If you turn on focus tracking on the stock camera app you loose two important capabilities 1) adjust and fine tune image brightness by touching an area on the screen and 2) AE and AF lock.
This makes sense because you don't know where the subject will be. I'm not sure why you would lock those things in advance when you don't know where the subject will be - which is inherent with tracking.
IMHO, your advice is wrong. Tracking does what it should. You have a misunderstanding of how tracking works or what it is.
If you keep the phone on a tripod and want to track a person on a still shot it doesnt make sense at all not to be able to lock AE. But then again you probably shouldnt shoot that with the stock app.
Killuminati91 said:
If you keep the phone on a tripod and want to track a person on a still shot it doesnt make sense at all not to be able to lock AE. But then again you probably shouldnt shoot that with the stock app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you use tracking on a still person? Tracking is for moving subjects. That's why you need it to track. And if it's moving, it's highly likely the exposure may change.
drzeller said:
Why would you use tracking on a still person? Tracking is for moving subjects. That's why you need it to track. And if it's moving, it's highly likely the exposure may change.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple Shot: Camera on Tripod. Person walking through a hallway into the direction of the camera. You want focus tracking on the face to keep them in focus while they come closer. But you dont want exposure changes because the lighting should stay the same, even if that person is revealing a light source.
Killuminati91 said:
Simple Shot: Camera on Tripod. Person walking through a hallway into the direction of the camera. You want focus tracking on the face to keep them in focus while they come closer. But you dont want exposure changes because the lighting should stay the same, even if that person is revealing a light source.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5he hallway has overhead lights or doorways or windows. As subject progresses, the lighting on their face changes as the have more or less light in front or behind them.
We could concoct scenarios all day. My point was that under the majority of situations where tracking is likely to be used, the lighting has a good chance of changing.
I'll concede that you can come up with scenarios where you would want this. Thinking about this just now, you could of course use pro mode with tracking and set your exposure.
Related
Do you like the light Sensor on Nexus?
I didn't like it.
It's a very good feature, but it works strange.
It is slow in dimming and took already not enough light to the display.
Nexusdisplay is dark dark dark...
Does anybody know, how to tweak this sensor?
Or am I the only one who dislike it very much?
I just set my brightness manually. Done deal.
Perfect.
In the Night I'll put my sunglasses on or at a sunny day I take my nexus blind...
Wherefor is the sensor if it don't work proper?
There must be some settings for...
I think the light sensor works great but it would be even better if we can customize it a little bit. Something like scale up the screen brightness for each level of external light.
Or something like auto lock when it is totally dark (you put it into your pocket?).....but that would cause trouble if you want to use your phone in the theater
I think the light sensor is terrible. I have tried everything but it still seems very finicky on when it will work properly. I regularly go from low light to sunny outdoors and having the feature would properly would be awesome, especially since it worked fine on my last 2 phones and they arent even close to being a superphone.
Trying to make it transition smoother is something I've been meaning to try. The settings for this are in the source tree at frameworks/base/core/res/res/values/config.xml (I override this in my passion vendor overlay). You can tweak the values and rebuild framework-res to try it out.
oh cyanogen, You Are GOD!
Where we can find it?
I've searched the whole framework.
ha he meant the source tree for framework provided by google. not in the framework-res inside of the zip of the rom you are using.
two things I noticed about it:
1 It dims and brightens too quick, it should take an average light level over a longer time period
2 Our fluorescent lights in the office at work seem to confuse it, so that could mean that the lens is too focussed and if you hit one of the lights it goes too bright, miss and it goes too dim as you move around and/or the wavelength of the lights confuse it - though this problem may be more bearable if #1 above is fixed.
I gave up using the sensor. I use the power strip. the 3 settings work great for me.
Ssantos6981 said:
I gave up using the sensor. I use the power strip. the 3 settings work great for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I mean why should it work? We only paid $530 for it ;/
spyz88 said:
Yea I mean why should it work? We only paid $530 for it ;/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, these words are soooo true! They're absolut true.
And: It's not HTCs first device with such a sensor. It's not the first android Handset with such an sensor.
I can't understand, why they did such a thing!
@spyz88: I'll pray your words every time if i see this dumb dimming and flickering.
I too have noticed this problem, and have such, turned it off. Disappointing, yeah.
I hope someone can come up with some good idea/settings, to fix this like google should be doing already :/....
Thanks people
spyz88 said:
Yea I mean why should it work? We only paid $530 for it ;/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can pay £30,000 for a car and things still don't work properly.
Nature of the beast I'm afraid.
OK, we can put our heads down in the sand or we can try to make us happier with it.
Does anybody tells google/htc that this is crap?
Probably we can make it on our own.
yeah it doesn't work very well. Maybe sensitivity needs to be lowered somehow
I hate to say this because I always talk crap about the iphone, but the iphone does have a better way to auto dim the screen with the sensor.
I thought I had a problem because from the get go I installed a screen protector that lays over the sensor, but now I see that other people have the same issue.
It is funny because I can have the phone in one place, but if I change the angle the screen will dim or brighten.
the worst thing is , it comes in the way of reading constantly on your phone , and after two to three cycles of dim/bright , you would eventually give up and disable it. disappointing .
but i think the problem is it samples ambient light with long interval , and then average it in a way that is always behind what it should be
This has bothered me as well and I've been looking for an easy way to fix it.
It seems that the light sensor (or its driver?) is to sensitive or inaccurate. The reported LUX value can fluctuate a lot in constant surrounding light. There is also the possibility that one waves a hand in front of the sensor which can produce undesired brightness changes etc.
My idea:
PowerManagerService.java (frameworks/base/services/java/com/android/server) listens for light sensor changes with a SensorEventListener. Either directly or after (config_lightSensorWarmupTime) a method called lightSensorChangedLocked is called with the sensor value as parameter. This method sets the brightness.
Here we can add some low pass filtering to the sensor value before calling lightSensorChangedLocked. Maybe a simple average of the last 5 values or so will suffice? Maybe take time into consideration as well. Say average 5 or all values received in the last 20 seconds or so. There sure are room for improvements of my suggestions.
My message is that the issue is perfectly fixable and PowerManagerService.java is the file to fix it in.
I installed the BoA mobile banking app. It came with a check deposit feature. That said, you need to take two pictures, one of the front another of the back. I had no issue to take the image of the front of the check, but had trouble to take the back side.
The back side of the check is relatively white/blank, so it's hard for the camera to focus, and I cannot just tap the check to change the focus point.
Any one experienced this and had a solution?
Kisses99 said:
I installed the BoA mobile banking app. It came with a check deposit feature. That said, you need to take two pictures, one of the front another of the back. I had no issue to take the image of the front of the check, but had trouble to take the back side.
The back side of the check is relatively white/blank, so it's hard for the camera to focus, and I cannot just tap the check to change the focus point.
Any one experienced this and had a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried taking a photo while it still appears blurry (maybe in camera app so as not to send a blurry pic to the bank) ?
I often take photos of things up close and while they may appear blurry, even after I tap to focus, they come out quite sharp... Anyway, probably worth a try!
Have you tried any camera apps from Google Play?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
Kisses99 said:
I installed the BoA mobile banking app. It came with a check deposit feature. That said, you need to take two pictures, one of the front another of the back. I had no issue to take the image of the front of the check, but had trouble to take the back side.
The back side of the check is relatively white/blank, so it's hard for the camera to focus, and I cannot just tap the check to change the focus point.
Any one experienced this and had a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A long shot from my photography book ...
But the auto focus in the camera needs a contrast color as a reference point ...
As you know ...the camera ignores the white color as empty space ...and looks for solid base colors to focus against ...
If your bank will allow it ...you can set the check on top of a dark piece of paper ...as this may assist the lens with focus distance.
Or ..if you are allowed to sign your name on the back in black ink ...that would help also ..
And of course ....distance from the image is important too ...
Stay out at least 12 inches or more and zoom manually if needed to capture .
That's my .02 on the camera ....g
gregsarg said:
A long shot from my photography book ...
But the auto focus in the camera needs a contrast color as a reference point ...
As you know ...the camera ignores the white color as empty space ...and looks for solid base colors to focus against ...
If your bank will allow it ...you can set the check on top of a dark piece of paper ...as this may assist the lens with focus distance.
Or ..if you are allowed to sign your name on the back in black ink ...that would help also ..
And of course ....distance from the image is important too ...
Stay out at least 12 inches or more and zoom manually if needed to capture .
That's my .02 on the camera ....g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your tips!
I actually have signed the check with black ink, but it's on top of the check, which means, when I tried to focus on the check, the camera by default always used the central point to focus. I cannot write anything below the line, which may void the check.
Currently the only effective way that I can take a sharp image was under bright light. That said, a normal 40w ceiling light won't work.
Kisses99 said:
Thanks for your tips!
I actually have signed the check with black ink, but it's on top of the check, which means, when I tried to focus on the check, the camera by default always used the central point to focus. I cannot write anything below the line, which may void the check.
Currently the only effective way that I can take a sharp image was under bright light. That said, a normal 40w ceiling light won't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also put the check on a black background and then take the front and back pictures. I had the same trouble until I put the check on my black keyboard and took the pictures and it works the first time.
Now that feature is crashing the app on version 4.2.55 of the BofA app.
I use B of A app to deposit my checks. My app has little corner guides. When u get them lined up around the corners of the check push the button. I dont even look at the focus or anything else. Photo comes out fine and bank accepts it..
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I can say that the Chase App check deposit works just fine
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Solution
Sorry if I'm reviving an old thread, but I had the same problem and got it to work at least for me. At first I was trying to line up the check's corners with the guide corners in the app when taking the picture. It kept having a problem until I finally zoomed out a little bit. I guess having the camera that close to the check wasn't allowing it to focus correctly. Hopefully that helps someone else.
sharpe65 said:
Sorry if I'm reviving an old thread, but I had the same problem and got it to work at least for me. At first I was trying to line up the check's corners with the guide corners in the app when taking the picture. It kept having a problem until I finally zoomed out a little bit. I guess having the camera that close to the check wasn't allowing it to focus correctly. Hopefully that helps someone else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually the root cause is that the camera always wants to focus on the central point. That's why it can focus the front side of the check - there are a lot of contents, but not the back side - it's all white and blank.
BoA seems to accept a pen on top of the check image and I successfully did it multiple times.
Zoom out seems to be an other solution, too.
Thanks!
The spot metering function on my camera seems to have stopped working. When you choose spot metering mode in the camera and use your finger to point at a bright object on the edge of the screen, the exposure does nothing. Samsung tech support confirmed that the exposure is supposed to be adjusted to that spot that you touched but it doesn't do it on my S3. It used to work but just stopped a couple of weeks ago. What's even stranger that some S3's seem to work fine but others also don't work - I tried whole bunch of them today in various stores and some work just fine but others don't work at all.Is yours broken?
Homey said:
The spot metering function on my camera seems to have stopped working. When you choose spot metering mode in the camera and use your finger to point at a bright object on the edge of the screen, the exposure does nothing. Samsung tech support confirmed that the exposure is supposed to be adjusted to that spot that you touched but it doesn't do it on my S3. It used to work but just stopped a couple of weeks ago. What's even stranger that some S3's seem to work fine but others also don't work - I tried whole bunch of them today in various stores and some work just fine but others don't work at all.Is yours broken?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is broken as well, it only focuses. That's probably related to the fact that my manual exposure controls also don't work though.
It never occurred to me that spot metering should work according to the area you touch. I had always assumed that spot metering takes the reading from the centrer spot on the camera like a DSLR.
Mine only focuses, it does not meter the point that I touch.
Actually, this functionality has been there from the Galaxy S so it's nothing new or revolutionary!
I think that most people don't use the camera as anything more than a simple point and shoot, which is a pity because its easily as good as the iPhone 4S camera and perhaps even a bit better, and we all know the fuss people make about that.
There are a lot of users wandering around with broken cameras but no one seems to care, as you can tell from the number of responses to the original post!
I was always wondering why my S3 only does spot metering at the center spot. Is this a bug or a feature? I think my spot metering is broken but if it should work only at the center then it's fine. Can somebody clear this up?
I'm so glad someone else has this problem - not in a mean way. It's just infuriating me at the moment - was trying to take a sunset picture today and realised it wasn't working when I tapped on the different areas. Infuriating, but not sure how to fix!
same issue here... my Galaxy S does it wonderfully right with spot metering on the spot I touch... my S3 which has a far better cam miserably fails at spot metering and only takes the center average... so spot metering is just broken
Galaxy Note 2 has same camera hardware and software as the S3. My spot metering worked in the past while on the stock rom. I'm on a custom rom, Jedi rom, and it no longer works. This is a TW based rom so I'm surprised it doesn't work. But from what I'm hearing, users on stock firmware are having problems as well.
Thanks to those who stuck it out diagnosing and raising the level of awareness around this problem. Almost every thread I find has some long-winded helpful genius in it explaining to us how we don't understand what spot metering is and that there is no problem. Sometimes you have to be extremely persistent on the net or your problem will be buried by the highly motivated know nothings.
I hope this problem is figured out. I, for one, would NOT trade a faster camera against one with spot metering. These cameras have tiny sensors and will never be great (I have aps-c and full frames). The ability to expose a particular point properly with no regard for the rest of the frame is the only saving grace for these cameras with so narrow a dynamic range due to the small sensor.
I'm learning in this search that this is a big reason most people take poor pictures with camera phones. They don't know how to use the spot metering to mitigate (somewhat) the limitations of the small sensor. I'll report back when/if I find a solution.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
_atlien_ said:
Galaxy Note 2 has same camera hardware and software as the S3...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And guess what... SGS4 has the exact same issue with their cam!!! Can you believe it? I could for one not... When I was testing out the SGS4 in the phone store with stock firmware... it had no touch spot meter that would measure where I push... but the same dumb center weighted spot meter it has in SGS3 and NOTE2. I am disappointed Samsung... it has the best camera but without a proper spot meter. :crying::crying::crying:
I am starting to think this has been done intentionally to dumb things down a bit... or they have some patent issue with apple or someone else with their "touch to spot meter" tech... sigh... patents...
Sigh... I tried asking about this when I first got my GS3 back in October. Same thing.. I don't get how this hasn't been addressed. You can see my thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1963959
I even contacted Samsung France where I am, Samsung USA, and even my mobile carrier and nobody could answer. The shameful thing was that Samsung's TECH SUPPORT didn't even know what I was talking about. I kind of gave up.
A trick for you guys which seems to have worked for me...
Ironically, before getting the GS3, the spot meter worked brilliantly on my HTC myTouch4G. You would touch a spot, wait for it to register with a beep and then wherever you moved, it locked in that exposure. Try this...
- point the screen to the place you want the exposure to be set for
- tap the screen there to focus
- only when you've seen it focus (green square) and heard it beep signaling exposure and focus lock, press and HOLD the shutter button and move to the framing you actually want
- let go of the shutter to take the picture
I have found that it takes one or two tries but it DOES work. You will see that the moment you let go of the shutter, it will go back to what the exposure would have been where you framed.
Feel free to ask questions if this doesn't make sense.
I can't get that to work. But I may not be following the instructions correctly. The beginning steps aren't clear for me.
Center the desired focal point on the screen then touch and lock that point. Then press and hold shutter. Then recompose picture. Then release shutter.
This doesn't work for me. Holding the shutter button doesn't lock the exposure.
Also wondering if this problem is hardware or software. I installed ProCapture app which is supposed to have spot metering which didn't work on my Galaxy Note 2. Just FYI.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
Hi guys! It's a pleasure for me to notice that other people are struggling for this problem!!!:high five:
I remember that my Samsung Wave 2 , with Bada 1.2, gave me amazing shots: the exposition were linked to the focus point. Then with Bada 2.0 all has changed and, independently from the metering method the exposure is alway always weighted at the centre of the image.
Ok one can make recomposition, but it takes minutes and a the results are not so brilliant.
Now I have a Lumia 620: same problem, i'm getting crazy!!
Does anybody knows the reason of this stupid choice??
i select spot-metering mode, point at my brightly sunlight desk, i click different areas of the screen and while focusing the colours seem to change saturation and "fill".. does this mean my metering is working?
Yeah! If the colors of the photo change on the basis of your taps on the screen, then you have the exposure that follows the AF point. You are very lucky!!
Notice that in many devices even if you choose spot metering, the spot is linked to a central point of the image!
But does it happen only with spot or also with other metering modes?
yep mine's broken too not sure if it worked before it fell on the floor but i highly doubt that it worked in the first place it's damn sad that the S3 is such a great phone but has a partly broken cam on 90% of the S3's and still they didn't fix it in the S4
Thank you so much for the quick fix
ive tried over 20 apps
messed around with 100's of setting..... no dice
tinpanalley, your tip is the only way yo make this work
this is by far THE WORST camera a phone could ever had, i feel very sorry for people who purchased the S3 for it's incapable camera.
and the funniest thing is that they screwed up the s4 camera as well, L O L
I think I didn't do any picture in low light with flash on which didn't make the red-eye effect on people.
I think it starts to really be an issue. I know there is software to remove the redeye effect, but it's definitely not the same as not having the red-eye to begin with. I didn't had this issue with the S2 that I still own.
What do you guys think? Do you find this red-eye an issue or not? Why didn't Nokia test this and just put the flash a little bit further away from the camera lens?
You have to put the flash a long way away from the lens to avoid red eye. But with LED flashes it's not such a problem as they can stay on long enough for the eye to settle down.
can you post an example?
Not a major issue for me. The ones I do get red eye issues, like you mentioned creative studio red eye fix works ok
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
Ok, here are some examples:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wkz4k560m1zwm04/02gZfV5c27
Of course it's not a dealbraker, yes you can use creative studio, and it makes a good job removing them, but you end up with the corrected images in saved images, instead of camera roll, so it's not a very fluent user experience..
@gilesjuk so you're saying if they program the flash to stay on a little bit longer the red-eye effect won't be so noticeable? That would seem a quick fix for them to do, but for them to bother about this we have to say to them that this is really an issue for us...
shumilica said:
Ok, here are some examples:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wkz4k560m1zwm04/02gZfV5c27
Of course it's not a dealbraker, yes you can use creative studio, and it makes a good job removing them, but you end up with the corrected images in saved images, instead of camera roll, so it's not a very fluent user experience..
@gilesjuk so you're saying if they program the flash to stay on a little bit longer the red-eye effect won't be so noticeable? That would seem a quick fix for them to do, but for them to bother about this we have to say to them that this is really an issue for us...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the only ways to avoid redeye is to move the flash so that light bouncing out of the back of the eye doesn't hit the sensor
red eye reduction is accomplished by making the subject's iris constrict to a pinpoint by either (1) pre-blindng them with a flash before taking the photo - this is typical for P&S red-eye reduction, or (2) if using an LED flash just have the flash come on a bit early to do the same thing. The iris reacts "slowly" by digital camera standards...
If you take multiple shots one right after the other with flash, only the first will likely have redeye - you could try just taking back to back shots ...
Hello everyone, I may be missing something but i was playing around with the camera on this great phone and realized that the normal press and hold of the shutter button to have the camera focus in a dark room does not work. If you press and hold the camera takes shots in burst mode. If you press it once the flash lights up dimly but does not focus properly and then flashes full blast but takes a blurry photo. This is very annoying because im used to my samsung s3 and note 2 that would focus by holding the shutter button in a dark room and then release to take a clear focused picture.
Am I missing something? for a camera that is good in low light and have 5 levels of flash intensity it seems to make no sense to not be able to focus in a dark room. whats the point of having a camera with a flash that cant take a picture in the dark or semi dark room right?
let me know if you are having this issue, if you think i'm doing something wrong or maybe if ill just have to deal with it until HTC comes out with an update. if it happens to you we can all call 8664498358 and press 0 and let HTC know this is very annoying I have gotten through to a live person instantly by calling this number to ask why in the world the power saver feature is persistent in the notification drop down....there reason....dummy instructions and to many service returns for "bad batteries"
UPDATE: I have spoke with HTC on a separate issue and mentioned this to the guy i spoke with and he has not had any other feedback on this issue, how ever he advised me to have anyone who is having this issue please contact them, he was not able to duplicate it yet because he in not in a dark room but he said he will try it when he can (Thanks Fred). the more people who report the issue and provide feedback the better chances they can get it resolved, I am having this issue on my wifes phone and my phone. you may need to focus on a far object and then try to focus on a near object in a dark room, like a room with less then low light. In my case it was in a room only lit by an old crt tv (bedroom) how ever he advised me the more feedback the better, they are very interesting in hearing from us and he is very aware of the xda forums as well as other android forums out there.
so no one cares. nice
So much for the community. No one seems to care even though plenty of you guys have looked and all own this phone. Pretty disgraceful.
EDIT: Sorry if I sound rude or condescending, Just surprised no one has commented yet or has said they are having this issue, personally I use my phone for taking photos in less then low light situations often and if this issue cant get resolved its going to really suck. HTC can fix it but needs the feedback to know that its widespread and not just a fluke, although they do know that its happening on my wifes phone and my phone.
I've tried it, and it doesn't auto-focus either. Manually focusing before taking the picture works though.
Zolor23 said:
I've tried it, and it doesn't auto-focus either. Manually focusing before taking the picture works though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for the reply, I have tried to manual focus and it doesnt work for me in very dark situations. sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't though. I have noticed if I focus on something distant in a low light area and then back on something near in a very dark area it will not focus. Every other camera I have used on a phone has lit up the flash long enough and bright enough to focus and turn the focus indicator green how ever this camera seems to focus on speed and seems to not care about weather the picture is focused, it doesn't turn red or beep or anything it just takes a blurry photo. it takes more blurry photos then clear it seems to me in low light or less then low light conditions.
If you could please contact HTC and let them know I would be very happy and hopefully they get this issue fixed, I have called HTC a few times for other issues. yesterday my lock screen kept saying today was cinco de mayo and for the life of me I couldnt figure out how to turn that off and I also am not happy about the Gallery app showing every single friend photo including horribly low resolution ones not to mention the persistant power saver notification in the drop down thats so stupid! but when I talked to them they mentioned the camera issue and wanted me to explain to them cause they saw the notes based on my phone number and previous calls, they would like all the feedback they can get.
This isn't just a T-Mobile HTC One issue, my international is doing this too.
I'd be interested to know from someone that doesn't have this problem, in a dark room, if you tap on the screen to focus, does the light come on?
All other phones I've had would light the area to focus, as you've said above this just tries to focus in the dark. How can that be right?
I've tried different ROM's and firmware, always tries to focus in the dark. Why on earth would it do this!?!?!
Yeah I noticed that problem too when trying to take a picture of a person in a life like Iron Man costume in a theater Friday night.
Sent from my Nexus 7
lets get this fixed!
Boy I'm glad I'm not the only one. I know we are about fixing stock and nodding and what not but please start a ticket on the issue. HTC has a place on there website for this or you can call them.