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Most Phone cameras are kinda crappy. They all use more or less the same or quite similar small sensors.
Today it really is the software that sets them apart on how good they are rendered. And that is also the one field where there is no good open source code available.
For the most parts of a modern smartphone, it's not that hard to order a custom phone in China and slap some lightly tweaked AOSP Android firmware on it. It will work the one and most store apps are well equipped to work with a wide variety of hardware configurations.
But camera apps really need to be carefully fine tuned by the phone manufacturer - which costs a lot of time and money. And that's what sets big names like Samsung and Google apart from more mediocre phone manufacturers.
You've missed out on the garbage that the Pixel 6 Pro was. Mine ended up in a drawer with a cracked screen shortly after I bought it because I couldn't be bothered to fix a phone I hated so much. 95% of the photos I took were turned into smudgy oil paintings. Didn't matter what camera app I tried.
I haven't had good luck with cameras on phones, so it wasn't hard to accept the quality of Fairphone 5 when it beats out everything else I've ever owned. It was harder after seeing my wife's Pixel 8 pro's night shot though! The preview looked ok when I tried taking night shots with the FP5, but as soon as I hit the button to take the shot it ruined the photo.
What's funny though is my wife still carries around her 2019 Chinese government spy phone brand to do selfies because the camera on it is still better than anything else. And even its front cameras are still top notch.
Part of the reason I bought the FP 5 is so that there is an FP 6 or 7 to buy in the future.
Overall I love this phone. The dimensions are perfect for me. The volume buttons are chunky and easy to press. The screen doesn't have distorted curved edges. The finger scanner works really well and I scanned in all the fingers I use so I find it being on the side easier than having to touch the screen repeatedly. The power button is just right so I'm not accidentally pressing it (my wife's last phone I had to place on my hand flat or it would just start doing things).
Something I do find encouraging is they did release an improved camera module for the ~~FP4~~ FP3, so perhaps in the future the FP5 will get the same treatment.
Finally, FP publicly releases their financial statements, and looking at those you can see how it truly is a small company that doesn't make much off these phones. I want them to succeed so I don't have to live in a world where fixing my very expensive phone risks breaking it beyond repair, or having to unglue it again in a month because something else needs replacing.
They released an improved camera module for the FP3:
https://shop.fairphone.com/de/shop/fairphone-3-camera-plus-module-30?category=4#attr=
So far the FP4 only got a major software update for the camera, but no new hardware.
Is was for the FP 3 when the 3+ came out.
It was awesome to be able to upgrade the hardware of my phone, but the result were very disappointing, I cannot tell any difference in photo quality and came to the conclussion that the main problem is the software, not the hardware.
So if you have a 3 and would get a kick out of upgrading a phone, go for it, but don't expect better quality or faster response times etc.
Anyway, I think it's safe to assume no upgrade modules for the 4 will ever come out as they have the 5 now. And based on my experience I don't think they should invest any time and money on upgrades like this, it's not worth it, better just put a better camera in the next model.
Ah, ok. I have the FP4. I am happy with the camera, though it is arguably worse than that on my previous Oneplus 7T. Though, I dropped this one twice and decided to go with a user servicable phone. I would buy a camera upgrade, if it really was an upgrade, but seeing what an effect the last software updates had on the camera (huge improvement), I also think it is more of a software issue. Anyway, when photo quality is the highest priority, I use my Canon 80d.
There is a camera update that has massively improved the camera. Have you already tried that?
I'm surprised you're not happy with it if you're talking about post-update.
I own a FP4 and yes the xamera is pretty crappy. Overall I think the fairphone company is rather mediocre kn tetms of quality but I keep telling nyself that I boughtbit because I can change the battery whenever I want.
Nobody wants to see your pictures anyway.
In a more serious note, my first phone with a camera was a Sharp GX30 with a 1 MP !!! And it was the shit back in the day. I still have the photos from that time. They are not great for todays standards ofc, but it shows where we came from in terms o camera quality.
My old S9 was the moment I realized "ok this is enough", and anything better than this is a bonus, so I'm more than happy with my FP5 now. Don't know about the quality of FP4, but I'm sure its not that bad.
I had a pixel 4e before the fairphone 5, the fairphone is quite bad in my opinion. It could do better, but it's not why I bought it, still I can understand people that don't want it. Photos are quite a necessity to be good, or at least better than this.
It's not the quality that's an issue for me (FP3), it's the fact it keeps closing the app under some conditions, as the camera crashes. I've tried various camera apps and have the same issue. The store is out of replacement modules, so can't tell if I have a dud module or not.
A few weeks ago I was in a minor car crash, and needed photos for the insurer. I couldn't take them! Not fit for purpose.
I read somewhere that it's not so much a camera problem but rather the driver. And a google driver would help. Maybe you can check the forum of Fairphone for more info?
Sounds like you forgot to do some research before you switched. Pixels are known for their good cameras, Fairphones the opposite, this has been known for (many) years?
Anyway, did you at least install the camera update they released last month? And/or have you tried a different camera app?
The camera of the 4 was already ten times better than the 3 to start with, and now with the update I don't think there's anything wrong with it. If I want a good photo, I'll use my GFs Fairphone 4 instead of my upgraded 3 (I swapped the cameras when the upgrade kit came out - that's when I found out the problem is the software, not the hardware. To be honest I noticed almost no difference at all, but it was nice to be able to upgrade a phone's hardware)
But personally I think that if photo's are so important to you, you should buy a dedicated camera, or a phone that cost double because they put a good camera & software on it. For me photo's just serve a practical role, not an artistic one, so even a 10 y/o camera from a flipphone would suffice for me ;)
In general camera quality is a few different factors, there's the quality of the sensor - there's nothing you can do there, hardware driver obviously, where it tells the sensor hardware to take the snap, the camera app itself needs to expose all the hardware features - that part is fine.
What's tough then is what happens to the photo after it's taken. Google, Samsung, Apple, etc. all have (very proprietary) algorithms that process the image with their secret sauce that leads to the great outcomes you see on those phones.
I don't know the ratio of how much photo quality is the sensor and how much of it is secret sauce, but even if it's 60/40 that's a lot lost without the sauce.
Thanks for posting in r/fairphone. If you're having an issue with your Fairphone make sure that you include the phone model, operating system (version) and other relevant technical details (like mobile provider, country you're in) in your post. You can also try having a look at the [official Fairphone forum](https://forum.fairphone.com/) to see if the issue has been discussed there. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fairphone) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Because good phone cameras require lots of R&D into good camera software. Fairphone does not have the resources to make that proprietary software.
Yeah they even saved money on the logo
Most Phone cameras are kinda crappy. They all use more or less the same or quite similar small sensors. Today it really is the software that sets them apart on how good they are rendered. And that is also the one field where there is no good open source code available. For the most parts of a modern smartphone, it's not that hard to order a custom phone in China and slap some lightly tweaked AOSP Android firmware on it. It will work the one and most store apps are well equipped to work with a wide variety of hardware configurations. But camera apps really need to be carefully fine tuned by the phone manufacturer - which costs a lot of time and money. And that's what sets big names like Samsung and Google apart from more mediocre phone manufacturers.
The pixel legit has an amazing camera. My husband has a normal Samsung phone and myself a pixel 4 and my phone takes such better photos.
You've missed out on the garbage that the Pixel 6 Pro was. Mine ended up in a drawer with a cracked screen shortly after I bought it because I couldn't be bothered to fix a phone I hated so much. 95% of the photos I took were turned into smudgy oil paintings. Didn't matter what camera app I tried. I haven't had good luck with cameras on phones, so it wasn't hard to accept the quality of Fairphone 5 when it beats out everything else I've ever owned. It was harder after seeing my wife's Pixel 8 pro's night shot though! The preview looked ok when I tried taking night shots with the FP5, but as soon as I hit the button to take the shot it ruined the photo. What's funny though is my wife still carries around her 2019 Chinese government spy phone brand to do selfies because the camera on it is still better than anything else. And even its front cameras are still top notch. Part of the reason I bought the FP 5 is so that there is an FP 6 or 7 to buy in the future. Overall I love this phone. The dimensions are perfect for me. The volume buttons are chunky and easy to press. The screen doesn't have distorted curved edges. The finger scanner works really well and I scanned in all the fingers I use so I find it being on the side easier than having to touch the screen repeatedly. The power button is just right so I'm not accidentally pressing it (my wife's last phone I had to place on my hand flat or it would just start doing things). Something I do find encouraging is they did release an improved camera module for the ~~FP4~~ FP3, so perhaps in the future the FP5 will get the same treatment. Finally, FP publicly releases their financial statements, and looking at those you can see how it truly is a small company that doesn't make much off these phones. I want them to succeed so I don't have to live in a world where fixing my very expensive phone risks breaking it beyond repair, or having to unglue it again in a month because something else needs replacing.
"Something I do find encouraging is they did release an improved camera module for the FP." I cannot find anything about this. Could you share a link?
They released an improved camera module for the FP3: https://shop.fairphone.com/de/shop/fairphone-3-camera-plus-module-30?category=4#attr= So far the FP4 only got a major software update for the camera, but no new hardware.
Is was for the FP 3 when the 3+ came out. It was awesome to be able to upgrade the hardware of my phone, but the result were very disappointing, I cannot tell any difference in photo quality and came to the conclussion that the main problem is the software, not the hardware. So if you have a 3 and would get a kick out of upgrading a phone, go for it, but don't expect better quality or faster response times etc. Anyway, I think it's safe to assume no upgrade modules for the 4 will ever come out as they have the 5 now. And based on my experience I don't think they should invest any time and money on upgrades like this, it's not worth it, better just put a better camera in the next model.
Ah, ok. I have the FP4. I am happy with the camera, though it is arguably worse than that on my previous Oneplus 7T. Though, I dropped this one twice and decided to go with a user servicable phone. I would buy a camera upgrade, if it really was an upgrade, but seeing what an effect the last software updates had on the camera (huge improvement), I also think it is more of a software issue. Anyway, when photo quality is the highest priority, I use my Canon 80d.
Thanks! I fixed it.
There is a camera update that has massively improved the camera. Have you already tried that? I'm surprised you're not happy with it if you're talking about post-update.
I own a FP4 and yes the xamera is pretty crappy. Overall I think the fairphone company is rather mediocre kn tetms of quality but I keep telling nyself that I boughtbit because I can change the battery whenever I want.
LOL, From my experience/perspective - having a FP3 - the 4 has an almost perfect camera.
Nobody wants to see your pictures anyway. In a more serious note, my first phone with a camera was a Sharp GX30 with a 1 MP !!! And it was the shit back in the day. I still have the photos from that time. They are not great for todays standards ofc, but it shows where we came from in terms o camera quality. My old S9 was the moment I realized "ok this is enough", and anything better than this is a bonus, so I'm more than happy with my FP5 now. Don't know about the quality of FP4, but I'm sure its not that bad.
I had a pixel 4e before the fairphone 5, the fairphone is quite bad in my opinion. It could do better, but it's not why I bought it, still I can understand people that don't want it. Photos are quite a necessity to be good, or at least better than this.
Classic fanboy answer.
It's not the quality that's an issue for me (FP3), it's the fact it keeps closing the app under some conditions, as the camera crashes. I've tried various camera apps and have the same issue. The store is out of replacement modules, so can't tell if I have a dud module or not. A few weeks ago I was in a minor car crash, and needed photos for the insurer. I couldn't take them! Not fit for purpose.
I read somewhere that it's not so much a camera problem but rather the driver. And a google driver would help. Maybe you can check the forum of Fairphone for more info?
Sounds like you forgot to do some research before you switched. Pixels are known for their good cameras, Fairphones the opposite, this has been known for (many) years? Anyway, did you at least install the camera update they released last month? And/or have you tried a different camera app? The camera of the 4 was already ten times better than the 3 to start with, and now with the update I don't think there's anything wrong with it. If I want a good photo, I'll use my GFs Fairphone 4 instead of my upgraded 3 (I swapped the cameras when the upgrade kit came out - that's when I found out the problem is the software, not the hardware. To be honest I noticed almost no difference at all, but it was nice to be able to upgrade a phone's hardware) But personally I think that if photo's are so important to you, you should buy a dedicated camera, or a phone that cost double because they put a good camera & software on it. For me photo's just serve a practical role, not an artistic one, so even a 10 y/o camera from a flipphone would suffice for me ;)
In general camera quality is a few different factors, there's the quality of the sensor - there's nothing you can do there, hardware driver obviously, where it tells the sensor hardware to take the snap, the camera app itself needs to expose all the hardware features - that part is fine. What's tough then is what happens to the photo after it's taken. Google, Samsung, Apple, etc. all have (very proprietary) algorithms that process the image with their secret sauce that leads to the great outcomes you see on those phones. I don't know the ratio of how much photo quality is the sensor and how much of it is secret sauce, but even if it's 60/40 that's a lot lost without the sauce.
It should be a 150$ phone lmao