Database Users

Do you have issues with the Gingerbread camera and dark pictures

Hi,
Since going to Sense gingerbread ROMs, my camera has been horrible in low light pictures. It seems like the flash is firing just a little bit too early. By the time the shutter opens, the flash has pretty much done its thing, and the picture comes out very dark. I have tried every single combination of Sense GB ROM and kernel that is currently available, and I get the same result with every single one. I have also tried all of the cameras available in the Market. I get the same poor results with every single one of them. The only way that I can get a decent low light picture is to flash back to a Froyo ROM, or over to an AOSP ROM. The pictures taken in any Froyo or AOSP ROM come out good and bright in all conditions. I think that there must be some sort of incompatibility with Gingerbread ROMs and the camera in my phone.
But of course just like every other thing with these phones, not everyone is having problems. But there are quite a few people that are. I've been trying to work out whether it is some sort of software issue, or hardware. We all know that there are four different hardware versions on the Evo. And from what I can determine, there are two different types of cameras in use. I started a little survey in one of the ROM threads in development. But I thought that I'd move it up here so that more people could see it and participate. I am hoping that if you know for sure that you are having the dark low light photos problem or if you know for sure that you're not having the problem that you could post information in this thread about the ROM you're running, your hardware version, the camera that you have in your phone, and whether you're having the problem or not. To determine the camera in use, do the following:
Using root explorer navigate to sys/ you will see android_camera and android_camera2. Android_camera is the rear camera. Go into that folder, hold over sensor until you see the options menu. Scroll down to View As Text and that opens the file with Camera brand and model number. Post that information to the thread, along with the other information requested above. I'll start:
ROM: Classic 0.0.4
Hardware: 0003
Camera: samsung S5K3HIGX 8M
I do have the issue
Thank you to anyone that responds to this.

To my understanding its software. Gb causes flash to work improperly causing overexposure dark pics etc...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

ndstrctbl said:
To my understanding its software. Gb causes flash to work improperly causing overexposure dark pics etc...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Right. Not everyone on GB has the problem though. I am trying to find something that everyone with the problem has in common. It's not the camera itself. Maybe it's the camera and hardware combination. That's what I'm hoping to determine with this thread.

Tried everything you have tried above with no good results. Sprint store is a waste of time don't bother. I hope ICS makes things better.
Classic rom 0.0.4
Hw 0003
Omnivision 0v8810 8m
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

rialsi6 said:
Tried everything you have tried above with no good results. Sprint store is a waste of time don't bother. I hope ICS makes things better.
Classic rom 0.0.4
Hw 0003
Omnivision 0v8810 8m
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Probably true, but I think that I'll give my Sprint store a try anyway. Who knows. They might be able to come up with something. Just wish I had more info to give them going in. You and I both have the same issues, but different cameras. The only similarity is the HW 0003.

usmaak said:
Probably true, but I think that I'll give my Sprint store a try anyway. Who knows. They might be able to come up with something. Just wish I had more info to give them going in. You and I both have the same issues, but different cameras. The only similarity is the HW 0003.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took it to two stores, one said my flash was going bad they replaced it so they say, but that wasn't it. Another store said my camera was loose they fixed that but still the same problem. This one rep was pissing me off because he was taking pictures in the bright ass store telling me my camera was fine when i clearly told him it happen at night or in low light places. And i told him to duplicate the problem he will need to go in a dark room or somewhere low lit but clearly they didn't do it. But you may have a different experience, good luck to you. please post what happens at your store.thx. Oh, also i wanted to tell them so badly about asop and froyo roms working but couldn't.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

rialsi6 said:
I took it to two stores, one said my flash was going bad they replaced it so they say, but that wasn't it. Another store said my camera was loose they fixed that but still the same problem. This one rep was pissing me off because he was taking pictures in the bright ass store telling me my camera was fine when i clearly told him it happen at night or in low light places. And i told him to duplicate the problem he will need to go in a dark room or somewhere low lit but clearly they didn't do it. But you may have a different experience, good luck to you. please post what happens at your store.thx. Oh, also i wanted to tell them so badly about asop and froyo roms working but couldn't.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I plan on telling them about it working well on Froyo. I restored my nandroid from right after I rooted and took a few pictures. Then I went back to Classic and took the same pictures. The difference is huge. But yea, cannot mention AOSP at all.
Also, I'm not unrooting my phone. I installed the latest stock GB ROM. Hopefully they won't dig too deeply into that. I've had really good luck with this non-corporate Sprint store down the road. Hopefully my luck will continue today. Though I'm not exactly sure what I expect to get out of it. I mean I really don't think that the problem is fixable on the phone. But I'll feel better once I've exhausted all possible options.

rialsi6 said:
I took it to two stores, one said my flash was going bad they replaced it so they say, but that wasn't it. Another store said my camera was loose they fixed that but still the same problem. This one rep was pissing me off because he was taking pictures in the bright ass store telling me my camera was fine when i clearly told him it happen at night or in low light places. And i told him to duplicate the problem he will need to go in a dark room or somewhere low lit but clearly they didn't do it. But you may have a different experience, good luck to you. please post what happens at your store.thx. Oh, also i wanted to tell them so badly about asop and froyo roms working but couldn't.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Sounds like he was trying to avoid addressing your problem by making it look like a non problem. I'm guessing possibly in front of other people so it looked like you were just wining. If they can't replicate it, it must not be happening right?

That is exactly what went down in the store, exactly!
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

The Sprint store guy admitted that he could see the issue. He had an older Evo around with Froyo on it and he compared and sure enough, there was a big difference. He said that the only thing he could really do would be to order a replacement, but that the replacement might have the same problem or some other problem. So at least he was honest with me.

chainsmokinsonmabish said:
No
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
How about posting your hardware, camera, and ROM...
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

Multiple threads on this topic, but posting here since this is the most recent.
First, the basics:
Evo 4G rooted
still running standard Sprint Rom (basic tweaks, nothing serious)
Camera Zoom FX 3.2.2
Yesterday I realized that I'm having this issue as well... pictures are certainly coming out darker than before. This isn't the first time it's occurred, but up until now didn't realize it was reoccurring thing. It's further exaggerated when shooting from a lower light area towards a brighter area (example: from inside a car of something outside). No big shock there.
I installed Camera Zoom a few months ago in hopes of increasing the quality of pics (over the stock camera app). Overall, it was very successful. However, for the most part I take pics indoors or under a decent amount of overhead/ambient light. Thus far, no problems. But it seems that the increase in pic quality with Camera Zoom has also brought an increase in darkness to these pics in certain situations. Not so good.
Will try to find an answer.

DESIRE camera apk

Hi guys,
I was backing up mu photos the other day and realized my camera shots from my stock, non rooted days were much better.
First, yes I am on a sense ROM, and yes I searched both XDA and google.
Does anyone have the stock camera apk from the official ROMs froyo or gingerbread? I wouldn't mind testing to see if the "old" cameras really were better.
I rarely use my phone for video, but lots for pics. I do not want opinions on what ROM has a better camera, just the stock one so that I can do a backup, test the old one, and compare images.
Once I have the old apk, I will even post comparison photos if anyone else is interested.
Thanks

Umm I think the problem is not HTCcamera.apk
In my opinion the problem is GB kernel

maybe you should download a stock rom nad just take the cam apk out of it ?

+1 for this.. I have the same feelings about photos but I never actually compared.

There's also the ol' scratches on the battery cover's lens issue.. Have you checked that yet? Didn't really specify in what way your new photos are not as good..

The problem is GB with sense, if you want better pictures then use a froyo sense rom or if you want GB you can try Miui or CM 7.10 roms, all the others they make dark pictures when using the flash in the dark.

Thanks for the replies guys, I have the official Telus Froyo ROM but as an RUU. I'll download a rooted stock froyo ROM and do 2 things,
1. Pull the apk and try with my current GB ROM
2. Backup, flash a rooted stock froyo and test.
And yes, I did think of the scratched cover thing, I removed the cover and took pics.......they still lok like sh** compared to my old stock froyo photos.
It migt be a GB thing though, my photos from my LeeDroid froyo ROM days look way better as well.
Thanks again, when I have the time to do all the necaesary backing up, flashing and restoring I'll tack pics and test this out.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk

i don`t think the problem is gb sense

I agree that the original froyo camera has better quality but not that much better. I use miui and it has a fairly decent camera (with full screen 4mp). It doesn't have 720p video but the video is a lot smoother, tho still not much in terms of quality.

This probably doesn't really help anyone, but the Desire's camera isn't very good to begin with. Honestly, being a photography enthusiast, I am usually quite disappointed with the picture quality from the camera. My previous two phones are Sony Ericsson; A W810 followed by a W960. Despite the W810 having only 2MP and the W860 having 3.2MP, they still took FAR better pictures than the 5MP on the Desire. Especially with the W810, I was thoroughly impressed with it's picture quality and low light performance. Sure the Desire's photos look good on it's screen, but full size on a monitor typically leads to cringing.
I've been considering moving back to Sony phones, specifically the Arc (S). I just need to get some play time with one to test out the camera and ergonomics..

So you're saying that you're a photography enthusiast and you need a phone with a good camera. What do you need it for? An enthusiast always carries some sort of a true (dedicated) camera with him, be it a compact, dSLR or a SLR.

i have same problem after i rooted phone. i installed runnymede ROM but still quality of photographs are not same my first photographs with this phone, nothing changed:S

TVTV said:
So you're saying that you're a photography enthusiast and you need a phone with a good camera. What do you need it for? An enthusiast always carries some sort of a true (dedicated) camera with him, be it a compact, dSLR or a SLR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try carrying an awkward couple of pounds around with you everywhere.. My phone is on me at all times anyway, so when I see something inspiring, I use what I have. I don't see any point in also carrying a point-and-shoot when I know that a commendable camera can be put into a phone (ie iphone4, Nokia 808) but typically isn't these days.

HtcCamera APK attatched
Attached HTC Camera APK but I dont know if it would do any good. From Runnymede AIO Special Edition.

Did it work?

Omcho said:
Did it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same question here...

Following this thread with interest because I know what the TS-er means. Pictures taken with a stock Froyo or GB rom have better quality and especially brighter flash in dark conditions.
I believe this to be kernel-related. My phone's on An-Droid 2.2.0 now (imho the best rom for our devices) and with the custom kernel that comes with it the camera's flash doesn't 'peak' at the moment a picture is taken. Flashing the stock kernel (or an snq one) changed this and now the camera flash is ok again.
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium

lol install amze cam and that is it
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium

If you use a port its normal i trink, but with most aosps pole cyanogenmod its the same for me

I have HTCCamera.apk from USCC froyo stock rom. I already try to install with adb push and reboot, but the camera app won't show up in app list. I want to change the camera.apk from CM7 because the result and features is not good enough. Can I use HTCCamera.apk in CM7?

Camera and CM9

Hello, I have been following the development of CM9 for a while now. Almost all roms can not get the camera working. I read there is a change in the framework and that is why it is now hard for older phones. But what has changed to stop the camera? Is the camera a hard device to get drivers for? Any clarity would be amazing just so I can understand the issue. Many thanks

It's only a matter of time I think before they get it sorted.
I just tried my first ICS based rom yesterday on my SGS2 and it is almost perfect, really good.
Camera works, but no video function (for me anyway!)
Exciting times.

I agree with thomss79. "Only a matter of time". Also the drivers are important. Looking through the threads on here, some drivers, and or source code, has been released for the Atrix from Nvidia and Moto. Not sure if that will help ICS, camera (and kernel) tho. Anyway, the devs on here should sort it out before too long. Thought i would be stuck on Froyo ( 2.2.2 ) forever. Unlocked and tried nearly all roms now, including early ICS

I heard drivers were an issue for CM9. I'll wait A LOT before installing ICS anyway, CM7 took a long time to get to this (awesome) point, and I will NOT switch to a less functional ROM just because it looks prettier. I'm extremely happy with CM7 for the time being.

I understand that the camera is not working on CM9 build....and that's ok for now but is there a reason why my gallery is not working?
I can't seem to view mms messages or downloaded pics

ramier said:
I understand that the camera is not working on CM9 build....and that's ok for now but is there a reason why my gallery is not working?
I can't seem to view mms messages or downloaded pics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using quickpic.
When i was on my captivate camera (video and image) worked great on CM9.
Sucks that i'm using a nokia dumbphone atm.

They've had their hands full.. in due time we will have a 100% functioning rom.
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

JaronBang said:
They've had their hands full.. in due time we will have a 100% functioning rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope so.

Kayen said:
Try using quickpic.
When i was on my captivate camera (video and image) worked great on CM9.
Sucks that i'm using a nokia dumbphone atm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the tip. quickpic works great. have access to my pics

Regarding why, as far as I know it's due to camera API changes in ICS. This causes troubles for the way cameras work earlier, and requires new driver. Again I'm not completely sure, this is just something I picked up in other threads. On a side note, the camera is mostly working in turl's new builds (and jokersax's) over at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1445052 as I'm sure you're aware . Hope that clears some confusion!

Issues when downgrading
Though I was just fiddling around with CM9 and Ice cream sandwich, when I downgraded back to 2.3.4(stock), the camera app refused to work. Camera app just crashes. Is there any permanent change that CM9 does to the device interface that may be causing this.
Thanks

Shouldn't be anything permanent. How did you revert to stock?
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

Running CM9 with camera & video camera
I am running CM9 Turl's V8 and have installed camera 360 which runs great. found that in Turls CM9 thread. And people are using video illusion for video recorder. Problem solved

LeonIrv said:
I heard drivers were an issue for CM9. I'll wait A LOT before installing ICS anyway, CM7 took a long time to get to this (awesome) point, and I will NOT switch to a less functional ROM just because it looks prettier. I'm extremely happy with CM7 for the time being.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You really just dont know what you're missing. The camera DOES work...to everyone saying it doesnt...well, thats just not 100% true. There are significant problems, some lag and delays, but it IS functional.
Using a camera app usually cures all the problems tho.

gastromagig said:
Though I was just fiddling around with CM9 and Ice cream sandwich, when I downgraded back to 2.3.4(stock), the camera app refused to work. Camera app just crashes. Is there any permanent change that CM9 does to the device interface that may be causing this.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd suggest formatting /system and then do a regular data wipe then reinstall and see if that works.

+1, camera is working, running cm9 as my daily

Reverting breaks camera
ehvio said:
Shouldn't be anything permanent. How did you revert to stock?
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
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KH_Lionheart said:
I'd suggest formatting /system and then do a regular data wipe then reinstall and see if that works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flash the stock rom using fastboot, i.e. fastboot flash system system.img, so I'm assuming that would format the /system directory. Im still a noob at this so any advice would be much appreciated. Also, the camera does not work in the new cm9 beta, so I am assuming there is some sort of firmware issue with the camera.
Thanks

I would definitely try reflashing, cause the camera is working for me on Jokersax's latest build.

front camera
Also, the front camera works when I use camera 360, so it seems to be a device driver/ firmware issue. Anyone else having similar problems?

[Q] i9505 Frontcamera bad quality

Hey there,
i have a problem with my front-facing-camera on my i9505. The quality is set to the max, but the images are very poor and there is a constant layer of grain on top of every image. Even when I shift the phone around, the graindots stay exactly the same. I already cleaned the lense several times, and it didn't change anything.
Ive been on MIUI, CM10, CM11 and V4 Google Experience. Ive used different camera apps, but the quality is still the same.
Any ideas?
Thanks and kind regards!

Richylitschy said:
Hey there,
i have a problem with my front-facing-camera on my i9505. The quality is set to the max, but the images are very poor and there is a constant layer of grain on top of every image. Even when I shift the phone around, the graindots stay exactly the same. I already cleaned the lense several times, and it didn't change anything.
Ive been on MIUI, CM10, CM11 and V4 Google Experience. Ive used different camera apps, but the quality is still the same.
Any ideas?
Thanks and kind regards!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will help ya maybe: HERE

Sadly not
Joku1981 said:
This will help ya maybe: HERE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for your answer!
There was an update, I installed it and rebooted. But sadly there is no difference in quality :/
Any other ideas?
Greetings!

Camera is really slow

Hi. Has anyone experienced really slow camera performance with S3 Neo? Like you pressing shutter button in camera app and image is actually being taken 3-8 seconds after that?
I got this issue on CM12 and CM12.1, didn't tried other ROMs yet. I've tried different camera apps, Google Camera, OpenCamera and CM stock one. Each of those apps seems to be affected the same way. It works a bit better after reboot and cleaning camera app cache but I can't do that often. If someone can help me with this, I'd really appreciate. Thanks.
PS: I've tried camera fix from this forum but probably it's for some other issue as my camera stopped worked completely after applying fix and I had to re-flash ROM.

Camera fix is for devices that have a different camera sensor (there are two). So that's indeed not the right file. As for the camera speed, I'm not really sure. Mine is also really slow (cm12,1). I've come to live with it because i rarely use my camera anyway. I've tested some touchwiz based roms, and the camera was faster on those :/
Sent from my GT-I9301I using XDA-Developers mobile app

stelio_kontos said:
As for the camera speed, I'm not really sure. Mine is also really slow (cm12,1). I've come to live with it because i rarely use my camera anyway. I've tested some touchwiz based roms, and the camera was faster on those :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, it seems like we're getting somewhere. Could it be CM issue? Maybe some other CM users can write a word about their camera app speed? I really like CM though, stock ROMs are overloaded with tons of software that is never used.

Nikola's CM have some issues with camera timing, and Motion based roms have laggy camera performance
Better to go with stock, because it uses the camera at the maximum performance.

ziad311 said:
Nikola's CM have some issues with camera timing, and Motion based roms have laggy camera performance
Better to go with stock, because it uses the camera at the maximum performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'm currently testing CM based '[ROM][Stable][5.1.1][December 31]Resurrection Remix 5.5.9 - Final version' and it looks better. Need more testing though. Stock is too awful to use, I'd better live with slow camera, but maybe there's a solution.

Nope, Resurrection Remix is slow either, CM's curse. OK, I got it - fast camera OR fast ROM, no exceptions. Too bad, maybe CM13 will fix this?

Camera Quality is Poor
S3 original is better than this..
regards Junaid Shahid

I've found 'lite' version of original firmware made by guys from 4PDA (link to original thread, sorry it's in russian).
It's 500 MB in archive and almost all Samsung stuff has been removed, so it's as clean and fast as possible. Camera works fine. In case someone else may need it, here's direct link.
Please note that I'm not the author of this firmware, not related to him in any way and not responsible for your flashing experience.

NastyRose said:
I've found 'lite' version of original firmware made by guys from 4PDA (link to original thread, sorry it's in russian).
It's 500 MB in archive and almost all Samsung stuff has been removed, so it's as clean and fast as possible. Camera works fine. In case someone else may need it, here's direct link.
Please note that I'm not the author of this firmware, not related to him in any way and not responsible for your flashing experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any bugs on this lite rom ?

kico94 said:
Any bugs on this lite rom ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't found any yet. 4.4 is not as good as 5.1, of course, but the camera is awesome

NastyRose said:
Haven't found any yet. 4.4 is not as good as 5.1, of course, but the camera is awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about apps and interface? Except what is removed, everything else is all stock or anything replaced with 3rd party apps or other kind of mods? Because if so, it's not for me, I go for stock anytime.

kico94 said:
What about apps and interface? Except what is removed, everything else is all stock or anything replaced with 3rd party apps or other kind of mods? Because if so, it's not for me, I go for stock anytime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it looks like stock to me: http://pyaka.ga/litestock.png
Some Samsung apps and probably all settings are still there.
I've made some tweak using GravityBox, so clock, battery indicator does not look as they were initially.

NastyRose said:
Well, it looks like stock to me: http://pyaka.ga/litestock.png
Some Samsung apps and probably all settings are still there.
I've made some tweak using GravityBox, so clock, battery indicator does not look as they were initially.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing it now. I hope it is good on what I expect, otherwise its the last rom i ever try.