Lumia 930 faulty camera (low light)?

[DJCBS]

Both the crappy low light images as well as that annoying purpleness and crappy ViewFinder are the same I have on my 930 and that is also present on the 7 930's I've tested in stores around town.

I've reached to Juha Alakarhu (Twitter ‏@jalakarhu) about the crappy algorithms that are producing that much noise and grain on the photos in low light.
And I've reached to Nokia Care (Twitter ‏@NokiaHelps) about the grainy image in low light on the ViewFinder. They've escalated the complaint to the imaging team.

I suggest you all do the same. The more people complain about the same things, the quicker they'll understand that it's a problem with the way the software is programmed and hopefully fix it.

 

[zokstar]

I suggest you all do the same. The more people complain about the same things, the quicker they'll understand that it's a problem with the way the software is programmed and hopefully fix it.

Thanks!! I'll do the same tonight when i get home!

 

[George H Martin]

This might seem kinda obvious, but use the flash in low-light conditions. That's whats its there for. Just cos it has 20MP camera, doesn't mean its good in low conditions without flash.

 

[Daniel Stone93]

Any update or fix bout this problem till now ? from Microsoft ?

 

[anthonyng]

Awww. I ordered the 930 expecting a better low light camera. Dammit! But at least it's gonna be way sharper and more detailed I hope! I hate using flash, but that flash pic with the baby above is really good, sharp, good balance

 

[AJE1]

I have been quite impressed with my L930's low-light photography. It's not as good as the L920, true, but usually adequate and, when the results are too dark, Adobe Photoshop Express (free app) does a very good job of brightening them up without appreciably reducing picture quality.

 

[Eric369]

Does anyone knows if is really a software problem or hardware problem? I have the same **** here!! :angry:

 

[sportex]

Is this the purple image people are seeing when taking a photo?

 

[sup3r1or]

Lower (longer) exposure time causes more blur also from what I found specially if you have shaky hands. Not impressed with low-light performance

 

[Eric369]

Lower (longer) exposure time causes more blur also from what I found specially if you have shaky hands. Not impressed with low-light performance

Bro, if you had a Lumia 930 with this problems believe me, in no way a tripoide can help you. This is a problem with the software I think because my video camera haven't the purple stain that have the phone of this guy.

 

[Rodrigo Mendes]

I also had issues with the 930 camera in daylight. Most noticeable in photographs against the light, but the more I was using it, the more I was sure something was terribly wrong - every photo had some noticeable white haze all over it, the colors looked washed out and the photos never were really sharp. Even in best light conditions. I was very disappointed.

Until today, I went into the local store and took the chance to use the demo device there to shoot some comparison pictures (exact same firmware version). The difference was amazing ... comparing the same motives side by side, the 930 can shoot very decent photos. This won't help in low light conditions, but if any of you also have problems in daylight ... try to find a comparison device to see if it's you or your device.

I'd say the issue is most likely a wrongly aligned lens (lens groups).

Or you have a faulty device or you just need to clean the protector glass of camera. Pictures on this forum show how 930 is absolutely awesome in daylight. Even at lowlight I don't think there's a problem too.

 

[Eric369]

Or you have a faulty device or you just need to clean the protector glass of camera. Pictures on this forum show how 930 is absolutely awesome in daylight. Even at lowlight I don't think there's a problem too.

Could you give a link to those pictures? I need know If return the phone to Nokia or wait for a update

 

[Rodrigo Mendes]

Could you give a link to those pictures? I need know If return the phone to Nokia or wait for a update

Be aware that pics have a huge quality loss when they are uploaded.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-930/286159-pics-videos-taken-your-lumia-930-a.html



or just google for camera sample 930

 

[Eric369]

I think that is the same quality that can be taken with my 930. Thank you.

 

[carlosrdd]

Anyone else has noise " grainy" viewfinder on the 930 and notice the camera glass is at an angle near the flash it dips in more?

 

[Squachy]

Anyone else has noise " grainy" viewfinder on the 930 and notice the camera glass is at an angle near the flash it dips in more?

I just looked and yeah, it does dip in a bit more....
Never noticed that. but I never had a problem with the camera either. The low light (well I call it no light...since that's where ive done all my 'low light' testing....in almost complete darkness) isn't too good and grainy. You can improve it by fiddling around with the settings but I don't have any idea what controls what. And considering im not a photographer, I don't care. The daylight shots are real nice and its pretty sharp.

 

[WTKACE]

Manual setting by using ISO 100 , Shutter speed ( Forget already, but it's between 1 to 2 sec

In my opinion, the photo quality is much more better than the 925 & 920.

Auto setting might fail in comparison with those two, but using manual setting will definitely outperform those two model.

 

[Rodrigo Mendes]

I've got my 930 last week. Have no complains about camera, even on low light. Better than my 925. Much better! I have better colors and contrast at low light than 925 (which is better than 920 in this situation). At day light, it's just stunning! No comparison.

 

[jojoe42]

Does anyone knows if is really a software problem or hardware problem? I have the same **** here!! :angry:

This is my understanding of it (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). As others have said, the 920/925 will always be better at low-light than the 930 because not only does the 920 have a bigger aperture (which means more light), it also has the same sized sensor with 2? times more pixels in it. Refer to Apple's "bigger pixels" analogy - treat each pixel as a window with a frame. The more windows you have, the smaller each window is, the more light is blocked by the frames of the windows, and less light gets in and then the phone will boost the ISO to compensate, making it grainy. The 1020 is an exception because it has a MASSIVE sensor and we still probably don't see all the grain because our screens can't even show all the pixels yet. Secondly, the Lumia Cyan and Denim updates should bring enhanced low-light performance to the 930/1520, given the hardware is still pretty new I guess they're still tweaking with it (Black significantly improved low-light on my 1020). Thirdly, compare the 930 to other phones in the same conditions and I'm sure it'd still have the edge with oversampling and that PureView sensor. Also, make sure you use the night mode in Nokia Camera (generally works quite well), or if you can stand still set the ISO around 100-400 or fiddle with shutter speed (try 0.3-1s to start with). We have manual controls people! Use them!!

 

[Eric369]

This is my understanding of it (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). As others have said, the 920/925 will always be better at low-light than the 930 because not only does the 920 have a bigger aperture (which means more light), it also has the same sized sensor with 2? times more pixels in it. Refer to Apple's "bigger pixels" analogy - treat each pixel as a window with a frame. The more windows you have, the smaller each window is, the more light is blocked by the frames of the windows, and less light gets in and then the phone will boost the ISO to compensate, making it grainy. The 1020 is an exception because it has a MASSIVE sensor and we still probably don't see all the grain because our screens can't even show all the pixels yet. Secondly, the Lumia Cyan and Denim updates should bring enhanced low-light performance to the 930/1520, given the hardware is still pretty new I guess they're still tweaking with it (Black significantly improved low-light on my 1020). Thirdly, compare the 930 to other phones in the same conditions and I'm sure it'd still have the edge with oversampling and that PureView sensor. Also, make sure you use the night mode in Nokia Camera (generally works quite well), or if you can stand still set the ISO around 100-400 or fiddle with shutter speed (try 0.3-1s to start with). We have manual controls people! Use them!!

Your explanation is awesome and I understand it. but the problem with the flickering of the camera is worrying because when it appear the pictures taken are really bad, of course as you write we have manual control. But this problem isn't normal.

Regards