Will the GrapheneOS Camera ever reach the quality of the Pixel Camera?

DeletedUser488

Please don’t tell me it already does, because that’s just not true.

xxx

DeletedUser488 don’t tell me it already does,

You get more natural colors with the graphene one. I think it will get better in the future.

chock-a-block

I think there is a lot of algorithms doing some heavy lifting in the Pixel camera app, so I don't think the Graphene camera will ever implement features like that. Even though the Pixel camera app generates great pictures, what you're seeing is greatly enhanced and in my opinion, not a real representation.

GrapheneOS

chock-a-block That's not correct, GrapheneOS Camera does use Pixel HDR+ and Pixel Night Sight processing. Pixel Camera HDR+ is different from the baseline Pixel HDR+ which is why it's not the same. The processing for the preview and videos is done with HDRnet and is likely identical. The active EIS support is also identical, although Pixel Camera supports other forms of EIS not available in GrapheneOS Camera yet since CameraX doesn't support it. Active EIS isn't supported on Pixels at 4k resolution so GrapheneOS Camera doesn't yet have EIS compatible with 4k on Pixels unless active EIS starts supporting it.

Earthyyy

The heavy lifting is done by pixel camera in the post image processing. So resolution and quality is might not be equal to Gcam but its still good. The image processing in Gcam is extremely good for night shots.

Eirikr70

I don't think that providing a high-quality camera app is among the targets of the GrapheneOS team. The philosophy of the OS is security and privacy. It is not providing with good apps when there is an external offer for that. They have limited resources and dedicate them to their core target.

GrapheneOS

Eirikr70 It is one of our goals but it's not one of the highest priorities. Pixel Camera exists for Pixels and the full functionality can be used on GrapheneOS.

DeletedUser488

xxx Okay, but I’m not getting the sharpness right now. Can we agree that the photos taken with the GrapheneOS Camera app aren’t as sharp as the ones we take with the Pixel Camera?

xxx

DeletedUser488
I used Pixel Cam a lot and stopped doing so. I just don' t like the overprocessing, catchy at first but the colors are strange sometimes. I' m confident the GrapheneCamera will catch up in the future.

chinook

DeletedUser488

Okay, but I’m not getting the sharpness right now

Your preferences are yours and I appreciate them, but re:

[original complaint re: image quality]

Why don't you just install Pixel Camera then?

I don't believe there are ANY limitations imposed¹, it's not Samsung.

Seriously, I don't think eyecandy would be the highest raising problem but feel free to add your fix here :)

¹below the version 10.

GrapheneOS

DeletedUser488 DeletedUser488 DeletedUser488 Photos taken with GrapheneOS Camera are not more blurry than Pixel Camera. The standard Photo mode uses HDR+ in both but Pixel Camera uses more frames so it gets more detail in low light, but the difference doesn't involve blurriness.

DeletedUser488

chinook Your comment isn’t really helpful. If you prefer blurry photos, then you have some interesting preferences when it comes to photography. But why do so many people install the Pixel Camera? Clearly, there’s a difference, and it’s not just about the features — it’s about the photo quality. Yes, the colors may look more natural, but as I said, the sharpness just doesn’t match what the Pixel Camera can deliver.

Even Side of Burritos came to the conclusion in his videos that the Pixel Camera takes more detailed photos.

So are there limitations or not?

mmmm

DeletedUser488 have you taken a look at the settings? Try the focus lock setting. If the photos are blurry it is probably either user error or a grubby lens. The google can will sharpen images without users input (you can do with same with an editing app if you wish) But a blurry picture is entirely different, and is user error or smudged lens.

chinook

DeletedUser488 what do you mean by "isn’t really helpful"?

Why don't you just install Pixel Camera then?

If the quality of the native gos camera is not okay, just use the one you like more. I don't understand.

Even Side of Burritos [...]

I'd take it from dpreview ;)
But on the more serious note, what stops you from using Pixel Camera then? You're seeing sarcasm where is none.

Also they're not blurry for me, in any of the 3 camera apps I use. MAYBE I'm not using digital zoom at the max.
I just took two pictures of the grayish, highly textures surface with both apps (zoomed in to the max!) and the differences are very very minor (with the addition of Google Photos saying the one taken with Pixel Camera is "High res", and adding Ultra HDR).

Looks like PEBKAC to me?
Sure, it's entirely possible multibillion multinational have spent a bit more time to make photos appear more pleasant and vibrant than a small team focusing on hardening and improving AOSP, but seriously nothing stops you from using it. It works without network access (and I know it because I use that app a lot myself, panoramas are amazing).

So are there limitations or not?

And if there are then what? :) Raise a pull request with the improvements or at the very least issue. Do you expect everyone to rush to validate your disappointment?
You can still use the software you're saying is better, I don't understand your.... position?

I mean the lack of sharp details when you zoom in on the image.

This may as well be true (I failed to replicate the issue atm), but even if -- if you expect an unequivocal answer from the devs, you already have the link to github repo - this is the best place if you want to be treated seriously.

DeletedUser488

mmmm Sorry, I didn’t express myself clearly. I mean the lack of sharp details when you zoom in on the image.

mmmm

DeletedUser488 Ok, thats a differt thjng. google uses algorithms to 'edit' the photo upon taking it, and that includes sharpness. Thats not to do with any perceived limitations of the camera system, and is something you can achieve yourself after that fact with any editing app.

mmmm

Its a basic failure to understand how and what occurs when an image is shot. All cameras shoot a RAW photo, and then convert that into a JPEG (or whatever) for viewing. That jpeg is processed by however the system has been designed to process it. If you are able to view the raw image (you cannot with the gos camera app, I don't know about the pixel cam app) you will see a markedly different image, and pretty terrible. It doesn't mean the camera is bad, it just means the result is up to you. Professional cameras would make you very surprised if you zoomed in looking for details on a raw image that had yet to be edited. All you're seeing is a difference of how the jpeg has been created. If you prefer the Gcam output you have two options, match it with editing (could be difficult and jpgs are destructive so there isn't much leeway) or use the gcam app which processes the image differently, or any other app, in fact.

GrapheneOS

mmmm No, RAW Is a family of file types for storing image data. It's not the native format of cameras. DNG Is one of those file formats referred to as RAW. JPEG has a very minimal impact on the quality of photos, especially at a high compression quality. It's very unlikely that you can see the difference. 100% JPEG quality still does color sampling but it doesn't have the main lossy part of the compression. Using a RAW format such as DNG does not mean there wasn't processing of the photo. With Pixel Camera, you get the same processed photos either way but DNG uses a lossless format avoiding the color sampling and other JPEG compression. The difference in photos between Pixel Camera and GrapheneOS Camera has to do with the differences in how the data was captured and processed. Contrary to the inaccurate claims throughout this thread, GrapheneOS Camera does use HDR+ on Pixels and also supports Pixel Night Sight via Night mode. They're not exactly the same as what Pixel Camera does but it's still the official Pixel image processing including HDR+.

mmmm

GrapheneOS I am not entirely sure you understand - what you said has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. A raw file - however it's named, is the raw file - it is the native image file that the camera records the raw photo data too. A JPEG or similar is what is produced from that original raw image data. The gos camera app produces that JPEG file, as you don't provide the raw file for direct use. Therefore, that jpeg has had processing done by the app to convert it to a viewable picture. That processing includes gamma corrections, probably a curve, sharpening etc. This will be a different output to whatever the gcam app produces. Hence the difference the op is seeing.

DeletedUser488

GrapheneOS Sorry, as I mentioned before, I didn’t express myself clearly, but your answer finally explains the issue with the lack of sharp details. Thanks a lot.

GrapheneOS

mmmm RAW files do not have the native sensor data. They store lossless data with the result of the image processing, which generally merges multiple frames together into one. The raw image data would be multiple frames, not one. RAW DNG produced by Pixel Camera has gone through the same HDR+ processing. It's just a different file format able to store not just lossless pixel data but other kinds of data. They may do slightly different processing to create the RAW DNG to leave it with more natural colors but it's still made with HDR+.