Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Can someone explain why the N900 image size is so small? I mean, a photo I just took only came out to be 700kb. Compared to what I'm used to seeing for a digital camera, or even my last phone, this is rather... small.

Kieron

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Digi cams usually store in raw format. Most mobiles will convert that raw to the best quality jpeg/jpg it could muster given the programming requirements.

By rule and format, jpg is a great deal smaller than raw. Unless you are planning to use your N900's images for something other than11x17 posterboards, then the size shoudln't matter ;)

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

There's some interesting disussion on this in this thread. In short, the JPEG compression is set fairly high, and it appears that the noise reduction may be stripping a lot of detail so turning it down doesn't seem to help much.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Just looks a little grainy(er) or something - i dont know, hard to explain. Thought it might be related. Looks pretty good though, for a phone:

http://i46.tinypic.com/2lkb4i1.jpg

taken on my desk a few minutes ago of a buzz i have lying around!

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

That pic is still very good. Quality is like the N95. Typical 5MegaPixel Camera

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Is there a way to output RAW directly without automatic conversion to JPEG? Might be useful if one wanted to compress it with PNG, for example.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Have you ever wondered as to why your dedicated digital camera has such crappy cell phone reception?

Look, the N900 is a "do it all" device. As such, it will never exceed at one thing. It will, however, do everything it's designed to do, well.

As such, you can't expect 54Mb/s WiFi speeds, full sized 101key keyboard, 34" display, or a camera that will outshine a dedicated 5MP digital camera. It takes decent pictures, but don't expect a cell phone to replace DSLR quality anytime soon.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

image is highly compressed - so you wont notice the bad quality of the sensor....

:-)

No sorry - but most cheap 5 mpix pocket cams takes far better pictures. So lets vote for a less degrading jpg format - or at least a choice between 2-3 different jpg compressions (ok, fine and superfine?)

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

haha - the 5mpix does not even come close to most 5mpix pocket cams which is is meant to compete with. My Fuji 6mpix FD31 blasts the N900 camera out of the way in picture quality. My wifes old Panasonic 5 mpix - takes far better pictures. (3,5 years old)

I would rather have a 2 or 3 mpix in better quality than the junk sensors they put in now.

Best regards

Kasper
D700/D3/Fuji FD31

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

I didn't ask for a rant, nor did I state that I want the n900 to have a 101 key keyboard.

Thank you for your contribution. (enter sarcasm here)

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

A rant? So, if someone has a comment you don't like, you call it a rant?

Let me call the waaaambulance for you.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

There's always that one Guy. The one that's a ******.

That one is you.

Now please leave. :)

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Check if you are using the "widescreen resolution". If do, try changing to "High resolution".
Can be found from capture settings (the monkey wrench icon) or from bottom left corner.

//Laiska

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Nope, I'm already set to that. Thanks for trying though. :)

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

that buzz picture was terrible. there has to be a way to get better image quality. this is why i still use my n95 for picture taking.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Does the N900 have compression control settings that can be altered?

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

not yet...

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Nah. I'd rather stick around to annoy you. Much more fun that way.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Grow up mate. You're not funny.

Bit disappointed personally with the camera on the N900. Got a 4 year old 5MP Camera that is better quality. Wasn't expecting professional quality snaps, but a bit clearer than the ones I got from taking some today

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

My experience is that n900 camera will take extremely good photos if the light is good. If not, then you get something grainy. The flash is badly affected by the chrome surround, and not good at all. But on a clear sunny day, you can get a decent shot.

http://www.revdkathy.co.uk/maemo/berries.jpg

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

The N900 camera is no where near in terms of quality as the N95s although they both have 5mp sensors. Trust me, i have both on hand and i've done some tests. As the OP has already noticed, there is alot more grain in the N900 photos when compared to the N95's or even a standalone camera. I'm hoping to compile a post with image comparisons and videos between the two whenever I'm done with finals.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Did you have it zoomed in? Once you get into the digital zoom you will loose resolution

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

While we're talking about images, is there a way to timestamp images as I need a time and date on photos for work purposes??

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

a couple of different options for compression wouldn't go amiss.

Can someome tell me this; in the photo browser app, how do you zoom in and out? i tried the spirals that work in the web browser but it doesnt seem to work with the photo/image brower...

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

use the volume buttons

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

The N900 is NOT a camera, it is a cell phone. I mean it's NOT a phone, it's a pocket computer. It's meant to bring xterm to the masses. :p

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

He was trying to illustrate a point, taking everything but the point out of his post would look like this.

"The N900's camera isn't fantastic, but it can't be expected to be."

700k isn't so bad for an image anyway.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

ah, that does the trick, thanks!

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

In that case, I wouldn't mind a command line only camera application :p

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

yes plus geotagging and cloud tagging

see nice samples here, in well lit scenes the camera is excellent. Low light on par for camera phone with LED Flash

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ubergiz...n/photostream/

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

That way, you could choose how big you want the photo to be to the pixel, set zoom down to the percent, and set the delay you want from when you hit enter until the photo snaps down to the fraction of a second. Who wouldn't want that?

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

It's a good thing I'm not here to entertain you then, isn't it?... mate?


At least someone has enough brainpower to understand my point. Thank you.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Camera quality is what it is and that's ok. I think what most people here want is the ability to save raw image data, some lossless format and/or very low compression jpg.

It's much more effective (for better end quality) to do noise reduction using external image manipulation program and also requires less from the device (no need to compress). Some people also rather have noise than artifacts and blurriness in their photos.

Having a choice to save in different formats/compression levels can only be a good thing.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Nope, macro, closeup, with a lamp pointed. No flash either. :)

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

I can confirm.

The N95 camera is even better than the N900 camera. Booth are 5MP. The Files from the N95 are bigger. And the Pictures of moving objects blurres not as fast as the pictures from the N900.

Edit:
Have somebody tested this: Edit the Config file of the Cameraapplication

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

Listening to people crap on about MP in cameras always reminds me of a mate who sold high end Audio equipment - when people would ask how many watts a speaker was he would always reply "How many would you like". The basic idea being that watts != good.

Megapixels in a camera will only get you so far more important are the aperture and the lens as well as the sensor size of the digital camera. So while your "old crappy camera" may have less pixels - it may very well take better photos because of a better combination of the above.MOST phone cameras have a very small sensor and this results in the bad image quality you see in low light.

Now its also important to remember that despite cameras being "point and click" a modicum of intelligence is required when taking pictures. Where the light source is, is a very important consideration. Since the camera is for the most part trying to detect what settings it should use (exposure etc) having a subject with a strong backlight is going to result in dark images as the camera tries to compensate for the light levels behind.

I strongly suggest people read

http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/

and

http://digital-photography-school.co...a-camera-phone

Lastly - it is in fact possible to decrease the compression of images taken on the N900 as per the config file. YOU MUST HOWEVER RESTART THE CAMERA DAEMON AFTER THE CHANGE.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

"Lastly - it is in fact possible to decrease the compression of images taken on the N900 as per the config file. YOU MUST HOWEVER RESTART THE CAMERA DAEMON AFTER THE CHANGE. "

Sorry if I missed this on the previous pages. Can you please explain where that config file is? I also am interested in less aggressive JPG compression.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

It seems to me this isn't so much a hardware limitation as software is it? As many have said, the software defaults to saving the image in a lossy jpg format with very little configuration on quality-control.. but the camera itself is probably capable of a much higher quality...

Meaning that really we just need a software capable of dealing with the Camera directly and dumping it out... I assume, however, that like the N810, the camera drivers and stuff are closed source?

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33420

Read that thread.

And as I said this is most likely NOT a software related issue, there is only so much that can be done in software (if I get another idiot emailing me about my camera app in Android not having a flash - Like I can code a goddamn flash into your phone when it doesnt have one - I may lose my mind). There may be tweaks that can be applied via software, image format and compression etc. But ultimately we are talking about a small aperture and most likely a small sensor as well. Remember this is a PHONE - the camera part is a small component in an otherwise large set of them. Comparing it to a dedicated camera etc is pointless.

Re: Why is the N900 image size so small?
 

I understand perfectly that a flash is not software related... that baffles me that people were emailing you to code a flash????

However, as you just specified.. the software can control compression ratio and image formatting. So an option to save taken images in Raw, PNG, JPG, or X percent compression are all software related requests.. are they not?

And I would never expect a phone to take the same quality picture as an actual camera. But a lot of the complaints in this thread seem not related to hardware capabilities, but file-sizes and compression ratios.. which seem software related to me.

Now, I have neither the N900 nor an N95 or any N** device.. but I see people saying the N**'s camera is better than the N900's camera.. If these comparisons are being made simply because of end-result images that they are looking at side by side.. this could very well be in how the N** software saves it's images vs the N900's. Unless someone has the actual hardware capabilities spec sheets of both cameras to compare side-by-side, as you pointed out, using more than just "5MP == 5MP" which is incorrect.