One of my biggest gripes with this phone is that they gave it this great camera but with no image stabilization. Has anyone come across any good camera apps? Preferably something that allows you to take a picture via the touch screen (like you can in 2.1 but not 2.2) or provides some image stabilization. I tried camera 360, which seems decent, but FC's a lot.
PS. I tried a thread search to see if this topic is around but due to the numerous threads on camera related issues pre-2.2 OTA leak, they're hard to find.
Thanks in advance for any help.
If you place your finger on the screen and hold it there, it will take the picture.
To be more precise it'll focus where you put the finger and take a picture.
The best camera app I've tried is Vignette. The "normal" processing for the app makes much better pictures than the default camera, and it's got some excellent effects as well. It also has a "steady shot" option where it waits until the camera is still before taking the shot. The demo is low-res but you can use it to see the basic results you'll get. The full version was worth it for me.
Tried a few apps and I do like some features of Vignette but will say the stock camera app does the best in my opinion with settings at (8mp fine bright -1 contrast +1) can hold on screen and it will auto focus then snap pic
here are some untouched samples of mine of just misc things the other day
http://picasaweb.google.com/dearls70/VignettePhotoAppPics?feat=directlink
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/dearls70/DroidIncrediblePics?feat=directlink
So I ran some tests - by comparing the Idol3 camera with my 4 year old Panasonic ZS7 P&S camera . What I have noticed that at low ISO - keeping both cameras stationary - the results are pretty close. For indoor pictures, what I have noticed is that the Idol3 flash does not come on easily. But this appears to be a general smartphone thing, because my Galaxy Exhibit camera is doing the same thing. Instead of turning the flash on , the Idol3 is bumping up the ISO to over 2000 ! This results in very grainy pictures.
So one way to ensure better pictures *could* be to follow this rule -- Outdoor - set ISO=100 always . Indoors - set ISO=200 , and set flash to forced.
Also - I noticed that the front camera can go to down to ISO 50 - whereas the back camera only goes down to ISO-100 .
I will do some more tests in the coming weekend. Does anyone know of a camera app that will tell me the shutter speed the camera is going to use *before* taking the picture? That way I can decide whether I need to bump up the ISO to speed up the shutter.
Some samples
Here are some sample pictures - in outdoor sunlit conditions --> https://goo.gl/photos/ckxAPRmKo3PWJTat8
I would like to hear what y'all think.
I have a slight amendment to my earlier suggestion. I noticed that for indoor shots, if I cap ISO to 200, it is slowing down the shutter leading to a shaky, and therefore, blurred picture. A grainy picture is still better than a blurred picture. So I think a better approach would be to force the flash, and then set the shutter to 1/30, and allow it to bump the ISO if it has to. The stock camera app has a manual mode where it allows setting shutter speed.
For outdoor pictures I am using 'A Better Camera' - free version. It allows me to set and save the ISO setting to ISO-100. Also it allows me to pick the auto-focus mode to AF-Lock. I think a lot of blurred pictures are because of focus issues. AF-lock allows you to focus on a specific object, and then lock it so that the phone is not constantly re-focusing. Another trick that can be considered is to use a 2-second timer, to prevent shake due to touching the screen for taking the picture. .
I will try some indoor shots next, as well as the RAW mode and then post when I have them.
Good info
i tried the oppo colorOS camera idk if its a placebo effect but i kinda notices good pictures sadly i cant take 50mp pictures like that phone yet has 13mp camera too using that same sensor it just stitches the best pics zoomed in into one making an illusion of 50mp
stl1859 said:
Here are some sample pictures - in outdoor sunlit conditions --> https://goo.gl/photos/ckxAPRmKo3PWJTat8
I would like to hear what y'all think.
I have a slight amendment to my earlier suggestion. I noticed that for indoor shots, if I cap ISO to 200, it is slowing down the shutter leading to a shaky, and therefore, blurred picture. A grainy picture is still better than a blurred picture. So I think a better approach would be to force the flash, and then set the shutter to 1/30, and allow it to bump the ISO if it has to. The stock camera app has a manual mode where it allows setting shutter speed.
For outdoor pictures I am using 'A Better Camera' - free version. It allows me to set and save the ISO setting to ISO-100. Also it allows me to pick the auto-focus mode to AF-Lock. I think a lot of blurred pictures are because of focus issues. AF-lock allows you to focus on a specific object, and then lock it so that the phone is not constantly re-focusing. Another trick that can be considered is to use a 2-second timer, to prevent shake due to touching the screen for taking the picture. .
I will try some indoor shots next, as well as the RAW mode and then post when I have them.
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I think the photos look great. Nice dynamic range and colors.
Have you tried using the manual mode of the stock camera to change the settings?
vk135 said:
Have you tried using the manual mode of the stock camera to change the settings?
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Yes . The problem with the stock camera app is that it always starts in the auto-mode. It would be nice if it remembered the prior setting, but does not. For someone like me that likes a lot of manual controls ( shutter , aperture, ISO etc. etc. ) , this is a big pain if I have to switch to manual mode every time I take a picture. When in manual mode, it does not save any prior settings. So not only do I have to switch to manual mode, I then have to open another dialog and set the ISO to my liking. That in my opinion is way too cumbersome. In this respect, 'A Better Camera' is slightly better. It allows me to specify which settings it should remember between launches. So I can ask it to always remember the ISO and auto-focus modes. It does appear to have a bug , in that it does not display the modes correctly. So on start-up, it is telling me that it is on ISO-Auto - when I set it to ISO-100 - and when I actually take the picture, I do see that the ISO-100 was picked. Another problem with that app is that it does not allow setting of shutter speed, which the stock camera app does.
So I really haven't found any one camera app that does everything I want . But in doing this research , I am realizing how big of a pain using a smartphone as a camera can be. I really wish Alcatel had a model with no front and back camera and for $50 less ! That would be the perfect device for me
RAW capture
I managed to try out the RAW capture functionality of the camera.
Here is the unprocessed TIFF file, created from a .DNG using dcraw >> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B960wOI9V0CfWGpmRUxicVpLZDg/view?usp=sharing
Here is a jpeg - taken using the 'A Better Camera' app , of the same scene, at pretty much the same time >> https://goo.gl/photos/xUcHGp5B9triKSNC8
From what I can tell, the image generated from the RAW capture has better color reproduction.
stl1859 said:
I managed to try out the RAW capture functionality of the camera.
Here is the unprocessed TIFF file, created from a .DNG using dcraw >> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B960wOI9V0CfWGpmRUxicVpLZDg/view?usp=sharing
Here is a jpeg - taken using the 'A Better Camera' app , of the same scene, at pretty much the same time >> https://goo.gl/photos/xUcHGp5B9triKSNC8
From what I can tell, the image generated from the RAW capture has better color reproduction.
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What camera app are you using to get RAW captures?
Borghi said:
What camera app are you using to get RAW captures?
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This one --> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=troop.com.freedcam&hl=en
is there any apps that can take 50mp pictures like the oppo camera? it uses a trick that takes and stitches various photos into one now thats awesome
Took this shot of the moon using the default camera in manual mode. iso 100, 1/1000. Strangely the exif says the aperture is 2.5 not 2.0 like the specs say.
Using the camera is probably the last thing I use my phone for. I would think that someone would have created a camera app where you can change all the settings you want and save that profile then make as many profiles as you want for various situations.
I do not use my phone as a camera either . Actually I am surprised ( at myself ) why I spent so much time testing it out ! Anyway, I found an app called 'Open Camera' - which seems to have almost all the features I was looking for. It allows me to set ISO and AF-lock - and actually saves those settings between launches. It also has a mode where if it is running and you lock the phone, hitting the power button again brings the camera right back . I find that useful because now I can lock the screen between shots - and still get the camera back relatively quickly. Without that I had to leave the screen on, and I was getting a lot of accidental shots. The UI isn't that great looking, but it is functional.
Here is the link >> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera&hl=en
Shodan5150 said:
Using the camera is probably the last thing I use my phone for. I would think that someone would have created a camera app where you can change all the settings you want and save that profile then make as many profiles as you want for various situations.
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Pretty sure Camera Zoom FX does what you are talking about. I made it the default camera app. It was free on amazon however at some point or another I purchased it on google play for $0.10. A special promo where a bunch of apps were $0.10 each I think. Anyway might want to check it or camera360 out....opencamera is a nice free open source one (If I remember right).
My primary usage for the camera on my phones is to run the paperkarma app so I can submit junkmail to have my name/address removed from their mailing lists. Has helped to thin the junkmail down over time.
I haven't used the camera too much but I am not disappointed in it so far. For the price, I can't complain. It seems to take the pics fairly quickly which is a good thing.
open camera is also good ive tried it and no problems for me
Has anyone found ANY camera app that allows you to save the pics to the SD card? I've tried a bunch yet they all complain that KK(!) doesn't allow saving to SD card YET the stock camera app does allow it.
ItsDon said:
Has anyone found ANY camera app that allows you to save the pics to the SD card? I've tried a bunch yet they all complain that KK(!) doesn't allow saving to SD card YET the stock camera app does allow it.
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In my case - both 'A Better Camera' and 'Open Camera' were unable to save to the external micro SD. It does not bother me, because it is probably better for the camera to write directly to internal storage , in the interest of speed. I can always move those files using ES File Explorer - or by plugging the phone in.
ISO_HJR
I think I found another trick that can help the picture quality with the Camera. The 'Open Camera' app supports an ISO setting called 'ISO_HJR' - HJR stands for Hand Jitter Reduction, and it is Google's way of bumping up the ISO while keeping the shutter fast, to prevent blur due to shake. I used that to take some picture under overcast conditions today, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. The exif on the pictures say that the ISO is bumped upwards of 400 - but the picture does not appear to be too grainy . I am not sure what exactly is going on , but this seems like a good option to use.
Also 'Open Camera' allows me to save with a JPEG compression of 100% - This results in 8MB+ files for each picture .
Hello, all!
This is a little specific, but I was hoping that perhaps other LG G6 users could help me test for this problem to figure out whether it's affecting all the phones/firmwares or is specific to mine.
Basically what happens is that in any camera app, except the native one, if you use specific manual settings (so, through the Camera2 API) there's a bug that changes the value on its own. Perhaps the easiest way to check it is using Open Camera:
1) Switch to video mode (camera choice does not matter).
2) Pick the exposure icon, set ISO to 50 and shutter speed to 1/20
3) Start recording video...
4) On my device after 5-10 seconds of recording the screen turns black (or nearly black) as the exposure speed drops to ~1/10000.
Touching the screen to refocus fixes it for a moment, then it jumps back to ~1/10000.
Basically ISO50, shutter range 1/20-1/30 will cause this. I have seen this in any app that allowed manual settings, like Open Camera, ProShot, Hedgecam 2, AZ Camera, Footej camera etc. Some of them turn black, others just crash/freeze. Sounds like an API bug to me.
I'm on Android version 8.0.0, Software version: V20c-EUR-XX installed through OTA.
Would really appreciate if someone could also try this.
My minimum shutter speed is 1/30... This with stock camera........ Stock oreo by OTA v20c.
No problem with recording.
vs0587 said:
My minimum shutter speed is 1/30... This with stock camera........ Stock oreo by OTA v20c.
No problem with recording.
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Thanks for taking the time to check, but the stock camera works ok. It's the others that have this problem. Like Open Camera or HedgeCam2. The reason I want to use those is they recently added an option to change image processing (noise reduction, edge enhancement) so if you turn those down and film video with them you actually get nice, natural looking video and not the overprocessed watercolor look that the stock camera (and most other apps) provide. And if we go for a "cinematic" 24fps look then the Shutter speed could often be 1/24 or so.
Since I have seen some threads looking for a way to get cleaner video I'll attach two snapshots from a video - one with stock camera (and those crazy cartoon edges) and another from HedgeCam 2.
I am hugely disappointed with the front camera. 2 points I have taken a note off:
1. In medium to low light conditions the pictures are worst missing sharpness and blurry.
2. The camera struggles with light, I am guessing its an AI issue, Whenever there is a source of light behind me the photos are always hazy and struggle to focus on the subject.
I hope there is a fix for this, having spent this much on the phone I expect some decent pictures.
SonyXperiaS said:
I am hugely disappointed with the front camera. 2 points I have taken a note off:
1. In medium to low light conditions the pictures are worst missing sharpness and blurry.
2. The camera struggles with light, I am guessing its an AI issue, Whenever there is a source of light behind me the photos are always hazy and struggle to focus on the subject.
I hope there is a fix for this, having spent this much on the phone I expect some decent pictures.
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I suggest you give a try to this GCam mod here https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-greatness/ and install the latest release.
After installed, make sure you select HDR+ mode, NO Google AWB, IMX686 White Balance setting, IQ Hybrid R0m10, disable any library modification (unless you know what you're doing...), select Medium or High for the number of frames in HDR+ mode. Try with these settings and let us know what you get
Surfeur-des-Reves said:
I suggest you give a try to this GCam mod here https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-greatness/ and install the latest release.
After installed, make sure you select HDR+ mode, NO Google AWB, IMX686 White Balance setting, IQ Hybrid R0m10, disable any library modification (unless you know what you're doing...), select Medium or High for the number of frames in HDR+ mode. Try with these settings and let us know what you get
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Thanks, I will let you know.
How did it go?
Can you maybe post an example pic? With gcam and normal cam