[MX4] Photos are blurry and underexposed in low light conditions

[Krzysztof Tataradziński]

Hello,

photos taken by MX4 are blurry and underexposed.
First one is really annoying, I can't take even one good sharp photo and I don't know why. Second one is maybe because of bad synchronization time of flashing and taking shot; I think that because, when I record video with lamp, everything is great, problem is only for photos.
I know that smartphones are not great for night photos, but I've used before worse and cheaper low-end phones with no-name lens and photos was significantly better.
Please tell me, if you need more information. I will try to provide them.

[Sturm Flut (sturmflut)]

Can you post your channel and image number and upload some examples? You mention night photos, the MX4 is not good at those, but in total I cannot confirm this, the MX4 usually takes pretty good pictures.

[Krzysztof Tataradziński (ktatar156)]

Another thing I found. Please see attachment. When I was capturing photo in complete dark room, led flashes but picture is completely dark. Is there a way to add more attachments in one comment?

[Krzysztof Tataradziński (ktatar156)]

Here is blurred.

[Krzysztof Tataradziński (ktatar156)]

I'm using latest (15.04 r2) stable image of MX4.

[Harald Walker (4-walker)]

It is most likely blurred because shutter speed was only 1/14 sec.
Might also be unfocused if the auto-focus didn't have enough light to focus.

But the shutter speed doesn't seem correct. When the flash is being used is should probably use a fixed shutter speed like 1/60 sec.

Bug title and description is too generic. The report is about low light/night photos with flash. Otherwise daytime photos taken by the MX4 are usually in focus and correctly exposed.

[Harald Walker (4-walker)]

Just quickly tested it and saw the same. Indoor flash photo used an exposure time of only 1/17 sec. That is too slow and will usually cause blurred images.

[Krzysztof Tataradziński (ktatar156)]

I must admin that in bright room in normal daylight also it's hard to get sharp photos (without flash, it's too bright for it).

[Bill Filler (bfiller)]

@kaleo
please try adjusting the shutter speed as in comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/camera-app/+bug/1473668/comments/5 to see if this improves the situation when the flash is used

[Marco Graziotti (graziottimarco)]

Same problem for me.

Blurry photos and bad synchronization when using flash (I got always a black photo - underexposed).

I saw that the photos are also blurry if you shoot it during the day.
Sometimes the AF isn't able to focusing object at short or long distances, maybe it's a problem with aperture values.

See the shooting values of attached picture: f/2,2, 1/17 sec, 179 ISO;
They are wrong values for this kind of photo, it's better: f/3,5, 1/60, 400 ISO.

I have a second MX4 with Flyme 4.0.4.I, and it make wonderful photos. So I think this is a software problem.

What do you think about?

Thank you.

[Marco Graziotti (graziottimarco)]

I'm checking all the pics that I have taken with MX4 Ubuntu Edition, and it seems that the aperture values is always set to f/2,2. Also the time values isn't always set for a correct exposure.

This happen at any condition of light (day or night), only the ISO values change radically, sometimes the time values changing too.

See the picture attached.

Thank you.

[Krzysztof Tataradziński (ktatar156)]

Dear All,
bug is here a long time, more than half year; high importance and no solution or even comment where is problem with fixing it. Could we get one?

[Bill Filler (bfiller)]

We've done a lot of investigation and comparison here to try and improve the situation.

We've been investigating solutions and comparing to Android. At this point, we use all automatic settings in shutter speed, aperature, etc the same as Android. We did uncover some issues where tapping on the screen to focus was not correctly setting the right focus point and we're working on a fix for this and exposure metering synced with focus point. Our hope is that these fixes will improve the situation people are experiencing. Target for these fixes is ota10 timeframe.

[Bob Harvey (bobharvey)]

I seem to have similar issues with the M10 tablet camera.

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

seems to have been put on back burner?

[Bill Filler (bfiller)]

The changes we landed to fix the focus and metering have improved this situation greatly. Please reopen if you feel differently

[Bob Harvey (bobharvey)]

I got an update to the camera today (M10 tablet, OTA10.1) but can't find any way to find out the version. There is no 'about' box with the camera

The photographs are much better in low light, but the videos are still very dark. But well done for sorting out the stills.

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

@bobharvey a long press on the app icon in the scope will show all the details