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[Q] Snapchat camera is grainy? Yet Z1 camera is fantastic?

Hi,
The camera on the Xperia Z1 is fantastic, in low light its removes grain and pictures look quite nice!!!
In snapchat the front facing camera is ridiculously grainy!
The facebook Slingshot app (snapchat copy) it seems to be using the software of the sony camera?
Has anyone made a modification or an alternative app or fix to this? I remember there was the Holo version of snapchat someone made?
Thanks,
Marcel

marcelrees said:
Hi,
The camera on the Xperia Z1 is fantastic, in low light its removes grain and pictures look quite nice!!!
In snapchat the front facing camera is ridiculously grainy!
The facebook Slingshot app (snapchat copy) it seems to be using the software of the sony camera?
Has anyone made a modification or an alternative app or fix to this? I remember there was the Holo version of snapchat someone made?
Thanks,
Marcel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've personally never used Slingshot, but if it looks like it's using the Sony camera app, the Slingshot application asks Android for all the camera applications that are installed so you can take a photo with them.
Now, most camera applications don't just take photo's and give them to you, but they do some processing with the photo afterwards (Sony's superior auto does this for example) which can give you much less noise in photo's and such.
Since Snapchat uses it's own build-in camera application, it doesn't benefit from the processing the Sony camera application does when taking a photo, thus giving a different result; which in this case ends up in a more noisy picture.
A way to circumvent this is by taking your photo using the Sony camera application and then sharing this photo with Snapchat, which then allows you to send the picture without all the noise to said contacts. Also note that Snapchat does some heavy compression on photo's that it sends.

B1nny said:
I've personally never used Slingshot, but if it looks like it's using the Sony camera app, the Slingshot application asks Android for all the camera applications that are installed so you can take a photo with them.
Now, most camera applications don't just take photo's and give them to you, but they do some processing with the photo afterwards (Sony's superior auto does this for example) which can give you much less noise in photo's and such.
Since Snapchat uses it's own build-in camera application, it doesn't benefit from the processing the Sony camera application does when taking a photo, thus giving a different result; which in this case ends up in a more noisy picture.
A way to circumvent this is by taking your photo using the Sony camera application and then sharing this photo with Snapchat, which then allows you to send the picture without all the noise to said contacts. Also note that Snapchat does some heavy compression on photo's that it sends.
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i remember someone made a holo version of snapchat, is it possible to make a client that uses the devices camera software to process?

marcelrees said:
i remember someone made a holo version of snapchat, is it possible to make a client that uses the devices camera software to process?
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Click to collapse
No. Only the Sony camera can take advantage of Sony's post-processing.

Camera Zoom FX App

I noticed a dramatic difference between the Google Camera and the 3rd party Camera Zoom FX application. The Google Camera brings in a good amount of light into the lens even in marginal situations. Camera Zoom FX is pulls in so much less light. There's no setting I can figure out. Could Lollypop restrict camera access in some funky way that is preventing the 3rd party app from taking full advantage of the lens?

i have noticed this in pretty much all 3rd party camera apps. people have reported that video conferencing in hangouts is also very dark
i have spent all day looking at different camera apps. i cant get "a better camera" to auto focus (but it has better in app lighting), camera zoom fx is much darker than "a better camera" but has good focus. the google camera app from banks gapps seems really gimped (no panorama, no 360, no hdr) and wont let me install the play store google camera (i got 504 errors with banks installed, and 505 when i moved thew camera2 folder from system/apps).
i am now looking into flashing a moto camera app, or trying to flash a closer to stock google camera app (preferably one that doesnt share signitures)

dipstik said:
i have noticed this in pretty much all 3rd party camera apps. people have reported that video conferencing in hangouts is also very dark
i have spent all day looking at different camera apps. i cant get "a better camera" to auto focus (but it has better in app lighting), camera zoom fx is much darker than "a better camera" but has good focus. the google camera app from banks gapps seems really gimped (no panorama, no 360, no hdr) and wont let me install the play store google camera (i got 504 errors with banks installed, and 505 when i moved thew camera2 folder from system/apps).
i am now looking into flashing a moto camera app, or trying to flash a closer to stock google camera app (preferably one that doesnt share signitures)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out Camera FV-5. They have a paid version and a lite (free). I spent the $3.99 and it works really well. It also has a lot of controls.
Google Play Store - Camera FV-5

nhpctech said:
Check out Camera FV-5. They have a paid version and a lite (free). I spent the $3.99 and it works really well. It also has a lot of controls.
Google Play Store - Camera FV-5
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Click to collapse
what rom/kernal are u on? you are not experiencing low light viewfinding?

dipstik said:
what rom/kernal are u on? you are not experiencing low light viewfinding?
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Click to collapse
Haven't had any issues yet. I have used it on Stock unrooted and minimus 12/6/14 build with LeanKernel 1.0

nhpctech said:
Haven't had any issues yet. I have used it on Stock unrooted and minimus 12/6/14 build with LeanKernel 1.0
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Click to collapse
you can get good photos if you remove from recents, but the viewfinder is always dark. see attached. pure shamu b3.1/senseiR20.5, rooted.
i can almost get the moto camera app to work... it takes 1080p soundless video consistently, but photos crash the app, and hdr doesnt work

dipstik said:
you can get good photos if you remove from recents, but the viewfinder is always dark. see attached. pure shamu b3.1/senseiR20.5, rooted.
i can almost get the moto camera app to work... it takes 1080p soundless video consistently, but photos crash the app, and hdr doesnt work
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Click to collapse
Alright, so I tried to take some pictures in a room with no lights on and only some natural light coming through the blinds. They look dark like your sample photos. Opened the slimGAPPS camera and everything works, including HDR, correct brightness, etc. I haven't tried recording video. As soon as I turn a light on, it seems to work normally.
In the camera fv5 app, I went and adjusted some of the exposure settings and shutter, the photo brightened right up.
Not sure what is going on. I will try a few more things and report back.

nhpctech said:
Alright, so I tried to take some pictures in a room with no lights on and only some natural light coming through the blinds. They look dark like your sample photos. Opened the slimGAPPS camera and everything works, including HDR, correct brightness, etc. I haven't tried recording video. As soon as I turn a light on, it seems to work normally.
In the camera fv5 app, I went and adjusted some of the exposure settings and shutter, the photo brightened right up.
Not sure what is going on. I will try a few more things and report back.
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Click to collapse
It's funny, it doesn't look like the photos themselves are too bad, just the display on the preview on the screen (i.e., the screen viewfinder). I am wondering if there is some Lollypop function that is not being taken advantage of fully by the 3rd party apps.

[Q] Can I assign a different camera app to the physical camera button?

As the title states, I'm wondering if I can assign the Google camera app to the physical camera button on my Xperia Z3C.
I find the stock camera app is very poor at keeping focus and takes sub-par images when compared to other camera apps available on Google Play.
Also, anyone have any tips for taking better pictures with the Z3C? I'm finding that despite the camera's high number of pixels, it's not the best for taking pictures, even when compared to my old iPhone 4!
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

AS far as I know, it is possible only when you are rooted. Since rooting (with unlocking bootloader) affects the camera quality, which you want to change, i'd go for it.
I am using Camera FV-5 for taking pictures and that is much better than the auto/manual mode on the stock camera and Lapse-it Pro for Timelapse videos.
Anyway, the biggest improvement should be seen, when Android 5.0+ is released with RAW DNG (and Long Exposure), and then we will see the advantage of a 20MP sensor - but probably only with a different camera app than the stock one

Info
conzar2 said:
As the title states, I'm wondering if I can assign the Google camera app to the physical camera button on my Xperia Z3C.
I find the stock camera app is very poor at keeping focus and takes sub-par images when compared to other camera apps available on Google Play.
Also, anyone have any tips for taking better pictures with the Z3C? I'm finding that despite the camera's high number of pixels, it's not the best for taking pictures, even when compared to my old iPhone 4!
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Test ur Camera with this app
CameraW
this app will capture the exact view that ur phone lens can detect (without any effect or compressions)
if u get better pic by this app then thr s problem in software if not you check the lens itself
try it and inform me about results
:good:

Problem with snapchat app

I've just bought k20 pro and I noticed the snapchat camera is always zoomed in compared to stock or google camera, is there a way to fix that or am I missing something, because I use snapchat camera way more than stock one and the picture quality in that suffers due to zoom issue

Snapchat does not works well in an android because of lots of other android phones with different screen sizes, chipsets, cameras, etc and the its is not actually zoomed it is stretched due to full screen aspect ratio and quality is **** than stock camera all you can do is use filters or buy an iphone

amar1548 said:
I've just bought k20 pro and I noticed the snapchat camera is always zoomed in compared to stock or google camera, is there a way to fix that or am I missing something, because I use snapchat camera way more than stock one and the picture quality in that suffers due to zoom issue
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Click to collapse
It's all because external apps in android don't use hardware camera implementation, instead they are using preview from recording view. There is no way for you to fix it, but app developers can just change implementation. Hovewer they won't probably do it, as there are too much different devices running android.

It's not zoomed in. Keep in mind that you're comparing 4:3 to something like 16:9 to 18:9. It cuts off the sides, which makes it look like it's zoomed in, but it's not.

Nothing can be done. Snapchat, Instagram etc uses the screen capture of the view finder,so the quality of the pics will be trash. To get optimized and good results go for iPhone.(any variant)

Question Anyone found any 3rd party camera apps working fully?

I've tried a whole bunch of camera apps and so far the stock app is the only one that seems to be able to access 60fps recording. Every camera2 probe app I've tried reports 30fps as the max reported speed the device can use which makes me think Oppo have locked out any other apps from accessing it.
Another possibility I'm wondering is if it's not actually true 60fps at all - and it's actually using frame interpolation at 30fps to create the 60fps - although it does seem more natural playing back the recordings and doesn't seem to have the slightly "unreal" look that interpolation usually gives.
There also seems to be no way to select any other camera besides one of the main cameras on the back and the selfie camera on the front when using 3rd party apps.
It just seems a bit of a f-you to have them tout the camera setup as a main selling point of the device while at the same time locking out other apps from using basic recording features like 60fps and making no mention of it. 3rd party apps also exist to provide additional tweaks and features that the stock one lacks and I was disappointed to find Filmic Pro and Open Camera can't access 60fps and has trouble with the shutter speed to stop the zebra stripes/banding in some lighting scenarios.

Have you tried porting Google camera? I just downloaded a modded port and can record at 4k 60fps. Looks Pretty good also.

Wootts1 said:
Have you tried porting Google camera? I just downloaded a modded port and can record at 4k 60fps. Looks Pretty good also.
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Click to collapse
Hey any chance of a link to the one you are using?
I have tried a few different apks and the only one that would actually install (or open) is the Camera PX v.8.1.008.341125824.
It suffers from zebra striping indoors and outdoors, pressing on "slo-mo" force closes the app, captures of both pics and video are fairly noisy or grainy, 4k mode force closes as soon as I switch the option and it doesn't have an option I can see to choose framerate.
Definitely would like to try a fully working one.

https://www.cyanogenmods.org/google-camera-oppo-find-x3-pro-gcam/.
I used this one, although a bit of searching around and I found a couple of others I will try as well.

Greatness GCam APKs - Google Camera Port
Modified Google Camera app By Greatness.
www.celsoazevedo.com
Here you can enable bottons for the different lenses. Be aware to use the alternative fix as the app crashes otherwise.
I didn't figure out how to use the stream configs though

Jorgo-Bo said:
Greatness GCam APKs - Google Camera Port
Modified Google Camera app By Greatness.
www.celsoazevedo.com
Here you can enable bottons for the different lenses. Be aware to use the alternative fix as the app crashes otherwise.
I didn't figure out how to use the stream configs though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried the greatness apk, but none of "aux camera buttons" changed the focal length to uww. which version do you use?

Juan_Largearm said:
Hey any chance of a link to the one you are using?
I have tried a few different apks and the only one that would actually install (or open) is the Camera PX v.8.1.008.341125824.
It suffers from zebra striping indoors and outdoors, pressing on "slo-mo" force closes the app, captures of both pics and video are fairly noisy or grainy, 4k mode force closes as soon as I switch the option and it doesn't have an option I can see to choose framerate.
Definitely would like to try a fully working one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I'm using this version. But i don't remember where I downloaded it from.

Ganluma said:
Hey, I'm using this version. But i don't remember where I downloaded it from.
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Can you use the UWW lens?

sbeee said:
Can you use the UWW lens?
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Click to collapse
No, unfortunately not. Only 1x and 2x. But the rest works normal.