maemo.org - Talk - ρcam 1.0.7 now in extras -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization (N9 version still on 1.0.4)

maemo.org - Talk (https://talk.maemo.org/index.php)

- Applications (https://talk.maemo.org/forumdisplay.php?f=41)

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

Hi there,

Just a small remark, is it just me or the focusing bar became much less responsive on the latest version? It used to work flawlessly before but now i have a hard time trying to move it. In general all the sliders became less responsive.

Also as an idea, would it be possible to add a quit button and lock the app from swiping away (like emumaster does)? It is a bit annoying when trying to use the sliders just to find out that i closed the application instead. Just an idea.

Anyway thanks a lot for the app, it really makes taking photo a much more enjoyable process!

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

Hi qwazix,

Thanks for the update, a slight issue i noticed was the automatic white balance, tends to sit on a lower temp, making the picture more whitish/bluish specially in indoors with low amount of light, manually adjusting can fix it almost immediately. but automatic accurate white balance is much proffered,
Also the 16:9 still captures in 4:3 ratio, not a big issue though.

//nkirk

edit : i'm using n900. my apologies for the inconvenience...

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

@nkirk and everybody reporting bugs, please state the phone you are using. (I didn't test the 16:9 thing on N900, I supposed it would work as it does on the N9)

@jmsarriat I didn't mess with the slider code in the last version but it might be a sideffect. I will consider locking the swipe event.

Plus, is anybody using PR1.2? I'm trying to publish to the Nokia store and it keeps getting rejected, I'd like some help if possible.

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

i have to say this cam app is getting really impressive. I just tested the new version against the stock camera. i cranked up everything the stock camera can offer(nightmode,iso 800,exposure compensation to max) to take a picture of a pretty dark alley.
for pcam i didnt touch anything...just automatic and a steady hand.
i dont know how to upload the pictures...hope you can see it.

thanks alot for this app:)

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

ohh...and of course the brighter better looking picture is pcam;)

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

I tried it without the screen protector, big difference in the ease of the sliding bars. I now have to decide since I have already gotten a couple of light scratches from before I got the nice carrying case....

Thanks for your reply. I totally agree about the general difficulty in taking a picture with a touch screen, WITHOUT a physical button for shutter.

I'm still a little confused about the symbol of the circle surrounded by two parenthesis that's on the upper right hand corner area, between the AF and the MF. Do you mean that IT isn't a function in N9?

So far the best way for me to use the camera is to have the left menu ( P S I M ) selected on M, so that i can chose my Shutter speed and ISO independently, and then on the upper right (AF (0) MF) selected on AF, and it seems that I have pretty much all the control I'll need, taken into account that the preview may be a little brighter than the outcome.

Today though, the rawcam is making clicking noises, and I'm getting a lot of horizontal blue lines all over the picture, which are on the actual dng file.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-k...0.46.03.34.jpg

Also, I had problem with darkened video play back that didn't go away until I reboot.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share. I trust that the bugs will go away :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwazix (Post 1303214)

HLing, thanks!

I don't know about the screen protector, I don't use one, maybe a fellow user can help you with that.

About the focus: Short answer: autofocus only. Both full-auto & point.
Longer answer: I hated the lack of camera button on the N9. The default way of focusing, press to focus release to snap is a major way to introduce camera shake because it's a transition from a stabler to a less stable situation. Let me explain. On a real camera, in low light conditions the best way to operate is to hold the camera as stable as you can, half-press to focus, wait for the best moment, the one you feel most stable, press the button and keep it pressed (that is why the cameras have a seperate burst mode instead of always bursting when you keep the button pressed, even if at first thought it makes sense). The movement is from a loose grip to a firmer, while on touch-only phones it's from a firm grip (right thumb pressing against the screen) to a looser where the right side of the phone is practically in the air while the snap is captured. When you try to capture one-handed it's even difficult to not drop the phone, let alone take a steady picture.

So I decided that the best thing to do is to provide a separate focusing mechanism, and covering the proximity sensor can be done without blocking the viewfinder, and easily when holding the phone with both hands.

Arie requested to include the default touch to focus functionality too so that came in an update but is disabled by default on the N9. On the N900 it's of course enabled as we have a real two-step camera button. However you can still pre-focus with the proximity sensor anyway.

In manual mode the focusing is controlled by the slider only (except if there is a bug)

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

Thanks, n9cell.

HLing, I have to investigate the thing with the lines now that it appears to more than one user. Please try reinstalling to see if the problem will be solved (PhilG13 reported that after a reinstall the problem goes away for a while). The darkened video thing should be fixed in 1.0.4, are you using that one?

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

HLing , yes, I have the same issue with horizontal lines. Unfortunately, reinstalling the app didn't really help. I still see them from time to time, usually when shooting something at night. Still no idea what causes them, although I remember that the early versions of rawcam did not have this problem...

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwazix (Post 1302814)

@Ladoga, I remember that there was a way to capture camera frames with gstreamer on the N900, specifically screen-sized ones. Writing a shell script to run the command should be trivial, and the command should work on the N9 too. This fulfills all your requirements and is easy to implement. I suggest you search for the relevant command and if you are not familliar with shell scripting, start a new thread asking for help. The result will be useful to many people.

I've tried gst-launch (that's the only CLI method I found after quite extensive searching). I had N9 to take stills using the main camera as video source and wrote those over ssh to my laptop.The results were quite poor and blurry.

What I meant was a way of taking good quality photos (not video stills) to make time-lapse videos. (Or should it be called time-lapse photography?). Even if I can find a way, I expect that adjusting composition, focus, exposure and iso level are better done in a "real" program rather than shell scripts. I enjoy writing shell scripts though. :)

Anyway it's not terribly important and I've found a so-so replament as CameraPro app has ability to take timed photos. There are few down sides to it. The display will stay on when the app is running, which could be be days so I'm bit afraid of screen damage and it hogs a lot of cpu (90% usage, while capturing 1280x720 images at 2sec intervals) so the phone has to be plugged into a charger. Otherwise it does the job quite well.

Re: ρcam 1.0.4 -- raw/jpg camera application for N9 and N900 with manual controls and image stabilization

Count me in with the horizontal lines issue. I suddendly got them the other day. In a room full with electric engines. Actually the lines were kind of in phase with the engines, could it be some sort of electromagnetic interference? Standard camera app had no problems though.