Camera quality Fairphone 4

I hope the camera module will fit in the FP4, assuming the image quality has been improved - currently the only complains I have about my FP4.
Well, hoping the ghost touches will be eliminated with the next update…

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As it was said several times for the FP3 and the FP4, the problem is not the hardware but the software. So you can switch the camera module without getting a better quality :frowning:

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If you have issues with image quality, then please try the gcam port:

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I am already using a gcam-port (Wichaya 8.1, 1.5 snapcam) - this fixes some issues (e.g. the lag between pressing the button and the ‘shutter’) but does not improve the picture quality, the MP stay the same compared to the stock camera. And from time to time (usually when you need the camera) the gcam-port I am using crashes, hence I have to reboot the whole smartphone…

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I mean, it’s physically impossible for a camera app to increase the resolution of taken photos. the amount of megapixels isn’t the only way of measuring the quality, though.

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I know, but if you have a 48MP camera and cannot get beyond 8.2MP pictures with the gcam-port…
And using the stock camera app 48MP is only available in 4:3 and only when chosing high resolution in the ‘more’ menu, nothing between 8.2MP and 48MP available…
But let’s stop here, getting too far off topic…

Ironically, the Google camera apps aren’t “officially” supported for the Fairphone 4 as it doesn’t have Camera2 support. If they add that, the terrible camera performance will be a thing of the past.

I really hope the Fairphone 5 has Camera2 support. It would solve everything IMO.

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That’s not true though… :thinking: Although there were some problems (mostly missing features and stability issues) with the Camera2 implementation (see Camera & Camera2 API - missing features & bugs), it works just fine with gcam ports.

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Compatibility and requirements:
Only works on phones with the camera2 API enabled;

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Yes. And Fairphone 4 has the Camera2 API enabled. Why would you think otherwise?

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The app “CameraX info” claims the Fairphone 4 doesn’t use Camera2 API. At all. Or maybe it only checks CameraX support. I dunno. If the app is wrong then my bad. Otherwise the resolution of pictures taken in Gcam would be the exact same as if they are taken in the Fairphone camera app. They currently aren’t. So at the very least, the FP4 lacks full Camera2 support.

My point being, that I hope the Fairphone 5 has full Camera2 support. One of the biggest grievances with the FP4 in my opinion has always been the camera. The camera software can just never be as good as the software made by much, much bigger companies. With Camera2 support they could fork GrapheneOS Camera instead and use that, resulting in a much better experience on the FP5.

That’s probably the case. Try Camera2 API Probe and see for yourself. If it didn’t support Camera2 API, then GCam wouldn’t open at all.

I don’t know which ports you have tried. I use BSG and when I go to Camera settings → Photo → Camera photo resolution and select the Max resolution option, I get the full 12 MP quality.

If you mean the 48 MP quality, then you should know that even in the stock camera app it’s a bit of a hack (it probably requires some special capture mode). And it will probably never be accessible through the API.

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The same app even reports that a Google Pixel 6a with the latest Android 13 updates does not support Camera2 or CameraX except “Night” extension with Camera2. So I would not trust that result too much. Probably the extension is there, but blacklisted for most apps except the stock camera app.

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The amount of megapixels is not indicative of the image’s quality, often quite the opposite. Tiny mobile phone sensors offering a huge amount of MPs are often of considerably bad quality.

Don’t get me wrong, the quality is poor, but it’s not a result of having “too few pixels”. My actual camera only has 20MPs and takes absolutely stunning and superb pictures. It’s more about the size of the sensor and the glasswork in front of it.

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And one should add: It’s a phone and not a serious camera!
I totally agree with you, the lenses are IMO the most important factor, then the sensors themselves.
Some people seem to believe a phone’s camera with some millimeter in diameter lenses and sensors should make the same quality pictures as a designated camera with high quality (and price :frowning: ) lenses and sensors. And you should not try to call someone with your DSLR :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Exactly. Just see the results of most newer Google Pixel phones - even with just 12 MP (the sensor is only 12MP and not 48MP with pixel binning), the images and videos taken with a Pixel 6a are considered high quality because of image processing.

In fact the image processing in the camera app is one of the major points here. Unfortunately that is also often closed source and copyrighted so everyone has to find its own way to implement good algorithms for that. It may be that the CameraX toolkit from Google provides something to help here, but companies which spend a lot of money in developing and testing algorithms for picture and video improvment will not just give away such things for free.

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Seems it’s a bad app then. Thanks!

You could try the Gcam ports from here BSG GCam APKs - Google Camera Port or any other dev of that site

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3 posts were merged into an existing topic: FP4 - gcam-port

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