Does the Storm Camera Suck?? Or is it just me??

[delriojed]

I agree. The camera sucks so bad it is essentially useless. Forget ever trying to take a picture of your children with it.

[yehudahleib]

The picture quality is okay, but the delay is just stupid. I turned off autostabilization and the autoflash, and resized the pix to 640x480. I took a few pictures, no real difference.

Overall it isn't a big deal to me. I'm sure that RIM has received enough negative fb and will address the camera drivers in a subsequent OS or patch release.

[Big Dawg 23]

The Camera works fine for me. If you want a high quality Camera get a real one the point of the camera is for quick shots not to be a permanent replacement for a regular camera.

[boravr6]

I thought the camera lag was insane as well.

But turning the flash from automatic to off, and the stabilization off shaves a few seconds off! from 5-6 seconds from press the button to a view to 2-3 seconds

[DrJazz]

Big time camera lag for me too. I will try the tip of turning off the stabilization and flash - but even so I hope they address this with a future OS update.

[Maliberti]

Originally Posted by Sosai X

Turn off the flash and image stabilization - the image stabilization is what takes forever, and the Storm actually takes better photos without the flah anyway.

Ok, this actually got rid of the lag.
I left the flash on auto but turning off the stabilization increased the speed .
Thanks for the tip.

[priv8investig8r]

Originally Posted by Big Dawg 23

The Camera works fine for me. If you want a high quality Camera get a real one the point of the camera is for quick shots not to be a permanent replacement for a regular camera.

Although I agree with you that the Storm's camera was not intended to be a "replacement for a regular camera," if the "point of the camera is for quick shots," then the camera should be able to do just that, which it cannot do in its current state.

[2Krunk]

I turned off the flash and the image stabilization. Turned the picture quality down to normal and changed the picture size to small. Now it is an acceptable camera... I guess.... If I can get my video to not lock the phone up then maybe, I can give RIM a passing gade but for now, they definitely need to do some patching.

[ChuckH0308]

Originally Posted by davidlw

Yes the delay is terrible. I have been into photography for 30 years and really need to have a camera shoot when I press the shutter button not 2 seconds after you have missed the shot. Other than that I love the Storm.

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're "into" photograpy why would you even be using a phone camera? I have two digital cameras...one is big and one is similar in size to the Storm. If I want good pictures but don't want to carry the big camera then I grab my compact digital. The camera on any phone I've had was only for silly stuff.

But, I agree, the time after you push the button is pathetic. It took me awhile to get used to pushing the button and then hanging around for awhile until it actually took the picture. I don't mind the time it takes to focus, but once I push the shutter button I expect the picture to be taken...at that moment...not three seconds later.

Now, that's annoying, but I have a bigger problem with the camera. That is that the camera takes all my photos in different resulutions. I have it set for 2048x1536, but it only takes the pictures at that resolution sometimes. I'll take a series of pictures and some of them will be 2048x1536, some will be 1024x768, and some will be 640x480, and I never touched the settings. It's weird!

All said an done though, the camera isn't an important feature for me and like I said, the pictures I take with the phone aren't anything important, so neither problem is the end of the world for me. It's just annoying.

[rwhitney]

Originally Posted by SlimJimTight

mines lag. takes 5-7 secs for auto-fucos + camera shutter sound. and another 1/2-1 second to display the photo.

I often experience the same as the above poster - the video cam on the other hand works great (I would have thought video would have more problems then the camera...?)

[priv8investig8r]

Originally Posted by ChuckH0308

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're "into" photograpy why would you even be using a phone camera? I have two digital cameras...one is big and one is similar in size to the Storm. If I want good pictures but don't want to carry the big camera then I grab my compact digital. The camera on any phone I've had was only for silly stuff.

I agree. I've been doing photography since the 70s, and a cell cam is not intended for "real" photography.

Originally Posted by ChuckH0308

But, I agree, the time after you push the button is pathetic. It took me awhile to get used to pushing the button and then hanging around for awhile until it actually took the picture. I don't mind the time it takes to focus, but once I push the shutter button I expect the picture to be taken...at that moment...not three seconds later.

I agree with this as well. (although some have stated that the photo is taken at the time the shutter is pressed rather than when the sound is emitted)

Originally Posted by ChuckH0308

Now, that's annoying, but I have a bigger problem with the camera. That is that the camera takes all my photos in different resulutions. I have it set for 2048x1536, but it only takes the pictures at that resolution sometimes. I'll take a series of pictures and some of them will be 2048x1536, some will be 1024x768, and some will be 640x480, and I never touched the settings. It's weird!

I haven't noticed this. I will have to test it out.

Originally Posted by ChuckH0308

All said an done though, the camera isn't an important feature for me and like I said, the pictures I take with the phone aren't anything important, so neither problem is the end of the world for me. It's just annoying.

Yeah, it's not really very important to me either. I just don't like false claims about product features. Hopefully, as others have stated, RIM will fix these camera problems via patches (if possible).

[Evil Sports]

Yes the camera sucks for everyone, and sooks is full of shizzle

[CSI Guy]

Chuck
I do use one of the many other Canon Digital cameras that I own and every camera that I have ever used always shot the picture when the shutter is pressed. I have been a professional photographer for 25 years and a Crime Scene Photographer for as long. The issue is not the quality that the the Storm is able to shoot, it is the shutter lag. With this amount of shutter lag, you miss the entire shot that you want. The 3.5 meg camera will shoot good enough photos for 4x6 prints and online stuff but if the shutter lags you miss the shots. I just use it for grab shots and my Canons for important photography.

[priv8investig8r]

Originally Posted by davidlw

Chuck
I do use one of the many other Canon Digital cameras that I own and every camera that I have ever used always shot the picture when the shutter is pressed. I have been a professional photographer for 25 years and a Crime Scene Photographer for as long. The issue is not the quality that the the Storm is able to shoot, it is the shutter lag. With this amount of shutter lag, you miss the entire shot that you want. The 3.5 meg camera will shoot good enough photos for 4x6 prints and online stuff but if the shutter lags you miss the shots. I just use it for grab shots and my Canons for important photography.

Exactly, press shutter release, exposure should occur.

[Evil Sports]

The lag is the problem, the question is what is the solution, hopefully there is one.