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Poll results: How often do you use the extra settings of your phone's camera app?

By Daniel Petrov

Updated: Nov 16, 2015, 9:30 AM

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Poll results: How often do you use the extra settings of your phone's camera app?

How often are we taking advantage of all that rich abundance of camera options, modes and effects that our phones offer, as opposed to just shooting in auto mode all of the time? That is what we asked you last week, and it seems that a good 40% of our respondents never waste the extra time to shoot in anything but auto. There are 38% who sometimes fire up the occasional mode or effect, and only 22% are constantly playing around in the camera interface to squeeze the best possible shot or take full advantage of the manual regime that so many makers are now offering.

Smartphone cameras are getting increasingly sophisticated, no doubt about that, to the extent that some phone makers started deliberately simplifying the smorgasbord of shooting modes in their camera apps, so that the user doesn't get lost in all the icons and features winking at them from the shooters' interface.

The recent trend, however, is to provide an ever-richer manual modes that allow you to adjust almost everything, down to exposure speeds, and that's in addition to the usual assortment of HDR modes, panoramas, filters, slow-mo videos, Live Photos, and the like. There are also plenty of phones now that can even shoot in RAW/DNG formats, for those demanding few that want every bit of detail to stay in their picture for post-processing later.

How often do you use the extra modes and settings of your phone's camera app?

I shoot in auto mode most of the time

39.81%

I sometimes play around with camera modes and settings

37.76%

I use manual modes, effects or extra settings very often

22.43%

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.