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. 🙂

      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 – 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 – hand held shot with butterfly on a flower waving in the breeze – 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 – very interesting.
        As a marker in time; here are links to my Pixel 3a GOS butterfly photos – I use a different crop for my wallpaper.

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

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

        really liking the modded app with the custom configurations.

        however, now I am having a pretty significant lag between shutter press and photo taken... long delay of 3, 4 5 seconds...?

          SquirrelMaster

          SquirrelMaster GOS cam is partially blurry and loosing detail

          How did you get a GOS cam photo this poor...?

          Hello again – I’m still struggling to get a photo anywhere near as bad with my 3a Stock GOS as your Scene B photo taken with a 6 Pro Stock GOS. Can you help – please – any suggestions….?
          I have set up an indoor shot with towel, rule and seriously black Faraday pouch for you to examine. The 3a camera Stock GOS was set to lowest quality (latency) setting. The full picture will be automatically reduced to 1Mb size by Imgur so I have also cropped, in camera gallery, to give a tiny file size for you to examine pixels. Any suggestions?

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

          https://imgur.com/a/vpcoioD

          SquirrelMaster Let me know what you think.

            lcalamar I notice that stock gcam does not have HDR settings... can someone explain these settings?

            @SquirrelMaster - I have downloaded your Scene B Photoshopped image montage, then cropped out a portion to focus – excuse the pun – focus the mind on an area of gross disparity. GOS cam on the left – your Gcam on the right. See link below.

            https://imgur.com/a/gEFxEPO

            To avoid “ Photoshopped” effects could you simply publish your original photos?

            Thanks - Andy.

            Andy Hello again – I’m still struggling to get a photo anywhere near as bad with my 3a Stock GOS as your Scene B photo taken with a 6 Pro Stock GOS. Can you help – please – any suggestions….?

            The GrapheneOS Camera had a few updates since those sample images were posted -- that may be related?

            • Andy replied to this.

              caturday - Thanks for your reply :) You are of course correct that the 3a’s camera app has been updated many times over the 2+ years I have owned it.
              However my silent notifications tell me daily that my system is up to date and separately that all my apps are up to date. Therefore those images which include a towel and a rule taken yesterday are to 3a GOS latest update. They were of course specially taken to emulate SquirrelMaster’s Scene B towel and rule(r) photos.
              Whereas the old butterfly photo in previous post was to show just how good the bottom of the range – cheapest – Pixel 3a with Graphene-OS was from day one! Did you notice that you can even see the butterfly’s eyelashes?
              I hope you agree that my 3a GOS photos are way better in all aspects than those of SquirrelMaster’s 6-Pro GOS cam?
              As I have written many times – I am at a loss to know just how you can take such a poor picture with any Pixel phone let alone the latest 6-Pro.

              Hey Guys I’m onto a winner here – was easily able to do this with Gimp….

              https://imgur.com/a/23mQZbU

              Could have been far more subtle using a brush but I wanted to emphasize my cheating – never believe any photos especially where the exif and metadata are conveniently missing.
              Could have said I now own a Pixel 6-Pro and added whatever text I wanted to each image.
              Simple – so easy these days with cheap (Affinity) or even free FOSS software (Gimp)
              Select an area or apply to whole image then add blur filter, noise filter whatever. Freely add text anywhere.

              I'm confused following this thread…

              Are the posted photos - photoshopped or not?

              Where do things stand regarding photo quality - is there a conclusion (e.g.: GOS Cam, vs Google Stock CAM vs Modded Google Stock CAM (8.4).?

              • Andy replied to this.

                lcalamar
                I thought I had made it crystal clear “I wanted to emphasize my cheating” to make it crystal clear that anyone with a photo editor can alter any photo and then make whatever claims about them whether true or false. This as I said is especially true if the metadata and exif data are missing.
                It should be clear that my picture of the butterfly https://imgur.com/a/7xJyIQv and picture https://imgur.com/a/7rqJwwW are simple crops of a larger picture.
                As for other poster’s pictures I have no idea and still do not know how you can take such a poor quality photo with any Pixel GOS camera. IMHO my Pixel 3a GOS photos are far better quality than the 6a GOS posted – what is your opinion?

                All that aside; as there is a lens and a sensor so there should be no difference in basic quality all you can change is the app.
                I have no problem with Graphene-OS clear statement:-

                GrapheneOS has the same camera capabilities and quality as the stock OS. It will match the stock OS when comparing the same app on each OS.

                https://grapheneos.org/usage#camera

                I hope that you too have no problem with this clear statement by GrapheneOS org?