Hello everyone, I am looking to buy a Google Pixel 6 and install GrapheneOS on it.

I have used Custom ROMs before and every time the camera quality has dropped drastically on the ROMs. I want to know how the camera performs on GrapheneOS.

Does anyone have images from both the StockOS and GrapheneOS using the Google Camera App? If so please share.

Thanks.

    there are no differences on grapheneos if you take photos with the same app, take a look at https://grapheneos.org/usage#google-camera

    grapheneos also have a in house camera app that compares pretty well against google camera

    oh also grapheneos camera is available on play store if you wanna try that out beforehand https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.grapheneos.camera.play

      RandomUser both the GrapheneOS Camera and the Google Camera trade blow for blow regards to normal daylight images, in reference to GCam using normal photo mode.

      GCam can be installed on GOS and doing so will enable you to use it on a 1:1 basis as you would either on the stock Pixel Experience or using GrapheneOS. If you have any concerns, both location and network can be revoked for GCam.

      Just an FYI I happily use GOS Camera for 90% of my images on a point and shoot basis.

      Here is a small 4 image sample I posted to Twitter:
      https://nitter.it/Metr0pl3x/status/1529571511056707585#m

        MetropleX I think the idea of blocking network and location access to GCam is perfect and those images prove GOS isnโ€™t degrading image quality. Thanks.

        italian_job in P6P you miss the optical zoom

        Excuse me? What you're referring to as "optical" zoom is the third sensor, which has the superficial look of having a rectangular lens (special optics). It certainly does work on graphene, as long as you bump the zoom level to somewhere over about 4.3 and other conditions required are met.

        GOS' cam has one major advantage over Google Camera: It does not add the extreme high pass effect (fake HDR) which leads to the loss of detail and texture. Other than that, they are pretty similar quality-wise. Gcam has much more features though atm.

        If you want the full experience, try this one:
        https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-MWP/
        Much more advanced than both of them.

          lcalamar
          I did a few comparisons today. MWP 8.4.3 Beta 4 versus GOS-Cam v45.
          My experience so far is that the GOS app runs a little smoother and is technically better optimized to utilize the compabilites of my Pixel 6 Pro's sensors. I think the MWP implementation is missing the configs for the newer Pixel sensors like the Samsung GN1. That is why the noise performance is a little worse in low-light situations. I tried a few noise models in the lib menu but couldn't find a perfect match yet. Have to do some further tests. Other than that there is not much difference in the final image quality. The MWP cam has has the advantage of customizability though:

          • night mode, portrait, slow motion, time lapse, panorama, sphere
          • HDR setting is broken on the Beta 4, unfortunately ... however, you can dive into the Lib-Patcher menu and customize the whole image processing to your liking: lots of options for sharpening, denoise, saturation and HDR
          • a few other options DCI-P3, RAW images, grid overlay, live white balance and exposure slider, settings import/export and many dev parameters

          There are a few bugs here and there. Overall the MWP build is quite usable though. Practially similar to the GOS implementation but with a much larger feature set.

          I can share my custom profile as .xml if anyone with a Pixel 6 Pro wants to try it out.

          PS: Stock Gcam is crap in my opinion. Yes, you have nightmode, portrait and all that stuff. But the HDR and image filtering is massively overemphasized and there is no way to turn it off or at least tame it to a reasonable level like the GOS implementation. Try to take a photo of a black and white cat, it's just a mess! :D

          Regards,
          SquirrelMasster

            Here you go:
            https://file.io/2X7RpBNjTBcw

            I spent many hours comparing all the settings, picture by picture. The result are two files, one for low light and one for high light. I recommend using them with HDR+ enabled to achieve the best noise performance.

            Compared to Google you get much less overcontrast sucking all the dark tones into one deep black (that's what "dehaze" does). I also took some effort to find an efficient noise model which matches the GN1 sensor of the Pixel 6 Pro's main cam. The sharpness filters are tuned to keep high contrast contours under control while still boosting texture.
            I think this setup is also superior to GOS stock cam (v45) due to better noise vs detail performance.

            Tuned with Gcam 8.4.3 Beta 4 by MWP on my Pixel 6 Pro main camera.

            Feel free to leave some feedback. ๐Ÿ™‚

              SquirrelMaster ah, I saw that instruction but wasn't clear it was the black area around the shutter! Tganks for clarifying.

              Now it says no config found... So I saved my current config which created the config folder... Moved your xml files to that folder and GOOD TO GO

              Exactly.
              "Main/Config_MWP8.4/" that's where you have to paste the files.

              I just prepared a little test scene to compare the three setups:

              • Graphene OS Stock Camera Version 45
              • Gcam 8.4.3 Beta 4 by MWP + my low light config
              • Original Gcam 8.6

              Scene A:
              https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XQBlPpBe32U7WyX0DTt5cPt_x01NukfT/view?usp=sharing

              Stock GOS cam is the softest with lowest contrast and broad noise across the image.
              My version is much clearer, has some decent HDR, much lower noise and no serious filtering artifacts.
              Stock Gcam has much deeper blacks and looks a little crisper due to stronger HDR. Too artificial for my personal taste.

              Scene B:
              https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pYm2EIz5B2yt4zqMNzbMMKKM2MvIC7cg/view?usp=sharing

              GOS cam is partially blurry and loosing detail. Noise performance is mostly ok though.
              My config boosts much more detail out of the image without looking too crisp. Noise performance is showing some artifacts in the upper area of this shot - I'm working on it.
              Original Gcam is again a bit too boosted in texture and contrast. Noise performance is showing some artifacts, as well. However, since it has stronger black boost, the artifacts do not shine through that much. Raising the black level would probably equal what we can see in the middle image.

              I'm still trying to improve the noise suppression a little. However, tweaking the one thing does usally come at the cost of degrading the other. The raw images of those tiny sensors are usually very noisy and low dynamic. That's why there's always a bottleneck at some point, even in bright sunlight.

              Other than that I'm pretty happy with the results. I think my config hits just the middleground between too much contrast and HDR versus too blurry and washed out.

              Let me know what you think.

              Regards,
              SquirrelMaster

                • [deleted]

                • Edited

                The GrapheneOS photo application has a better image quality. The gcam application has a bit of a pixelated look. It's very easy to be fooled by the misleading videos saying that Google has the best photo application that abound on the internet

                4 days later

                SquirrelMaster
                Hello โ€“ Good experiments you have going on there. As I am going to upgrade from 3a to 6 series soon, camera performance is of some interest as I take the security and privacy of GOS for granted these days.
                I too would be pleased with these eminently practical results from experimentation or tinkering with settings. What clinched it for me was Scene B where the area between the pile of the green towel shows no detail at all with stock GOS yet renders some detail in the Gcam.
                I am very surprised by this as it would seem that I am getting super detail from my P-3a such as facial and body hairs on a butterfly โ€“ hand held shot with butterfly on a flower waving in the breeze โ€“ with saturated natural colours and detail giving effect of texture.
                This is not at all a scientific or experimental image and I would need to duplicate your scenes with a tripod or other fixed phone-camera mount. As I said I am surprised just how soft and lacking in detail the GOS app is. Keep up the good work โ€“ very interesting.
                As a marker in time; here are links to my Pixel 3a GOS butterfly photos โ€“ I use a different crop for my wallpaper.

                https://imgur.com/a/7xJyIQv

                https://imgur.com/a/72pF9l6