windows 10 mobile and picture quality

Mark Seychell · Nov 9, 2015

But is it possible to shoot high-res (16MP or 19MP) in JPG or is it just DNG?

I heard that now there is only the option to shoot in JPG (5MP) + DNG (16/19MP). Is the option to shoot in JPG (5MP) and JPG (16/19MP) really gone?

Hutzi · Nov 9, 2015

Mark Seychell · Nov 10, 2015

I understand Lumia Camera takes comparable pictures. The problem is actually the Windows Camera app itself, and there must be something missing in the processing of this software.

Unfortunately, it seems not everyone's phone, mine included, ports over Lumia Camera during the upgrade process, and no version of Lumia Camera or Lumia Camera Beta is available for download from the store.

greedo_greedy · Nov 10, 2015

The answer to this is pretty simple. The OS we're installing into our phones is the vanilla version of Windows 10 Mobile. Meaning it does not include the special firmware/algorithms that take advantage of the specific hardware.

Remember back in the days of 8.1? We would get a Lumia Cyan then a Lumia Denim update?

This is why it is going to take longer to get OTA for these phones because I believe MS will make sure these firmware will be included OTA.

Hutzi · Nov 10, 2015

These are EXACTLY the same pictures taken with both apps on the 930.

Lumia Camera:
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AIrHIInUqfM_9E4&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

Microsoft Camera:
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AEHVs3fZFWpGG_k&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

On the final quality (Lumia Camera WM10 vs 8.1) I can not say anything yet. I'm undecided. I do however tend to agree with you on the app side of things. I still don't really think that the change of OS can have an impact on image quality. The drivers are the same. The software (Lumia Camera) is the same.

I have HOWEVER found out two things:
1. The file sizes are slightly smaller on the Microsoft camera. 1.9MB vs 1.7MB (Again: these are oversampled versions)
2. In the photos app on phone (WM10) one can pinch to zoom further into the picture on the Microsoft camera

The fact that one can zoom in further WHILE the actual file size is smaller makes it obvious to me that the products of the Microsoft camera WILL be inferior. If this makes a HUGE difference in daily usage let's say when using a Lumia 640 I would seriously doubt. In my opinion you wouldn't even notice it. On something like a Lumia 930/950 I think you WOULD notice it (If you would really look for it).

In conclusion: There is a SLIGHT decrease in quality if you compare the two apps. BUT this is also pre-release software. There will definitely be future updates to the software but WHY didn't they just rebrand Lumia Camera? Instead they created a new application which, by my assumptions, is slightly inferior.

Mark Seychell · Nov 10, 2015

Hutzi said:
These are EXACTLY the same pictures taken with both apps on the 930.

Lumia Camera:
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AIrHIInUqfM_9E4&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

Microsoft Camera:
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AEHVs3fZFWpGG_k&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

On the final quality (Lumia Camera WM10 vs 8.1) I can not say anything yet. I'm undecided. I do however tend to agree with you on the app side of things. I still don't really think that the change of OS can have an impact on image quality. The drivers are the same. The software (Lumia Camera) is the same.

I have HOWEVER found out two things:
1. The file sizes are slightly smaller on the Microsoft camera. 1.9MB vs 1.7MB (Again: these are oversampled versions)
2. In the photos app on phone (WM10) one can pinch to zoom further into the picture on the Microsoft camera

The fact that one can zoom in further WHILE the actual file size is smaller makes it obvious to me that the products of the Microsoft camera WILL be inferior. If this makes a HUGE difference in daily usage let's say when using a Lumia 640 I would seriously doubt. In my opinion you wouldn't even notice it. On something like a Lumia 930/950 I think you WOULD notice it (If you would really look for it).

In conclusion: There is a SLIGHT decrease in quality if you compare the two apps. BUT this is also pre-release software. There will definitely be future updates to the software but WHY didn't they just rebrand Lumia Camera? Instead they created a new application which, by my assumptions, is slightly inferior.

thanks for this comparison, this is really helpful. I also notice from your images the inferior quality of Microsoft Camera, it is especially evident when looking at the balconies. The difference (at least to me - maybe I am being overly pedantic) is like night and day.

Agree with you that Microsoft should have simply rebranded the Lumia Camera app.

Also, I am no techie and don't understand too much about these things, so I stand to be corrected, but I would have thought that since the hardware is essentially the same, and we are migrating from 8.1, the software should be taking into account Denim firmware already? I mean, it is not like that the firmware is getting deleted, as far as I know, it is still required for the phone to function. Or am I missing something?

Hutzi · Nov 10, 2015

No. I would generally think the same. The thing is, we do not know how different 10 is from 8.1, under the hood. Maybe Denim is not enough anymore and we need the successor of Denim to fully utilize the cameras capabilities. The only thing migrating from 8.1 to 10 (if they do their job correctly) would be your user data. Anything linked to the prior OS should be deleted in the process in order to prevent clogging down the new system with old system files. Something though always gets migrated that you don't want. This is why it is recommended to upgrade to 10 and then do a hard reset and start new. No backup restore! This really changes everything! My 520 was running way more fluent than my restored 920. Obviously these where previews and the impact shouldn't be that great with RTM. Also theoretical performance gain is always nice but do you really want to start off fresh? This is a hard question everybody has to decide for their own.
Cheers

Jeroen Vos · Nov 14, 2015

Allright, reverting back to 8.1 Just updated yesterday and really like the 10 preview. But the main reason I bought the phone is the camera quality. And as of now my old BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 outperform the Lumia in indoor picture quality... That sucks big time.

Jeison esa · Nov 14, 2015

i think is the same

dicks-webos · Nov 23, 2015

I have the gold release of Win10 (10586.11) on my 930. The camera app is "Microsoft Camera" and during the upgrade the Lumia Camera and Lumia Camera Beta were removed. The camera startup time is really fast. I have the impression that the pictures are sharper now. In addition you now have the slow motion option with video which I have tried and is really nice too.

In general I think there is good progress and looking at the entire OS I will definitely not go back to 8.1. The new Photos app is a huge improvement, so is Goove vx. Xbox Music. The email app is also significantly better.

ushodax · Nov 24, 2015

i miss "nokia smart cam", we can only choose 1 frame from a video but we can't make action shots or those with blur... :/

dicks-webos · Nov 24, 2015

I have been playing around a bit with the new Microsoft Camera app and don't feel it is a step back from the Lumia apps.

Specifically I was interested in low light, as this has always been a big debate here but with smartphones in general. So today as I was doing some shopping I decided to take a picture with the 930 on 10586.11 running the latest MS Camera app (no flash, no focus assist light). I think it came out really well, considering I have set the phone to take the 5mpx size and not 16mpx and also because the company logos were really bright. I would have perhaps been able to get much better results with DNG.

Overall I have the impression it is an improvement. Startup time is instant and the feature set pretty nice. Color is very good, so is sharpness. Low light seems to work well.

Torontonian22 · Nov 28, 2015

dicks-webos said:
I have been playing around a bit with the new Microsoft Camera app and don't feel it is a step back from the Lumia apps.

Specifically I was interested in low light, as this has always been a big debate here but with smartphones in general. So today as I was doing some shopping I decided to take a picture with the 930 on 10586.11 running the latest MS Camera app (no flash, no focus assist light). I think it came out really well, considering I have set the phone to take the 5mpx size and not 16mpx and also because the company logos were really bright. I would have perhaps been able to get much better results with DNG.

Overall I have the impression it is an improvement. Startup time is instant and the feature set pretty nice. Color is very good, so is sharpness. Low light seems to work well.

View attachment 117296

I looked at the pic you uploaded and it looks ok at first glance. However, if you zoom in a little you will actually see how bad it looks: Out of focus, really noisy... Simply look at the tree on the left side to realise that. You can't even define what is written on the red posters. Most cars are blurry as well (out of focus).

dwarfsize · Dec 2, 2015

dicks-webos said:
I have the gold release of Win10 (10586.11) on my 930. The camera app is "Microsoft Camera" and during the upgrade the Lumia Camera and Lumia Camera Beta were removed. The camera startup time is really fast. I have the impression that the pictures are sharper now. In addition you now have the slow motion option with video which I have tried and is really nice too.

In general I think there is good progress and looking at the entire OS I will definitely not go back to 8.1. The new Photos app is a huge improvement, so is Goove vx. Xbox Music. The email app is also significantly better.

THIS is maybe my problem! In my app drawer all i have is "camera" installed, but when I go to the store, it says i have "microsoft camera" installed... Mine just is taking terrible photos, and I don't have slomo regardless of it saying it is updated fully. I think I'm going to try reverting back to 8.1, and see how long i can live without windows 10 haha

hamka787 · Mar 17, 2016

chris_gt said:
Can't say for the 930 since I haven't enrolled mine (daily driver)

I have used it on my old 925 and did notice that low light photo quality had gone down the toilet compared to Lumia Camera 4.xx on 8.1.

So maybe the OS has something to do with this.

I own a Lumia 640 on WP8.1, originally comes with LumiaCamera5. I have LumiaCamera4 installed later. I am not talking about WM10 and Windows Camera..... but even with WP8.1 between LC4 & LC5, I prefer LC4 pictures - they are cleaner, less noisy and no aggresive processing like LC5. Sadly LC4 aka LumiaCameraClassic is no longer in the store for those who want that option.
I agree with you about LC4 giving better images.

chris_gt · Mar 17, 2016

I've been running w10m on the 930 with acceptable performance for almost a week now. Using ProShot gives me better results for tricky situations, it's not the best solution but I'm changing phone soon so this will do for now.

dinhhaidang · Oct 16, 2016

Hi,

I do think that the quality on Win 10 mobile is lower than on Win 8.1. I still remember pulling my phone out, take a picture and be amazed at the quality when I was on 8.1. Now I am afraid to use my camera to take a picture. It produces low quality picture compared to a 8mp camera of an iPhone 5.

windows 10 mobile and picture quality

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