I never liked Sony's camera app, so I decided to switch to Camera FV-5. Is there a way that I can make Camera FV-5 my default camera app? I want this to be the app that launches when I hold down on the shutter button or when I open the camera app from the lock screen.
On a side note, while I quite like Camera FV-5, is there another app you folks can recommend?
Shutter button? Are you sure you choose proper phone forum section? Because Xperia Z doesnt have shutter button
Only quick way to open camera on XZ is lockscreen shortcut, and depending on OS version you can put on it shortcut for app.
Also most of camera apps have buried setting for making it default, so its not necessary to force it to be system application.
In terms of Camera app, Im also not a fan of Sony Camera app, but for most of time its not app fault but sony messed up camera ""drivers"".
After Xperia Arc S I think Sony had really average cameras you can get compared to other phones(I didnt personally check z5 tho, rest I tested and its really average).
Also it should be mentioned that no matter what app you use, image processing is still move though Sony camera algorithms, so end product beside some additional color/contrast changes, doesnt get any details or overall quality boost.
Maybe there are some changes in HDR/ISO part, but its still putting one image processing on another and its never good.
I tried different apps, but beside initial WOW effect its always end in situation where those apps had too much smaller problems or just had too much useless effect that make that app annoying more than stock app, So I always end with stock app, because I would rather use it as a simple point-and-shoot camera even if its a bit slow(4-5 sec from unlocking to taking pic) its take looots of resources and battery, and some options are hard/slow to use.
For more "advanced" shoots I still use my camera, and its sad , because I was using phone camera starting from SE k750i and I always loved that idea.
Yes I did post this question in the wrong forum, I have a Z3, my apologies.
As for the app,, I do realize that all apps in the end go through Sony's processing. What I'm looking for is an app that offers me more control (ie. a proper manual control). Also I find the tap to focus doesn't work very well (or at all) with the Sony app.
Related
Disclaimer 1: I'm not a developer.
Disclaimer 2: I searched and didn't find a similar app
In searching for applications to improve the results from my wife's iPhone camera, I came across a few iPhone apps that cleverly use the accelerometer to assist in picture taking -- namely they wait until the accelerometer registers the fact that the phone has stopped moving before triggering the shutter.
It seems to me that a similar application would work on the Diamond/Touch Pro/HD -- once the "shutter button" has been pressed, the camera autofocuses, and then waits for a "steady" moment to finish taking the picture.
Again, I'm a UI/Tech Specs type of person, so I don't know how open the camera api is. That said, it seems, in theory, that this should work and wouldn't be to tough to do (hell, they managed to do it on the iPhone).
What do you think?
- Matt
Have you really noticed a difference on iPhone with this program?
here you go buddy
this may solve ur problem
http://www.mobiletopsoft.com/pocket-pc/download-kais-photo-bubble-level-net-1-2.html
That's an interesting app, but not quite the same thing. While it's nice that it lets you level the shot, it doesn't look like it uses the accelerometer to trip the shutter. So the hand shake potential is still there.
As far as the Steadycam app, it helps. It isn't going to turn the iPhone into a digital camera replacement, but it does assist low light pictures.
Here's a review of two of the iPhone Apps I've been playing with:
http://www.mophojo.com/2008/12/iphone-app-hold-er-steady/
- Matt
It is a good app if it exists. It is good for someone's hands are not steady when taking photos.
Decrease The Blur of Your Camera (Really):
http://www.fuzemobility.com/decrease-the-blur-of-your-camera-really/
Camera Focus Unwrapped:
http://www.fuzemobility.com/camera-focus-unwrapped/
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
Hello. For some time now I have been getting frustrated with the standard camera/camcorder for my SGS.
I will point out some of the main things I dislike
Lack of features
It's hard to take pictures or start recording unless you look at the screen to see where the button is located to initiate it
Camera closes after idle for too long
Screen controls are too close together
Files do not save if you accidentally press the back button while recording
I have searched Google, forums and the market to try and find a replacement with no success
I would love to have camera/camcorder replacement that has the following
The biggest feature for me would be to have the ability to use either of the Home/Volume/Power buttons to use the camera/camcorder at least for Record, Pause, Stop and taking pictures
This would make it so much easier to use it without having to always look at the screen to make sure you are pressing the right area and will also eliminate accidentally pressing the wrong button
For example
Home key could be used for taking pictures and start recording video pressing it again will pause it and long holding it will stop the recording and auto save.
Volume will be for zoom and power button could possible take pictures and long holding for toggle night mode or something like that
I dunno about you but I find this configuration to feel natural
In the menu there should also be the option to exit camera/camcorder as some people use home key for this instead of backing out and the home button will already have a use
All settings can be controlled via touchscreen such as:
Option to toggle the camera/camcorder from closing on idle
Image/Shooting mode
All other general settings
If anyone else thinks this is a good idea or has any further input on making this better please post something
If there is a dev out there wanting a challenge please post Perhaps if enough people are interested in raising some funds there could be a bounty
P.S I wasn't sure if I should post this in Themes and Apps or here
Sould be possible i think, Power btn already done a thing : it lock screen without stop recording...
Also cyanogenmod as a great camera app, wait for it...
Surely there is something else out there other then the cyanogenmod one.
uppon2 said:
surely there is something else out there other then the cyanogenmod one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- i hate the factory camera
I'm shocked that I'm the only one talking about this. Shame on everyone lol
Ill complain a bit too
I dislike the focus of the samsung app. Even in macro mode, you take an object from a 5cm distance and tap to focus..
it's going to focus well then lose focus. Even if take the picture when the focus is correct, it's going to output a blurred unfocused pic
The only "solution" is to take pictures with at least 10cm distance, or 15. But the camera seems to be able to picture much closer.. so it's annoying
Wow. People actually use the onboard camera? Camera 360 is what I've replaced my stock app with. But sadly stock samsung app is prob the best camera app from any dev/phone maker. What you need is a decent small camera like a canon ixus
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
bilboa1 said:
Ill complain a bit too
I dislike the focus of the samsung app. Even in macro mode, you take an object from a 5cm distance and tap to focus..
it's going to focus well then lose focus. Even if take the picture when the focus is correct, it's going to output a blurred unfocused pic
The only "solution" is to take pictures with at least 10cm distance, or 15. But the camera seems to be able to picture much closer.. so it's annoying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem. While using auto focus etc depending on the distance/light it will hang there thinking about it
ickyboo said:
Wow. People actually use the onboard camera? Camera 360 is what I've replaced my stock app with. But sadly stock samsung app is prob the best camera app from any dev/phone maker. What you need is a decent small camera like a canon ixus
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not heard of 360 *Checks it online* - To tell you the truth I don't mind the camera.... I guess I really just want to be able to use the home button to initiate take picture, start recording, pause and long hold for stop. Maybe there is a way to change something in the file hmmmmm surely a smart dev would know
I tried Vignette and Camera 360 Pro, well the 360 programs doesn't cut it, the interface is horrible and buggy.
Vignette is quite ok however - the focus works. It's missing the directional focus from the samsung app however, although I can live with it of course. Vignette also saves jpegs that are less compressed/higher quality.
To be honest i'd be just fine with Samsung's app if the focus worked fine in macro mode, and the jpegs were higher quality (maybe even make the pano mode high resolution )
Mostly because the controls/settings/etc are much better in the Samsung app.
Now since it's proprietary, not much we can do about these issues I guess xD (the button can prolly be hacked in tho)
bilboa1 said:
I tried Vignette and Camera 360 Pro, well the 360 programs doesn't cut it, the interface is horrible and buggy.
Vignette is quite ok however - the focus works. It's missing the directional focus from the samsung app however, although I can live with it of course. Vignette also saves jpegs that are less compressed/higher quality.
To be honest i'd be just fine with Samsung's app if the focus worked fine in macro mode, and the jpegs were higher quality (maybe even make the pano mode high resolution )
Mostly because the controls/settings/etc are much better in the Samsung app.
Now since it's proprietary, not much we can do about these issues I guess xD (the button can prolly be hacked in tho)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I need someone to find a way to hack the home button to work and serve my purpose
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=860609
Power button to take pics. Hopefully will soon be able to record/pause long hold to stop in camera mode soon if anyone else was interested.
besides unnecessary parental control put in place on the camera, like battery limitations, forcing your music to stop when its loaded, and inability to function when mediascanner is running, theyve also, and made a unmutable shutter sound and auto focus sound, and removed the option to adjust saturation, sharpness, and brightness.. and in the video camera, removed the the ability to pause the video, now you have to straight out stop it and take another one.
why did they do this you might ask? because they added extremely watered down picture editor, and video clip editor. and they somehow think that adding these after picture/video editors was such a good idea, that they should just remove them from the camera entirely.. wtf samsung?
now what i wanna know is what WE can do to fix this? is it possible to take these settings from the galaxy s1's camera app, and add them in to the s2's? the camera apps are extremely similar
EDIT: a solution?
i really think these things can be fixed, maybe not adding the saturation, sharpness, and brightness back, that seems like alot of hard work, and i guess it isnt TOO hard to edit the picture afterwards.. but i think removing the 'parental controls' put in place, is simply a matter of deleting that area of the app's code. i wonder if adding the ability to pause the video would be hard, it seems like a simple enough thing to do.. but i dont fully understand how one would go about doing this..
for SGS1 owners, do you guys remember Fr4gg0r? he created a hacked camera app that removed the battery limitation, music from stopping when camera loads, and even added the ability to use the hardware lockkey as a camera shutter button!, and he added a thumbnail of recently taken picture in the bottom right hard corner (which we now see built in to the sgs2). really amazing work! however i spoke with him, and he doesnt plan to get the sgs2, but i wonder if we looked at his changelog from the origional apk to the modded, if then we could just make the same mods to the s2..
can anyone a little more knowledgeable than me give me their thoughts?
SGS [APP] Hacked Camera.apk <- link to his thread for original hacked camera app
Modding the camera app is very difficult since it's closed source. Might be able to take the AOSP camera app and hook the driver up, but that's hard too... amount of work depends on how good the camera driver meshes with the AOSP camera app.. I think?
I've never tried to do anything with the camera so hopefully someone with more knowledge of it can pitch in!
As to your complaint about the settings... do you really sit there before taking a picture on a phone camera and fiddle with contrast/brightness settings? I wish I had your dedication to taking good pictures!
I'm guessing suspending other applications when the camera's running is to preserve resources. I don't think I've ever been listening to music when I've used my phone as a camera. I don't agree with taking away flexibility but I think the percentage of people impacted isn't going to be high.
I can understand your concern but I don't think these restrictions justify saying they screwed up the camera badly.. maybe if they used a crappy sensor, but judging from the photos and video's I've seen posted quality looks very acceptable!
the reason i expect u cant use camera whilst media scanner is running is due to the fact samsungs internal memory, where pics are stored by default, is mounted like an SD card... also ive only ever had media scanner running once re-mounting from mass storage or when turning phone on... although ive never actually tested this senario as my phone is always on and storage mounted...
neither of those issues are a problem for me though... at least ive never encountered them during usage...
Dickie
i know removing the battery limit requires deleting some lines of code, same goes for it killing music, and forcing a shutter sound and focus sound, but would it be incredibly hard work to add the ability to pause a video, as i find this really necessary when taking videos
soraxd said:
i know removing the battery limit requires deleting some lines of code, same goes for it killing music, and forcing a shutter sound and focus sound, but would it be incredibly hard work to add the ability to pause a video, as i find this really necessary when taking videos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fully agree about pausing a video recording. I've often used that feature on my SGS, and find it very puzzling, and annoying, that they would eliminate it. Quite odd.
i really think these things can be fixed, maybe not adding the saturation, sharpness, and brightness back, that seems like alot of hard work, and i guess it isnt TOO hard to edit the picture afterwards.. but i think removing the 'parental controls' put in place, is simply a matter of deleting that area of the app's code. i wonder if adding the ability to pause the video would be hard, it seems like a simple enough thing to do.. but i dont fully understand how one would go about doing this..
for SGS1 owners, do you guys remember Fr4gg0r? he created a hacked camera app that removed the battery limitation, music from stopping when camera loads, and even added the ability to use the hardware lockkey as a camera shutter button!, and he added a thumbnail of recently taken picture in the bottom right hard corner (which we now see built in to the sgs2). really amazing work! however i spoke with him, and he doesnt plan to get the sgs2, but i wonder if we looked at his changelog from the origional apk to the modded, if then we could just make the same mods to the s2..
can anyone a little more knowledgeable than me give me their thoughts?
SGS [APP] Hacked Camera.apk <- link to his thread for original hacked camera app
screw camera up??? except for the battery and music "issue" in my opinion this is one of the best cameras on a mobile, i tried many different modes and the pictures are quite good ))
unfortunately we cannot always have everything in just one gadged )))
well we may not be able to have everything, but i wont stop until i get some results.. ive been talking to a clever developer lately, whos on board to help me modify this app
I've started modding the camera app for battery level etc. Will take a look more today
These mods shouldn't be hard to implement and there is no closed source when it comes to android. We have apktool and smali / baksmali, we don't need source code from Samsung for this.
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What camera app are you using to get RAW captures?
Borghi said:
What camera app are you using to get RAW captures?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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 .