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The (hardware) camera quality is about what you'd expect from a phone from 2019. Software processing to get JPEGs out of raw data is worse (with a huge room for

The (hardware) camera quality is about what you'd expect from a phone from 2019. Software processing to get JPEGs out of raw data is worse (with a huge room for improvement), but you get the raw DNGs and can employ any processing you want afterwards. Video recording, however, is the real Achilles' heel of the Librem 5, at it lacks both hardware ISP and video encoder (there are only hardware decoders). This means that any real-time processing has to happen on the GPU (replacing the ISP) and CPU (replacing the encoder). I can record indefinitely at 526x390 30 FPS and I expect 1052x780 to be achievable at a reasonable framerate with more work (currently it's at about 15 FPS IIRC), but I don't expect it to ever go significantly better that that. Of course, short clips (that fit into the RAM) and low FPS "timelapses" are possible to record at much higher quality, but these are fairly specific use cases. That said, what's there already is enough for me to have plenty of fun with the camera anyway.

handedness 1mo ago
A Camp Snap is more than good enough to have fun with. That's an entirely different requirement. I had an iPhone 11 Pro Max in 2019 and its camera quality was miles ahead of the linked photos, even if you assume raw output and post-processing. (The video, as you note, is even worse.) The link provided are shill posts of photos shot mostly under highly favorable conditions, with massive amounts of post-processing happening with much newer tech. I'm looking at casual photos straight out out of my 2019 device and they're vastly better than these. Linux phones aren't going to get better by pretending the experience is something it isn't, and telling people not to believe their lying eyes. If everyone's cameras were suddenly replaced with the Librem 5's, the number of camera quality complaints would explode. It's not good enough for anything beyond novelty use.
- seba_dos1 1mo ago
  The link provided points to my random photos and videos I was shooting in varying conditions as I went through my life, posted on my personal social media account, usually with minimal to no post-hoc processing. Not sure what is up with you here.
  - handedness 1mo ago
    Every time someone says we need a better open Linux phone, the Librem 5 and PinePhone crowd shows up to tell us not to believe our lying eyes, that our standards (which are already more open to tradeoffs than the general public's are) are wrong, that they love daily driving a device and therefore extrapolate that into some kind of viability as a commercial offering for anything other than novelty hobbyists. They're fun photos and some of them are of pretty decent technical quality considering the device used, but switching from iOS/Android to Linux phone of the Librem 5 or PinePhone (/Pro) variety is a bag of hurt for anyone who isn't so committed they're willing to craft their personality around it with an almost religious-like zeal. That's what's up with me here. Still, I appreciate your photos. Edit: Check the comments. You've got a guy saying the PinePhone Pro is "there." Except, it's bad as a phone. Minor detail. I stated the camera isn't up to snuff for me, your photos are the best counterexample anyone's posted, and they still aren't up to snuff for me. Also, decent video isn't optional in 2026. I remember upgrading a BlackBerry to finally get decent video. The whole thing is so fundamentally constrained that it will never be more than a niche novelty, barring new hardware and massively better supported. But that doesn't stop the shilling. It's bizarre.
    - seba_dos1 1mo ago
      It's just as if people weren't a single hive-minded entity and they all had differing needs and opinions. Of course we need better phones. Librem 5, the one I personally still consider the best out there right now, is now 6-7 years old! It wasn't a low-end device back then, but it wasn't high-end either, and time flies. Yet at the same time I keep seeing people going "I wish we had XYZ" when XYZ was something I was enjoying all these years already. And you know, these better phones won't come out of the Santa Claus' bag. If all the people complaining about the need of better Linux phone had actually bought one, we would already have their successors in our hands. There's still a lot of work to do, but the usual reaction when people are playing with my phone is being surprised at how usable it appears ("this is a Linux phone? it looks like a normal one!"), so I do think we need to put more effort into informing people of what's already there, even if it won't satisfy everyone's needs.

handedness 1mo ago

A Camp Snap is more than good enough to have fun with. That's an entirely different requirement. I had an iPhone 11 Pro Max in 2019 and its camera quality was miles ahead of the linked photos, even if you assume raw output and post-processing. (The video, as you note, is even worse.) The link provided are shill posts of photos shot mostly under highly favorable conditions, with massive amounts of post-processing happening with much newer tech. I'm looking at casual photos straight out out of my 2019 device and they're vastly better than these. Linux phones aren't going to get better by pretending the experience is something it isn't, and telling people not to believe their lying eyes. If everyone's cameras were suddenly replaced with the Librem 5's, the number of camera quality complaints would explode. It's not good enough for anything beyond novelty use.

seba_dos1 1mo ago
The link provided points to my random photos and videos I was shooting in varying conditions as I went through my life, posted on my personal social media account, usually with minimal to no post-hoc processing. Not sure what is up with you here.
- handedness 1mo ago
  Every time someone says we need a better open Linux phone, the Librem 5 and PinePhone crowd shows up to tell us not to believe our lying eyes, that our standards (which are already more open to tradeoffs than the general public's are) are wrong, that they love daily driving a device and therefore extrapolate that into some kind of viability as a commercial offering for anything other than novelty hobbyists. They're fun photos and some of them are of pretty decent technical quality considering the device used, but switching from iOS/Android to Linux phone of the Librem 5 or PinePhone (/Pro) variety is a bag of hurt for anyone who isn't so committed they're willing to craft their personality around it with an almost religious-like zeal. That's what's up with me here. Still, I appreciate your photos. Edit: Check the comments. You've got a guy saying the PinePhone Pro is "there." Except, it's bad as a phone. Minor detail. I stated the camera isn't up to snuff for me, your photos are the best counterexample anyone's posted, and they still aren't up to snuff for me. Also, decent video isn't optional in 2026. I remember upgrading a BlackBerry to finally get decent video. The whole thing is so fundamentally constrained that it will never be more than a niche novelty, barring new hardware and massively better supported. But that doesn't stop the shilling. It's bizarre.
  - seba_dos1 1mo ago
    It's just as if people weren't a single hive-minded entity and they all had differing needs and opinions. Of course we need better phones. Librem 5, the one I personally still consider the best out there right now, is now 6-7 years old! It wasn't a low-end device back then, but it wasn't high-end either, and time flies. Yet at the same time I keep seeing people going "I wish we had XYZ" when XYZ was something I was enjoying all these years already. And you know, these better phones won't come out of the Santa Claus' bag. If all the people complaining about the need of better Linux phone had actually bought one, we would already have their successors in our hands. There's still a lot of work to do, but the usual reaction when people are playing with my phone is being surprised at how usable it appears ("this is a Linux phone? it looks like a normal one!"), so I do think we need to put more effort into informing people of what's already there, even if it won't satisfy everyone's needs.