The Jolla Phone 2 pictures comparison thread

[ric9k]

We saw JP2 pictures here and there, with different results, comments and conclusions (Rather good generally).
Many/some users seem not to care too much, as they also use real, good cameras to make ‘real’ pictures.
So did I.
But I admit the real cameras, film and digital, have been beaten by my phones, which are always here when I need them (and some other factors…).

So, I’m now very interested and exited to know how the JP2 camera will behave/render.
I’d love to see comparison pictures between the JP2 and other SFOS devices.

I’m personally more interested by what we can do natively.
But why not also checking what pictures can be done in AAS (which can offer access to Camera2 through Open Camera, btw), it it is your usage.

TL;DR
Post here your pictures comparisons between JP2 and other SFOS devices.
Please pay attention to set similar exposure and framing.

[vishcompany]

I would like to expand this with non-SFOS phones, at least I will do so with this post.
(If this is not welcome, I can delete and repost as a thread on it’s own. I also know, there is a “box” function for fotos; if anybody gives a hint, I will edit)

The intent is to give an impression, how other camera apps handle exposure, white balance, contrast, micro-contrast, sharpening, etc. Also in order to give @Jolla some inspiration, how to further develop their own camera app.

So I have taken a longish walk last Sunday, with the purpose of getting an idea, how different the phones at hand compare to each other. They were all put to 4:3, max resolution, standard mode; the only manipulation of the exposure was tapping at the lighter area, in order to “expose to the right” - if possible. The FP6 and X23 allow this, the JP2 did not react noticeably.

No post processing, I did reduce the resolution, though, as the files ware crazy big with no noteworthy detail.

The following devices were used:
FP6 - e/OS - Fairphone camera app v8.00.01.0011.2.0
JP2 - SFOS - advanced camera app 0.9.8-1.4.1.bso
Volla X23 - Ubuntu Touch (24.04-1.3) - stock camera app 4.1.1

Handling and feel:
FP6: is the fastest of the bunch. It just snaps into focus, on touching the trigger it takes the foto instantly.
JP2: Pretty good contender. Slight delay, but very capable in quickly grabbing a scene.
X23: A little slow in finding focus, but the delay from pressing the trigger to actually taking the foto takes ages (+/- 0.8 sec.) If you are around kids or animals, you will miss a lot of candid shots. I guess, this is mostly due to the weak CPU of the device.

About exposure & colours:
The FP6 tends to overexpose (even if you nudge it to ETTR) and adds a yellow-green hue.
The JP2 tends to balance out big contrasts and rather would give up some highlights, in order to save some low lights. It quickly goes down to 1/30 exposure time even in bright scenes, so camera shake is a big issue. It adds a blueish-green hue.
The X23 shots come closest to what I “saw” (or actually, what I wanted to see later in the foto)

About lens, bokeh, etc… Just have a look

[ric9k]

Much appreciated, thank you very much.

[PolatBirdal]

Hello, I think there’s a reason why the JP26 takes photos more slowly compared to many other phones.

The reason is that cameras like the iPhone’s generally start continuously capturing frames as soon as you open the camera app, even before you actually take a photo. In normal daylight, for example, they may already be refreshing and capturing around 4–5 frames per second in the background. So when you press the shutter button on an iPhone, it doesn’t simply take a single photo at that exact moment. Instead, it can combine several frames captured around that moment — including frames from just before and when you pressed the shutter — to produce the final image more quickly and with more detail.

In Night Mode, this can even increase to around 10 frames. That’s why, if you notice, taking a Night Mode photo on an iPhone makes you wait a little longer while the image is being captured and processed.

So, in short, I’m pretty sure the Jolla Phone 2026 doesn’t have this kind of computational photography system or these kinds of camera features. In fact, I don’t think even the Xperia series uses this type of processing to the same extent.

[vishcompany]

Interesting aspects, thanks for pointing out.

I just realized, that the standard camera app on the JP2 does have a noticeable delay (+/- 0.6 sec). For some reason I don’t feel held up by this, while the 0.8 sec of the X23 feel much more sluggish.

The advanced camera app is just as fast as the FP6, there is no noticeable delay.

[ric9k]

@vishcompany, May I use some crops of your images to illustrate my points in this thread?
There are interesting structures and noticeable details treatments here too.

[Beethoven]

Here’s a few more, iphone (15 max pro I think) and JP2 (the Jolla pics are the first of each pair).

I would say that it’s a lot due to camera shake, the J pics are often 2-3 times slower than the iphone. 1/33 instead of 1/60 /100, which is roughly where you go from being able to handhold vs not.

In this first pic, I boosted the light a lot to see if that was the case, the iphone took it at 1/1600, the J at 1/326, and the details are closer than in the other pics.

This also tracks with my experience with Sailfish and the camera app. I have taken some amaaaazing pics with Sailfish, the 10III especially, but it was always in perfect high light conditions. As soon as it’s dim, you get soft, blurry images, long exposures, and unbelievable lag for actually taking the photo.

This is also where the iphone excels, it is insane in low light, takes incredible pictures with the main cam in the dark, and has imperceptible shutter lag.

I have no doubt that the sensor size and sensitivity are also important, but it’s clear the software is where Sailfish is lagging. The camera app has been slow and laggy since day one and I don’t think there’s ever been any big focus on it.

For me it’s no big deal, the camera is a tool you have to adapt to, and this just means getting used to laggy shots and motion, but if they could somehow at least solve the crazy random lag that would go a huge way to making the camera at least useable.

Currently I have just started always carrying a ‘real’ camera with me now, which is a nice change. The J2 really blows away other phones in being a phone, but the camera is the worst aspect of it and easily my second worst phone camera (Nokia 8110 is actually worse, although has less shutter lag).

100% crop

100%

[vishcompany]

Sure, go ahead
20 characters

[Beethoven]

Dumped my thoughts on the camera here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uTdMMCyu0Zw&pp=0gcJCRoMAYcqIYzv

[fingus]

Nice Video!

How many Displays/Keyboards do you want? Yes!

[avhakola]

@Beethoven

Here’s a few more, iphone (15 max pro I think) and JP2 (the Jolla pics are the first of each pair).

I don’t know how these situations look to the naked eye, but in the first picture pair I like the Jolla Phone’s colors better. The cropped version iPhone seems to have more details on the small photo frames in the background, or the depth of field is different enough that the difference is noticeable, but overall the difference in details isn’t as huge as I would have expected.

In the second pair I still like the Jolla Phone’s colors better and in the cropped versions it seems to me like Jolla Phone has more details (the black grip texture on the camera or the fabric and white printing on the camera bag). Maybe iPhone’s post processing smooths things too much here?

In the onion picture iPhone has more detail and the colors look better to my eye.

[moripeluka]

A brown carpet (with cat hair), low light.

The J2 shows a central area with a different color, which isn’t real. The carpet is uniformly brown.

10iii, from the same distance. It is not well focused here but the important point is the color gradient (not real) from center to edge is much less visible.

[moripeluka]

Highlighting Jolla’s acknowledgement of the J2 camera situation:

@Jolla

Cameras are not fully tuned, resulting occasionally to lower-than-expected performance, in particular depending on the lightning conditions. Also getting the focus is occasionally too slow. Sailfish native camera is fully open source and it would deserve some nice OSS contributions

[ric9k]

That’s great, good news recall!
I didn’t remember that Jolla indeed wrote that.
Thanks for highlighting the highlight

[unmaintained]

@moripeluka

J2 shows a central area with a different color

What color is your TOH?
Could be reflecting into the image somehow.

[moripeluka]

TOH is Inari Blue (not illuminated). The carpet is in the shadow of my own body (room light is behind me). Due to the shadow, the light is low and maybe the phone needs to amplify the signal quite a lot, therefore exhibiting what in better light conditions would be imperceptible differences.

[PolatBirdal]

And you know, that’s actually the best part of it. Another company could have an absolutely terrible camera and still keep going, “Oh no, our camera is amazing, unique, one of a kind,” but the Finns actually know what they’re lacking Respect to them.