why touch to focus does not change the focus area? - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello
im first S3 user and past about 56 smartphones in 4 years (yeah that much) most of them were Camera-phones.
after my S1/S2/ IPHONE 4S/Xperia S Camera-phones i'v noticed something really annoying in the Camera department
of the S3..:silly:
when i doing the "touch to focus" the light in the area not changing.
for example : if i shooting a landscape and i focus the ground it stay's dark until I'm moving the camera away to the ground.
also when shooting at dawn/sunrise until i move the camera completely from the light source i cant take a decent photo
because it makes it too dark and focusing in other area in the scene does not help.
Like the exposure not changing at all..
took my GF SAMSUNG S2 and a HTC ONE X and guess what? i can focus in verity of areas without any problem
and take great shots in sunny scenes,took an iPhone 4S and also without any problems.
also used HDR but it does not seems to work ether
what can cause the problem?
i described as much as i can..hope that you can figure "what the heck that guy want from us"

someone?

same for me

It seems that here is happening the same.. I haven't realized that so far, I'm paying more attention now

try a different app like camera zoom fx. I won't post th link as posting of paid app is not allowed on XDA.
:good:

Im not using a 3rd party apps but I'v try'd out and no change at all..
Thanks for the reply m8

Related

Anyone working on fixing the camera app?

I see a lot of people developing their own flavor of gingerbread for the Evo 3D and that's awesome. But I don't see much improving other aspects of the phone that could be universal... like the camera.
I'm a photographer/video producer so this sort of thing is important to me and I don't want to carry my big camera everywhere. We all know the biggest issue with the camera is the green-tinted pictures taken with the flash. I don't even see a white balance setting for the flash available to choose manually.
I had read that there were a lot of other features promised but removed from this phone's camera such as scene modes (though I could care less about this).
Another issue I've read about and noticed is the jpg compression used for the camera. It's good for the small screen and web, but too heavily compressed for anything else.
Then there's an issue of when you half-press the shutter button, it focuses (good) then press all the way it re-focuses. The proper way this should work is focus on half press, snap photo without another focus on the full press.
The shutter lag is awful too, but I guess it's pretty much the norm as far as phones go.
Of course I have a wishlist of things to be added *cough new mytouch camera cough* but someone needs to figure out this green flash problem first...
gk1984 said:
I see a lot of people developing their own flavor of gingerbread for the Evo 3D and that's awesome. But I don't see much improving other aspects of the phone that could be universal... like the camera.
I'm a photographer/video producer so this sort of thing is important to me and I don't want to carry my big camera everywhere. We all know the biggest issue with the camera is the green-tinted pictures taken with the flash. I don't even see a white balance setting for the flash available to choose manually.
I had read that there were a lot of other features promised but removed from this phone's camera such as scene modes (though I could care less about this).
Another issue I've read about and noticed is the jpg compression used for the camera. It's good for the small screen and web, but too heavily compressed for anything else.
Then there's an issue of when you half-press the shutter button, it focuses (good) then press all the way it re-focuses. The proper way this should work is focus on half press, snap photo without another focus on the full press.
The shutter lag is awful too, but I guess it's pretty much the norm as far as phones go.
Of course I have a wishlist of things to be added *cough new mytouch camera cough* but someone needs to figure out this green flash problem first...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have very little professional photography experience and def don't have the eye to pick up on the color differences as they appear very subtle to me.
are there any camera apps in the market which implement some of the features you've listed?
as far as modifying the htc camera apk file, it is not open sourced so all work will have to be done through reverse engineering.
the compression setting was mentioned a few days ago in a thread here and i did research it in the AOSP version of the camera apk which is open sourced. i was able to find the line with the compression setting and it should be fairly simple to modifying the settings panel to provide an option for the user to adjust this. all the info is in my post on that thread.
if you wanted to post up your wish list of camera features, or contact some of the camera app devs in the market with your feature list, given you have a professional photography background, i would think they would be open to your suggestions.
Thanks for the reply. I didn't realize it would take so much reverse engineering there. And yes, some photos with the flash are harder to tell the off white balance, but I stopped using the flash and never taking night pics with this phone... Day time photos are awesome if not for the compression.
I haven't had much luck in finding any camera apps yet, hasn't occurred to me really. But I do love HDR Pro for the hdr pics - if anyone's interested in experimenting with that (takes a couple pics in dif exposures then combines them for a more natural and detailed photo)
I guess I'll have to wait to see if HTC does anything more with it or search for an alternative. Thanks though.
It's a phone. You'll never get true professional quality photos from a phone no matter what app you use. As a photographer you know that...f-stops, aperture, lenses and all the other stuff that photographers talk about can't really be changed on a phone's camera. To really get professional quality photos and video, even though phone cameras have gotten very good, you need to use the right equipment.
ranger61878 said:
It's a phone. You'll never get true professional quality photos from a phone no matter what app you use. As a photographer you know that...f-stops, aperture, lenses and all the other stuff that photographers talk about can't really be changed on a phone's camera. To really get professional quality photos and video, even though phone cameras have gotten very good, you need to use the right equipment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right but that's not my complaint. As I stated, my biggest gripe is the green tinted photos with the flash and compression. There are features I'd like to see from the latest mytouch camera (native hdr, no shutter lag - which is done with a constant image stream or something like that, etc)
you can have some things improved with the software side of things, but yes, hardware is a limitation and I'm not expecting this to replace a professional camera.
gk1984 said:
Thanks for the reply. I didn't realize it would take so much reverse engineering there. And yes, some photos with the flash are harder to tell the off white balance, but I stopped using the flash and never taking night pics with this phone... Day time photos are awesome if not for the compression.
I haven't had much luck in finding any camera apps yet, hasn't occurred to me really. But I do love HDR Pro for the hdr pics - if anyone's interested in experimenting with that (takes a couple pics in dif exposures then combines them for a more natural and detailed photo)
I guess I'll have to wait to see if HTC does anything more with it or search for an alternative. Thanks though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used HDR pro. I've also used Vignette which was my favorite camera app on the EVO 4G. It works on the 3D but of course you can only take 2D pictures with any of the third party cameras...so far.
On the HTC website/forum they do acknowledge the issues with the camera and say they are working on an update to correct them. I guess we'll see if that ever comes to fruition.

[Q] [Camera S2] Manual shutter speed or Exposure lock (AE lock)?

My hobby is photography and I like doing panorama photos by stitching 5+ normal photos to one panorama. Without manual shutter speed or exposure lock on the camera, I can't do that...
My question is - Is there a way for this on Samsung Galaxy S2?
Sorry but photography on a smartphone camera? Really?
There is a panorama shooting mode in the camera app...
NZed said:
Sorry but photography on a smartphone camera? Really?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think your a bit behind the times mate. have you seen the quality they are capable of?
.
jj03 said:
i think your a bit behind the times mate. have you seen the quality they are capable of?
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try comparing it to my Canon 7D...
NZed said:
Sorry but photography on a smartphone camera? Really?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why be a ****, just ****ing help him. There's a panorama option in the camera app.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
AFAIK there is no option for manual shutter control. And for panorama, it's there in the camera settings.
NZed said:
Sorry but photography on a smartphone camera? Really?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry if I'm being a "****", but I agree with him. Phones are not for this. If your hobby is really photography, you don't do it with a phone, unless you're a hipster, or you can't afford a good camera. Yes, when you need a quick pic, it's okay, but that's not the real thing :/
Also, ICS should have nice panorama feature, let's just wait for it.
Hello again
I have DSLR, but I'm not that much into photography to bring it everywhere with me...
Here is some samples with my old phones (first from Sony Ericsson K770 3,2MP, others from Samsung Omnia 5MP)
I try the panorama on Galaxy S2 (also other panorama programs), but they DON'T have AE lock, and stitching its not good (for example, try do panorama in dark room with one bright window...)
So, is there hope for some software developing on Android, maybe for ICS?
Hello again, just want to say that I found some kind of solution, if someone other than me is interested
Fast Burst Camera app (in beta for now) have some AE lock and I can take photos for panorama, thats GREAT, but the app can take max resolution of 800x600 ...
Also if there is other program... PLEASE let me know about it, I'm interested in paying for it
no need to pay, use fireworks mode,
stock cam app extends shutter speed to 1 second.
here's my sample
lights art by John Drigz using Galaxy S II, on Flickr
Hello again
I've found the perfect camera APP and its called Camera FV-5 !
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flavionet.android.camera.pro&feature=search_result
V1.1 supports AE-L (AutoExposure-Lock), but only for ICS devices. However, it's not working on custom ROM's, that's what the developer of the program say'd to me, when I ask him "why does AE-L not working with me". I'm ont Lite'ning V2.6 ROM (ICS 4.0.3 based).
The developer say'd that this future works only ot original ICS releases (for now), it has to do something with the camera driver/apk (I don't understand that much)
Could I flash from somewhere original ICS base on this ROM, the only thing I want is to work AE-L on my phone
unnamedname said:
Hello again
I've found the perfect camera APP and its called Camera FV-5 !
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flavionet.android.camera.pro&feature=search_result
V1.1 supports AE-L (AutoExposure-Lock), but only for ICS devices. However, it's not working on custom ROM's, that's what the developer of the program say'd to me, when I ask him "why does AE-L not working with me". I'm ont Lite'ning V2.6 ROM (ICS 4.0.3 based).
The developer say'd that this future works only ot original ICS releases (for now), it has to do something with the camera driver/apk (I don't understand that much)
Could I flash from somewhere original ICS base on this ROM, the only thing I want is to work AE-L on my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found out how to lock the focus (it's the last option in the Focus menu), but how do you lock the Aperture?
Also, I tried the Exposure Bracketing and took 7 shots, would anyone recommend a free software to make an HDR picture out of these?
NZed said:
Try comparing it to my Canon 7D...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good/expensive equipment might give you clearer pictures with higher pixels but it is also not wrong for anyone (including photographers) to use their smart phones for photography, as the matter of fact capturing photos at the right moment is the most important factor of all.
many of my photographer friends enjoy the photo taking capability with today's smart phones for several reasons: 1. it's very handy because people carry their phone on them all the time. 2. Easy-Quick to use 3.picture quality is good enough in most cases.

My only regret

... The camera, Coming from an HTC device with 0 shutter lag is painful. Especially since 90 % of my pictures are of my 10month old daughter, the 1-3 seconds between the time i press the shutter button and when it actually snaps is killing me. Then it doesn't help that it freezes and shows the picture i want but then save the frame from 2sec. Later, please tell me this isn't the norm and i need to send it back
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I hate to say it but it seems to be normal for the camera,mine is the same way,if you want a fast camera try this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spritefish.fastburstcameralite&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5zcHJpdGVmaXNoLmZhc3RidXJzdGNhbWVyYWxpdGUiXQ.. that is the free version which don't allow any settings to be changed like the paid version but it is super fast.
I'm hoping ICS will fix this. It IS painfully slow...sometimes it takes as much as 5 seconds before it has written the image and I can take another.
I feel your pain man, but have bad news for you. Them lil monsters dont slow down any, so you better learn to live by the motto "accuracy through volume". I have twin 2.5 year olds. I just start tapping that shutter button and dont bother with the preview, just snap snap snap and hope for the best.
I have noticed severe shutter lag as well. I thought it was the ROM I was using (TPC) but found the same thing with both Saurom and stock.
Chief Geek said:
I feel your pain man, but have bad news for you. Them lil monsters dont slow down any, so you better learn to live by the motto "accuracy through volume". I have twin 2.5 year olds. I just start tapping that shutter button and dont bother with the preview, just snap snap snap and hope for the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I do with action shots with any camera. Preview is nice, but you're best off to fire off shots, then sort through the pics later.
Camera360 doesn't do this, so I'm guessing it's something wrong with the OS build.
Its the camera app...not the camera. I have been playing with camera apps from other devices like the skyrocket and they work with no lag but the ui is off (size/ resolution difference)
Someone pulled the ics camera app and posted in the apps section a while back btw
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
00mred00 said:
Its the camera app...not the camera. I have been playing with camera apps from other devices like the skyrocket and they work with no lag but the ui is off (size/ resolution difference)
Someone pulled the ics camera app and posted in the apps section a while back btw
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Linky pleasy?
EDIT: Found it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1528431
hmm... interesting
i just tested, it's not as exageratd as 3 mili sec lag, but it does take at least 1 mili sec before you are able to shoot again
i say it's intresting because on the T989 which have practically the same innars except for the high res screen, and LTE radio
the camera on the T989 is instant, i can shoot non stop, 0 mili sec lag

The two best camera apps

http://www.camerafv5.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=slide.cameraZoom&hl=en
These two apps are amazing if you want more control of your camera.
I have been a pro photographer for years and shoot with a pro quality Canon DSLR.
Lately I have almost never felt like dragging that camera around with me, but like most people these days I ALWAYS have my phone with me.
I used to carry a tiny point and shoot Canon with me along with my phone but that's a PITA also. None of my previous phones really thrilled me with their camera performance (including the two Rezounds I still have) but the camera in my N2 has been giving me super results with these two apps.
CameraZoom FX is a little easier to use as it doesn't have a bar of controls across the bottom of the screen that you need to keep your fingers away from. FV-5 does have more features however (the controls are basically a clone of a DSLR) and it has one feature that no other camera app has. It has the ability to save as a png which is a RAW file with no jpeg compression.
PNGs take longer to save/view and are bigger files but give a higher quality image than a compressed jpeg.
CameraZoom has a feature that I use occasionally that will take a picture with a voice command. Set it on that and then say smile and a few seconds later it shoots the image. Here is a pic I took with CameraZoom inside using available light. I printed an 8"x10" print from this and nobody can believe it came from a phone.
http://s361.beta.photobucket.com/user/jmorton10_photo/media/Camera-ZOOM_zpsbafd9ff2.jpg.html
I did a bunch more testing this morning after another poster said that the anti-shake feature drastically reduced image quality.
I never used that feature, I learned years ago to hold a camera dead still myself but I was curious about that claim.
Turns out, the poster was exactly right. The images I took using as basically suck.
They are MUCH grainier than the exact same shot without that feature turned on.
I believe voice commands are available with s-voice and the stock camera.
billku said:
I believe voice commands are available with s-voice and the stock camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't realize that, I stumbled across the feature in CameraZoom while looking for something else.
There are so many cool options in these two apps that some are bound to duplicate the stock app features, but these two apps make all these options MUCH easier to get to and to use.
EDIT: I just looked through the options/settings in the stock TW camera app and didn't see any option for voice activation.
It may still be there and I overlooked it, but this just reinforces what I knew all along, all the options in these other apps are easily available with one fast click. You don't have to dig through menus of stuff trying to find or enable/disable a feature.
jmorton10 said:
http://www.camerafv5.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=slide.cameraZoom&hl=en
These two apps are amazing if you want more control of your camera.
I have been a pro photographer for years and shoot with a pro quality Canon DSLR.
Lately I have almost never felt like dragging that camera around with me, but like most people these days I ALWAYS have my phone with me.
I used to carry a tiny point and shoot Canon with me along with my phone but that's a PITA also. None of my previous phones really thrilled me with their camera performance (including the two Rezounds I still have) but the camera in my N2 has been giving me super results with these two apps.
CameraZoom FX is a little easier to use as it doesn't have a bar of controls across the bottom of the screen that you need to keep your fingers away from. FV-5 does have more features however (the controls are basically a clone of a DSLR) and it has one feature that no other camera app has. It has the ability to save as a png which is a RAW file with no jpeg compression.
PNGs take longer to save/view and are bigger files but give a higher quality image than a compressed jpeg.
CameraZoom has a feature that I use occasionally that will take a picture with a voice command. Set it on that and then say smile and a few seconds later it shoots the image. Here is a pic I took with CameraZoom inside using available light. I printed an 8"x10" print from this and nobody can believe it came from a phone.
http://s361.beta.photobucket.com/user/jmorton10_photo/media/Camera-ZOOM_zpsbafd9ff2.jpg.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Camera FV-5 over the stock camera just because of the quality of pics it takes.
I too find the N2 camera to be quite good and I just purchased FV5 to see how far I can take it. I haven't spent very much time with it yet however.
One thing I love about my DSLR is that I can set separate buttons for focus and exposure. Any way to do that with FV5?
webleeper said:
I use Camera FV-5 over the stock camera just because of the quality of pics it takes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree 100%.
I'm not saying you can't take a good pic with the stock camera app, but it's much easier and a lot more fun using an app like FV-5.
It definitely beats the stock app quality wise if you save as a png file which is not even an option with the stock camera (I'm not sure why not)
johnnyvol said:
I too find the N2 camera to be quite good and I just purchased FV5 to see how far I can take it. I haven't spent very much time with it yet however.
One thing I love about my DSLR is that I can set separate buttons for focus and exposure. Any way to do that with FV5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly how you're saying, but you can lock both the AF and the exposure so you can recompose and keep the exposure or AF point.
If you read through all the options/help docs etc on the site I posted it will explain all the options pretty well actually.
http://www.camerafv5.com/tutorials/camera_manual.php
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...zdGFydmluZ21pbmQuYW5kcm9pZC5zaG90Y29udHJvbCJd
This is another good app.
The preview screen is smaller, but it gives you access to all the settings from one screen.
jmorton10 said:
Not exactly how you're saying, but you can lock both the AF and the exposure so you can recompose and keep the exposure or AF point.
If you read through all the options/help docs etc on the site I posted it will explain all the options pretty well actually.
http://www.camerafv5.com/tutorials/camera_manual.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exposure lock, that's it. I was having a brain fart. Thanks for the link!
WOW, talk about good service. I was using the shot control app I posted and realized the ISO setting did not work.
I sent the developer an email about it and 20 minutes later I got this response:
On Jan 9, 2013 3:46 PM, "Peter Daly" <[email protected]> wrote:
Samsung has chosen to not make ISO visible for third party developers on your device, so I must guess at how it is controlled, and hard code that method that works on your device.* You are the first to contact me about the Verizon variation of the Note 2.
Please install the attached version, and let me know if it seems that ISO is working correctly.* Based on what I know of the other versions of that device, I give this a 75% chance of working.
Thank you for any help, and thank you for contacting me.
Pete
Attached was a new version of the app and it works perfectly.
That's great. At your recommendation i purchased FV5 and i'm very impressed so far.
tdrussell said:
That's great. At your recommendation i purchased FV5 and i'm very impressed so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea me too.
FV-5 is my favorite, I find it's the closest thing to DSLR controls.
jmorton10 said:
WOW, talk about good service. I was using the shot control app I posted and realized the ISO setting did not work.
I sent the developer an email about it and 20 minutes later I got this response:
On Jan 9, 2013 3:46 PM, "Peter Daly" <[email protected]> wrote:
Samsung has chosen to not make ISO visible for third party developers on your device, so I must guess at how it is controlled, and hard code that method that works on your device.* You are the first to contact me about the Verizon variation of the Note 2.
Please install the attached version, and let me know if it seems that ISO is working correctly.* Based on what I know of the other versions of that device, I give this a 75% chance of working.
Thank you for any help, and thank you for contacting me.
Pete
Attached was a new version of the app and it works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait so let me get this straight...
ONLY the Verizon Galaxy Note 2 has something special about making it harder for the app to access the ISO settings? Did I read that right?

Camera issues

I got the HTC One Max in Feb and I liked it even though I knew the camera wasn't that good because it was missing ISO (hardware, not software). Updating to 4.2.2 with Sense 6 pretty much broke the camera for me. When trying to zoom onto an object at close range, it'll focus and then distort and the camera keeps making a buzzing noise like it's trying to keep auto focusing but it passes the point of a clear picture and never fixes itself. I never rooted, unlocked bootloader, or S-off this device--everything is stock. It's frustrating that I'm spending so much money on a phone for it to just mess up like this. Any advice or something for a fix? Can I install the old camera APK from a previous version of android?
RMA it....hard ware issue it appears
agree, sounds like an RMA to me too. I have had the one max since launch day.
the camera is great. I dont use the stock camera app because its limited in what it gives the user, but i have taken good images with this camera.

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