Watercolor photos. Auto mode camera issue. When the camera soft is upgraded?

[dim_diver]

Somebody from forum and I noticed a very strange feature in the stock camera on the Oneplus 5. I don't know whether it was done specifically or not, but the quality of photos in auto mode and in Pro mode is very different. And I'm talking about Pro mode, but without additional manual settings. Let's call this mode Pro-auto. The thing is, if you take a photo in auto mode the detailing of distant objects (especially trees, grass) is violated and the picture becomes horrible, the picture looks like a watercolor painting. This is clearly seen with croping. But if you take the same photo in Pro mode with automatic settings, you will not see the watercolor. The picture becomes more qualitative and detailed. Interestingly, the exposure time and ISO in auto and Pro-auto modes can be the same, but the result will be different. Probably algorithms for processing photos in the auto and Pro modes are not the same. Auto mode uses strong noise reduction more than necessary, because of this we see a watercolor effect. For comparison, I present a few photos in auto (without HQ and HDR) and Pro-auto got by 1+5 and a photo in auto mode by 1+3 (without HQ and HDR).

You can download all full size pictures here https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B61V7UugGlMNMzNLMzNJMW1GVXc

Example #1. It is the miniature of the picture in auto.

Looking pretty good, but if we crop and compare with Pro-auto mode photo, we will see the difference.

Even OP3 has more details.

Next two photo examples were took by my colleagues from 4pda forum.
Example #2. Again it looks nice.

But if we crop and compare with RAW, which was got by Pro-auto mode, ... just look at this ...

Example #3. Indoor low light picture.

Let's crop again.

Even here we can see the difference between auto and Pro-auto modes algorithms.

It's just a few examples, but I assure you that all owners will have the same problem. The problem is the camera soft. My colleagues and I call you not to leave it. You could add your examples with auto and Pro-auto comparison. We all need to attract more attention to this problem, maybe OnePlus team will fix this awful watercolor effect in auto mode.

Let's share and spread this information!​

 

[LKspro]

I tried it myself and I noticed that when the watercolour effect is present, the ISO of the photo is a lot higher. In the pro-auto mode, the ISO used is 800, while in auto mode for the same picture the ISO is 1600. I also notice that sometimes the watercolour effect may not take place in auto mode, in this case, the ISO as well as the picture quality will be the same as pro-auto mode.

 

[gwindlord]

In addition please find the topic on the official forum.
Also there is at least one support ticket 1269844 - but this one seems to be visible for 1+ support only...

 

[dim_diver]

I also notice that sometimes the watercolour effect may not take place in auto mode, in this case, the ISO as well as the picture quality will be the same as pro-auto mode.

Unfortunately not, the watercolor effect always appears in auto mode. It may not be noticeable when you look at the close and large objects on the picture, but this doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

[twinsen.net]

Unfortunately not, the watercolor effect always appears in auto mode. It may not be noticeable when you look at the close and large objects on the picture, but this doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Have the same on my unit, tried cropping and looks like on the above examples. Camera is the weakest point on this phone I hope they will try to do this something with this software...

 

[shaxtep]

The camera is terrible. In auto mode, there is a very strong watercolor effect, there is no clarity. In the pro mode, the situation is slightly better, but the noise reduction works very hard, kills all the details. In addition, in the pro mode, the dynamic range is smaller.

 

[aoleg]

I absolutely agree. The software is horrible for this camera. OnePlus used way too aggressive noise reduction, AND they use to high ISO values in Auto mode. And I didn't even mention the useless digital crap that their marketing calls "2x lossless zoom". Unfortunately, they don't seem to be interested in fixing the camera (a HAL change is required), and they officially stated they won't open access to the telephoto camera because it's quite crappy.

Oh, and by the way, their Camera 2 API implementation is buggy as hell. We have a mosquito artefact when shooting HDR+ with Google Camera or even using Snap Camera to capture RAW!

 

[Stupifier]

Curious how 4.5.10 compares to 4.5.8....They Noise Reductions improvements.

 

[android lover 2000]

I haven't got the chance to take any daylight shots , but when i took some indoor shots , i indeed saw huge improvements in 4.5.10 , and the noise has gone down and details have gone up , i will post some example shots if u want.

 

[pchetan2]

I haven't got the chance to take any daylight shots , but when i took some indoor shots , i indeed saw huge improvements in 4.5.10 , and the noise has gone down and details have gone up , i will post some example shots if u want.

Can you post comparison shots ?

Thanks in advance

 

[dim_diver]

Curious how 4.5.10 compares to 4.5.8....They Noise Reductions improvements.

There is no difference... Watercolor effect is still here.

 

[Dr-akbar]

Camera is still bad. Please oneplus can't you just see how detailed and sharp the oneplus 3t camera is?? How hard would it be to correct the post processing?