Topic: alright, the cameras flat out suck

Eh, well the Camera could have been better, but then again The 3DS is a gaming system.
But then the whole AR games come into thought and well the camera I guess should have been better, but then again this is just the first version of the 3DS.

maybe in the future they will improve it or maybe not. Either way at least the camera works for the most part.

Me too!

The pictures suck on a computer screen. On the 3DS screen they actually look quite nice compared to the quality of the DSi's. Also, if you didn't read the instruction manual, somewhere in there it states that the cameras were created by Nintendo themselves, so you have to expect some crap quality somewhere. _{not saying that Nintendo are crap at quality... just crap at quality cameras}

It's decent enough for some quick snaps, but other than its just there for games, like Face Raiders and Augmented Reality.

They were just trying to cut the costs of it, really. Then again, they make plenty of money anyhow for each 3DS sold so it would have been nice if they were 2.0 MP.

Taken with 3DS Camera, text added with MS Paint.

i'll give you an example:

this is something i saw and thought "that'd look cool in 3D". from the base of the bridge the 3D effect does look neat as it goes all the way down across the mississippi but with how grainy the edges are the depth isn't clear, the water is an eyesore to look at, the sky is a blue blotch, and if i didn't tell you there was a barge passing under the bridge then i doubt any of you would have been able to tell it was even there.

i tried all the different light settings and adjustments and that was the best i could get. daylight photos aren't as bad but they're not necessarily miles ahead either. i don't know the first thing about photography and i don't need a pro quality camera, but if i come across some interesting sights and want to take a 3D picture it'd be nice to at least be able to see what's going on in them instead of ending up with a screen of blotch by the end of a walk.

yeah, that looks bad.

i took a couple of montreal shots, and its the same thing.
looks better during the day, but keeps that blotch thing.

nice example there

Some people like to defend it, but there's really no excuse. The cameras should've been 1.2 or 2 megapixels.
No one is expecting 5MP or more, but something remotely usable. Heck increasing the MP would give the software an easier time detecting facial features.

Either way, they went too cheap with the cameras. How much would 1.2-2MP cost per machine? 1 to 2 bucks?

I also think the inside camera should've been 3D as well.

Again, I know some people will defend it, but 0.3 just doesn't cut it anymore for anything.

i think i've figured out tonight how to work the 3D depth adjustment feature (nintendo should really explain this stuff in the manual). it doesn't really adjust the amount of depth but instead what layer of depth your eyes will first be drawn to.

when viewing your photos you can press left or right on the circle pad to see a double image come up. you can adjust to move the images closer or further apart, and if you move the two images close enough together then they'll eventually stop doubling at a certain point; that point becomes the easiest thing for your eyes to focus on and because of that it will be the first thing your eyes are drawn to.

so if you've taken a photo of a person or object and you want them to be the focus of the picture, adjust it until the two images of that person or thing line up together perfectly. the objects at other levels of depth will usually still be doubled, meaning that your eyes will have to adjust to them while the objects you aligned can be seen right away. this helps keep the different layers of depth from distracting you from your focal point.

if you've taken a shot of a landscape then you'll usually find that the objects on the horizon stop doubling with the slider all the way to the left. if you adjust it this way then your eyes will be 'pulled through' any objects in the foreground and mid ground on their way to the horizon, which can be a cool effect if you've got a bunch of tree branches in the way at different depths.
the closer to you an object is, the further to the right you'll have to move the slider to focus on it. if you adjust to focus on the foreground or mid ground objects then the background will no longer attract your eye and the closer objects will seem to pop out from it more.

i'm probably the only one still screwing with the camera feature but after adjusting the photos this way the depth does look a lot better. it's fun to play with the slider to see which point of focus will give you the best picture. hopefully someone else finds that useful.

while i'm at it, i've also found that you can stop colors from washing out and keep light from blooming by turning the contrast up one or two clicks and lowering the brightness before taking a picture. the cameras rarely capture color or light the way it actually looks in real life unless you do this. you can even get a nice HDR effect with the brightness all the way down and the contrast up to two. that's my best advice after trying to wrestle a decent picture out of this piece of crap for the past five months!

my dsi took cleaner and better photos

It only seems that Photography nuts like me, see the potential of the 3DS Camera. Once you stop using the 3DS camera, like a standard Camera, you will see why it's great. It's changed how I take pictures. As with a Standard camera, you look for a viewpoint, with the 3DS camera, you look in layers. Since the camera was made for viewing on the 3DS, it's perfect for it's screen and resolution.

Here is an example (640 x 480)

(Yes, it looks like I took something random, but it looks awesome in 3D)

400 x 240 (3DS Resolution)

I find the camera alright in terms of snapping 3D pics, but for Augmented Reality, it's not that great, especially once you take Reality Fighters for Vita for a little spin and see how amazing the backgrounds look.

Why do you think I photoshop, although the version of PSP(Paint Shop Pro) I have hides just about every old feature for some reason.....Still trying to figure out how to increase the pixels again. I only do it with 2D pics though.

@Pac-Suit True, though some professionals complain about the pixelated-ness.