Thanks for your reply. Great your phone has less of these issues :grin:

Some feedback:

1.) It's not about waiting while focussing. I know I have to wait till the camera has focussed and that takes some longer in low light conditions than bright light conditions; and even then it fails (which can ben But that's the reason I put the manual focus ring to infinite which always created a sharp image on my 1020. Infinity focus preset isn't infinite. That's my problem.
4.) I know processing takes some time. I don't care when it's resulting to great photos
6.) With one photo you don't have the full dynamic range of the shot. For example during fall the city lights: Or the advertisementlights are great and the rest of the photo is dark: or the rest of the photo is great and the lights overlighted. That can't be solved with just exposure of 1 photo.
9.) In a lot of my apps the buttons dissapear automatically and have another way to escape the app. When snapping a photo with a quick review I have to swipe the buttons away each time. As an amateur photographer who takes a lot of pictures it is really annoying.

We'll have to see in the future if some problems get fixed. I'll search for those 3rd party apps, but the ones I have already tried aren't that great of the Lumia app (especially on my 1020). Thinking about a reset, but a lot of these things won't be solved I guess...

 

[TheThundax]

Panorama is of course coming as we recently found out.

I hope you have filed bug reports using the Feedback app so these items can get fixed

I already used the feedback app indeed I only have to report some additional issues...
And great that panorama is coming... Hopefully it's iPhone-wise and not the just-sticking-photos way which isn't that smooth and has different exposures...

 

[TheThundax]

I've chopped out the relevant bits - only had my 950 for 13 days and have experienced the above.
Focusing - not happy with that either. Took some pictures at Bondi beach last night and in solid moonlight the auto focus simply did not get it right. Using stage 1 of the shutter usually resulted in a poorly focused image, to the point that if I let go of the shutter button it actually got better. It's definitely not as good as either my 920 or 830 for picture taking. Results are decent but can't say it's any better than what I've had before.

I know the focussing of the 950 isn't the best... The 1020 had the same 'issue'... Especially in low-light conditions which is hard for such a camera... I know some camera's do better, but it's a known problem for most camera(phone)s... (although there might be better ones with laserfocussing etc.)...

Because I snap photos of objects which are usually more than just a few meters away, I always used the infinite setting on the focusring (manual mode) which always resulted in great sharp photos on my 1020 (in both low-light and bright light conditions)... I can't use that on my 950 anymore because when I put the focus on infinity the photos are unsharp... And dialing the ring to somewhat in the middle to focus right and checking the details on the small screen to see if it's focussed properly each time, takes ages...

Btw, I still have to say I am very amazed how great photos of mobile phones are today... I only use my DSLR for extreme optical zooming, but further I only use my telephone :grin: