FP3: Pixel camera app / Google Camera Port

Since the FP3 is equipped with the same camera as the Pixel 3(a), it could greatly benefit from the Pixel camera app as the stock one takes some pretty average quality photos.

Apparently there are already ports for several phones (see https://www.xda-developers.com/google-camera-port-hub/ and Google Camera Port Archives - The Custom Droid), so was wondering if anyone knows anything about the chances of it being available for FP3?

I’m not sure about the legality of these ports, but if it doesn’t break some Google license maybe there could even be an official FP3 port?

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Hi Dain, welcome to the forum.

My idea is to test the port of the Poco F1 whenever I receive my FP3 since it also has the same camera sensor. And than I hope that it somehow works…

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That is a nice idea, but I believe unless Google starts offering the Google Camera as a part of the Google Apps packages, the chances are zero. Which is sad.

Also, the FP3 and the Pixel 3(a) do have the same sensor and aperture, but the FP3 lacks optical image stabilisation.

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For the brave ones: I tried the port of for the Poco F1 and it’s working. At least I did a picture with nightsight mode.

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Thanks for giving it a go @Paule, I didn’t want to bother until you did, but hearing that it worked for you I had a try myself.

I found the best place to look is the Google Camera Port: Suggested APKs page: https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-suggested/

From where I tried BSG’s RP2 V5: MGC_6.2.030_RazerPhone2_V5.apk which was suggested elsewhere for the Poco and it worked!

That said, Nightsight produced a blurry image for me, but there are still all the other features like Google Lens, Photo sphere, etc which seem to work.

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Well…
Original FP3 Camera:

Nightsight mode:

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Which one is better is in the eye of the beholder. I’d argue it differs per situation. You might desire the non-nightsight mode if you want to have more the feeling of the evening/night in the picture (imagine, for example, spooky Halloween?). Having the option though, is great. I will for sure put the app on my device.

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Did you notice a real difference between gcam & stock cam app? better quality/sharpness? less noise? with daylight picture

Sorry, I had no time to really test it out yet. I was just happy that the app is running and stunned by the nightmode.

General rule for photographing: if you make photographs, make multiple, and save the best one. Especially now that there is barely a limit to storage. Do not forget to compare and remove the bad ones though or you will have information overflow.

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You are photographing from the dark into the light. As a general rule of thumb: you should not do this. Try from a different angle, and/or with enough light in the room.

Yes, picture with active child is more difficult. I know this first-hand with my toddler and a FP2. I’m even lucky my child is relatively late physical active.

How can we solve that? I don’t know. The shutter speed should be adequate, right? I recommend to make videos instead. How do other smartphones solve this? Are the multiple cameras helping there?

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FWIW, I’m an amateur photographer myself (in a family of photography enthusiasts, before the smartphone rage) and just trying to help :slight_smile: for me, the breastfeeding picture is too dark, for the very reason you mentioned. Unless you want it to be dark (for example because that is your narrative), I would prefer more light, and therefore a different angle.

The last picture is perfectly fine with me. If you’d want more sharpness (especially background) then I suppose one of these smartphones with multiple cameras would be suffice. Perhaps FP3 will gain such module eventually, or else FP4.

With which app did you make each of these pictures? Would you mind clarifying that in each post?

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Holy sh*t, I just tried the poco f1 port
Beta version from here

I did a comparison, see for yourself (had a good stand and it took me 2 tries for my Fairphone 3 to focus correctly, but the result is amazing

Original cam on auto:

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Ported pixel cam app on night mode

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OMG, amazing! :heart_eyes:

Really impressive results, almost magical. It seems it worth it to try this port… :grin:

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I tried the GCam port linked above as well, F1v10.3_7.0.009. On my Fairphone 3 the update from a few days ago is installed, so FP Camera 2.0.002.

It’s incredible how much of a difference the software can make, just by using a different camera app. I made some pictures for comparison, each “group” has a picture made with the stock camera (left), one with the Google camera in default mode (middle) and one in Night Sight mode (right). Stunning results:

Hi-res images can be found here. The above is just a screenshot of that page, which explains the weird scaling artifacts. Sorry for the external link, the screenshot and even more the original pictures are way too big for the forum.

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I believe lossy quality saturates. At some point it is good enough (compare with e.g. MP3). There are various degrees of users: consumers, prosumers, professionals. For the first group, I believe the camera of the FP2 (v2) is already sufficient. So I believe that the camera of the FP3 is going to last long enough because it is “good enough”.

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Okay, I’ve tried the above camera port as well - and while Google’s night mode is impressive, there’s a few things I like better about the FP3’s stock cam:

  • Selfies in 8MP, while the Pixel port seems to be stuck on 5MP even though I’m on “full resolution” and 4:3
  • Portrait mode without having to move the camera (like with the port’s blur effect)
  • Better panorama mode: The FP3’s cam made a quite clean panorama, while the Pixel port hat some visible brightness transitions (i.e. a vertical line in the sky).

So, I guess I’ll make the FP3 app my standard app but might use the Pixel port for some night shoots and Google Lense.

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I downloaded the port Sonswer recommended - thanks for this! I was afraid the camera of the Fairphone 3 would be a major downgrade coming from my old Lumia 950 which did pretty decent pictures, but all in all I think the FP3 camera is at least in the same league. And Night Sight mode can be pretty amazing, I think.
Below is a comparison I just took in difficult lowlight conditions on a foggy night. Both were taken while holding the phone in my hand freely.

First, the default Fairphone 3 camera app:

And now the poco f1 port in Night Sight mode:

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