Pie - standard camera or gcam?

potemkin

Well, even S8 produces much better photos than Nokia 8 (same year). I think all flagships from Samsung, Huawei, Apple, LG and HTC released since 2016 have better cameras than Nokia 8. In fact, even some Nokia mid-rangers launched last year take better photos and video than Nokia 8!

I prefer this port: LGN1_MGC_6.1.021_MI8_V1d.apk

It has a small "bug" (it's tailored for LG). Every time you launch this app, you have to tap twice to take first photo, after that works fine for other photos.

jdan

Okay. You think all flagships since 2016 are better, but an opinion isn't a fact, is it?
A fact is that almost nobody seems to have done the effort to take a test ride of the new camera app so far - see: 
https://community.phones.nokia.com/discussion/comment/84458/#Comment_84458fd
And it may be possible that even Nokia 8 owners didn't do so - lots of them being very busy with gcam ports - see the positive reactions and likes on this thread: January 28.

potemkin

Yes, I think because I hadn't have an opportunity to test them all but I KNOW for a fact that Nokia 8 camera feels like that of a low or mid-range phone when compared to S8 or S9. I have friends who own those phones so I had first hand experience. I found a gcam port which provides satisfactory solution for me but it's pathetic how HMD treats its customers who bought Nokia 8.

martin.fd

jdan said:

Which one do you like the most on https://www.celsoazevedo.com?

I'm using this one and I'm very happy with it: https://f.celsoazevedo.com/file/gcamera/GCam_6.1.021_N7P_test2.1.apk
(Just saw there is a new version from Feb. 20th - I will try it out in the next days)

jdan

A few more pictures - with lots of sun and shadows - I think they are quite nice ... But disagree if you don't ...
(See also https://community.phones.nokia.com/discussion/comment/84521/#Comment_84521)
Also my first camera that can do this ...
(See also https://community.phones.nokia.com/discussion/comment/84931/#Comment_84931

• https://flic.kr/p/2dvvURK
• https://flic.kr/p/24hRPBe

user1526470024443

Only me have found that slow motion and video is not working in 4k res if you don't go to photos gallery and then back to camera app . And furthermore the slow motion is terrible as quality. So I am asking all the supporters of Nokia camera app isn't that enough to understand that Nokia camera app is a mess and is bad implented?why I have to go to gallery and then back to video or slow motion to record something?

jdan

Okay. You think all flagships since 2016 are better, but an opinion isn't a fact, is it?
A fact is that almost nobody seems to have done the effort to take a test ride of the new camera app so far - see: 
https://community.phones.nokia.com/discussion/comment/84458/#Comment_84458fd
And it may be possible that even Nokia 8 owners didn't do so - lots of them being very busy with gcam ports - see the positive reactions and likes on this thread: January 28.

jdan

Nice picture! What settings did you use on Nokia 8? 
Twin and HDR on? Auto or manual focus (tapping the viewfinder)? 

jdan

Nice picture! What settings did you use on Nokia 8? 
Twin and HDR on? Auto or manual focus (tapping the viewfinder)? 

jdan

Okay. So, we don't know if the camera used HDR or not.

Interesting to compare would be ... three shots of a scene.
One: HDR automatic + manual focus within 3 secs
Two: HDR on + manual focus within 3 secs
(in gcam HDR+ is the standard setting)
Three: HDR on and taking the shot after the ridiculous 3 seconds
(some people claim that the shot will be sharp anyway)

My reasoning ...

About Twin - normally you would expect the Nokia 8 standard camera to take the best pictures in this mode as that is the 'new' thing they added (like Huawei). So, they will have invested most work in this.
You might expect the gcam on Nokia might be better on single (color) as the Pixel only has one sensor and they must have gathered lots of expertise there. 
(https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/news/138719-dual-camera-smartphones-the-history-running-through-to-the-galaxy-note-8)

About HDR - most smartphones and cameras use HDR these days. It is a sort of fashion and as such everyone seems to like this kind of photos. So if people think that the photos of the Google camera are best they might like it because of the HDR effect - much like people seem to like heavy bass loudspreakers these days. 
(https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/what-is-hdr-photography/)

About fashion and photos what do you think of this 'experiment'?
https://nokiamob.net/2017/10/20/camera-comparison-nokia-8-vs-iphone-7-plus-in-low-light-vtechgraphy/

Anyway the point is which one is the best setting for the Nokia 8 - which setting produces the pictures you like the most. See my comparison above. And my photos in this comment:
https://community.phones.nokia.com/discussion/comment/82350/#Comment_82350
And all the ones on my site ...

jdan

About fashion and photos what do you think of this 'experiment'?
https://nokiamob.net/2017/10/20/camera-comparison-nokia-8-vs-iphone-7-plus-in-low-light-vtechgraphy/

Anyway the point is which one is the best setting for the Nokia 8 you own - which setting produces the pictures you like the most. See my comparison above. And my photos in this comment:
https://community.phones.nokia.com/discussion/comment/82350/#Comment_82350
And all the ones on my site ...

martin.fd

New version of back.rider GCam: https://f.celsoazevedo.com/file/gcamera/GCam_6.1.021_N7P_test2.5.apk

jdan

Unlike many others here on the forum I am quite a fan of the standard camera app (see the manual I have written) but Nokia 8 owner @Francesco Bacchini who was one of the MWC2019 competition winners did so with photographs taken with a gcam. He also has a wonderful collection of Nokia 8 gcam photos on Instagram. All of this is the result of long time experimenting with all sorts of ports and he recently wrote a very interesting article about his most successful gcam set up up till now (then). The article is in Italian, but Google Translate does a good job and the step by step instructions by Francesco make it easy to copy his settings. I did and the results are very nice photographs indeed! I think you should try it too!
Set up:
https://www.nokioteca.net/blog/2019/03/nokia-8-fotografie-al-top-con-la-google-camera-gcam/

jdan

Test and comparison:
https://www.nokioteca.net/blog/2019/03/nokia-8-confronto-qualita-foto-fotocamera-stock-vs-google-cam-gcam/

Jivko Antonov

jdan said:

Unlike many others here on the forum I am quite a fan of the standard camera app (see the manual I have written) but Nokia 8 owner @Francesco Bacchini who was one of the MWC2019 competition winners did so with photographs taken with a gcam. He also has a wonderful collection of Nokia 8 gcam photos on Instagram. All of this is the result of long time experimenting with all sorts of ports and he recently wrote a very interesting article about his most successful gcam set up up till now (then). The article is in Italian, but Google Translate does a good job and the step by step instructions by Francesco make it easy to copy his settings. I did and the results are very nice photographs indeed! I think you should try it too!
Set up:
https://www.nokioteca.net/blog/2019/03/nokia-8-fotografie-al-top-con-la-google-camera-gcam/

Thanks. Amazing photos and camera app. 

oissela

Hi, you can find more pictures taken with Nokia 8 (GCam) in this comparision with Nokia 9 PureView https://www.nokioteca.net/blog/2019/04/recensione-app-fotocamera-del-nokia-9-pureview-confronto-con-nokia-8/

jdan

Two recent pictures with the gcam - from my albums 'My garden in spring' and 'On a walk in my hometown'. Tap to focus & shoot - crop afterwards.

Muthukumar Muthusamy

jdan said:

Two recent pictures with the gcam - from my albums 'My garden in spring' and 'On a walk in my hometown'. Tap to focus & shoot - crop afterwards.

Can u share the link for gcam that u used in this pics , and also share settings in details
Thanks in advance sorry for my poor english 

Muthukumar Muthusamy

oissela said:

Hi, you can find more pictures taken with Nokia 8 (GCam) in this comparision with Nokia 9 PureView https://www.nokioteca.net/blog/2019/04/recensione-app-fotocamera-del-nokia-9-pureview-confronto-con-nokia-8/

Share the settings for MGC_6.1.021_BSG_Arnova-based_v.1.4a_TlnNeun.apk
I am using nokia 8 but i confused to get good pictures , messed up with settings

user1508938037450

In the moment I use both, the original app AND GCAM. It is not perfect, but it is helpful for using the camera to make "perfect" fotos for me. 😎

jdan

Gcam and settings - see my previous post in this topic (April 19).

jdan

I have posted the wrong info this morning.
The gcam I use is the P3v11.4.31 by cstark27.
The settings are those of @Francesco Bacchini.
You find them in the discussion topic: N8 Android 9.0 + pixel cam - help

MrBelter

jdan said:

Two recent pictures with the gcam - from my albums 'My garden in spring' and 'On a walk in my hometown'. Tap to focus & shoot - crop afterwards.

I'd like to see the same shots taken with the HMD app, i'd bet there is very little difference between the two.

jdan

I had to take new pictures ...

The first one is the one of the standard camera app, the second one is the shot by the gcam.
Grey weather - tap to focus ...

These are not the original photos but the ones saved by the free version of Google Photos. Remarkable is that the one by the standard camera was reduced from 11 MB to 2 MB, the one from the gcam from 5 MB to 3.2 MB!

martin.fd

Great garden - and small difference between the pictures

Although -quite honestly- I like the GCam picture better, the other one seems a bit "washed out" ...

Here is another comparison from these days (first GCam, second NCam):

martin.fd

jdan said:

The gcam I use is the P3v11.4.31 by cstark27.

Same here

MrBelter

jdan said:

I had to take new pictures ...

The first one is the one of the standard camera app, the second one is the shot by the gcam.
Grey weather - tap to focus ...

These are not the original photos but the ones saved by the free version of Google Photos. Remarkable is that the one by the standard camera was reduced from 11 MB to 2 MB, the one from the gcam from 5 MB to 3.2 MB!

I am surprised both files are in MB if i am honest, many photos on Google Photos are compressed in the hundreds of KB, the compression on there is sometimes bonkers.

Both photos look fine to me, nothing a little tweak wouldn't sort out (lowering the highlights on the HMD shot for instance) but for snapshots both great, it would be easier to tell which gave the best quality if HDR well and truly turned off on both apps for all these comparisons and then we would have a baseline.

MrBelter

martin.fd said:

Great garden - and small difference between the pictures

Although -quite honestly- I like the GCam picture better, the other one seems a bit "washed out" ...

Here is another comparison from these days (first NCam, second GCam):

HMD cam is the winner there, the bottom shot sky and building are washed out, when you zoom in there is still detail in the building rendering and this isn't visible on the gcam shot. Again though i personally would not be unhappy with either but i would not be able to resist temptation to tweak the bottom shot.

martin.fd

ow damn: i switched the pictures (the upper one is the GCam and the lower one the HMDCam!!!!) ... and with this correction I agree with your judgement

(btw: GCam shot ist 5MB, NCam is 9,7MB)

MrBelter

A little off topic but this was me trying the 8.1 camera in artificial light and Google Photos has compressed it to 426KB from 6.7MB