Optimizing Camera Phone Settings

Newer phones now have built-in cameras that are comparative with most point-and-shoot cameras in the market. Some camera phones even have ample controls that allows you to set contrast, DOF, ISO, brightness, color and exposure. We did some samples below to illustrate these.

We used the Nokia N78 with its Carl Zeiss optics and LED flash to take the following shots. All adjustments were done in-camera to illustrate how much a correct settings can make a difference in the photo quality.

Changing exposure compensation (EV levels) will affect the photo’s over-all clarity. Of course, you will have to take into consideration the availability of ambient lights, the background/foreground and the subject.

The built-in flash in your phone will most likely turn on when used indoors and that could actually flatten the depth of the photo. Adjusting the exposure and ISO accordingly could counter-act that effect.

Most camera phone’s digital photo will have a bland or poor saturation. You can fix this by adjusting the contrast ratio to give the colors more highlight.

Pushing the contrast levels a couple notches higher can bring out the colors of your subject and avoid that usual glassy effect.

All photos taken above were in raw form and only adjustments made in Photoshop was resize and JPG compression. Note: Camera functions will vary depending on the phone model. Most Nokia N-Series phones like the N78 will have this feature though.