[Q] Samsung Camera: Extract Shot&More frames; SoundShot Audio; VirtualShot, etc. - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recnetly tried to view some images on a Windows computer, that were shot with some shooting modes the camera application of some Samsung Galaxy smartphones. But everything that I can see with the picture viewer is the first frame. The picture files are much larger than a normal photo, because the other data is inside of it.
Shot&More — Captures eight frames in row and saves them into one .jpg file. The gallery application is able to extract some effects from it, which can be exported into an additional picture: Drama Shot, Eraser, Best Photo, Best Face, Panorama Sport Scene. Unfortionately, not all extraction modes are compatible with all scenes.
SoundShot — Captures a photo and records the sound from the microphones and puts the audio track into the JPG file. The sound can be recorded before or after the picture was taken (but the EXIF Information does not include this information as far as I know). The maximum length of the audio track is ten seconds.
Selective Focus (introduced in S5): Shots two pictures with different focus settings, so that selecting a preferred focus setting after capturing the shot is possible:
Near focus: Obstacles near to the camera are visible sharply, while the background is unsharp.
Far focus: The background is sharp, while objects near to the camera are blurred
Pan focus: The complete photo is sharp, because the pan focus photo consists of the sharp parts from each frame
Blurred focus: The opposite of pan focus; everything is blurred.
Golf Shot mode (Note 3 only) — I am not sure, how it works, because I have not tried and investigated it yet.
VirtualShot (introduced in the S6) — Captures a 360-Degree View around an object, so that you can view it from every angle. You have to go around an obstacle with your camera.
Virtual Tour — Captures a Virtual Tour through the sphere, where you align your camera and go through the room. It also captures the path, where the tour goes — The viewer can navigate through the shot surrounding and see the path as a line. (This shooting mode does not exist on the S6 and newer. It was replaced by VirtualShot.)
Even IrfanView is unable to display all frames or play/extract the audio track of those picture files.
Is there any Windows software, that is able to extract the frames or produce the effects from a Shot&More picture or to extract the sound from SoundShot (lossless if possible), or etc. ?
It would be good, if it is OpenSource, but it does not have to be open-source, as long as it wours
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Related

[App]Pro HDR Camera 1.15

HDR comes to Android! Introducing Pro HDR Camera, the world's first real HDR app for Android! From the team that created Pro HDR for iOS, now you can automatically create stunning full-resolution HDR images with just a single tap on your Android phone. Please note that this app has been tested to work properly on Motorola, HTC and most Samsung phones. However, if you have a LG, Sony, or other device, the HDR capability may not function properly. Full functionality has been verified on the following phones: * HTC: Thunderbolt, EVO 4G, MyTouch 4G, G2, Incredible, Desire, Legend, Bravo * Motorola: Droid, Droid 2, Droid X * Samsung: Galaxy S, Epic 4G We've just released Pro HDR Camera for Android, but here are a few professional reviews of our iPhone version: "If you ever take photos using your iPhone, this app is a must-have." - Gizmodo "Pro HDR leaps ahead of the pack... Even if you're not into HDR photography, this is one to check out." - TUAW "Picture Perfection: Pro HDR automatically aligns and blends the images, giving you a perfectly exposed, amazing image that rivals a high-end point-and-shoot camera" - NBC Los Angeles Thanks to Pro HDR Camera, you no longer have to choose between a blown-out sky or a hopelessly dark foreground. Bringing automatic high dynamic range photography to your Android phone for the first time ever, Pro HDR captures an image exposed for the highlights and another exposed for the shadows. It then aligns and merges the images, giving you a gorgeous HDR image up to 8 megapixels like nothing you've ever seen from such a tiny device. Unlike fake HDR apps that merely take a single photo and reprocess it (without actually adding any new detail), Pro HDR massively extends the dynamic range of your camera and produces beautiful results that you have to see to believe. We provide a fully automatic mode, and an assisted Manual mode for those times when you wish to choose your exact exposures. Finally, you can take stunning high-resolution photos of all those scenes that are just too contrasty to capture in a single picture. Not only will seasoned photographers instantly fall in love with Pro HDR, one look at our example images should convince anyone that Pro HDR represents a new era in mobile photography. Check out our gallery here: http://www.eyeappsllc.com/Gallery.html Pro HDR Camera for Android comes with these incredibly useful features: • Automatic in-app HDR capture, where all you have to do is tap to capture • Manual in-app photo capture, where you get to choose the exposure of each image in your HDR • Proprietary image alignment algorithm that precisely aligns full-size images in seconds • Sophisticated image blending creates one beautiful output image nearly instantly • Live-updating image adjustment sliders to perfect your HDR: choose the perfect brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth, and tint, or let Pro HDR automatically select the best settings • Fullscreen image preview in portrait and landscape orientation • Save HDR images at the full resolution of your camera, up to 8 megapixels • Seamless background processing that renders your HDRs while you keep on shooting • Built-in HDR gallery view to peruse, share, and re-edit your HDRs • Share your HDRs with the world with e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, and more IMPORTANT: Pro HDR Camera requires Android 2.2 (Froyo) or later. Pro HDR Camera works on Motorola, HTC and Samsung devices. Unfortunately, the exposure functions on LG phones and the Nexus S seem to be broken, so HDR functionality will likely not work (though the rest of the features will). The Nexus S doesn't truly adjust the exposure, but seems to darken or brighten the image in software as a post-processing step, which does not allow for true HDR photos. LG phones don't allow setting the exposure at all.
i assume you've tested it on x8, right? does it work, or you just uploaded it to raise your thanks level by ppl who click thanks button before checking compatibility?
I test it... how you can see in the screenshots.. Most of the app that i am posting here are testet..
I test it.
The screen says: Hold Still! Scanning: 0.0
And it keep taking picture..
Yes.. i notice that... i don t know why.. but it s making the pictures...
Sent from my X8 using XDA App
i've tested it on my se xperia x8 another version from PDA and app said when i opened it that "your phone cannot take hdr pictures, because it lacks exposure controls"
I can not install this app, an error message appears, I don't know why, someone can help me?
opexblue said:
I test it.
The screen says: Hold Still! Scanning: 0.0
And it keep taking picture..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here.. uninstall
Works great on my cappy.
Doen't work!!!!
no works in x8 im sorry
Nice <3
Anyone got v1.25 & will v1.25 work on x8 ?
It doesn't work with x8.. just you can take a simple photo
Couldn't install it on my X8..
Sent from my Xperia X8 using XDA Premium App.
Isn't this considered warez as this is a paid app on the Android Market?
Paid apps is not tollerated here on xda forums.
thread Closed

[Q] Photo Resolution after TW

Anyone notice that photo clarity is poor when scrolling through albums? Most of the photos I have imported were taken on a 12 mp camera and would traditionally sharpen automatically when i scrolled to a new picture. Would take a second but the pic would sharpen considerably.
Since the updrade to TW my pictures no longer sharpen automatically. If I resize a photo (pinch and then unpinch) the photo will then sharpen..
Basically, if I want a sharp photo I need to manually force to sharpen.
---- just spoke to samsung rep, acknowledged issue but offered no solution. No auto enhancement with TW. Very disappointing.

Camera RAW support?

Hi!
I am planing on buying this phone (currently have a S5 that's beginning to show it's age) and would really like to know if poco has a working (and tested) RAW photo support. This is something I actually miss the most with my S5 camera. Can someone with a GCam please check and ideally upload a low light high ISO DNG sample photo?
If anyone is wondering what's the use of RAW, with all the hassle (beware, technical details ahead, possibly even a bit of math!):
Access to the RAW sensor data is extremely powerful. When doing a night time photography you can get significantly better results by manually lowering the ISO and bumping the exposure but in truly low light that's not enough. You then take dozens of 30s exposures and add them together. The problem is that if you are working with JPEGs, it doesn't really work for extremely low signals. If there is a light source in your image that even after 30s exposure does not expose a pixel enough to bump the value from 0 to 1, with the added noise reduction it gets rounded to 0 every time, so adding zeroes gets you nowhere. On the other hand, if there is a significant noise in your sensor, that's actually in this case extremely helpful. By adding the photos that have a very low signal (below a normal detection threshold) but also a significant noise, you can remove the noise and still get the signal that has 'piggybacked' on the noise above the pixel threshold. Doing this, if you have the patience, basically makes your photos limited only by the 12MP sensor resolution and the lens quality. The quality of the sensor, it's dynamic range and noise level becomes completely irrelevant and you can basically simulate an 'ideal' sensor with arbitrarily large dynamic range and sensitivity and arbitrarily low noise. You should, for example, be able to do astrophotography and photograph objects that are too dim to be visible with a naked eye, beyond what even dSLRs can manage without these kinds of tricks.
With the very fast CPU and plentiful RAM you could even possibly automate this tedious process on the phone itself (for example by the use of CLI linux raw photo manipulation tools installed through termux or linuxdeploy) so it could be as simple as putting a phone on a tripod (or a sky tracking mount), starting a simple script and waiting for half an hour while the phone takes and processes the photos.
With access to the still linear RAW pixel data, you can even use the camera as a 'scientific' sensor in, for example, a cheap portable spectroscope. The possibilities are endless
Yes, I am well aware that I am weird
yup you can. also you can install 3rd party app and camera2 api is enabled by default no need to root and bootloader unlock for that.
Secondly camera is super awesome.
i can you lead to telegram group where people share their photoshots done on poco f1. you will get the idea
The gcam is one option for you to capture raw images but it does not support manual mode so you cannot get those long exposure raw images to talked about. What you can do is get a camera app that supports both raw images capturing and manual mode like proshot or manual camera
Very cool, thank you both! It would be great if someone could upload an actual DNG file taken with the poco and an app that also supports manual exposure. I am curious if the cli programs will recognise the format.
dsvilko said:
Very cool, thank you both! It would be great if someone could upload an actual DNG file taken with the poco and an app that also supports manual exposure. I am curious if the cli programs will recognise the format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well manual mode is supported by default camera, but it doesn't have any option for RAW output.
my best pick will be open camera application.
what you recommend for both raw and manual mode
I've shot some raw photos using latest GCAM. However I don't know any apps for RAW files editing in phone. And I Didn't get time to check their quality on Photoshop. RAW files size is around 15Mb. I can send you those photos if you want to check.
That would be great if the DNG format is the same as the one the other apps (that have also manual support) produce. Can you send it to my gmail (same username)? Thanks.
dsvilko said:
That would be great if the DNG format is the same as the one the other apps (that have also manual support) produce. Can you send it to my gmail (same username)? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love astronomy and I am very interested in an app that would let us get raw format images and also have the manual mode. Did anyone know any app that can let us do that?
Thanks in advance
Manual camera app supports both RAW and manual controls. I haven't yet found an app that also supports intervalometer.
dsvilko said:
Manual camera app supports both RAW and manual controls. I haven't yet found an app that also supports intervalometer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flavionet.android.camera.pro
Gcam with manual controls does exist you know. Just get gcam with mods or from sannnity. These have manual control which can control ISO from 100 to 6400, shutter time from 1s to 32s (nothing shorter than 1s) and manual focus control. They can save it in raw.
FreeDCam also supports both manual controls and RAW.
To edit RAW images on the phone, use google snapseed app.
lockhrt999 said:
Gcam with manual controls does exist you know. Just get gcam with mods or from sannnity. These have manual control which can control ISO from 100 to 6400, shutter time from 1s to 32s (nothing shorter than 1s) and manual focus control. They can save it in raw.
FreeDCam also supports both manual controls and RAW.
To edit RAW images on the phone, use google snapseed app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please tell me how to add Sannity mods in gcam?
just create a folder named gcam in this another named configs
in the configs folder place all the gcam configs xml files
to apply these double tap the black space near the shutter white button to load the configs
shivy25 said:
Can you please tell me how to add Sannity mods in gcam?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go in the mods section of Poco f1 on xda and you'll find a thread started by sannity. Download his gcam.

Triple shot

I was wondering if there is a camera app out there that allows one to take a picture and record video using all three lenses simultaneously. I'd like three individual video files saved: ultra wide, normal, and telephoto. I have looked around and this appears to be unique to the LG V40 (for photos not videos) but it creates a lame slideshow with transitions effects I dont want.
Thanks!
Dont think its possible, since video recording uses the CPU alot. And filming with 3 lenses would be pretty difficult for the cpu, maybe in low quality it would be possible...

Question Camera app comparison for Google Pixel 6 - which app delivers natural pictures and videos?

The Google Camera app on the Pixel 6 sadly delivers over-saturated, over-sharpened photos and videos which have applied too much noise reduction. (The results on the Google Pixel 1 and Nexus 5X were much better - I just did a direct comparison).
So I did some tests of available photo apps and how they perform on the Google Pixel 6. Sadly, I didn't find one app which delivers good photo and video quality for both cameras (wide and ultra-wide) so I am currently using a combination of apps (Lightroom Mobile for wide photos, OpenCamera for wide videos, ProShot for ultra-wide photos and videos EDIT: Google Camera with DNG for photos and developed in Lightroom Mobile or RawTherapee, OpenCamera for wide videos, ProShot for ultra-wide videos - see post of Gnaius from 1st december) - not very ideal.
So my question is: Which alternative photo/video apps can you recommend?
Side remark:
- For DNG photo post processing, I found the (free part of the) Lightroom Mobile app on the phone quite useful as it automatically removes the vignetting from the lens. Better results can be achieved via RawTherapee on the computer with manual removal of the vignette.
- For video post processing, I currently use Kdenlive with video filters "Level" where I adapt white, black and the Gamma values and the filter "saturation" reduced from 125 to about 90. This gives a quite natural look.
Here is the comparison of the apps I tried (+ for pro arguments, - for contra arguments)
Reference: Google Camera:
- Sharpening NOT selectable, over-sharpens in photos and videos (exception: 1080p)
- Noise reduction NOT selectable, applies too much noise reduction
- Saturation NOT selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
+ DNG available in photos, half size EDIT: very good signal-to-noise ratio
+ Image stabilizer works in videos and different modes available
OpenCamera:
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: over-saturates in JPG and videos; flat mode for videos selectable, but flat videos have ugly color banding => unusable
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
- DNG available in photos, EDIT: DNGs have a bad signal-to-noise ratio
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
+ 4K60
+ good video quality
HedgeCam (a clone of OpenCamera):
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable, can be deactivated based on ISO
+ Photo saturation selectable for JPG
- Video saturation NOT selectable
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
+ DNG available in photos
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
ProShot:
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: NO flat mode for videos selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
- DNG available in photos, however activation of DNG deactivates ultra-wide camera for photos and videos, EDIT: DNGs have a bad signal-to-noise ratio
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
- No 4K60
- mediocre image and video quality
Cinema4K (only video):
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: flat mode for videos selectable, however flat videos have ugly color banding
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
- No 4K60
Lightroom (only photo):
(- Sharpening NOT selectable for JPG)
(- Noise reduction NOT selectable for JPG)
(- Saturation NOT selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos)
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
- DNG available in photos, EDIT: DNGs have a bad signal-to-noise ratio
+ Allows to directly develop photos with preset (0 sharpening, +30 noise reduction, +50 saturation, +50 dynamic delivers natural results)
Firstsight (only photo):
- Sharpening?
- Noise reduction?
- Saturation NOT selectable: over-saturates in JPG
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
- DNG available in photos (ultra-wide currently shows errors while storing DNG), EDIT: DNGs have a bad signal-to-noise ratio
MWP GCam APKs - Google Camera Port
Modified Google Camera app by MWP.
www.celsoazevedo.com
Not try gcam with mods
in Mod Settings -> Developer Settings : untick "segmenter_use_darwinn_tpu_delegate
This will stop it crashing on face detection
ifelcon said:
The Google Camera app on the Pixel 6 sadly delivers over-saturated, over-sharpened photos and videos which have applied too much noise reduction. (The results on the Google Pixel 1 and Nexus 5X were much better - I just did a direct comparison).
So I did some tests of available photo apps and how they perform on the Google Pixel 6. Sadly, I didn't find one app which delivers good photo and video quality for both cameras (wide and ultra-wide) so I am currently using a combination of apps (Lightroom Mobile for wide photos, OpenCamera for wide videos, ProShot for ultra-wide photos and videos) - not very ideal.
So my question is: Which alternative photo/video apps can you recommend?
Side remark:
- For DNG photo post processing, I found the (free part of the) Lightroom Mobile app on the phone quite useful as it automatically removes the vignetting from the lens. Better results can be achieved via RawTherapee on the computer with manual removal of the vignette.
- For video post processing, I currently use Kdenlive with video filters "Level" where I adapt white, black and the Gamma values and the filter "saturation" reduced from 125 to about 90. This gives a quite natural look.
Here is the comparison of the apps I tried (+ for pro arguments, - for contra arguments)
Reference: Google Camera:
- Sharpening NOT selectable, over-sharpens in photos and videos (exception: 1080p)
- Noise reduction NOT selectable, applies too much noise reduction
- Saturation NOT selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
+ DNG available in photos but half size (I didn't see any difference)
+ Image stabilizer works in videos and different modes available
OpenCamera:
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: over-saturates in JPG and videos; flat mode for videos selectable, but flat videos have ugly color banding => unusable
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
+ DNG available in photos
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
+ 4K60
+ good video quality
HedgeCam (a clone of OpenCamera):
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable, can be deactivated based on ISO
+ Photo saturation selectable for JPG
- Video saturation NOT selectable
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
+ DNG available in photos
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
ProShot:
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: NO flat mode for videos selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
(-) DNG available in photos, however activation of DNG deactivates ultra-wide camera for photos and videos
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
- No 4K60
- mediocre image and video quality
Cinema4K (only video):
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: flat mode for videos selectable, however flat videos have ugly color banding
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
- No 4K60
Lightroom (only photo):
(- Sharpening NOT selectable for JPG)
(- Noise reduction NOT selectable for JPG)
(- Saturation NOT selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos)
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
+ DNG available in photos
+ Allows to directly develop photos with preset (0 sharpening, +30 noise reduction, +50 saturation, +50 dynamic delivers natural results)
Firstsight (only photo):
- Sharpening?
- Noise reduction?
- Saturation NOT selectable: over-saturates in JPG
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
+ DNG available in photos (ultra-wide currently shows errors while storing DNG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am primarily interested in using my p6 camera for videos, that was one of the main reasons I got it. But from your post it seems like they are all over-saturated. I agree that the stock camera is definitely way over-saturated and I can't find any way to tone it down.
Why have you chosen opencamera for videos when you say it has the same issues as the stock camera? Is there something that I overlooked.?
Anyway, thanks for the write up it was helpful.
@Izy: Thank you for your suggestion. I don't like the idea of installing apps which are not checked via a trustful store so I am still undecided. An analysis of the files via virustotal showed one scanner with a positive result however this seems to be a false positive.
@sdbe: I chose OpenCamera as a workaround because it allows to adjust the sharpening (which I did set to "None") and the noise reduction (which I did set to "High Quality"). This at least improves the quality a bit. Together with the post processing in Kdenlive against the over-saturation, I get acceptable results (however with less image stabilization so you have to have a steady hand). This is more a workaround than a solution
ifelcon said:
@Izy: Thank you for your suggestion. I don't like the idea of installing apps which are not checked via a trustful store so I am still undecided. An analysis of the files via virustotal showed one scanner with a positive result however this seems to be a false positive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Virus Total:​Some antivirus will "complain" about these files. If you upload one of the files to VirusTotal you will notice that at least one virus engine WhiteArmour - now Babable - flags the file as a PUP (potentially unwanted program). Even the apk shared on XDA's website is flagged, but according to them it's safe:
We independently confirmed the safety of the APK file thanks to Amir Zaidi who is the developer of the rootless Pixel Launcher app that brings the Google Now panel to unrooted devices. He published a full diff, using APKTool, of the small changes that were made to the app to see if there was any malicious insertions to the APK file. We found none of the sort, and can confirm that it is safe to install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that WhiteArmour Babable is a Chinese company that uses machine learning and AI to detect malicious software (according to this). Because I've never heard of them before and they are the only one out of +60 to flag these files, I'm tempted to say that this is a false positive. Either that or they are better than everyone else.
Because I don't know how these virus engines work, I also have no idea why Babable flags these apks. It seems that if a public/free signing key is used, some engines flag the file because the same key was used before by malicious apps, even if the apk file itself is clear.
I've scanned my phone multiple times with Google Play Protect and it never detected anything malicious, but how accurate is Play Protect?
Safety Warning About the Google Camera Port
Things to keep in mind when using the Google Camera Port.
www.celsoazevedo.com
also how trustful is googles store really
the fact you said thats kinda funny in itself with the amount of practical malware it can give (like launchers and other apps spamming you adds)
yet your here posting on xda which is mainly about custom roms/apps
gcam mods have been out for years since the nexus this is just a dedicated website for the main devs who still make them
Great post bro with useful information! Have you tried Filmic Pro? On iOS it's pretty good and also heard it supports cinematic mode on the pixel.
It does seem antithetical to be here on xda and not wanting homemade software. Lol
ifelcon said:
The Google Camera app on the Pixel 6 sadly delivers over-saturated, over-sharpened photos and videos which have applied too much noise reduction. (The results on the Google Pixel 1 and Nexus 5X were much better - I just did a direct comparison).
So I did some tests of available photo apps and how they perform on the Google Pixel 6. Sadly, I didn't find one app which delivers good photo and video quality for both cameras (wide and ultra-wide) so I am currently using a combination of apps (Lightroom Mobile for wide photos, OpenCamera for wide videos, ProShot for ultra-wide photos and videos) - not very ideal.
So my question is: Which alternative photo/video apps can you recommend?
Side remark:
- For DNG photo post processing, I found the (free part of the) Lightroom Mobile app on the phone quite useful as it automatically removes the vignetting from the lens. Better results can be achieved via RawTherapee on the computer with manual removal of the vignette.
- For video post processing, I currently use Kdenlive with video filters "Level" where I adapt white, black and the Gamma values and the filter "saturation" reduced from 125 to about 90. This gives a quite natural look.
Here is the comparison of the apps I tried (+ for pro arguments, - for contra arguments)
Reference: Google Camera:
- Sharpening NOT selectable, over-sharpens in photos and videos (exception: 1080p)
- Noise reduction NOT selectable, applies too much noise reduction
- Saturation NOT selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
+ DNG available in photos but half size (I didn't see any difference)
+ Image stabilizer works in videos and different modes available
OpenCamera:
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: over-saturates in JPG and videos; flat mode for videos selectable, but flat videos have ugly color banding => unusable
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
+ DNG available in photos
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
+ 4K60
+ good video quality
HedgeCam (a clone of OpenCamera):
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable, can be deactivated based on ISO
+ Photo saturation selectable for JPG
- Video saturation NOT selectable
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
+ DNG available in photos
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
ProShot:
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: NO flat mode for videos selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
(-) DNG available in photos, however activation of DNG deactivates ultra-wide camera for photos and videos
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
- No 4K60
- mediocre image and video quality
Cinema4K (only video):
+ Sharpening selectable
+ Noise reduction selectable
- Saturation: flat mode for videos selectable, however flat videos have ugly color banding
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
(+) Image stabilizer works in videos (but different modes NOT available and video less stable)
- No 4K60
Lightroom (only photo):
(- Sharpening NOT selectable for JPG)
(- Noise reduction NOT selectable for JPG)
(- Saturation NOT selectable, over-saturates in JPG and videos)
- Only wide camera works, NO ultra-wide
+ DNG available in photos
+ Allows to directly develop photos with preset (0 sharpening, +30 noise reduction, +50 saturation, +50 dynamic delivers natural results)
Firstsight (only photo):
- Sharpening?
- Noise reduction?
- Saturation NOT selectable: over-saturates in JPG
+ Wide and ultra-wide camera selectable
+ DNG available in photos (ultra-wide currently shows errors while storing DNG)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you still finding that the dng files from the stock camera app show no difference? Mine show a *vast* difference, and they're full size. They have a slightly different pixel count, which is odd -- I believe that may be from slight cropping after the correction of lens distortion.
Here's an issue, however: the dng files are corrected *twice* when you open them in LR or Photoshop. The proper lens correction is in the jpeg; the dng applies the same correction to the already-corrected files, resulting in barrel distortion in the center of the frame, and pincushion on the edges. This is automatic, and irreversible.
By the way, I hope you're all sending complaints to Google about the stock camera app, and requesting the ability to modify sharpness, noise reduction, etc. The more people who make noise about this, the more likely it will be addressed.
Thank you for the responses!
@Izy: As I had to reset my old phone (Google Pixel 1) anyways, I did take the chance to test the GCAM mods. Most of the current ones didn't work (probably because the phone has a too old Android version). The first one that worked immediately triggered Google Play Protect stating that I have a potentially malicous app on my phone. Anotherone from cstark didn't trigger it, but I will end this experiment for now.
By the way, I did not write Google Play Store but "a trustful store" (hoping that the mentioned apks would be in a trustful store). I know that there are a lot of dubious apps in Google Play Store, but I think that you can live with Google Play Store if you are cautious enough.
@RiTCHiE007:
I heard of Filmic Pro but I didn't try it. Sadly, it only has an evaluator app stating generic compatibility but not a demo mode. From what I read, you first have to pay 15€ for the app and then 12€ for an in-app upgrade to enable flat video mode. This quite a lot for just testing whether the app is feasible, in particular as their homepage says that only the old phones are completely supported.
@Gnaius:
Thank you very much for the hint about the DNG files. I didn't compare them carefully enough and now I have to agree that there are huge differences between the Google Camera app and other apps. Sadly, only the Google Camera app delivers shadows which have nearly no noise. All other apps already show noise with default settings and it gets way worse with high-contrast scenes where you have to lift the shadows. So I will stick to the Google Camera app for photos in DNG for now. I will try to update my initial post and add a remark there.
About the picture correction: do you mean that the Google Camera DNGs are corrected twice or the DNG from other apps? I don't use LR or Photoshop on my computer. With RawTherapee you do not have any correction by default. I created a profile to work against the vignetting which works quite well. I didn't notice a lot of distortion with the wide camera but the ultra-wide camera has a lot of distortion towards the edges - I will have to find a solution for this.
I will send a review to the Google Camera app - I hope they read the reviews.
EDIT: I just saw that there was an update to the Google Camera app from 7th December - let's see if something was enhanced.
ifelcon said:
About the picture correction: do you mean that the Google Camera DNGs are corrected twice or the DNG from other apps? I don't use LR or Photoshop on my computer. With RawTherapee you do not have any correction by default. I created a profile to work against the vignetting which works quite well. I didn't notice a lot of distortion with the wide camera but the ultra-wide camera has a lot of distortion towards the edges - I will have to find a solution for this.
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The lens correction is applied automatically by both Lightroom and Photoshop; I haven't tried RawTherapee. Does RawTherapee produce files that are precisely the same, geometrically, as the JPEGs?
Gnaius said:
The lens correction is applied automatically by both Lightroom and Photoshop; I haven't tried RawTherapee. Does RawTherapee produce files that are precisely the same, geometrically, as the JPEGs?
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Click to collapse
No, it doesn't. The Google Camera JPEGs are 4080x3072 for both cameras; the JPEGs developed via RawTherapee are 4072x3064 for the wide and 3998x3008 for the ultra-wide camera (and heavily distorted). The preview DNG are also heavily distorted.
For the main camera I do not notice any distortion when comparing developed DNG and JPEG.

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