I got two FP3 phones between 2020 and 2021 for my daugther and son … not yet having mine because I still have an old other-kind-phone so I will go with that one until the end of its capacities before I go for the more sustanable, recyclable, mine-explotation less horrible, more ethical with workers phone.
Meanwhile, we are photo and filmakers in my familly and what we find that it is not super good on Fairphone is the camera.
I insist wanting to support this alternatives and hoping Fairephone will find the way to make camera better.
I don’t want to upgrade to a Fairphone 4 until the Fairphone 3 is not totally obsolete.
So I’ve just purchased a new Camara module for my daughter’s phone, a proffesional on film making teams. Hopfully it will be worth it this new modul.
Nevertheless I have a doubt if I did not made a mistake buying this module, not having read all the reviews about the possibility of upgrading FP3 to FP3 + …
Does the shooting speed for the camera, or the delay pressing the shooting button and the actual take of the photo become immediate with this new camera modul?
I am guessing if I bought the same camera modul, and not an upgraded one… That I made the mistake…
Hi paulav and welcome to the forum!
Yes, It is possible to upgrade. I did it too.
You can see whether it is a normal or a plus module by the colour around the lens. The normal is black, the plus module has a grey circle around it.
Whereas you can ‘update’ either or both cameras this does not update the phone to an FP3+ This is because there is a slight difference in the core module which you see via settings @IkarusFP3
With the FP3 no matter if you change the cameras you will still see Hardware version Fairphone 3, not Fairphone 3+ as in the screenshot below
Settings > About Phone > Model see screenshot . . .
There are other more or less insignificant issue like the back cover plastic quality . . .
You may/will notice that the settings on the front camera only show 4Mpx not the 16Mpx if you choose to upgrade that one and I’m not sure for the ‘selfie’ camera a change from ?MPx to 16Mpx is going to change that much.
The rear camera although having more Photosites at 48MPs only provides 12MPx shots.
There’s no change in that respect, but you can with any camera change the app. which can offer different settings etc.
The delay is often due to the use of HDR which means their is a processing before you hear the ‘click’ etc. and even more delay whilst the images are merged etc. for saving.
You may like to look at Open Camera and Nikita as alternative apps to the default camera.
You can read about them here if you search, I’ll see if I can find some useful posts and update here. Looks like @urs_lesse has just done that.
I really recommend you also just try other camera apps. Here’s what I and others usually recommend, see some samples posted there as well:
In my opinion, installing the GCam port (I’m using the Nikita one) will make a much bigger difference than the difference between the original and the + camera modules on the FP3. However, I cannot really say if it makes a difference to shutter speed – just the overall quality of the eventual photo.
Hey what a great community here in this forum, thank you very much @anon9989719 for your clever answer.
I will let know the forum once we will receive the new camera modul.
Actually, I believe there will be also the need to do a good backup and memory cleaning on the phone before doing the update.
I will have to wait a a few weeks until january to help my daugther with the FP3 to make it like a new one.
;D
I Paulov, I thought I come and peek how things are going over here after a view years, but it appears that there is not much changed… I have had a FP2 and now a FP3, but a good (normal functioning) camera seems difficult or at least not a priority for the developers/ policy makers @fairphone.
I like the principle of fair. If it’s not working, it’s not durable and fair to the people and environment as well. The phone works. But I want it also to use it as a camera.
I was hoping that the FP3 would function as a camera. I can’t handle the frustration of the bad camera, the time to focus, wrong focus, delaying the shot, not willing to take the shot at all…
I was hoping that the FP4 would function better, but now it seems still unresolved?!
Especially with my daughter growing up, I want to use it as a camera.
Now I’m considering to buy a two year disposable. Just for the sake of a good camera, hoping the FP5 as a consumer friendly good camera… Which just works, as a camera, with the installed app/ software, with nice colors, but mostly fast response.
Well, my daughter got the new module for the camera. To change it on the FairePhone 3.
We haven’t tested it yet because she haven’t installed it.
When we do the test I will have an answer for your question related to the response on shooting without delay, the time to focus, or other isssues related to color, image quality.
The main importance I think is the phone function it self, make it less obsolet that others. Well, now cameras are important in phones because it is an apparatus that makes a transmision of images by internet easyer than having a camera beside, a modem and a computer. Everything is in one apparatus. For a document scanner for exemple. Or a camera that need to work as witness of some social issue, or a work as script on the film shootings industry… among other kind of works needing to take accurate pictures and send it immediatly.
I will write here in the forum when we do the test for the new camera to see if an upgrade is notorious. Or if the camera replacement is mostly recommended exclusibly for situations where your phone camera is broken, and not for upgrading purposes.
I have an FP3+ and the camera takes images ‘immediately’ however the 4 x 12MP is a 48 Mega Photosites (48MP) which could be better described as 48MPs
It’s a Quad Bayer, which means four photosensitive sensors (2 green, 1 red and 1 blue) are used to create ‘the best colour’ so the output is supposed to be an enhanced 12MPx
I really don’t think there is much difference in the output and for some it may not be an improvement, depending upon use.
One downside is that the re-calculating the 48M to 12M takes a while so there is a delay in saving, very noticeable if you use HDR
