Database Users

Auto Camera Flash

Hi guys. This is my first time posting but I've searched through the forums and can't seem to find much. Is it possible to have an auto flash mode for the camera? I know there's limitations with 1.6 but the X10 mini has this functionality and wondered if there's any way to import this? Apologies if this is a stupid question

It would have great to get this I dont know anything, but after rooting, may be it's possible??? Or the LED light on/off button on viewfinder? then we can be able to on/off led with single click without going in settings

hi all,
ive had bad experience with the x10 camera app and i though i might have a faulty camera or something is screwed up but the problems are with the actual app, ive since started using vignette as my camera app, you can make it as default camera app, ifs got flash on/off/auto, different effects, and it doesnt compress the images as much it leave an 8mpx photo between 3.5mb - 8mb and thats actually the approx size it should be without loosing quality.
ill upload in a few min the pictures ive taken with the x10 using that app
best $3 ive spent on the android market.
S.E. should learn from its developers of how to make a camera app

the images are to big to upload here and i dont want to resize them so as not to loose quality of the originals so heres the link to view the images,
http://img375.imageshack.us/g/20100710160347439.jpg/
let me know what you think,
i think the effects are great, great quality pix

ruskival said:
ifs got flash on/off/auto, different effects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woww if it has on/off/auto, then it's very useful
Can you please post pictures of same object taken with stock camera & vignette, then we can see difference in quality also

ruskival said:
the images are to big to upload here and i dont want to resize them so as not to loose quality of the originals so heres the link to view the images,
http://img375.imageshack.us/g/20100710160347439.jpg/
let me know what you think,
i think the effects are great, great quality pix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a really wonderful application!
Thanks for pointing it out!
I love the effects, they are good for some quick unique shots,
ready for upload immediately!

Really wonderful app !

is late at night where im from (Australia) but ill take some outdoor pix tomorrow with both original camera app and the vignette one so you guys can all see the difference. so in about 12-14 hours ill upload comparison pictures

This app is pretty awesome. Funny that the developers could make the X10's flash work like, well, a flash. How the heck could SE not figure that one out?? It's now my default camera app. 4/5 and would be 5/5 if they could speed up the camera. This is my only beef with the camera on the X10. Takes too long to take the actually photo. My wife's iphone takes it instantly, and I must say that given the fact that it's only 3.2 mega pixels the quality of the photos is pretty darn good too. Must have something to do with the app itself.
Never the less Vignette is one of the best paid apps ive purchased to date.

I'm surprised the pictures aren't up lol
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

I bought this product on the recommendation from this thread.
http://picasaweb.google.com/107358427786063209630/SonyVsVignette02?feat=directlink
One of the above was taken using Vignette with the autoflash function, 8 mp setting and auto exposure. The other was taken with stock camera with flash light on. Which do you prefer!?!
I would say that I took various photos of different things to see what the difference was but I think its pretty clear to see. The images with Vignette were all poor focus. Needless to say I have uninstalled/refunded the app. I'll stick with the stock camera for the time being.
By the way never done on line pics before so dont know if above links will work!

Whoa!!
Where did you guys buy the X10 with a flash? I want that version! Mine only came with a photo light, which isn't designed to be used as a flash!

The Vignette app from the market gives you flash functionality over the photolight which is probably its most redeeming feature cos the photo quality was pants!

I've had some impressive results with Vignette - took some photo's of a document today using it and it was definitely sharper than with the stock cam..?!

Oh no, so what was I doing wrong?! Why were my pics so out of focus? The reason I sent those two in was that I even put the camera on the edge of the shelf to steady it to see if it was me with camera shake.
Don't say I've ditched a decent product cos I got the settings wrong!

suzed said:
I bought this product on the recommendation from this thread.
http://picasaweb.google.com/1073584...?authkey=Gv1sRgCMaqk_6Q2NT9Sw&feat=directlink
One of the above was taken using Vignette with the autoflash function, 8 mp setting and auto exposure. The other was taken with stock camera with flash light on. Which do you prefer!?!
I would say that I took various photos of different things to see what the difference was but I think its pretty clear to see. The images with Vignette were all poor focus. Needless to say I have uninstalled/refunded the app. I'll stick with the stock camera for the time being.
By the way never done on line pics before so dont know if above links will work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well one is in focus while the other is out of focus, that's not an app doing it.

How do you guys use the flash with vignette app? I have it on my phone but there's no option to turn it on!

Don't you have the "flash icon" on the screen - over on the right, 2nd from bottom when in landscape mode... ??..
And Suzed - Did you change any of the "JPEG file settings" - 2nd icon from the top on the right when in landscape mode... I think mine started on 2mp normal, I've changed it to 8.0mp superfine.

personally ive not have any problems with vignette,
set flash to auto,
8mpx, superfine.
one other thing i did was set in the options to touch screen to take photo, that way it does auto focus and only take photo when you hold it steady, so photos are in focus and great, check out photos ive taken
http://img375.imageshack.us/g/20100710160347439.jpg/
only thing is it takes some times for the photos to be processed and uses up a lot of resources, in my case adw launcher reloads when i exit the vignette app, but i dont mind as long as the pictures i take come out great

i have a question for everyone using Vignette.
In daylight is taking the same overexposed as the stock app?
With the stock app i have control over exposure compensation so, after lowering EV with a stop or two everything is fine but Vignette demo doesn't have exposure compensation support.
How is it in the full version?
Can somebody take 2 images one with Vignette and one with stock outside in daylight at max quality (8 Mp, superfine)?
I bought Camera FX sometime ago but is useless as it doesn't have any EV/ISO/etc. controls.

getting the most from the camera?

Hello
anyone have any tips for getting the most from the camera? just using the stock cam, but unless the photo is taken with the lighting from the sun, it looks abit poo
anyone have any tips for making it that tiny bit better?

Get vignette.It is a paid app but totally worth it.

CLEAN THE LENS.
There's so many threads on here with pictures from people's phones, and they're all fuzzy because the lens has something on it. Even if you can't see anything, wipe the lens before taking a photo.

isthisreallife said:
Get vignette.It is a paid app but totally worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i hve vignette, but in my opinion it looks alot crapper then the stock so i uninstalled, though i didnt refund it

aussiesausage said:
i hve vignette, but in my opinion it looks alot crapper then the stock so i uninstalled, though i didnt refund it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

aussiesausage said:
i hve vignette, but in my opinion it looks alot crapper then the stock so i uninstalled, though i didnt refund it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tbh vigette is actually, i just take the pictures using the stock camera app and from there i just edit the pictures using vigette
Sent from my X10a using XDA App

well generally x10 camera suffers from over exposing, and pictures lack of contrast and they are bit washed out. Stock camera app has greatest usabillity, because yu can choose macro and sport modes (with others aswell) nad you can change exposure, but in terms of image processing it is worst, because it uses highest JPEG compression(think they improved it in 2.1) and colours al always pale (except reds).
Vignete is good cause it uses flash, and uses minimum JPEG compression but they are both behind Camera 360 app, which has best image processing.
EDIT: I added a reply from Tuxstyle on one simillar topic I started:
"Well, more important than those modes is:
- use the EV compensation.
go with it minus one or two steps and keep the sun behind you.
also, lowering the EV helps in low light too because will reduce the ISO.
ofcourse, in low light you will need better hands
- another very very important thing is: metering modes.
for macro images use spot (also use spot if you have most of the image around your object with one color: ex. a kid in the snow. in this case camera will do the metering where your focus point is ... the kid ... so the kid will be "better exposed").
use average for landscapes and other "wide" images ....
center ... well, for close stuff.
- do not enable image stabilization.
trust your hands
the camera on X10 is compressing the images way too much so, they become soft.
image stabilization will make them even more soft than that.
What i don't like about the X10 camera is the focus.
I have no idea how is choosing the focus point(s) so, i decided the camera app is crap.
I started to use vignette but is slow as a pig riding a donkey so, i moved on.
Camera360 is working fine.
You have time to wait for the pic to be saved and you know you won't loose a good shot?
Vignette is better. Better quality and best focus from this 3 apps.
Camera 360?
Focus almost as good as vignette.
Quality almost as good as vignette but if you zoom a little you can see the difference.
Speed? A Ferrari vs. Ford Focus (not RS ) if you compare it with Vignette
Hope this helps."

Bad pictures from camera

Hi.
I just received my Arc and I'm shocked by something : the camera does bad pictures, cause the codec is lame. A 8Mp photo take less than 1Mo.
Can someone fix that in a rom or a kernel or is this to hard to do ?
Thanks.

the photos from almost every other Arc are incredible.. I suspect you have a problem... maybe you're settings are wrong .. or there's a fault.
Look here for examples of how good it is.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1035589

Look at one of mine (all are the sames).
http://sberfini.developpez.com/DSC_0005.jpg
http://sberfini.developpez.com/DSC_0010.jpg
By the way I'm using an LT15i (3.0.2.A.181) not rooted nor unlocked.

I've just rooted by arc. Is there a way to fix the jpeg compression ratio? It's way too high by default and images are losing details as a result.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App

you can try vignette that barely compresses at all - but everyone is pretty much saying that the photo's from stock cam are still better!

im_iceman said:
you can try vignette that barely compresses at all - but everyone is pretty much saying that the photo's from stock cam are still better!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate. Yeah I noticed almost everyone's saying that...but if one was to put the facts together, picture size alone for a 8MP resolution image can't be less than 1MB...
Will try Vignette and see if it's better. I just hope there's some kind of tweak (like in the HTC HD2) where you could set the compression ratio to further improve the quality.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App

You should try checking your camera setting OP.
Vignette is good, except it takes longer to preview the image in real size, and the unnecessarily 5~6x larger files with slightly worse quality than stock camera app.

ArcOnFire said:
You should try checking your camera setting OP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's settings are you talking about ?
What's the difference between the one's who have a good quality photos and the others ? The firmware ? They have a LT15a instead of a LT15i ?
Please help me to understand.

Did you use auto scene recognition? The picture has some heavy noise in it, so I suspect you play with exposure value or select night scene mode.
2nd picture is blurry; Did you hold your arc firmly when taking the picture ?

Yes I'm using the auto scene detection. Should I disable it ?
For the fisrt picture, the flash was activated.
And yes, I was holding it firmly.

I use auto scene detection for most of my photos and they seem much better quality than yours there. Try some outdoor shots and post them, indoor ones can have a lot of noise if the light is low anyway.
I once had similar problems with a nokia n95. Everyone was posting great shots and mine were horrible. Turns out the handset was faulty.

Using the camera: best practices

Would be great if we had a thread with some tips how to get the best photos with the Z1.
Any tips? Please share. I for one would love to dive in the magical world of digital photography. Think the Z1 is a great starting point.
Maybe we could even use this knowledge to create an awesome camera app for our z1.

I dont have a Z1 yet (planning to get one soon as my contract expires) but from what I have reading, Manual mode + Iso 50-200 seems to get the best result.

appelflap said:
Would be great if we had a thread with some tips how to get the best photos with the Z1.
Any tips? Please share. I for one would love to dive in the magical world of digital photography. Think the Z1 is a great starting point.
Maybe we could even use this knowledge to create an awesome camera app for our z1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, here's a couple of tips to start you off:-
1. Noise is an issue with the current camera firmware.
The best way to address this is to shoot in Manual mode where you will have a greater control over the shot.
Look at the ISO value and where possible change it to ISO 50. This will give the clearest noise free image possible.
2. Don't use Digital Zoom. Frame correctly and crop your images.
Often I hear of owners looking to zoom in as much as possible before taking the shot.
Whilst that is fine and dandy on cameras which have lens that support optical zoom, never ever use digital zoom.
Instead, take the shot using the full coverage of the shot (no zoom). This will then allow you to 'crop' the image to whatever zoom you wish and you can perform as many crops as you wish from one shot (top, bottom, left, right, centre of a shot)
---------- Post added at 09:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 AM ----------
Morlock O said:
I dont have a Z1 yet (planning to get one soon as my contract expires) but from what I have reading, Manual mode + Iso 50-200 seems to get the best result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apologies..... You posted this whilst I was compiling my post above.

Morlock O said:
I dont have a Z1 yet (planning to get one soon as my contract expires) but from what I have reading, Manual mode + Iso 50-200 seems to get the best result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beards said:
Well, here's a couple of tips to start you off:-
1. Noise is an issue with the current camera firmware.
The best way to address this is to shoot in Manual mode where you will have a greater control over the shot.
Look at the ISO value and where possible change it to ISO 50. This will give the clearest noise free image possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha! And which resolution do you advice in this mode? The full 20 MP resolution?
Beards said:
2. Don't use Digital Zoom. Frame correctly and crop your images.
Often I hear of owners looking to zoom in as much as possible before taking the shot.
Whilst that is fine and dandy on cameras which have lens that support optical zoom, never ever use digital zoom.
Instead, take the shot using the full coverage of the shot (no zoom). This will then allow you to 'crop' the image to whatever zoom you wish and you can perform as many crops as you wish from one shot (top, bottom, left, right, centre of a shot)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw an ad off Sony in which they suggested that one could do a 3x digital zoom without a compromise in quality. But I agree, why not take a full frame shot and zoom afterwards.
Btw nice to see you here Beards. How is your HD2

appelflap said:
Aha! And which resolution do you advice in this mode? The full 20 MP resolution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the shot...
If I still want to use Image Stabiizer or HDR I will change from 20MP to 8MP as 20MP does not support either of these features.
Further, for night shots the camera lens is not looking for stacks of detail. As such often for night shooting you can get away with a lower pixel shot.
I saw an ad off Sony in which they suggested that one could do a 3x digital zoom without a compromise in quality. But I agree, why not take a full frame shot and zoom afterwards.
Btw nice to see you here Beards. How is your HD2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can do the 3x digital but once you have done it this can lead to the next shot being over zoomed, that and it's always better to crop as you know.
P.S. Yes mate..... Nice to see you too.
And yes, I still have the HD2. Kept it for sentimental reasons

If Sony fixes the camera software, we'll all see a enormous difference in quality! Setting everything to manual will give you much better results. Now I tried the "Focal" camera app from the Playstore, and the low light shots are really, really awesome! The app itself is very minimalistic, but produces stunning results with the Z1! Give it a go, I'll try to upload some shots I took when I'm home!

Beards said:
And yes, I still have the HD2. Kept it for sentimental reasons
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kept and still using mine hehe, anyway shouldnt we zoom in 3x losless(?) first then crop the photo? any further zoom than 3x is going to substantially lose the quality then?
im hoping to get my Z1 tmorrow so i can try out my theory hehe

Anadinolin said:
kept and still using mine hehe, anyway shouldnt we zoom in 3x losless(?) first then crop the photo? any further zoom than 3x is going to substantially lose the quality then?
im hoping to get my Z1 tmorrow so i can try out my theory hehe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh a fellow HD2 user. We are but a dying breed...
Re the 3x lossless digital zoom.
There are two issues here:-
1. All the 3x lossless zoom does is do what cropping does . It just restricts it to 3x to avoid over zooming where the shot would then look too pixelated.
2. Once you apply 3x zoom on any image that is it, you can't go back and say "blast! I should have zoomed in a bit less".
At least with the full frame you can make as many different crops as you like and apply it to any part of the image.
In other words where digital shooting is concerned shoot full then crop. 9 times out of 10 the software PP will handle it better anyway.

I would advice to download a more capable camera app for the moment until Sony fixes the severa problems they are having.
Otherwise I would NOT recommend using the Auto mode because right now it's seriously underperforming choosing the Manual setting would allow you for more options of course.
Turn off stabilization when capturing videos if you value the field of view because it's not OIS, this is Digital meaning it is cropping the picture instead otherwise the Steayshot feature is pretty solid

Camera applications A vs. B: compared

The other day I wrote an article about camera applications, questioning if one is really better than another (full article here). Since my blog doesn't get many viewers I figured it might be helpful to post my results here as well for more coverage. I try to prove that various camera apps aren't necessarily better than others. I did one test using six different camera apps or settings, shooting from exactly the same spot pointing at my Arduino. I'm not yet telling you which photo belongs to which camera app as I want to find out from you if there is any noticeable difference between the following, in no particular order:
Superior Auto mode from Sony devices @ 8MP
Manual mode from Sony devices @ 20MP, ISO-50
Google Camera @ 20 MP
Camera FV-5 @ 20MP
Camera FV-5 @ 20MP, Night mode (exposure "long")
Open Camera @ 20MP
<.PNG COMPARISON>
Please do NOT vote on the poll if there is no one photo that looks significantly better
Let me know what you think!

@Hermantje
Did you try Vignette ?
It's one of my favorite camera app :3
For me,
1. Camera FV-5> very good at long exposure + tripod, because Sony stock camera can't do this. . .
Exposure Bracket very useful too, and Sony can't do this too. . .
2. Google camera> only for photosphere, because we can't modify ISO value and EV.
I wish Sony stock camera have this feature xD
3. Vignette> actually it's like Creative Effect but with more useful focus, effect, filter etc.
Please correct me if I'm wrong :3

Yenkazu said:
@Hermantje
Did you try Vignette ?
It's one of my favorite camera app :3
For me,
1. Camera FV-5> very good at long exposure + tripod, because Sony stock camera can't do this. . .
Exposure Bracket very useful too, and Sony can't do this too. . .
2. Google camera> only for photosphere, because we can't modify ISO value and EV.
I wish Sony stock camera have this feature xD
3. Vignette> actually it's like Creative Effect but with more useful focus, effect, filter etc.
Please correct me if I'm wrong :3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree more on points 1 and 2
I haven't tried Vignette yet. But that's because I want my photos to look natural, and if I want effects then I always add them after the fact with Snapseed or Photoshop on PC.

Hermantje said:
I couldn't agree more on points 1 and 2
I haven't tried Vignette yet. But that's because I want my photos to look natural, and if I want effects then I always add them after the fact with Snapseed or Photoshop on PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please try it xD
I'm using Vignette not because filter or any effect it's offer, but because focus, detail and colours.
And I dont like edit/filter photos, I like natural photo, just like you xD
Sometimes, Vignette give more details and accurate colours vs Sony Stock Camera.
Noise still there, but still acceptable.
Btw, I'm used Superfine Quality + 8 MP on Vignette so the photo size 10++ MB xD
Still jpeg, cannot beat png offered by FV-5 :3
I didn't think 20 MP it's "usable" xD
What your opinion about 20 MP ?

Yenkazu said:
Please try it xD
I'm using Vignette not because filter or any effect it's offer, but because focus, detail and colours.
And I dont like edit/filter photos, I like natural photo, just like you xD
Sometimes, Vignette give more details and accurate colours vs Sony Stock Camera.
Noise still there, but still acceptable.
Btw, I'm used Superfine Quality + 8 MP on Vignette so the photo size 10++ MB xD
Still jpeg, cannot beat png offered by FV-5 :3
I didn't think 20 MP it's "usable" xD
What your opinion about 20 MP ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm always using 20MP just because of the idea of otherwise throwing away data and... just because I can. But I don't always find it useful. I only really find it useful when using Camera FV-5's night mode or when shooting at ISO-50 in daylight in the stock app. For quick snaps I do use Superior Auto just because of its simplicity, and then of course it's at 8MP. I should give Vignette a try, then :good:

Hermantje said:
I'm always using 20MP just because of the idea of otherwise throwing away data and... just because I can. But I don't always find it useful. I only really find it useful when using Camera FV-5's night mode or when shooting at ISO-50 in daylight in the stock app. For quick snaps I do use Superior Auto just because of its simplicity, and then of course it's at 8MP. I should give Vignette a try, then :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wew. . .
I'm prefered 8 MP because the details :3
20MP "awesome", but the ISO limit only 800 (if I remember correctly), of course it's useful for daylight then xD
But sometimes, using 20 MP make me think, the details it's enough or not. . .
So I decided used 8 MP, 20 MP for "rare" situation then :3
Thanks for your feedback
Btw, what your current OS right now ?
I'm on L .270, the HDR on the stock camera awful vs in KK
Yesterday, I'm trying used HDR and the photo look very bad, I dunno why xD
Maybe I'm wrong, but if you on L .270, you should try the HDR
And did you know, only Sony Stock Camera can control the ISO ?
I'm trying set the ISO on Camera FV-5 but it's still automatic. . .
-______-

Yenkazu said:
Wew. . .
I'm prefered 8 MP because the details :3
20MP "awesome", but the ISO limit only 800 (if I remember correctly), of course it's useful for daylight then xD
But sometimes, using 20 MP make me think, the details it's enough or not. . .
So I decided used 8 MP, 20 MP for "rare" situation then :3
Thanks for your feedback
Btw, what your current OS right now ?
I'm on L .270, the HDR on the stock camera awful vs in KK
Yesterday, I'm trying used HDR and the photo look very bad, I dunno why xD
Maybe I'm wrong, but if you on L .270, you should try the HDR
And did you know, only Sony Stock Camera can control the ISO ?
I'm trying set the ISO on Camera FV-5 but it's still automatic. . .
-______-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm currently on .242, rooted. I never use HDR though, generally not a fan of the effect it creates. I would recommend most people to just shoot at 8MP. You save a lot of memory that way

Hermantje said:
I'm currently on .242, rooted. I never use HDR though, generally not a fan of the effect it creates. I would recommend most people to just shoot at 8MP. You save a lot of memory that way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not updated to .270 ?
HDR on Kitkat works very well :3
Maybe something wrong with my settings :/
I agree, save a lot of memory + fast rendering photo :3

Yenkazu said:
Why not updated to .270 ?
HDR on Kitkat works very well :3
Maybe something wrong with my settings :/
I agree, save a lot of memory + fast rendering photo :3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I'm waiting for a 5.1 update. If I update, I'm losing root (well I don't know if there's a way to install the update while keeping root) so I'll have to root again, reinstall every app... it's just too much work for me with a minor update :silly:

Hermantje said:
Because I'm waiting for a 5.1 update. If I update, I'm losing root (well I don't know if there's a way to install the update while keeping root) so I'll have to root again, reinstall every app... it's just too much work for me with a minor update :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, you can used pre-rooted zip :3
But you need recovery for flash that zip.
Back to topic, it's seem HDR on L kinda weird, the ISO is the culprit. . .
If I set the ISO 50, the effect good, but not really good compared in KK, so I will left HDR in L. . .
In KK, if I set ISO auto, the effect really nice, but not in L.
And many photo editor app can do that (HDR), I guess it's not really matter then xD

Just a reminder: the poll closes within a week. I will have interpreted the results by then, but in the meantime: the more votes the better! :laugh: