Database Users

[Q] Camera mod to allow long exposure times?

Could be possible to develop a camera mod in order to allow using custom long exposure times with the camera?
In low light photography, if you want a minimun quality, you need a low ISO level and a long exposure time (holding the phone somewhere, using a tripod, etc). Since slowest shutter speed in Note 3 is 1/15s, it's actually too fast for night photos, so it could be good to break this limitation and use slower shutter speeds...
With my old Xperia Z, I got some tricks very good for low light, as using night scene (1/2s exposure time), or even fireworks scene (1s exposure time). These scenes allowed me to use low ISO levels and the detail level was amazing.
I perfectly know apps like Camera fv-5, night camera and some other stuff, and this is NOT what I mean. In camera fv-5, you are just "capturng" the screen streaming for a long time, so the resolution is very low (2mpx max), and if the scene is dark, there is no difference (you won't get a brighter scene). In Night Camera (or the night mode in A Better Camera), the phone takes some pictures and merges them (like an HDR), so it's not what I'm asking for either.
I think it's neccessary a real MOD which changes the samsung camera libs or something like that. I'm not a developer (just a photography enthusiastic) and I don't know if it could be possible, but I definitely would love it
Pd: sorry for my English.

Nobody?
Enviado desde mi SM-N9005 mediante Tapatalk

You mean FV5 doesnt really take long shutter mode photos?

nakulp said:
You mean FV5 doesnt really take long shutter mode photos?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, camera fv-5 simply takes the real time info which is giving to the screen from the sensor (2mpx) for the time you want to, and merges it in a photo. This is not a real long exposure pic. Dark areas will remain dark and noisy due to high iso level and the "real" shutting speed, although this mode could be useful for light painting or nightrail shots...

Searching for this answer for quite some time now .. anyone has any mods / hacks ?

[Q] Camera problem..picture quality terrible

I have a note 3 sm n900.
But in my camera if the turn image smart stabilisation off the photos sre taken are very fast but they start cracking if i zoom in.. if i take a pic of a book or something the words arent very clear,i even tried keeping my hands very steady while taking the photos.
On the other hand enbablimg smart stabilisation, camera takes around one second to take a photo and the photos arr very clear.
This shouldnt be happening, right?
Whats the point of having smart stabilisation off if the photos look like taken from a 2MP shooter.
Please help.
Please reply.
I have been hurt by the community as my last problems didnt even get a reply.
Sent from my SM-N900 using XDA Free mobile app

begimaad said:
I have a note 3 sm n900.
But in my camera if the turn image smart stabilisation off the photos sre taken are very fast but they start cracking if i zoom in.. if i take a pic of a book or something the words arent very clear,i even tried keeping my hands very steady while taking the photos.
On the other hand enbablimg smart stabilisation, camera takes around one second to take a photo and the photos arr very clear.
This shouldnt be happening, right?
Whats the point of having smart stabilisation off if the photos look like taken from a 2MP shooter.
Please help.
Please reply.
I have been hurt by the community as my last problems didnt even get a reply.
Sent from my SM-N900 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you aware of how camera sensors work?
Smart stabilization is meant to offset the use of higher ISOs/lower shutter speeds so that your pictures turn out less noisy. Given that the Note 3's max aperture is f/2.2, let's make an example.
In the daylight, your ISO can drop and thus picture quality can improve (this is very barebones, but it's for conceptual purpose). In essence, higher ISO = more noise, especially the smaller the sensor size. You can visibly see that the Note 3 has a very small sensor. In fact, even on APS-C cameras, noise performances starts to suck around ISO 3200~6400. ISO is meant to make each pixel brighter (or something to that effect), and the smaller those pixels are, the more noise you'll generate (again, not exactly, but that's the gist of what you're experiencing). So, with 13 megapixels fit onto the small sensor, you're likely going to start seeing noise at like, ISO800 (this is a random guess, but it's probably true).
Anyways, so during the daytime, there is a lot of available light, so the ISO can be reduced and exposure can be adjusted using shutter speed (assuming aperture stays the same). This improves picture quality as lower ISOs generally equate to less noise. However, as you get later into the night, less available light means that one of two things has to happen. Either your shutter speed gets slower to let in more light, or your ISO cranks up to become more sensitive to the available light (and thus more noise). Usually a combination of the two occur to get a trade off between quality and shutter speed.
A quick browse on google gave me, 1/15, f2.2, ISO 1000, as EXIF data from an iPhone 5s taking a picture at night. As you can see, the ISO is pretty high for the small sensor, and the shutter speed is quite low. As a rule of thumb, you generally want at least an equivalent shutter speed to the focal length, but given the crop factor of this lens, I have no idea what that'd actually be. But 1/15th is very, very hard to hold without some form of IS/OS, even on full-frame cameras. What you're experiencing is this effect. The low shutter speed to let in more light means that even if you breath and shift the camera 1cm, you'll get blur. It's not out of focus, but the subjects weren't in the same place because you moved, causing them to be rendered in shift. The noise is the result of the ISO being too high; the pixel sensitivity isn't that great, and so you're getting all kinds of weird colours that the phone is trying to represent without definitive data. Again, we're assuming that the aperture stays wide open under these conditions to let in the most light.
I hope you got the answer you were looking for. Basically, what you want is pretty hard to do, even with a full-framed DSLR (although it's becoming less true with recent image processing). You can't really turn of IS/OS and expect the pictures to be great. There's a lot of other things that are taken into account behind the scenes that are usually beyond your control on your phone. Smart stabilization using image processing algorithms to help mitigate the impact of higher ISOs and lower shutter speeds by post-processing the images you take on the fly. Such is the cause of the delay.

What version you're running , do you try to use any third-party camera app results may vary , did you increase exposure value, try to reser all camera setting to default
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

msasm09 said:
What version you're running , do you try to use any third-party camera app results may vary , did you increase exposure value, try to reser all camera setting to default
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it sorted out. In not so bright conditions the pictures start breaking and by turning on smart stabilisation it gets fixed. Credit goes to the last persom who explained. Best explanation ever. Hats off to u
Sent from my SM-N900 using XDA Free mobile app

Workaround to increase Camera Photo quality

I am aware that our Mix uses a 1/3.06" 16MP Omnivision Sensor with a Pixel size of the measly 1um. But the Huawei Mate 9 has a similar sized sensor (1/2.9" 12MP sensor with a pixel size of approx. 1.25um.) and shoots really great pics. Obviously Huawei may have used a latest generation Sony sensor with Leica's optics which will blow the Omnivision away. Even the cheapest Sony sensor would outperform an Omnivision any day.
My question is, will shooting images at a lower resolution like 12MP on the Mix give us better results? I'm not expecting Mate 9 like results as the phone's camera was never a priority when I bought this device. But would this help reduce noise or give us better results compared to shooting at 16MP? I am noticing lower noise when shooting at 13MP on Open camera compared to shooting at 16MP.
Does shooting at a lower resolution increase the Pixel size from 1um? Or is it strictly something to do with the sensor? Does the sensor behave the same either way and are we just getting cropped images when shooting at lower resolutions?
I've read in a few places that the sensor is fully utilized regardless but shooting at lower resolutions can reduce noise. If I can at least get half decent 12MP images compared to noisy unreliable 16MP ones, I wouldn't mind shooting at lower resolutions. Of course I am not expecting ground breaking image quality.
Some older Sony phones like the Xperia Z2 used to have a default mode which clicked images at 8MP even though the effective sensor resolution was 21MP. Sony claimed that the lower resolution gave batter images especially lesser noise. I am referring to something like this.
Hope someone can explain this.

@satishp did a search on dpreview.com
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/2995010
The 2nd reply sums it up pretty well.
The answer to your question is no, reducing the resolution will not increase your image quality. The sensor always takes full-resolution image. Reducing resolution is a post-processing function and is no different than reducing resolution on the computer. Note that there are a few cameras with special low-resolution modes that are supposed to improve either the image or performance in certain ways. But when you have these modes you know it because they’re selling features of the camera.
There is now a significant amount of information available publically demonstrating that image quality depends on sensor size and sensor efficiency only. The number of pixels doesn’t matter. When printed at the same print size, images from the same sized sensor exhibit the same amount of noise regardless of resolution.

Thorin78 said:
@satishp did a search on dpreview.com
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/2995010
The 2nd reply sums it up pretty well.
The answer to your question is no, reducing the resolution will not increase your image quality. The sensor always takes full-resolution image. Reducing resolution is a post-processing function and is no different than reducing resolution on the computer. Note that there are a few cameras with special low-resolution modes that are supposed to improve either the image or performance in certain ways. But when you have these modes you know it because they’re selling features of the camera.
There is now a significant amount of information available publically demonstrating that image quality depends on sensor size and sensor efficiency only. The number of pixels doesn’t matter. When printed at the same print size, images from the same sized sensor exhibit the same amount of noise regardless of resolution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for clearing this! So it may have been placebo that the images shot at 12MP seemed to be less noisy to me. Lol!
I use Open Camera which seems to produce brighter images compared to the stock camera. I'm sure these 3rd party apps aren't magically making the sensor capture more light compared to the stock app. I've noticed that these apps automatically crank up the display brightness to max as soon as they are launched. There may also be some real-time processing involved which makes the images appear brighter and slightly better compared to the stock app.
I am considering getting the Sony Alpha QX1 (with inter-changeable lenses) or the older QX100 which would make the Mix perfect! These lens style cameras attach to the phone and transfer images directly to the phone via NFC pairing. Just wondering whether the mix is too wide for the bracket on the lenses. The QX1 has the same APS-C sensor utilized on some of Sony's Alpha range and the QX100 has the 1" BSI sensor used on the RX100II. Only downside is that none of them can do 4K video.
Thanks again! Cheers!

satishp said:
I am considering getting the Sony Alpha QX1 (with inter-changeable lenses) or the older QX100 which would make the Mix perfect! These lens style cameras attach to the phone and transfer images directly to the phone via NFC pairing. Just wondering whether the mix is too wide for the bracket on the lenses. The QX1 has the same APS-C sensor utilized on some of Sony's Alpha range and the QX100 has the 1" BSI sensor used on the RX100II. Only downside is that none of them can do 4K video.
Thanks again! Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will need this - https://www.amazon.com/SPA-TA1-Tabl...UTF8&qid=1483946210&sr=8-2&keywords=qx+tablet
The smallest one should work perfectly with the phone. I had the QX-100 and it didn't fit the note 4 out of the box.

emann56 said:
You will need this - https://www.amazon.com/SPA-TA1-Tabl...UTF8&qid=1483946210&sr=8-2&keywords=qx+tablet
The smallest one should work perfectly with the phone. I had the QX-100 and it didn't fit the note 4 out of the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to be quite expensive just for an attachment. If it didn't fit the Note 4, it most definitely won't fit the Mix. So I guess that attachment is a must and when you add the price of the QX1's body + Lens + the attachment, it doesn't seem to be worth it. Ofcourse, the images would blow away even the best of mobile cameras.
Only if it was priced right!

I have the QX-30, the tablet mount is a must unless you plan on not attaching it to the phone. It makes the overall portability not so great, you're probably better off just getting a full blown dedicated camera but the QX-1 might be good, just make sure to buy one of the lenses otherwise you can't do anything, the SELP1650 might be decent I think.
Also if you're thinking of getting the swiveling rotation mount, don't bother, it's not compatible with the tablet mount.

For those who haven't tried RAW capture yet, stock camera works perfectly fine after activating the camera2 api. Just thought I should mention that since it's not such an uncommon issue.

Camera
benziii said:
For those who haven't tried RAW capture yet, stock camera works perfectly fine after activating the camera2 api. Just thought I should mention that since it's not such an uncommon issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you do that. please give us instructions on how to.

jaime4272 said:
How do you do that. please give us instructions on how to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Add the line "persist.camera.HAL3.enabled=1" at the end of your build.prop, then reboot. It goes without saying you either need a build.prop editor or like me, just use the text editor that comes with Root explorer for example. Next get a camera app that supports RAW, like Open camera or Manual camera.
[Edit] Remember to mount as read/write when you are in system folder, or your changes won't stick. Our build.prop has two empty lines at the bottom, so if you have added something at an earlier time, make sure you have one empty line at the end.

benziii said:
For those who haven't tried RAW capture yet, stock camera works perfectly fine after activating the camera2 api. Just thought I should mention that since it's not such an uncommon issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only for my understanding
Does it only activate RAW mode or does it increase the picture quality for ordinary mode too?

vergilbt said:
Only for my understanding
Does it only activate RAW mode or does it increase the picture quality for ordinary mode too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is more to it than just RAW. Read up on camera2 features and what an api is. But to answer your question, no, it does not increase quality.

Apps that support raw
benziii said:
There is more to it than just RAW. Read up on camera2 features and what an api is. But to answer your question, no, it does not increase quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded camera FV-5 which support raw the option said that this phone does not support RAW, any idea?

jaime4272 said:
I downloaded camera FV-5 which support raw the option said that this phone does not support RAW, any idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even though I know FV-5 has been praised for years, I've never bought it. I'm not a big snapper so I've often been content with manual modes on the stock cameras. But since I have recently gotten RAW capture going, I've contemplated loosely on paying for either Manual camera or Camera FV-5. All I've tried on the Mix so far, is Manual camera's compatibility app (which checks out), and taken some RAW pics with Open camera.
I'm going to check out some more apps soon.
Considering it is required for RAW capture, I reckon you have a paid version? I quickly tried the free one, and see only one instance of compatibility (under general photo settings). But there is nothing there. Do you get the message when you change picture output?

There is an option on the paid version but it's grayed out because of incompatibility, but there is

you don't improve the noise performance by taking a smaller resolution, you do that by downsizing from a large image.
I think the best method is to use a good manual setting, shoot in raw and then edit in post processing.
however I think the images aren't that reliable

I cannot Open the dng file
---------- Post added at 05:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:18 AM ----------
Snapseed and Lightroom cannot parse the dng File ....Amy Help?

gorillalaci said:
I cannot Open the dng file
---------- Post added at 05:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:18 AM ----------
Snapseed and Lightroom cannot parse the dng File ....Amy Help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On my desktop I use UFRaw and Gimp / Photoshop. But I haven't gotten any mobile apps to open my RAW images either. Weird.

I know this is a few months old, but I think this app needs to be better known:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=troop.com.freedcam
Yes, it works with DNGs and can handle our Mix Camera sensor. And yes, it's 100% FREE.
Also, it comes from a XDA dev, so even more kudos for him!!

codymamak said:
I know this is a few months old, but I think this app needs to be better known:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=troop.com.freedcam
Yes, it works with DNGs and can handle our Mix Camera sensor. And yes, it's 100% FREE.
Also, it comes from a XDA dev, so even more kudos for him!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Installed it, but crashing when try to tap to focus.. Autofocus doesnt work it self

I have it working, but I'm using the LOS 14.1 build 20.5.17 from here on XDA, not MIUI. Sorry but I didn't test stock ROM before flashing.
Also, you can contact the dev at this thread here at XDA: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/camera-freedcam-4-0-3-t3115548
Maybe he can help out.

Google camera hdr unlocked iso 9600 on le max 2!?

So I was just casually using Google's HDR camera and I wanted to push this camera to its limits so I take a picture in very low light conditions (btw this is one of the best cameras around right now with the Google Camera because the Le Max 2 was mostly lacking with noise and clarity, which the Google Camera helps to fix, and the Le Max 2 has the 21mp for superior detail, a very nice combination. I have a XZ Premium and even that can't compare to the Le Max 2 pictures with the Google Camera at all).The results at first was an ISO of 7450, then I pushed it even further and found the limit was 9600 . This is surprising to find out when the stock max ISO is 1600, please don't take this information as facts although as I can only identify what ISO the camera is running at by the pictures data.
And if the Google Camera does take pictures with an ISO up to 9600, there might be potential to allow the max ISO to be integrated into different camera apps or even system wide with our lovely developers.
I think the only thing holding the Le Max 2's camera capabilities right now is the exposure time as it is limited to just half a second, if we could unlock this exposure time to be something like 32 seconds (this does seem possible as I have seen it on the redmi note 4, and that takes amazing pictures at night with 32 second exposure) this camera could be amazing. Instead of the high noise at night with low shutter speeds (ISO 9600) we could have a low ISO and high exposure time for crisp and natural low light shots! If you got this far thanks for reading, I really appreciate it and if there may be something that is wrong please correct me as I am not a developer, just a person who loves tech, thanks!

Here is one of the images, and I know the metadata states the picture is taken on a Pixel 2 XL, this is because I used build prop to get Google Lens.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/f5iOUOOsvr9OWVZw2

I have done some testing and I believe it works on the the Gcam 4.4 and 5.1 custom HDR+ apks, although I have found out that the ISO only goes up to 9600 in HDR mode, without it the ISO is just like stock (1600), this could imply that the Google's algorithm uses a high ISO.

I_Raptor_I said:
I have done some testing and I believe it works on the the Gcam 4.4 and 5.1 custom HDR+ apks, although I have found out that the ISO only goes up to 9600 in HDR mode, without it the ISO is just like stock (1600), this could imply that the Google's algorithm uses a high ISO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How exactly do I get Google camera on my phone (le max 2) running eui 5.9.26s and rooted with magisk.

andrew0070 said:
How exactly do I get Google camera on my phone (le max 2) running eui 5.9.26s and rooted with magisk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately we can't, it only works for android 7 (nougat) versions and above as I understood.
That was few months ago maybe something changed, but I doubt it.

Hi I_Raptor_I,
which Rom are you using?

I am using Resurrection Remix on Android 7.1.2 l, but I think this should work on all recent nougat ROMs with camera API 2 enabled, and if you where wondering this is where I download the latest Google Camera HDR apks:
https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/
I am using Arnova's 5.1.018_v1.3 this is a step up from all of the other Google Cameras in terms of photography as the zoom is fixed and zooms in the centre rather than the left which is good, it does have the new portrait mode and motion pictures but they are still very buggy, but the HDR looks much more refined (better quality and low light performance with less iso but more exposure giving more clear images), there is a HDR function for the front but that does not work yet also video does not work, so if you haven't noticed this is a camera app dedicated to mostly HDR pictures. The good thing about this camera is that you can install a MGC camera apk and they don't conflict so you have got a Google camera for video and photography, overall this app is still buggy but contains alot more features and detail, hopefully when this app comes out with its next update the user experience will become much more refined.

Cant find a HDR+ Google Camera app for i9500

Hi everyone I'd really appreciate it if someone could link me to a google camera hdr+ port for galaxy i9500
I have been downloading apps left and right but the installation just says app isn't compatible with this device I'm using lineage nougat BTW ☺?

Nope, i don't think the S4 can take that much processing even S6 force closes background apps( Launcher and some other stuff), but it works on S6 though.

aloochat said:
Nope, i don't think the S4 can take that much processing even S6 force closes background apps( Launcher and some other stuff), but it works on S6 though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh OK if its a hardware issue then I can live with that ?

The S4 processor is sufficiently powerful that it can handle standard hardware-based HDR. As opposed to a software overlay, which is how the stock S4 camera works, a hardware-based option takes (ideally) three pictures: one normal, one underexposed, and one overexposed and combines them. The reason the processor can't handle HDR+ is due to how HDR+ functions. HDR+ doesn't rely on adjusting the exposure but instead adjusts the image's ISO for each shot in a group of ten. The rapid change in ISO between shots in a group plus the number of shots taken requires more resources than the processor has available.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
The S4 processor is sufficiently powerful that it can handle standard hardware-based HDR. As opposed to a software overlay, which is how the stock S4 camera works, a hardware-based option takes (ideally) three pictures: one normal, one underexposed, and one overexposed and combines them. The reason the processor can't handle HDR+ is due to how HDR+ functions. HDR+ doesn't rely on adjusting the exposure but instead adjusts the image's ISO for each shot in a group of ten. The rapid change in ISO between shots in a group plus the number of shots taken requires more resources than the processor has available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn didn't know HDR was that hardcore, well at least now I know its not because I suck I finding the right version
Thanks