[skilas]

So Christmas is coming up. And I've been spending the last couple weeks going through the last 2 years of photos taken with my Motion to find the gems I want to print for family. In an ideal world, I would have done this monthly, and set aside the few good ones for future printing. But life doesn't normally give you that much free time... So I'm rushing to do it now. One thing this lets me do however, is give me a good overall impression of how this camera handled. And considering I took 29,000+ photos with it, I feel comfortable forming an opinion.

Quick take away: It does well in good lighting. The rest of the time, not so much.

I spent most of my time taking photos that could be grouped into 3 categories: photos of my kids, photos of stuff for record purposes, photos while shopping.

Photos of my stuff and photos while shopping benefited from a simple fact. My subjects did not move. So photos turned out ok. And I didn't generally care about quality. As long as the photo was clear.

But the bulk of my photos were of my kids. And this is where the camera suffered. Because when so many of those photos were at home, inside, with less than ideal lighting; the majority of my photos were blurry. Especially when your subjects are two young kids that can't quite sit still. Granted that I'm sure most cameras would suffer under these conditions, but I'm not trying to compare this to any other device. I just want to say how I feel about it after scrolling by photo, after photo, after photo of blurriness. Admittedly, it's often not noticeable when reviewing the photo on my phone right after taking the photo. But now that I'm sitting at my desk, with it blown up on my screen, it's very noticeable. Especially when I get to an outdoor shot, and the crispness of the photo is jarring compared to the indoor one I was just looking at.

The white balance is also below average. So, often I tried adjusting it manually. There were some presets on the device itself, for shooting outdoor, or with indoor light, or with florescent shopping store lighting, etc. Unfortunately, the best would often be somewhere in between. I find I have many photos where I would start with the automatic setting, find it too washed out, then adjust it to the indoor lighting present, and find everything too yellow-ie, and try a few more options that way. In the end, I would have a pair of photos, only wishing I could get something in between.

But at least outdoors tended to be good. And obviously, this was a good step up from my Z30 as a camera. In the end, I could have always used a real camera if I was really worried about quality. But as the saying goes: "the best camera is the camera you have with you". So even though I'm slightly disappointed by how many photos I'm just skipping over because the quality is lacking, I'm generally happy that at least I have some sort of photo for so many important or fun moments in my life. And look forward to cameras in phones improving with every generation.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

So Christmas is coming up. And I've been spending the last couple weeks going through the last 2 years of photos taken with my Motion to find the gems I want to print for family. In an ideal world, I would have done this monthly, and set aside the few good ones for future printing. But life doesn't normally give you that much free time... So I'm rushing to do it now. One thing this lets me do however, is give me a good overall impression of how this camera handled. And considering I took 29,000+ photos with it, I feel comfortable forming an opinion.

Quick take away: It does well in good lighting. The rest of the time, not so much.

I spent most of my time taking photos that could be grouped into 3 categories: photos of my kids, photos of stuff for record purposes, photos while shopping.

Photos of my stuff and photos while shopping benefited from a simple fact. My subjects did not move. So photos turned out ok. And I didn't generally care about quality. As long as the photo was clear.

But the bulk of my photos were of my kids. And this is where the camera suffered. Because when so many of those photos were at home, inside, with less than ideal lighting; the majority of my photos were blurry. Especially when your subjects are two young kids that can't quite sit still. Granted that I'm sure most cameras would suffer under these conditions, but I'm not trying to compare this to any other device. I just want to say how I feel about it after scrolling by photo, after photo, after photo of blurriness. Admittedly, it's often not noticeable when reviewing the photo on my phone right after taking the photo. But now that I'm sitting at my desk, with it blown up on my screen, it's very noticeable. Especially when I get to an outdoor shot, and the crispness of the photo is jarring compared to the indoor one I was just looking at.

The white balance is also below average. So, often I tried adjusting it manually. There were some presets on the device itself, for shooting outdoor, or with indoor light, or with florescent shopping store lighting, etc. Unfortunately, the best would often be somewhere in between. I find I have many photos where I would start with the automatic setting, find it too washed out, then adjust it to the indoor lighting present, and find everything too yellow-ie, and try a few more options that way. In the end, I would have a pair of photos, only wishing I could get something in between.

But at least outdoors tended to be good. And obviously, this was a good set up from my Z30 as a camera. In the end, I could have always used a real camera if I was really worried about quality. But as the saying goes: "the best camera is the camera you have with you". So even though I'm slightly disappointed by how many photos I'm just skipping over because the quality is lacking, I'm generally happy that at least I have some sort of photo for so many important or fun moments in my life. And look forward to cameras in phones improving with every generation.

I just did much the same.... Have photos going back to the Z10, Droid Turbo 2, Samsung S7 and now a iPhone XS. You can see the improvement in the photos over the years. Especially in lower lighting like indoors...

[Elky64]

Quick take away: It does well in good lighting. The rest of the time, not so much.

If you were talking KEYone I'd agree "well" is a good term but definitely no for the Motion, IMO. Zooming in ever so slightly on Motion's photos starts to degrade detail/sharpness in most instances... Was just going through my photos from phones I've owned far back as 2013 and the Motion, from my view, was the bottom feeder.

[branflakes]

Coming from a phone history of Curve 8310, Torch 9800, 9810, Z10, PRIV, and Motion...I now have a Pixel 3. One of the reasons I got the Pixel about 3 weeks ago was storage on the Motion (the 32GB was a problem) and the camera. There is a world of difference between the camera on the Motion and the Pixel 3. The Motion doesn't take good pics, unless there's perfect lighting. I loved my Motion and did not want to move away from BlackBerry, but, it's night and day with the Pixel, camera-wise. I think my PRIV took better pics than my Motion.

I needed a better camera for my art business, but also wanted a better camera for personal pics. It's so nice to have good photos with friends, of my dog, and shots of nature when I'm out and about.

I hope whatever the next phone from BlackBerry is, a great camera is part of it.

[Chuck Finley69]

Coming from a phone history of Curve 8310, Torch 9800, 9810, Z10, PRIV, and Motion...I now have a Pixel 3. One of the reasons I got the Pixel about 3 weeks ago was storage on the Motion (the 32GB was a problem) and the camera. There is a world of difference between the camera on the Motion and the Pixel 3. The Motion doesn't take good pics, unless there's perfect lighting. I loved my Motion and did not want to move away from BlackBerry, but, it's night and day with the Pixel, camera-wise. I think my PRIV took better pics than my Motion.

I needed a better camera for my art business, but also wanted a better camera for personal pics. It's so nice to have good photos with friends, of my dog, and shots of nature when I'm out and about.

I hope whatever the next phone from BlackBerry is, a great camera is part of it.

What is this next BlackBerry Mobile phone that you speak of?

[branflakes]

What is this next BlackBerry Mobile phone that you speak of?

I'm not aware of one. It's the reason I had to move to another brand. I don't want a physical keyboard anymore (the Z10 was so awesome and had me fall in love with the VKB), and even if I did, the camera on the Key2 and Key2 LE are not what I needed.

I hope TCL, or someone, continues making BlackBerry phones. Especially a slab one. I'd love to come back to the brand, if the specs are in flagship range and it has the things that always made BB great. But, I don't know when/if that will happen.

[Chuck Finley69]

I'm not aware of one. It's the reason I had to move to another brand. I don't want a physical keyboard anymore (the Z10 was so awesome and had me fall in love with the VKB), and even if I did, the camera on the Key2 and Key2 LE are not what I needed.

I hope TCL, or someone, continues making BlackBerry phones. Especially a slab one. I'd love to come back to the brand, if the specs are in flagship range and it has the things that always made BB great. But, I don't know when/if that will happen.

You’ll see a TCL phone as they’re already now available in the USA in entry level form. Next steps will be mid-tier and possibly flagships depending on carrier acceptance with the necessary sales and support.

[branflakes]

You’ll see a TCL phone as they’re already now available in the USA in entry level form. Next steps will be mid-tier and possibly flagships depending on carrier acceptance with the necessary sales and support.

I read about those and will keep an eye on them as mid-tier and flagships emerge. I meant more of a "will they continue the BlackBerry Mobile label". Will be interesting to see how that does (or doesn't) pan out.

I'm just glad the BB apps are available on the Play store and there was a way to get the BB VKB.

[Chuck Finley69]

I read about those and will keep an eye on them as mid-tier and flagships emerge. I meant more of a "will they continue the BlackBerry Mobile label". Will be interesting to see how that does (or doesn't) pan out.

I'm just glad the BB apps are available on the Play store and there was a way to get the BB VKB.

Unfortunately, I think we’re at the end of the road for everything consumer BB and BBMo as everything winds down. I’m hanging out with the Key2 crowd in spirit only as my XR has nothing BB or BBMo possible. The KEYones are gimped until further notice.

[branflakes]

Unfortunately, I think we’re at the end of the road for everything consumer BB and BBMo as everything winds down. I’m hanging out with the Key2 crowd in spirit only as my XR has nothing BB or BBMo possible. The KEYones are gimped until further notice.

Yeah, that's my fear, too, that the Key2 and LE are the end of the road from an actual phone standpoint.

Love it here at CrackBerry so still hanging around.

[skilas]

If you were talking KEYone I'd agree "well" is a good term but definitely no for the Motion, IMO. Zooming in ever so slightly on Motion's photos starts to degrade detail/sharpness in most instances... Was just going through my photos from phones I've owned far back as 2013 and the Motion, from my view, was the bottom feeder.

That's one thing I try to never do, is zoom in. I rarely find the digital zoom to be good. So I've gotten used to not doing it. Rather take a photo further away, and then zoom in on the digital photo. Or literally move closer. haha

[Elky64]

That's one thing I try to never do, is zoom in. I rarely find the digital zoom to be good. So I've gotten used to not doing it. Rather take a photo further away, and then zoom in on the digital photo. Or literally move closer. haha

Was actually referring to Motion's postshots not preshots.

[skilas]

Was actually referring to Motion's postshots not preshots.

Ah, I see. Yes, I can see that too. In daytime I find a normal shots gets some decent data, but anywhere with less than ideal lighting, it degrades right away.


As an update to this thread, I still use my Motion (and its camera) all the time. But only for "record" photos. I do this for a few reasons.
First is the storage space on my Pixel 3. With no expandable space, I rely on cloud backups. And after 6 months, I expect to have to remove the high quality photos of the device to make room for more photos. 64GB is just ridiculous.
Second, I would like to keep "record" photos off my primary device. These are photos I only take because I MAY need them one day. Boxes I'm about to throw out showing model and barcode. The back of my computers to see the inputs. A flyer for something I'm interested in, but may never act on. So a second phone that syncs to Google Photos is helpful.
Thirdly, I can leave it in a central spot in my house. My Pixel has a worse battery than the Motion, so I do end up charging it more. Meaning it's not always on me. A spare device is handy for that.