How is the camera really?

Well, in my experience using this phone for 4 months as my daily driver. The camera could be better, i don't know if it's my phone or all the Moto Z Plays, but i have this issue when i try to focus, you have to tap the screen multiple times in order for the phone to focus properly.

If you are looking this phone mainly for pictures, i wouldn't recommend it.
But for battery life, is crazy, i can easily get 2 days without charging it. This is the reason im keeping it.

Camera is above average in my opinion. It is foolish to compare it with phones which costs almost twice as much as mzp. If camera is the reason you want to to buy a phone, you can look for other options but you want a decent camera which will click god shots when needed in a budget smartphone, you can go for it. I have used note series starting from 1, Xperia Z1 (20.7mp camera with Xmor sensor), and LG g4 so I know what I am talking about. Night shots aren't very good but it's the same with every phone I have seen except for Sony phones. Battery backup is insane and for a budget phone, performance is also quite good. Of course mzp cannot be compared to op3 but if battery backup and ui smoothness concerns you in any way mzp should be you choice.
Else for raw power, you can go for one plus 3.

Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 07:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:08 AM ----------

I will post some shots as well in differnt lighting conditions so you can judge yourself.

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My Moto X Pure destroyed my Moto Z Play in both pictures and video. So let's not say that whole midrange blah blah blah argument here. The camera is definitely sub par. I don't know what Moto did, but they messed up somewhere. What kills me is that when taking videos via Snapchat, recording is perfect, but using any camera software, can't focus, despite tapping the screen or repositioning the focus ring. Picture wise, camera isn't bad, but I had better clarity and less noise in my X Pure. At this point I'm debating buying the Hasselbad camera Moto Mod just to try, in hopes that I'll see an improvement.

PhilD41 said:

I am thinking about moving from my Nexus 5 to the Z Play. Mainly for the battery. I would also like a much improved camera. The battery is the only reason I am not getting a Nexus 5x. The size of the phone is also slowing my decision.

I have seen lots of comments about the camera being subpar for a modern phone. Mainly when compared to the OnePlus 3T. My question is this...

Is the camera that much better than the N5 that I won't care or is the camera really the Achilles heal to near perfect (size is debatable) phone.

Thanks for your input and possibly even photo samples.

Sent from my Nexus 5 CAF using Tapatalk

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Click to collapse

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siralsmooth said:

My Moto X Pure destroyed my Moto Z Play in both pictures and video. So let's not say that whole midrange blah blah blah argument here. The camera is definitely sub par. I don't know what Moto did, but they messed up somewhere. What kills me is that when taking videos via Snapchat, recording is perfect, but using any camera software, can't focus, despite tapping the screen or repositioning the focus ring. Picture wise, camera isn't bad, but I had better clarity and less noise in my X Pure. At this point I'm debating buying the Hasselbad camera Moto Mod just to try, in hopes that I'll see an improvement.

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I think your unit is kinda defective. I have always used flagship devices and this is my first mid rang phone. Camera quality is definitely above average in good lighting Conditons.

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---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------

Pics that I have uploaded are in 11.9mp mode. I am sure tapatalk has reduced the quality to a large extent but you will get an idea.

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Defective, not at all. Photos are fine, but in comparison to my X Pure, definitely not as good, and that too, was a midrange device. Videos, as I attend a lot of shows and festivals, usually at night, are horrific, even using a modified camera API, alternative apps, it's the same BS, can't focus no matter how many tries. I've lost so many good videos because they're blurry the whole way through. But again, Snapchat video is flawless and focuses perfectly. Fairly certain the issue is related to the camera API, as Snapchat uses its own, thus the distorted audio 95% of the time, Motos wind rejection/noise cancellation is amazing. Front rows,50k-150k Watts of sound and waves of bass and it's perfect.

As I said, camera isn't bad, for picture taking, and in decent light, as your examples look like what mine takes, but low light or any usage of zoom, pfft, garbage photos. My Nexus 6 was amazing, X Pure was a step down, but this I feel shouldn't​ be this bad. The G4 probably has a better camera, and that's sad.

---------- Post added at 06:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:10 AM ----------

And worth noting, I used to buy my phone's based on the camera alone. Still have my Nokia N82 with the Carl Zeiss optics and a true xenon flash. That 8yr old phone at 5MP took better pictures than my Moto Z Play.

I don't find the camera bad. Compared to my previous Sony Xperia Z1C and the Note 4 I find it better. But it alway also depends on what you want to do. I use it a lot for outdoor Pictures.

I copy my post from another thread with some Pictures here:

Coming from a Samsung Note 4 the Z Play camera quality was a big concern for me. But actually it's better than the Note 4. Samsung applies way too much denoise and sharpening filters which you could see a lot in outdoor images with trees and so on. (Giving everything a "watercolor effect".) Of course they do not have so much noise on the other hand but images clearly lack of detail with Samsung software.

The Moto Z Play gave me more details compared to the Note 4 (which is the same module than Galaxy S5). Also low light is better. Overall for me quality was on par for example with the OnePlus3T of my son.

The only thing I agree which is missing is the OIS. You really have to concentrate to hold the phone steady when taking HDR images. Without HDR I don't have issues though. On the other hand HDR images are really good to increase the images dynamic range.

I also switched to Snap Camera app (not to be confused with Snap from Lineage) which gives me a lot more options compared to the stock camera. There I completely disabled the denoise filter and lowered the sharpening filter to -2. This gave me even more details without sacrificing the Quality with to much noise. Beside this it has 4K Super Slowmotion and an enhanced HDR mode for really hard conditions.

I noticed that a lot of people judge the images only on the small phone screen and don't zoom in an look at the details. Also they expect images to perfectly come out with auto mode and not trying to play with the settings and optimize them.


Some images at full resolution. Most of them were shot under not so ideal conditions but I think they are good espacially with the given conditions. All were done with Snap Camera and denoise filter disabled to get more details. Just click on the links below:

A lot of small details in this image which come out really well. Also the dynamic range and the colors are great I think.

Denoise disabled too, maybe a little to much sharpening. Therefore noise came out a little to much but nice details if you look at the meadow, trees and roof.

Optimized the sharpening filter a little.

A shot against the rising sun. You could still see details of the plants in the foreground.

Very dark - actually it was darker than it appears on the image:

Auto focus isn't working at all on my MZP. I'd say it is the worst camera I ever had in any smartphone, which isn't really an issue though.
Edit: If the focussing would work, it might be a decent cam. However, it seems to be a wide-spread issue.
Edit2: According to this thread Lenovo confirmed that the faulty auto focus is a hardware issue. So, the camera shouldn't be an obstacle after all.

Auto focus searches all the time on my phone also! If it's a hardware issue, it can't be fixed by software update. That's bad.

So why is camera no issue? Are you sure the hardware fault is fixed in newer devices? Does there exist a reliable test to find out if your device is concerned?

I think the camera is pretty good. of course i'm not a photographer. i dont understand the camera debate. buy a camera if you need a camera ?!

Hi.
It's simple, if the camera get focus , takes good pictures ... but you have to try almost 3 times to do it right ... sensor it's good ... the problem it's autofocus. I use bacon camera with continuos focus ... helps a little.

Sorry for my english.

I'm actually gonna give snap camera a go as mentioned. And to the previous poster as to why buy a camera, maybe if I carried a purse or a backpack with me every where I went, but my pocket is only so big, and the convenience of having a decent shooter on my phone is more than enough for my needs.

Camera is not bad, need some practice.

http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/58e91bafcb906/IMG_20170408_185534009.jpg?

http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/58e91b9311e1e/IMG_20170408_191249547_HDR.jpg?


Wysłane z mojego XT1635-02 przy użyciu Tapatalka

The mzp has a camera about as good as the nexus 5x. Nowhere near the LG G4 or nexus XL.

Compared to my best friends G5 I'm content with the picture quality and often impressed. The Z play camera is underrated.

The image quality is ok, but the auto focus REALLY sucks. There's no way to take a quick snapshot because the focus is very slow and almost always focusses on the background instead of the object you are trying to capture. As much as I love the Z Play, I just hate the camera, even compared to the one from my previous Nexus 5.

beatschubser said:

The image quality is ok, but the auto focus REALLY sucks. There's no way to take a quick snapshot because the focus is very slow and almost always focusses on the background instead of the object you are trying to capture. As much as I love the Z Play, I just hate the camera, even compared to the one from my previous Nexus 5.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

After reading you comment, I minimized Tapatalk, opened my camera and gave less than a second to focus and snapped a shot. To minimise the luck factor, I did it it 3more times and absolutely no blurriness..
Couple of more people have reported that issue on this post but I have never faced any such problem.. Lucky may be [emoji14]

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