Does HDR actually work? - HTC EVO 3D

Quick question. I've tried the camera mods on here and even attempted the Amaze camera app floating around the GSM page (I'm CDMA) just to play around. I've been using Synergy for a while now and maybe it's just that ROM but...
Does the HDR feature actually work? It takes pictures fine, says processing, but it's just a normal photo. HDR pics are supposed to at the very least use image mapping to lighten the dark areas and darken the light areas to even the photo out. True HDR snaps 3 pictures in different exposures to achieve this. It's just bugging me...

Wondering the same thing.
Via My HTC Evo 3D On The Now Network From Sprint.

gk1984 said:
Quick question. I've tried the camera mods on here and even attempted the Amaze camera app floating around the GSM page (I'm CDMA) just to play around. I've been using Synergy for a while now and maybe it's just that ROM but...
Does the HDR feature actually work? It takes pictures fine, says processing, but it's just a normal photo. HDR pics are supposed to at the very least use image mapping to lighten the dark areas and darken the light areas to even the photo out. True HDR snaps 3 pictures in different exposures to achieve this. It's just bugging me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't, I think there is something kernel deep that needs to be present. If someone can get a hold of a sensation kernel & compile some of the added extras (ZSL, HDR, etc.) Into the EVO 3D kernel, It might work.

Thanks for clearing that up. I hope someone works those in.

There are too many cool things I want from the sensation. Not fair! It's so similar yet they have so many neat little things.
Zero Shutter Lag code in their kernels.
Ability to OC GPU.
HDR that works. Not fair.

felacio said:
There are too many cool things I want from the sensation. Not fair! It's so similar yet they have so many neat little things.
Zero Shutter Lag code in their kernels.
Ability to OC GPU.
HDR that works. Not fair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That I'm sure one of our developers can do that one now but honestly I haven't run across any game/app that taxes the GPU. It'd still like to see what it looks like though.
But yeah, we need a kernel dev to work some magic with getting the drivers.

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] 3D Picture Resolution Improvement?

is there anyway to make it so that it stitches two 5mp pictures instead of two 2 megapixel pictures?
maybe in a rom?
just so that we can take 3d photos, but also have the 2d form where its actually nice to look at instead of a 2mp 2d picture.
just a thought.
Its two five mp cameras, not two 2 mps. Just checked it out in engadget and wirefly
jwinkel said:
Its two five mp cameras, not two 2 mps. Just checked it out in engadget and wirefly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i know, but when you take 3d pictures, its two 2mp pictures that are stitched together. you can notice it when you view a 3d picture in 2d.
Yeah
It really should be an option
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using XDA App
FaithCry said:
is there anyway to make it so that it stitches two 5mp pictures instead of two 2 megapixel pictures?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, there might be a way. assuming this is a software limitation and not a hardware limitation.
to determine if its possible in the software, have to decompile and sort thru the closed source htc camera apk file. that is probably the only/best way to figure out the logic and coding htc uses.
is it possible? wouldn't know until we see the code.
see to be quite a few requests surrounding the camera on this device. perhaps it would be worth tweeting or mentioning on htc's facebook page as these types of requests seem popular. maybe they could release these added options in an OTA. would be even better if they just release the source code and we could compile/modify ourselves. in the mean time, next best option, decompile/modify the existing htc camera .apk!
hope that helps!
i am really interested in this too, could any of you smart people try to decompile ? i would done it myself if i only known anything about android but i don't.
so i hope someone could look into it !
thunstop said:
i am really interested in this too, could any of you smart people try to decompile ? i would done it myself if i only known anything about android but i don't.
so i hope someone could look into it !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm not really a dev either, so if any devs maybe know a thing or two?
//bump
please, couldn't some one please look into this ?
\\bump
I've been looking into the camera in the past few days. Take a look at my camera compression thread. I have a hypothesis as to why the resolution in 1920x1080 for each of the two images in 3D mode. Follow me here. In 2D mode @5MP (widescreen) the resolution is 2560 x 1440. This means that the 3D pictures are reduced by exactly 25% in each dimension. My hypothesis is that they use this extra 25% to post process (focus) the 3D image. If you think about it, the further away the focal point, the more the two images overlap. Likewise, the closer the focal point, the less the images overlap. They need to reserve this 25% in all cases because of the auto focus. It's kind of like how you go cross-eyed when focusing on something right in front of your nose.
EDIT: See my attachment for a visual representation of the wasted area
EDIT: Also see my chopped pictures. I took two pictures. The first in 2D and the second in 3D (converted back to 2D). I had the camera in the exact same spot for both pictures. You can see that the left part of the picture is chopped off in the 3Dto2D picture, but the detail is the same. It's like the image is just cropped.

[Request] Port Amaze 4G camera apk?

The Amaze has a VERY nice camera app, beats our stock app in a few ways. I searched and found it had been ported to the Evo 3D, the graphics were a little screwy, and it FC'S when you take a pic.
Anyone willing and able to port this, fix the graphics and fonts and get it to work?
What's different or better?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
More bells and whistles mostly, a LOT more scenes to choose from, a higher ISO setting, also, the Evo 3D guys are claiming much improved pic quality. Plus, options are good I THINK its the same sensor in ours and the Amaze?
you could just improve the stock camera app give me a couple of minutes and ill make a commit to my svn with a better camera app
So far I'm not a fan of the stock camera app.... no metering option, ISO only to 800, most of the scenes seem worthless. The picture adjustments change too severely. But mostly, it ruins pics by defaulting to way too high ISO, and too much saturation.
I've been using Vignette and getting MUCH better results.
You can pull the APK from any of their roms and try to install it, you might have to wait until we have root access and push it though.
def agree the camera has room for improvement
the worst thing with the stock app has to be the utterly ridiculous white balance.... NONE of the options give a result that is anywhere near correct in artificial lighting.
I heard in all the reviews the sensor was improved, but i dont see how over my thunderbolt or incredible2. Cant wait til this whole country is covered in 4g so i dont need a new sim card everytime i use a non 4g phone, utterly wasteful
The sensor DOES seem to be much improved. I took a video last night in very low light that my Dinc NEVER would have been able to get. It would have been a blurry mess. I've gotten some good low light pics too. But I've been using Vignette which blows the stock camera app away in both picture quality and number of options. It was my kids birthday yesterday, we took her to Chuck E Cheese, forgot to bring our point and shoot, but the Rez made a more than adequate substitute....
for anyone not impressed with this camera please do yourself a favor and try some alternate software....
This thread is in the wrong forum.
if you were to take a 13mp camera for example from the droid razr hd in china, and pop it in the rezound, would it work? or would you need programming for it?
pwrdbykyank said:
if you were to take a 13mp camera for example from the droid razr hd in china, and pop it in the rezound, would it work? or would you need programming for it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope.....needs kernel support...the libraries need to support it as well
*bump*
Still holding out hope for a ported Amaze camera app or an improved stock app...
EDIT: for what its worth, the camera hardware is pretty decent. I've been using Vignette as my primary camera app and consistently get better results than the stock app. It also has many more options and adjustments available.
The downside is it is slow, clunky, and not well integrated like the stock app. I find I have to constantly babysit the settings to get the really good results, and getting to the gallery or sending messages requires leaving the app as the built in "shortcuts" don't work correctly.
The evo 3d apk works but takes really screwed up pictures
I rooted and pushed the amaze one and it wouldn't show up in Apps. I tried installing it from apk, and it fails after like 1 second of trying to install
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
weird.... I got one that was ported from the Amaze FOR the 3D, it installs from apk, launches and works but FC's when trying to save a picture.
*bump* since it was moved and because I KNOW some one out there could easily do this...

Lets talk HDR Apps

The one thing holding me back from flashing cm10 is the fact that I lose the TW camera. The HDR function in it works _so_ well.
I've tried a few free versions of various HDR apps and they all suck compared to the TW one.
Does anyone have experience with any of the ones on the market and can maybe share their settings?
HDR/MDR
I don't consider any mobile camera good. Any cheapest point-n-shoot will punch it in face. If u got SGS3 for camera - u r wrong.
I heard Photoshop can do HDR - so look into that. Also PlayMarket is a good source of information.
I disagree. The camera on this phone is more than adequate, and HDR is impressive
Sent from the current Heavy Weight champ GALAXY SIII
bravomail said:
I don't consider any mobile camera good. Any cheapest point-n-shoot will punch it in face. If u got SGS3 for camera - u r wrong.
I heard Photoshop can do HDR - so look into that. Also PlayMarket is a good source of information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
meh, camera is great for my neeeds.
as for ps doing hdr, you need an hdr image first for ps to be able to manipulate the exposure and b/w settings.
what is PlayMarket? Something that reviews playstore apps?
bravomail said:
I don't consider any mobile camera good. Any cheapest point-n-shoot will punch it in face.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have anything to back that up, or is it just your POV?
Check out vignette. I'm pretty sure it has an HDR function in it.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
bravomail said:
I don't consider any mobile camera good. Any cheapest point-n-shoot will punch it in face. If u got SGS3 for camera - u r wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any recent cheap point in shoot will do better in terms of IQ.
Having said that even cell phone cameras vary in quality and if you use them then you'd be silly not to take that into account if it is important to you, even if you've got another camera that is better.... nothing wrong with buying the S3 for the camera. Not sure how that would be "wrong".
the camera was like 70% of my interest in getting the S3. I have a nikon d7000 DSLR and know that the cell camera will never be able to get close to that beast but sometimes I don't want to lug around my dslr and having a cell that can take great pictures is a huge plus especially if you don't want to carry a point and shoot and a cell phone at the same time.
JFigure said:
The one thing holding me back from flashing cm10 is the fact that I lose the TW camera. The HDR function in it works _so_ well.
I've tried a few free versions of various HDR apps and they all suck compared to the TW one.
Does anyone have experience with any of the ones on the market and can maybe share their settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had previously used PRO HDR on the OG EVO, and it worked great. The EVO 3D didn't support HDR apps at all. The GS3 has a great built-in HDR option, and tried PRO HDR again - the native one is better!
So for now I'm sticking with the stock camera (I'm rooted, but running stock until CM10 has a semi-stable build..).
JFigure said:
The one thing holding me back from flashing cm10 is the fact that I lose the TW camera. The HDR function in it works _so_ well.
I've tried a few free versions of various HDR apps and they all suck compared to the TW one.
Does anyone have experience with any of the ones on the market and can maybe share their settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get Camera360! I love this camera, its free and so many effects and you can actually choose between a couple different HDR modes.

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?

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