Help with Samsung Galaxy Ace

zaksmum

O/H got a Samsung Galaxy Ace for Christmas but isn't happy about the quality (lack of!) with indoor/outdoor night time photos. I have the same phone and hadn't tried to take night time photos till now, but on checking, mine is exactly the same.

The picture will be predominantly red with the actual subject almost impossible to make out. We've tried using night time and indoors screen mode but it's far from acceptable quality.

There's no user guide with the phone, just a sketchy set up guide that tells you very little.

What are we doing wrong?

ariba10

If you Google "Galaxy Ace Manual PDF" you will get a 138 Page instruction manual.
(Cannot post a link off this instrument)

grumbler

I guess the same manual can be found on the SD card in the phone.

That said, you cannot expect from a cheap mobile to take reasonably good photos in the dark without a flash - mainly because the sensor and the lens are far too small for catching sufficient amount of light in such conditions.

zaksmum

grumbler wrote: »

I guess the same manual can be found on the SD card in the phone.

That said, you cannot expect from a cheap mobile to take reasonably good photos in the dark without a flash - mainly because the sensor and the lens are far too small for catching sufficient amount of light in such conditions.

It does have a flash!

grumbler

This 'flash' is very 'short-acting'

zaksmum

grumbler wrote: »

This 'flash' is very 'short-acting'

So is that what's causing the problem then? Because the phone advertising says the phone takes great photos with a 5MP Camera and I need it to be reasonably good for this purpose

DUTR

zaksmum wrote: »

So is that what's causing the problem then? Because the phone advertising says the phone takes great photos with a 5MP Camera and I need it to be reasonably good for this purpose

It may take great daytime pics, but as you have discovered led flash/light or not, indoor /dusk pictures won't cut the mustard.

zaksmum

DUTR wrote: »

It may take great daytime pics, but as you have discovered led flash/light or not, indoor /dusk pictures won't cut the mustard.

Thanks DUTR. Is there anything I can do to improve matters? When I first got it, I did take a couple of good photos indoors at night so can't understand why I cannot now do so.

DUTR

zaksmum wrote: »

Thanks DUTR. Is there anything I can do to improve matters? When I first got it, I did take a couple of good photos indoors at night so can't understand why I cannot now do so.

It can only be the settings, or you have contaminents on the lens, my handset takes great pics, but the one time I required it to do a portrait pic (once opportunity) I had the settings set incorrectly and missed the chance for a good shot, I have set it back to auto as most the time it will suffice.
Let me get some night pics with my handset for you.

DUTR

All taken on the fly, the orange hue will be because of the street lighting, the noise...well that would appear also on iso1600 film.

zaksmum

Thanks DUTR...all seems very complicated to a technophobe like me though.

The pictures are mostly good considering you took them with a mobile phone...is that what you mean by handset?