Database Develop

Tips for taking good Photospheres

Hey everyone,
I've seen there's only been a few people posting Photospheres in the N4 section, and even then, no one has really talked about how to make them the best we can.
I believe there's a similar topic in the Galaxy Nexus Section, so why not make ours as well. So far, this is what I've noticed helps towards getting good results:
- Try to avoid having people/objects too close to you: The lens is a wide angle, meaning perspective changes A LOT with close elements.
- Do it calmly: At first I just thought "Too fast" was just fixed once I stopped moving the phone, but the thing is, apparently the phone's gyroscope DOES get a little confused, making it think we're on a different angle than we really are, shifting its whole perception of the picture.
- Use the phone in landscape mode: From what I've seen, the camera has more trouble stitching images in a vertical alignment, while it usually has no trouble stitching images next to each other. So the best option is to get the pictures that are below/above each other as close as possible (so that the tilt angle varies as little as possible), while the pictures next to each other can afford to have a larger difference in their panning angle. - Update: According to user kcls, this is a sure black dot in the top-bottom of your sphere.
I also read a couple other tips that I'd like to implement once I have the chance:
- Use your lens as your rotating axis: I wonder why I didn't think of this before. The sphere should be built around your camera (specifically, the lens/sensor), but we usually move our arms around with it, meaning the point in space where we take the picture from, is different all the time, meaning our perspective is different, meaning the pictures might not stitch as well.
- Use the back arrow: D'uh
Anyone has more stuff to comment?
From other users in this thread:
quickmirror said:
You should add "A well lit area" is useful too, like most photos.
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Click to collapse
gilgil28 said:
using myself as the axis does the trick sidewise. As for up and down, I use my rist as the axis. so far perfect spheres.
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Click to collapse

You should add "A well lit area" is useful too, like most photos.

I'd like to note, however, if you plan on making one of the "Tiny Planets" out of your photosphere, and you don't want a big black dot in the center, you must take the photosphere in portrait mode.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²

quickmirror said:
You should add "A well lit area" is useful too, like most photos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kcls said:
I'd like to note, however, if you plan on making one of the "Tiny Planets" out of your photosphere, and you don't want a big black dot in the center, you must take the photosphere in portrait mode.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²
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True! Updated the original post with your comments, thanks !

Thanks for this thread! Man I suck at photospheres Just need to practice more, but these tips will help. :good:

Keep the phone in one position. Don't rotate yourself, rotate the phone only.

I've just added this to the Nexus 4 Complete Index
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Here's my backyard with the tiny planet effect. Used portrait to get it all.
Sent from my N4 using Tapatalk 2
*Stock*Unrooted*4.2.1*OG LL3*

Great thread OP, im not good at photospheres but im gonna try those tips!

SBGS-FTW said:
Here's my backyard with the tiny planet effect. Used portrait to get it all.
Sent from my N4 using Tapatalk 2
*Stock*Unrooted*4.2.1*OG LL3*
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Nice pic man.
My photosphere skills are lacking...
Edit: When are you gonna take the plunge and unlock/root? I thought you would've been tinkering with your N4 by now.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Good tips. I'll have to try the landscape photosphere soon as so far I've only been doing them in portrait. Never know you could hit back to remove a photo, genius! I'll post some goo photospheres when I get a chance in the photo thread

KidCarter93 said:
I've just added this to the Nexus 4 Complete Index
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
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I made it to the index! Thanks
barondebxl said:
Great thread OP, im not good at photospheres but im gonna try those tips!
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Great, hope you upload the results!

Great tip about the portrait mode, I was very annoyed by the black dots in landscape.
I was wondering about the "Use your lens as your rotating axis" part and I looked it up. It seems that google's instructions are to move the camera "laterally" which for me translates to something different: having your body as the axis and rotating it around you. In my opinion it makes more sense; it's too awkward trying to rotate the phone around itself. It wouldn't be harder for photosphere to stitch the photos as long as your arms are always the same distance from the imaginary sphere center. In short, imagine that you are moving your phone in a way that it's tracing a sphere which has your neck as its center.
Google instructions:
http://support.google.com/nexus/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2839084
Camera movement info (ctrl+f lateral):
http://meet-the-media.nuvvo.com/lesson/7479-camera-movements

kritonas said:
Great tip about the portrait mode, I was very annoyed by the black dots in landscape.
I was wondering about the "Use your lens as your rotating axis" part and I looked it up. It seems that google's instructions are to move the camera "laterally" which for me translates to something different: having your body as the axis and rotating it around you. In my opinion it makes more sense; it's too awkward trying to rotate the phone around itself. It wouldn't be harder for photosphere to stitch the photos as long as your arms are always the same distance from the imaginary sphere center. In short, imagine that you are moving your phone in a way that it's tracing a sphere which has your neck as its center.
Google instructions:
http://support.google.com/nexus/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2839084
Camera movement info (ctrl+f lateral):
http://meet-the-media.nuvvo.com/lesson/7479-camera-movements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Maybe they did think of the Photosphere function in this way, but it's just a matter of logic that, due to the variation in angle, it's better to use the camera as the axis...
It does get harder to manage, though. It is awkward, and hard to keep it in the same spot in space for that long, while moving it 360 degrees. But the advantage is undeniable. As I said, it's as simple as keeping the same point of view, vs changing it for every snap.

Omfg, use the phone as the axis.
I've been taking spheres for a while, starting on my sensation running jellybean. Why in the world did I not figure this out!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

mrbkkt1 said:
Omfg, use the phone as the axis.
I've been taking spheres for a while, starting on my sensation running jellybean. Why in the world did I not figure this out!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
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I know, right?! I thought the same thing when I read about it. It's so obvious, yet for some reason never thought of it.

Great tips here!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

thanks

Seems like common sense to me.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

kyle1b1 said:
Seems like common sense to me.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
It is, mostly. But for some reason, sometimes we just don't think about it. If you had read the thread, you would understand

how do u take pictures in a dark room?

so i cant take a pic in a pitch dark room, kinda of annoying i shoot the pic and when it flashes it looks blurry, was wondering if there is a way for it to flash focus and take the pic, kinda like the galaxy phones. is there a way to do it maybe an option that im missing?
cheers.

HRodMusic said:
so i cant take a pic in a pitch dark room, kinda of annoying i shoot the pic and when it flashes it looks blurry, was wondering if there is a way for it to flash focus and take the pic, kinda like the galaxy phones. is there a way to do it maybe an option that im missing?
cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are currently no options for flash pre-focus yet ):

Same thing here, but i'm sure will be available on future updates:good:

Carefully
----------------------o('_')o----------------------
Sent from an HTC One with using xda app:
TrickDroid ROM 5.6
Bulletproof 1.10

Really no idea why it doesn't have this. It is so terrible in dark places. I was with some friends trying to take a picture of my friends at night. Every picture was blurred to **** because nothing was in focus. I tried to take like 10 pictures. My friend beside me with a GS3 only needed to take one picture because it does that flash-focus.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

ataft said:
Really no idea why it doesn't have this. It is so terrible in dark places. I was with some friends trying to take a picture of my friends at night. Every picture was blurred to **** because nothing was in focus. I tried to take like 10 pictures. My friend beside me with a GS3 only needed to take one picture because it does that flash-focus.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
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If there's a situation where the HTC One fails to focus cos of low light, I don't see how anything the S3 takes to be even usable, unless you mean flash-focus AND flash and not just flash-focus and take the image as is.

ArmedandDangerous said:
If there's a situation where the HTC One fails to focus cos of low light, I don't see how anything the S3 takes to be even usable, unless you mean flash-focus AND flash and not just flash-focus and take the image as is.
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Basically HTC have cocked it up a little. They've assumed the sensor is more capable than it actually is.
The majority of phone cams will use the flash to light an extremely dark scene so that it can set the focus for when it triggers the flash full strength to take the picture.
----------------------o('_')o----------------------
Sent from an HTC One with using xda app:
TrickDroid ROM 5.6
Bulletproof 1.10

LG Camera and Infinite focus works ok. Also in HTC camera app, if its completely dark room, just hold the button down to take pic til it clicks and then let go. First picture out when you load up the camera software should come out pretty well focused.
Secondly, if you're taking pictures in completely dark rooms, there's something wrong with you (I do this too, just waiting for an app to put a scary pic and a loud sound on resulting picture as a scary joke lol)
---------- Post added at 01:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 PM ----------
Tetsumi06 said:
Basically HTC have cocked it up a little. They've assumed the sensor is more capable than it actually is.
The majority of phone cams will use the flash to light an extremely dark scene so that it can set the focus for when it triggers the flash full strength to take the picture.
----------------------o('_')o----------------------
Sent from an HTC One with using xda app:
TrickDroid ROM 5.6
Bulletproof 1.10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One does this too, the flash lights up once before the picture is taken to focus, then turns off, then flashes, unfortunately the software is buggy and it's not always focused.

biffsmash said:
LG Camera and Infinite focus works ok. Also in HTC camera app, if its completely dark room, just hold the button down to take pic til it clicks and then let go. First picture out when you load up the camera software should come out pretty well focused.
Secondly, if you're taking pictures in completely dark rooms, there's something wrong with you (I do this too, just waiting for an app to put a scary pic and a loud sound on resulting picture as a scary joke lol)
---------- Post added at 01:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 PM ----------
The One does this too, the flash lights up once before the picture is taken to focus, then turns off, then flashes, unfortunately the software is buggy and it's not always focused.
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Click to collapse
well i was at a concert, with some buddies, and the place was dark, dark enough were the camera could not see. i tried to shoot a pic of my buddies and every single pic came out blurry, it was really embarrassing, a brand new 500 dollar phone cant take a pic in a dark room.:crying: lol

I'm having the exact same problems. Photos during the day are amazing, but in dark areas it's a major problem!
My SGS3 went "flllaasshhhh" (while focusing), then "flash" again when it actually took the picture.
My HTC One does not do that initial "flllaasshhhh" while it focuses. It only flashes when it takes the picture, and 95% of the time the resulting picture is blurry.
See FULL size example here: http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/1126/a8lg.jpg
:silly:
The attached image is re-sized .... loses the blurriness.

[Q] Blurry shots at night

Hey guys, I have problem with photos at night,or dark conditions. They all are blurry. I mean, I have Galaxy S4 ,S3 ,Note 2 and when is night,tap on the screen means, light on camera turn on and object at dark is focused. While HTC One cant do it. Tap on the screen at dark does nothing and photo is blurry. Is there any solution how can I do perfect photos like Galaxy series? I also tried Camera FX ,but its the same. Still cant focus with light

Maybe is user error. Simple as just not doing it right. If not we need more info than that... Like come on how can I help you when all you say is "I'm a newbz and mah camera won't focus"?
Give me rom, kernel, camera app settings and maybe someone would be nice enough to help you.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Tw1tchy said:
Maybe is user error. Simple as just not doing it right. If not we need more info than that... Like come on how can I help you when all you say is "I'm a newbz and mah camera won't focus"?
Give me rom, kernel, camera app settings and maybe someone would be nice enough to help you.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All stock, not rooted.
Lol, this is not only my problem, but every user of HTC One get this problem. Im asking for solution. Just try that. Try taking picture at night, when on One is only black screen. How can U make a photo, which is not blurry? Tapping on the screen to focus is useless, cause it cant focus.. Its weird and sad. If I could do same as on the Galaxy, tap on the screen uses light and that means it will focus on objects at night, so U have great picture. But One, which has better picture at night cause of ultrapixles, cant do that?
Enough to know whats the problem?

Ne_X_uS said:
All stock, not rooted.
Lol, this is not only my problem, but every user of HTC One get this problem. Im asking for solution. Just try that. Try taking picture at night, when on One is only black screen. How can U make a photo, which is not blurry? Tapping on the screen to focus is useless, cause it cant focus.. Its weird and sad. If I could do same as on the Galaxy, tap on the screen uses light and that means it will focus on objects at night, so U have great picture. But One, which has better picture at night cause of ultrapixles, cant do that?
Enough to know whats the problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock 4.1.2 or 4.2.2 because there has been quite a few updates that increases camera performance. Maybe some pictures could help.
If you are properly focusing on something after pressing your finger on the screen it should say "AE and AF locked".
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Tw1tchy said:
Stock 4.1.2 or 4.2.2 because there has been quite a few updates that increases camera performance. Maybe some pictures could help.
If you are properly focusing on something after pressing your finger on the screen it should say "AE and AF locked".
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Yeah,if I tap on the screen,it says ae and af locked. But it doesnt solve the problem. Try it. U will have blurry photo too. It just cant focus at night

So, I found on the internet same issue..Everybody got this problem, I think all HTC devices, but lot of people dont know about it..There was no software update which repair this..One guy got third part app, which using light-torch ,so it can focus in dark too..But he said its bit laggy, not as HTC's camera app:-/ He also tried different ROMs, nothing works..Shame on HTC..Dont understand why they cant do it like Samsung..

me too am having the same problem. am using vipers 5.2.1 and night pictures are just bad even with the powerful dual flash on the sensation

Cyanogenmod Users, tell us about the camera app you are using

We all know z2 has a solid stock camera app. But on cm and cm based rom we cannot use it
So what are you guys using it? Any comparisons of photos taken with different camera apps? And how do photos compare to stock rom? Do share your experience

Im using stock camera app, but Pictures Come a bit too bright for me. Could anyone recommend any good camera app?

It doesn't matter what camera app you use really, as CM (and all AOSP ROM's) use the same camera driver, and Kali used a hack to get it to work using Z1 code (don't know the actual term) so... It will always be substantially poor compared to stock. I know this thread isn't actually a comparison between the two, I'm just stating the facts and eventually I'm sure Kali (or another Dev) will fix it and use proper Z2 cam code. Then, we will have a truly next to flawless AOSP camera and ROM.

I'm just using Google Camera for lack of a better one. It's not great but it gets the job done.

The camera on both stock and CM give the same result. Its only the post processing that the stock app does that changes the result.
For testing, install Google camera on stock and click pictures. Do the same on CM and compare your results.

Uclydde said:
I'm just using Google Camera for lack of a better one. It's not great but it gets the job done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey hey try out this Camera :laugh: It looks exactly like the stock Nexus 5 camera and it is the best I have tried. :victory:
Tip: The Google Play Store will view it as the Google Camera you are using and will ask for an update , I recommend you not to do it
ENJOY !!! :good: :good: :good:
Please hit "thanks" if I helped you

gallardo5 said:
Im using stock camera app, but Pictures Come a bit too bright for me. Could anyone recommend any good camera app?
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Hey my friend :laugh: try using the camera app I uploaded above

-XperiaMan- said:
Hey my friend :laugh: try using the camera app I uploaded above
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Click to collapse
What...exactly is it? How is it different from the normal google camera?

Uclydde said:
What...exactly is it? How is it different from the normal google camera?
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Click to collapse
Well I found it different . It has the look of the Nexus 5 camera app
AND it took better pics . Its my opinion . If you don't like it there is no problem my friend

No 4K

Jhon998 said:
No 4K
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Thats why i will stay on stock rom for now...

Nightfire-XX said:
Thats why i will stay on stock rom for now...
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Yeah i too switched back to stock and thinking about this if it would work on CM
---------- Post added at 02:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:46 PM ----------
Nightfire-XX said:
Thats why i will stay on stock rom for now...
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Click to collapse
Or maybe http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2733776

Yeah this problem made me switch back to stock

Hopefully we will see some camera improvements when Android L have been released and CM updated.

Using Google Camera on Carbon. Shots are great!
Sent from my Xperia Z2 using Tapatalk

Just a quick tip guys, I had issues with low quality photos in CM11, I tried ProCapture app and in good daylight the pictures turn out to be good and as good as stock, in low light you'll have to tweak the settings a bit but you can manage to get pretty decent pics. SO yeah, for the benefits CM11 gives, I can completely live with it by using a third party app

I see that MIUI port has stock XZ2 camera. If so, is there any way to use on CM11 as well? Any tips?
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app

I have a stock camera (4.4.4) and I am not happy at all with my camera. :/ Most photos are not clear, landscape mode takes bad photos (one part of the photo is good/zoomed, biger part is blur).
I heard some stories about Z2 with good camera and Z2 with bad camera, can thia be true, although it sounds ridicilous.

[email protected] said:
I have a stock camera (4.4.4) and I am not happy at all with my camera. :/ Most photos are not clear, landscape mode takes bad photos (one part of the photo is good/zoomed, biger part is blur).
I heard some stories about Z2 with good camera and Z2 with bad camera, can thia be true, although it sounds ridicilous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree.. I tried cm11 snapshot m12, All pictures of mine turns out too bright. The front one especially pixalated with weird coloured dots like a 0.5mp camera which I used to have when I had an old Nokia phone. Other than this, cm is a perfect rom.. Hope there are still development on this while with all the hype on lollipop(not sure if the camera code will get better by then)

I recommend the OnePlusOne camera! It's faster, more organized in terms of menus and I think that the image quality is little bit better because of the filters used... :good:

Is anyone else having issue with the camera focusing ?

It seems it will not focus properly. sometimes it does and i can take a really good picture. but most of the time all it takes is blurry pics. has anyone else had this issue and no of anything to fix it ?

Did you take the protective film off the lens?
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

mine does the same thing, and i don't know what to do.. i hope it's a software issue and samsung can fix it.

Go to settings and check what type of metering you have it set to? Is it centered Matrix?
I've always just kept it on matrix as I found it to work the best for general shooting...

Less than 10 of us have reported this issue in the tmo forum. I was hoping it was a software issue too but we're all running the same software. Exchange it.

Had this exact problem and exchanged mine. New one is perfect.

Do you guys use video stabilization on the camera settings?

Glad I'm not alone with focusing problems...
Here is my topic : Note 4 camera won't lock focus + blurry edges on pictures with far focus
Best regards,
Chris.

particle1 said:
It seems it will not focus properly. sometimes it does and i can take a really good picture. but most of the time all it takes is blurry pics. has anyone else had this issue and no of anything to fix it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your camera MODE on Selective Focus?

Did anyone find a fix for this? My wife's 2 week old note 4 has started doing this. It doesn't do it all the time and it happens with the Samsung camera and the Google camera. Yesterday I got it to fix itself by zooming but today that didn't help.

mntgoat said:
Did anyone find a fix for this? My wife's 2 week old note 4 has started doing this. It doesn't do it all the time and it happens with the Samsung camera and the Google camera. Yesterday I got it to fix itself by zooming but today that didn't help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone is defective.
BAD ASS NOTE 4

Haven't had problem with camera. Read this thread. Fires up camera. Now I experiencing slow mo focusing.
---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------
Soft reboot solves it.

A soft reboot definitely solves this, had this experience with the previous Note series as well. Either the phone is overheating or the camera app is running in the background and the user forgot to force close the app especially if the camera was overextensively recently used; remember this is a phone camera, not professional grade SLR.
@rbiter said:
Haven't had problem with camera. Read this thread. Fires up camera. Now I experiencing slow mo focusing.
---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------
Soft reboot solves it.
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Click to collapse

winlinmac001 said:
A soft reboot definitely solves this, had this experience with the previous Note series as well. Either the phone is overheating or the camera app is running in the background and the user forgot to force close the app especially if the camera was overextensively recently used; remember this is a phone camera, not professional grade SLR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. My phone has come nowhere near overheating. Fired up the camera on the whim of this thread. Closing camera from and force stopping in application manager did not do anything to resolve the issue. Tried some a couple other things. No dice. Soft reboot. Fixed. It's a bad random bug. Thanks touchwiz.

Overheating is one of many causes; others can also be the camera app running the background, especially for too long. A soft reboot is the only solution, but this occurred to me on other Note models as well; hey, its another samsung thing, argh.
@rbiter said:
Nope. My phone has come nowhere near overheating. Fired up the camera on the whim of this thread. Closing camera from and force stopping in application manager did not do anything to resolve the issue. Tried some a couple other things. No dice. Soft reboot. Fixed. It's a bad random bug. Thanks touchwiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

My phone is less then 2 weeks old and this is happening. I went to the tmobile shop I bought It from and they reset it and told me if it happened again to call tmobile for a replacement. They weren't trying to replace it. Tmobile is sending me a replacement exchange. Hopefully this one works better cause my wife's is fine. Tired of coming upon issues like this when purchasing phones that cost this much. Worst part is I argued over the phone with tmobile to send me a new phone, they wanted to send me a refurbished phone. They said it will be a new phone, hopefully it is otherwise I'm returning all of them.
Sent from my SM-T800 using XDA Premium HD app