15 replies to this topic

[billybiro]

I'm really keen to hear about the quality of the camera and LED flash on the new Monte Carlo.

Lots of people are saying that they don't think that the new Monte Carlo is much of an upgrade over the Blade/SanFran, and that's maybe true, but if you can get hold of an MC for around £130-140 (that may perhaps include some discount), then that could be well worth upgrading from the Blade just for a better camera alone (if it is good).

The Blade/San Francisco was a super all-round device for the price, but arguably, it's most lacking feature was the poor camera with no flash.  Sure the pictures were okay outside in bright daylight, but anything less than perfect lighting conditions and the pictures were frankly awful.

I'd be really interested to see a review of the MC that focuses on this aspect of the phone, as although other areas aren't much of a step up from the blade offering, the camera seems to be an area where ZTE have improved a fair bit.

So, if the camera is quite good, then we've effectively got the device that perhaps the blade should have been in the first place for not much more than what we all probably paid for our blades.  If the camera is good, I'll probably upgrade my blade to a skate/MC.
(And if they'd have just put an ARMv7 in there too, I'd buy one straight away without waiting for the review! )

Edited by billybiro, 09 August 2011 - 10:47 AM.

[lordjubblydave]

Pretty good in my opinion.
Takes decent enough phone snaps.
Miles better than the blades camera IMO

[putbinoot]

Will try and take some pics with it and put here through the day.
Pics by Monte Carlo

Edited by putbinoot, 09 August 2011 - 12:33 PM.

[todoleo]

The camera is definitely better than the one on the ZTE Blade. Flash is good but can whiten the image too much at close range.

[billybiro]

putbinoot, on 09 August 2011 - 12:33 PM, said:

Will try and take some pics with it and put here through the day.
Pics by Monte Carlo

Many thanks for posting these.   They do look quite good quality pictures!

[Roph]

Try using lgcamera, one thing guaranteed is that you'll be able to surpass the 640x480 and go for 800x480.

I'm just wondering if the extra mhz is enough to squeeze 1280x720 out of it. Maybe by using standard mpeg4 video instead of h264, or variable framerate.

[atillaahun]

I would also be pretty interested in a lgcamera video recording - if someone would mind to shoot.

Edited by atillaahun, 10 August 2011 - 04:06 PM.

[MrPuddington]

putbinoot, on 09 August 2011 - 12:33 PM, said:

Will try and take some pics with it and put here through the day.
Pics by Monte Carlo

Thanks for posting those - so everybody can judge whether they are happy with the quality.

Personally I am a bit disappointed.  I had a 3 MP camera years ago that made much better pictures.  These are lacking in pretty much all areas: no texture in the highlights or shadows, lack of sharpness and signs of over-sharpening, color fringing... it is just not nice to look at.  The usual web size (640x480) is not looking too bad on the sharpness side, but the other areas are still lacking.

I guess it is only fitting that the Skate is a disappointment all around.  I'll consider it again once it costs under 100 pounds.

[tillaz]

lgcamera app dose not work at 800x480 it records but playes back in green and all split up n that hard to explain really.
im guessing this is to do with gingerbread as it did not work on the blade gingerbread roms.
i also tried qik vid app that also lets you recorded in 800x480 but again the same problem.

EDIT: pudding camera is a great app for taking pics with  this phone they look mutch better
than stock and you can take pics in full screen size from the options making them full screen in the stock android gallery.

Edited by tillaz, 19 August 2011 - 03:12 AM.

[Roph]

Would like to see some 5mp images

[Professor Frink]

It's not up to much. I don't mean that as a comparison with other phone cameras but as a digital camera in it's own right. Photographically it is an instrument of last resort and will get used as rarely as all other phone cameras that I have had. Compare the optics and sensor size with even half decent point and shoot digital camera of eight to ten years ago and you will see why you will never get decent performance out of any phone camera. They are too compromised by the need for miniaturisation and simplicity.

Sorry for the rant.  

[Phoenix Silver]

Should be interesting to compare the same photo taken by the blade and by the skate

[den169]

The monte carlo camera is a lot better than the san fran,But thats not saying much as the san fran camera was absolute rubbish the monte carlo is not bad outside crap indoors.

[tillaz]

any one noticed that you cant use the flash as a light when recording and that no flashlight apps work with it ether? or is it just my phone lol.

[TouchyAndalou]

tillaz, on 21 August 2011 - 03:33 PM, said:

any one noticed that you cant use the flash as a light when recording and that no flashlight apps work with it ether? or is it just my phone lol.

That's a shame, hopefully this can be addressed in custom roms down the line.

[TouchyAndalou]

tillaz, on 21 August 2011 - 03:33 PM, said:

any one noticed that you cant use the flash as a light when recording...

Can anybody else confirm that this is definitely the case? It seems like a pretty stupid oversight on ZTE's part. I mean that's part of the idea of having a flash.

Edited by TouchyAndalou, 27 August 2011 - 05:30 PM.