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The general conclusion is that HTC's default sharpness code is extreme; it's nothing new as this goes back all way to the days of HTC Desire HD and even HTC Diamond; it's probably done to impress when seen on the phone screen and given that this is a tiny pixel sensor it's precision is low and so anything called AutoMAX ISO is equally terrible as it will greatly exaggerate smudging (HTC Auto ISO can go all the way to 3200) finally it's a 20MP sensor which means we can benefit from under sampling, a great example is Sony flagship's 20MP sensor which is by default set to "Superior Auto" undersampling 20MP to 8MP and greatly enhancing the 1:1 image quality



To my surprise the M9's Toshiba T4KA7 sensor is doing great in low light! despite a 1.1um pixel size it can do ISO200 which is almost impossible on phones using the IMX214 1.1um 13MP sensor like the HTC One M8 Eye (the most used smartphone sensor in 2014) my conclusion is that it's due to the unique square pixel innovation in this fresh Toshiba sensor



Let's have a look at this low light scenario (there is only a corner light in this room) you can open these images in new tab and check it out at full 1:1





Conclusions

as you can see the M8 Eye IMX214 is simply useless at ISO200, you need as much as ISO800 to light the scene, on autoISO it went all the way to ISO1000, the higher the ISO the less precision and greater detail is lostcomparatively the M9 T4KA7 is doing almost as good as the ultrapixel sensor (which also needed ISO capping in the latest M8 software) the only disadvantage of capping the ISO low is a slightly slower viewfinder/shutter but the benefits in detail as you can see are immense, what's interesting is that even on autoISO it went for ISO400 which is amazing for a tiny pixel sensornow let's have a look in detail using 1:1 crops and i will explain a little more about the recommended M9 caps, this time in slightly more light (added ceiling light)This the M9 default auto quality in this scene, as you can see there is heavy smudging + over sharpeningMoreover if you don't hold a steady hand, anti-shake will kick in and you would mistake this image to a non motion blurred one but in reality even more detail is lostIt's over sharpened, so let's reduce it by half, sharpness -1Here we disable the digital sharpness algorithm, sharpness -2, it's clear that there is still too much smudgingNow let's cap the ISO to 200 and try default sharpness again, instantly the precision is improved and smudging is reducedSwitching to Medium resolution will add some downsampling cleanup at 12MP, or like Sony's superior auto go for 8MP with Small resolutionIt's still over sharpened, so let's reduce it by half, sharpness -1and to disable it completely, sharpness -2For me as an image expert the above image has excellent 1:1 for a tiny pixel phone sensor in low light, I always prefer to disable sharpness which brings me closer to a RAW output, after that i can improve things using any image editing app or even HTC's own gallery edit mode, otherwise on your PC using PhotoshopHere's what happens if add some sharpness in postI don't have an UltraPixel phone anymore but the above detail (whether 16MP, 12MP or 8MP) is simply impossible on the M8 and M7, to read the label of these books from distance was impossible, also note the beautiful red vase detailNow let's take a look at the full image in my preferred caps, sharpness disabled, ISO200 and Medium resolution (open in new tab for 1:1)Taking the above image and enhancing it in any image editing app will bring in a lot more light, seems HTC under exposes by default in order to prevent over exposure (open in new tab for 1:1)Manual mode is great as well, this time full 20MP, ISO100 and a 0.5 second shutter (open in new tab for 1:1)Focus on shelvesFocus on the bottleThe UltraPixel sensor suffered from dynamic range and chroma issues around highlights, it's completely solved in the new cameraAnd here is the software Bokeh mode which replaces the UFocus on the M8, considering that UFocus had a flawed mask anyway, this at least matches ityou can downloads the full quality samples from the following packages:Finally always remember HTC's auto focus will earn you optimal exposure meteringThe M9 is carrying a great sensor, a much newer Sensor than Sony's IMX220 and IMX214, unlike those sensors it's able to work in low light with faster shutter speed, however HTC needs to tweak it's over-sharpness and ISO algorithm, also exposure metering could be improved to bring in more light in the dark and resist over exposure in the daymy recommended settings for the M9 in it's current 1.32.401.15 are the followingnever leave it at Auto MaxISO which can go all the way to ISO3200 a smudge festival, reduce it based on your scene all the way to ISO200 or at least cap it at ISO800to your taste, default zero is extreme, go for -1 or -1.5, or disable at -2 for soft but raw image qualityBenefit from the resolution roomahead by capping the resolution towhich is 12MP or even8MP, this will down-sample, clean the image and save your storageThe rest are more general tips:resist the urge to manually pick your focus target in auto mode, HTC's exposure algorithm is tweaked for metering in auto focus , if you change the focus you risk over exposing the image, this tip is most important in daylight, the real aspect ratio of the sensor, Large = 20MP, Medium = 16MP, Small=10MPif you want a professional grade photo and total control, HTC's manual mode is amazing and you can light up any scene, if slowing down the shutter is causing motion blur, steady your hand and do many takes in a row, one of them will nail itburst is great to capture a moving targets like an animal or a child but keep in mind shutter speed is greatly increased at the cost of quality, especially low light, so use wiselythe viewfinder and shutter are significantly slower in CPU powersaver modeit can surprise and save you efforthold to lock focus on a light source for amazing HDR results