You are right, @Ben. Nice closing statement!
Another review of the Xiaomi Redmi2, which has the same camera sensor OV8865:
http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_2-review-1202p8.php
This sensor is good hardware!
I am quite confident FP2 8MP will produce good pictures 
Better than FP1(U).
Soon we will have pictures from the FP2 itself!!
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You are totally right about the relative qualities of sensor. For example, the most highly professional but “old” camera NIKON D4S, with its “only” 16,2 Mpx sensor, still gives really better pictures than (in the same brand) the very last D3300 with its 24 Mpx sensor !
Because the associated software (its powerfulness and its computing ability and speed); because the size of the sensor (24x36 mm for the D4S, only 16x24 mm for the 3300 : easier to catch low lights for the 1st); because the sensitivity, the speed and the precision of the associated autofocus module; because the quality of the lens in front of your pixels, and so on… And I tell nothing, of course, about the photographer’s eye behind the camera! 
FSo, for me, I actually prefer an “old good 8 Mpx” than a young and bright 20 Mpx… which gives us not a beautiful photo, with faithful colors and sharp details, but a vile swill for cat! 
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I found this information on the site of omnivision: http://www.ovt.com/download_document.php?type=sensor&sensorid=134 It sounds very promising I think (low light performance, being capable of RAW photography) doesn’t it? (although I don’t really understand the technical information)
Yep, we also had some discussion here. There is (I think) some more info here, but a lot of the picture quality these days depends on the hard- and software “behind” the camera sensor. So how well does the hardware (senor and SoC) and the software (often called the Software development kit (SDK)) work together?
And lot of interesting info for this “combined” working devices with the senor is not out there, yet.
The rest of the interesting info is “To Be Determined” So I guess we will only figure it out if we look at pictures made by a phone using the sensor. Right know I only now about the Xiaomi Mi 4, but I haven’t see a lot of pictures yet (Use flicker and search for pictures taken by a XIAOMI MI4 … no Xiaomi Redmi2 is the right one, as Fred already pointed out!).
[Update: I made a mistake, it’s the same SoC but a slightly better camera. The Elephone M1 & Xiaomi Redmi2 use the same sensor. The user “maniaK techManiaK.pl” has M1 samples on flicker.]
I didn’t want to create a new topic, I think it fits here and I couldn’t find a match to my problem.
So: I have installed two camera softwares. They are “Open Camera” and “A better camera”. I have installed them on my old Samsung S3 and on the Fairphone. Same version, same source (PlayStore)
What I would like to do is taking pictures in 16:9, and this in maximum resolution possible for this format. No problem on my S3. There I have 3264x2448 for 4:3 and 3264x1836 for 16:9 in both apps.
On the Fairphone the maximum resolution for 16:9 is 1920x1080, each.
So, my question would be, is it the actual hardware camera which provides possible resolution, or is it the Android system (firmware)?
Or more simple: is there anyone who knows how (if) I can get my 3264x1836 resolution on a camera app on a Fairphone?
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With Open Camera, the pictures I take have a 4:3 resolution of 3264 x 2448 (which makes 8 Megapixels).
The 16:9 maximum for me is also 1920 x 1080 (~ 2 MP). I don’t know where that comes from, though.
Hmm,
the same with stock app (Google Camera). I found a page refering to what the app can do:
However, the Fairphone only gives me 2,1 Mpxl. I hope that this can be fixed somehow. Everything else would quite scare me as I think I am kind of allergic to 4:3 formatted pictures. 
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Hello! Sorry for my english.
I have the version 2.5.052 of Google Camara and there no is 16: 9 8MP.
I hope this is resolved. Meanwhile I will try the OpenCamara.
I also want to comment that there is no gallery. It is within the Google Camara. Is not there a photo gallery application?
Thanks!
The Fairphone 2 comes preinstalled with Google Photos, which provides a gallery of the shot photos. Within the Google camera, I can only view shot photos when I shoot a new one.
Exact. You can only view photos within that of application. I wish there was an app without turning on the camera.
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Ok! Thanks!
Well,
I found a work-around for the missing 16:9 HD option.
There is a camera app called “Camera MX”. In this, under
settings (3 dots)-> settings
you can choose maximum 4:3 resolution. Then, under
settings (3dots) → Photo resolution
you can choose 4:3, 16:9 or 1:1. 16:9 gives you a resolution of 3264x1836 pixels.
Well, it is a workaround for now. It would be cool if we had that resolution available for all cameras. As video resolutions can be set in
/system/etc/media_profiles.xml
there should be a another config file giving more resolutions for pictures as well. I haven’t found any yet, but that’s what I hope for…
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This is probably a software issue. Typically, sensors are more of a 4:3 then a 16:9 format, so essentially setting to 16:9 does nothing more the “cropping” the image for you. Therefore, smartphones typically only reach their max resolution in 4:3 aspect ratio. For my current Sony, it is 23MP vs 20MP.
Therefore, one the Fairphone, 8MPs are only achieved in 4:3. However, the maximum resolution in 16:9
should be 3264x1836, e.g. 6MP. I do not see any reason why the sensor should not be capable of this and I would be very suprised if it was impossible to fix this in software.
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Disappointed with the camera quality so far, to the extent that consider either ideally a software fix, or else (disappointingly due to the waste) a hardware fix is necessary.
Noted the Wired review described the camera as being similar to that found on low to mid range devices, which given that the FP2 was supposed to be a quality phone, is surprising and again dissapoiting.
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It’s a modular phone, so I guess there will be a hardware fix in the future.
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I’ve used the camera on a Oneplus 2, and it is excellent. If there were to be a new FP2 module that had that camera (and there are signs a new module is coming, like the article here: http://www.zdnet.com/article/smart-covers-new-cameras-where-the-worlds-most-ethical-smartphone-goes-next/) it would certainly be a big positive for the FP2 when I need a new phone. The current camera quality does put me off getting an FP2.
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There are pretty nice photos in this thread:
Also this one has good Fairphone 2 photos:
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