Drona Systems

The camera on the HTC Hero is a pain point on the otherwise great phone. The camera works good on well lit conditions, but on indoor lighting and cloudy conditions the photos turn out too darker, as if you have put on sun glasses for the HTC Hero.

There were threads on mobile forums, saying the fix would arrive in subsequent updates. The update might come around post xmas time frame. 

So till then, if you want to play with some settings on the camera, for a quick fix, keep reading.

I have provided my build number below, just in case the fix does not work with older builds.

Build No:2.73.720.5

Firmware: 1.5 (redundant info)

• Open the camera application
• If you are not in camera mode, come into camera mode (mode where you can take snaps)
• Press the menu button, and select 'Settings' from the options
• On the Scrollable, you would find an option called 'Image Properties', click on that
• Change the contrast value to -2, Saturation to +1, sharpness to +1
• Press the back key, to come back to the camera mode. 
• You would notice the difference right away, if you are indoors.

Though HTC Hero supports ISO 800, looks like its not getting triggered, even on manual mode.

I bought the Hero in India, though the phone was bought from Airtel, I am using it on a Tata Docomo network. I did not sign any agreements with Airtel. They were like reselling the HTC Hero, with their logo on it.