Is this the image quality that I can expect?

[RogerInHawaii]

I grab an image at FRAMESIZE_VGA in PIXFORMAT_JPEG and set for the highest JPEG quality,

Code: Select all

config.jpeg_quality = 0;

and what I get does not look very "high quality". In fact it looks pretty messy. What should be fairly smooth areas look all blotchy.

Is this the best I can expect from the ESP32-CAM?

[ESP_Sprite]

Probably. You're using a camera and optics that cost like US$1.50 in total, and you're trying to use it in low-light conditions with a light source that seems to have some 50/60/100/120Hz flicker. I'm sure the JPEG encoder does its very best to give you a great representation of what the sensor reads, but the sensor itself only is a tiny bit of silicon, so what it reads is not that great to begin with.

If you want a better image, try taking it outside in broad daylight and a lot of the graininess and blotchiness should go away, but keep in mind you didn't buy a DSLR here.