MPx220's Digital Camera; There Is Hope

[Kris Kumar]

Yes! There is hope. MPx220's 1.3 Mega pixel camera can shoot good pictures. The trick is you have to be patient and spend a lot of time going through the settings. You will have to take a lot of trial shots. That is what I did. I spent almost one hour playing with the camera. All the test shots were taken indoors where the camera has been known to fail miserably. Once I found the ideal settings, I was surprised that the camera could take okay pictures consistently.

http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-MPx220-TestIndoor (2) small.jpg
Picture 1: This picture was taken using Night White Balance/1x Zoom/Flash Off/Medium Brightness. Click here (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-MPx220-TestIndoor2.jpg) for the original photo.
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http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-MPx220-TestIndoor small.jpg
Picture 2: This picture was taken with the same settings as the one above. Click here (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-MPx220-TestIndoor.jpg) for the original photo.

http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-SMT5600CamPhoto small.jpg
Picture 3: This picture was taken using the Audiovox SMT5600. Click here (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-SMT5600CamPhoto.jpg) for the original photo. Originally posted in the review here. (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=42622#42622) Compare the MPx220 (Picture 2) with this one. This is where MPx220's 1.3 Mega pixel resolution becomes apparent.

MPx220 does seem to fail on the getting the colors right. But adjusting the brightness manually does seem to correct some of the color issue. I must mention that for the above pictures, I did not use any support to steady my hand. I was impressed that the Night White Balance mode resulted in good indoor shots.

Another good news, I believe I have also figured out the reason why the MPx220 takes pictures with horizontal lines, like the one below. I can consistently reproduce them on my MPx220.

http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-MPx220-TestIndoor (1) small.jpg
Picture 4: A photo with horizontal lines or banding. An example of a really bad photo taken by the MPx220.

I noticed that turning on Bluetooth caused the camera to take bad photos, like the one shown above. Turn Off Bluetooth, the camera works fine. :? I am not sure what the explanation is. The two I can think off are: memory usage and processing power. The latter being more critical. Looks when Bluetooth or some other background process/application is running and you try to take pictures, you will end up with bad photos. Maybe one of our readers can confirm my theory and this bug.

Tips For Indoor Photography Using MPx220

1.
Menu -> Settings
White Balance : Night (Automatic and other options result in blurry/snowy photos)
Resolution : 1280 x 960
Contrast : 3 (default, increasing it to 4 or 5 does seem to help)

2.
Before you click the Capture button. Keep the camera in a steady (don't worry, I don't mean rock steady :-)) position focused on the subject. This is important. You will notice on the screen that the picture in the view finder window is getting brighter. This is because the camera's sensor is adjusting to the available light. Keeping the camera focused on the subject for 3-7 seconds before clicking the Capture button, helps in getting a brighter/clearer picture.

3.
Adjust the Brightness. While holding the camera focused on the subject. Using the Left/Right buttons on the joypad, adjust the brightness.

4.
Take multiple shots of the same scene. Just like other digital cameras, it pays to take multiple shots of the same scene. With the Night White Balance setting, take maybe 3 photos. One with Brightness set to maximum, one with Brightness set to lowest, and one with a medium setting. This tip would be tricky to follow when taking group photos. ;-)

5.
The colors come out better, when the lighting is good. It does not need to be brightly lit. But turn on as many lights as you can.

6.
Don't bother with the flash. Unless you are taking a closeup shot. Like maybe for a photo id. But even then, having alternative light source helps more than the flash.

7.
Preventing Blurry Pictures is easy, all you have to do is keep the hand steady for a second or two after you have clicked the Capture button. I noticed that there is a shutter lag. When you click the capture button, you hear shutter sound, but the picture is clicked fraction of a second after the sound is heard. So if you move your hand thinking that the photo is done, you will get blurry photos or visible camera shake. So keep the hand steady for a second after the sound, ideally keep it steady till you see the clicked photo on the phone's display.


Next step: Time to get out of the house and try out some outdoor shots. ;-) Also try and see if I can get the colors right.

What do you think? Do these pictures convince you that MPx220's camera has some potential?

Update: Added a tips section. Hoping that this will work for everyone.

Update 2: Added a tip for Preventing blurry photos.

[sclui56]

Hey Kris, how about spending some of that time in the earpiece/mic area? ;)

To be totally honest, I have trouble in accepting most of the pictures taken by phone devices once I've seen what the Nokia 3650 could do. Those pictures still look like out-of-focus to me.

[maximus]

Once I found the ideal settings, I was surprised that the camera could take okay pictures consistently.

That is a good news indeed. So, what is the ideal setting ?
I will be going to singapore this weekend, and I plan to purchased an mpx220 then. Hopefully you also got the volume problem 'trobleshooted' also :)

[Kris Kumar]

Once I found the ideal settings, I was surprised that the camera could take okay pictures consistently.

That is a good news indeed. So, what is the ideal setting ?
I will be going to singapore this weekend, and I plan to purchased an mpx220 then. Hopefully you also got the volume problem 'trobleshooted' also :)

Added a Tips section to the original post. Mostly basic steps. The most critical is using Night White Balance setting and holding the phone focused on the subject for a few seconds so that the camera's sensor can adjust to the available light conditions. Clicking the Capture button right away leads to dark or very pale photos.

[Mike Temporale]

Another good news, I believe I have also figured out the reason why the MPx220 takes pictures with horizontal lines, like the one below. I can consistently reproduce them on my MPx220.

...I noticed that turning on Bluetooth caused the camera to take bad photos, like the one shown above. Turn Off Bluetooth, the camera works fine. :?

What the.... :evil: Great. This is something that the common everyday user is not going to understand. :roll:

ME: "I know your having problems with the camera. If you turn the Bluetooth off, you'll be fine."

Friend/Parent/Average User: "So 'i have to turn off Bluetooth before I take a picture?"

ME: "Yes"

Friend/Parent/Average User: "But. the camera doesn't use Bluetooth, right?"

ME: "Correct. The Bluetooth just interferes with the camera."

Friend/Parent/Average User: "I have to do this everytime?"

ME: "Yes, I'm afraid so."

Friend/Parent/Average User: "Should I also put the phone into flight mode before I try and sync using Bluetooth?"

:twisted: :cry:

[sn1p3t]

I would attribute the bluetooth mystery to battery usage too. For example, my current phone (not a smart phone), drops at least 1-2 bars of reception whenever I enter camera mode.

Good job with those pictures! If it wasn't for Amazon's great deal, I might have bought one of these :P

[Jerry Raia]

Yes I found turning off BT does fix the problem at high resolution

[lagrangeboy]

Kris, thanks for the tips! Keep'em coming.

[wi_vet_rider]

I found that on my MPX220 the camera would freak out in the phone was plugged into the power source.

Every time it was plugged in the camera would flake out, bluetooth on or not.

I have never experienced the horizontal line issue with bluetooth on as long as it wasn't plugged in.

[conflagrare4]

From an engineering standpoint, the most likely cause of the camera failing is its need for a good steady power supply and the fact that it draws a lot of power itself. Therefore, it needs a good power supply to support it.

Clues why this is so:
Plugging the phone into the wall changes the power supply line in the system.
"Every time it was plugged in the camera would flake out, bluetooth on or not."

Using a high power component (bluetooth) causes it to go crazy too
"I have never experienced the horizontal line issue with bluetooth on as long as it wasn't plugged in."

The camera is more prone to flaking out when all the sensors in the camera are used (high power consumption)
"Yes I found turning off BT does fix the problem at high resolution"

I'll bet that the camera will go haywire when trying to use it while talking on the phone too.

[Kris Kumar]

From an engineering standpoint, the most likely cause of the camera failing is its need for a good steady power supply and the fact that it draws a lot of power itself. Therefore, it needs a good power supply to support it.

Ah! The power supply. Good point.


Sorry folks I could not take any outdoor shots today. The cloudy day didn't motivate me. And I am guessing tomorrow is going to be the same. :-(

[Mike Temporale]

I'll bet that the camera will go haywire when trying to use it while talking on the phone too.

Hey Kris, Try this out! If you don't mind. Please. :)

[Kris Kumar]

I'll bet that the camera will go haywire when trying to use it while talking on the phone too.

Hey Kris, Try this out! If you don't mind. Please. :)

I was able to snap a picture without the banding problem.
- Bluetooth Off
- Voice Call in progress (tried both with speaker phone on and off). Pictures came out fine.

But I am sure that the Power and Processor are two likely candidates for the camera banding problem. The 1.3 camera must need a lot of resources: memory, power and processor, to click one photo.

I noticed that the video camera is also sluggish. I mean at times when recording the video, the phone's display is not able to keep up with the frames being recorded. :-( The recording comes out fine (there is no slow down in frames during playback). The quality however is material for another story or post. :-)

[maximus]

If you have to choose between the mpx220 and e680 (linux .. not symbian), which one will you choose ?

[Kris Kumar]

It's an easy decision for me: MPx220 (even with its problems) because of the OS. I don't think at my age I want to learn Linux programming. One platform is good enough. :lol: ;-)

Jokes apart: I don't know much about the E680. So can't make a really informed decision. But here are the few things..
- The phone is bigger than MPx220 (And I consider MPx220 big, because the C500/SMT5600 have set a new size benchmark).
- Touch Screen; Don't mind if the touch screen was in a clam shell design. I won't feel comfortable carrying E680 in my pocket.
- Also the device seems to be aimed for gamers and media lovers. I am neither. I am more of an enterprise user, use my device as a productivity enhancer foremost and then maybe as a fun tool.

[Kris Kumar]

Figured out why we get the ocassional blurry photos or photos with camera shake.

Its because the camera clicks the photo after you hear the sound that sounds like shutter click. The camera clicks the photo a fraction of a second after you click the Capture button. Which is good because, if it were to click the photo when the button is clicked then you will get more shake. This way the phone gives the hand the time to settle down. Good thinking Moto!

Added the following to the above post:
Preventing Blurry Pictures is easy, all you have to do is keep the hand steady for a second or two after you have clicked the Capture button. I noticed that there is a shutter lag. When you click the capture button, you hear shutter sound, but the picture is clicked fraction of a second after the sound is heard. So if you move your hand thinking that the photo is done, you will get blurry photos or visible camera shake. So keep the hand steady for a second after the sound, ideally keep it steady till you see the clicked photo on the phone's display.

[Jerry Raia]

This would almost make the sound essential so you would know when to hold your breath :scrambleup: