Can't choose lighting in photos with any settings

[daimv]

Hello.
When taking pictures, I am not getting the option to "choose the best lighting".

I have read related threads, and apparently it should appear only when using flash. However, I don't get the option, with any combination of flash/hdr ( I have tried all combinations: No flash+no hdr, flash + no hdr, no flash + hdr, flash + hdr, flash auto + hdr auto, flash auto + hdr, flash + hdr auto, no flash + hdr auto).

I also tried changing picture aspect ratio, resolution, format (jpg+dng vs jpg).

The option doesn't appear neither in the camera nor the photos app.

I am perplexed. Has this happened to any of you? Help (ﾟДﾟ)

 

[Chintan Gohel]

do you have the latest app updates? And what OS version are you on?

 

[daimv]

I have OS version 1511,
build 10.0.10586.420
Firmware 01078.00038.16082.36003
My Photos app version is 2016.404.121.0 Is this the same one you have?
(ﾟДﾟ

Do you think it is the firmware? I will look up what the newest firmware is... my phone is branded so the carrier might be being an ****** and not letting me update to the current one. If that is the case I will have to unbrand my phone. Not that that is a bad thing, I just wished I wouldn't need to do it because it takes some time

Update:
Looked up the firmware history,

turns out the latest firmware is 01078.00053.16236.35xxx which is the one that came out just recently and not all phones have got it. I haven't got it yet so I will give it a few days. Still, the problem I am having doesn't seem to be a thing related to the firmware I have, which is the previous release 01078.00038.16082.360xx from March.

Firmware update history is here https://support.microsoft.com/es-ar...date-history-for-lumia-with-windows-10-mobile

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I have OS version 1511,
build 10.0.10586.420
Firmware 01078.00038.16082.36003
My Photos app version is 2016.404.121.0 Is this the same one you have?
(ﾟДﾟ

Do you think it is the firmware? I will look up what the newest firmware is... my phone is branded so the carrier might be being an ****** and not letting me update to the current one. If that is the case I will have to unbrand my phone. Not that that is a bad thing, I just wished I wouldn't need to do it because it takes some time

Update:
Looked up the firmware history,

turns out the latest firmware is 01078.00053.16236.35xxx which is the one that came out just recently and not all phones have got it. I haven't got it yet so I will give it a few days. Still, the problem I am having doesn't seem to be a thing related to the firmware I have, which is the previous release 01078.00038.16082.360xx from March.

Firmware update history is here https://support.microsoft.com/es-ar...date-history-for-lumia-with-windows-10-mobile

try getting the firmware through windows device recovery tool

 

[TK2011]

"Choose best lighting" option shows up only if HDR/Rich is actually employed by the camera for a given shot. And it's not necessarily used if camera thinks the scene presented does not need HDR/Rich processing (e.g. low enough dynamic range) even if you had the HDR setting enabled. It's all automatic. Try taking a picture of very high dynamic range scene (e.g. half the scene is very bright and half is dark) and you will probably see the adjustment prompt come up. Post-adjustment for flashed photos are a bit different but I think it's also subject to the scene and lighting. The whole matrix of HDR/Rich/flash features is pretty complex (see all different variations of file names!) and so far I haven't seen any website explaining all the details to my satisfaction so I'm figuring it all out on my own as time goes. Have fun, it's an awesome camera.

 

[daimv]

Thanks man, I would like to understand better definitely, would be cool for microsoft to explain it in more detail so we can take better pictures overall.

But also, I got an update today and now I can see the option at least when taking pictures with flash + HDR which before didn't show (i.e. the keyboard of my laptop). So I am pretty confused, but happy (thanks Microsoft).

I'll experiment with different environments for pictures without flash, it'll be interesting to figure out how to trigger the feature.

Good day to you all.

 

[EMitchell]

"The whole matrix of HDR/Rich/flash features is pretty complex (see all different variations of file names!) and so far I haven't seen any website explaining all the details to my satisfaction so I'm figuring it all out on my own as time goes. Have fun, it's an awesome camera.

I would love it if someone put this kind of a site together to explain the options, when to use what, etc. What websites have you all found that do describe the 950 camera options?

 

[TK2011]

I would love it if someone put this kind of a site together to explain the options, when to use what, etc. What websites have you all found that do describe the 950 camera options?

Highlights:
https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2015/10/15/camera-magic-on-microsoft-lumia-950-and-lumia-950-xl/
More details:
Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL (part 2 - Imaging) review - All About Windows Phone

I might put together a more detailed page myself when I have some free time.
Note that things are a bit in flux as MS updated the default behavior of HDR only recently, I think.
If you play with RAW enabled, you will see that it saves two (sometimes 3!) DNG files in addition to one JPG when HDR/Rich mode kicks in and file names can give you a clue on what it's doing. For example, when exposure bracketing based HDR/Rich kicks in, you will see "evplus", "evminus", "ev0" strings on DNG file names. There are several other names I've seen. I think MS(or old Nokia camera team) realizes that it's so damn complex for just about all users except hardcore shutterbugs like myself so they don't even try to spell out all the details to avoid confusion. Can't blame them. I set my wife's 950XL to 8MP JPG only with HDR Auto and told her not to worry about settings because I think that suits most users best. I use 8MP JPG+DNG mode and changes HDR and flahs mode as needed. It requires a bit more work, as you might have noticed, if you delete a photo taken, it doesn't remove DNG files so you have to go to file manager to free them up after auto uploading to OneDrive or copying to PC.