Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

At multishot: do you plan to duplicate other app features, like multishot, HDR, bracket shooting, or is it going to be just a main camera replacement?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

No, just a main camera replacement.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

First things first: when you press R do you see the word "RAW" appear in the bottom of the view finder to the right of the gps icon?

You should. If not, then the camera is not in RAW-mode. And the raw file is presented as xxxxxxxxx.jpg.dng

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

It eventually worked. I rebooted my system and then it started to work. Not sure why but I'm not going to complain.

I tried to import the RAW file into Lightroom but it was a no-go. LR says it did not recognize the RAW format. I saw that you were able to open it using RAW Therapee. I wonder if the DNG was written before or after the phone's demosaic algorithm. I know the phone processes the image (no vignette as was mentioned) but would love to save RAW editing and NR to third-party software.

Any chance this might work in Lightroom one day?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

@Nicolai: respectfully, could we keep the latest version attached to the first post. At the mo' the latest is on http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=107 and many may miss it.

regards,

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Does the dng output of fcamera work in Lightroom?

The dng file generated by camera-ui2 is nearly identical to the jpg at default RAW development values, so I think it is heavily processed. Compare dng output between fcamera and camera-ui2. Fcamera seems to generate a "rawer" RAW, taking the presence of vignetting as evidence as well as how well rawtherapee etc can develop it. No criticism of Nicolai here, as I know he has simply utilised a "built-in".

And what is "NR" written by you above?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Yes, it does. My workflow has been FCAM and Lightroom.

I wanted to verify. When I looked at the file in RAW Thjerapee the thumbnail looks like the JPG file but once you open the RAW file the thumbnail changes. I did a quick comparison between FCAM and Camera-ui2 and the output is nearly identical. Color might be slightly better on FCAM

Camera-ui2 RAW does give control over demosaic and NR just like the FCAM DNG.

Since FCAM already has the rawer RAW I would prefer to see a more processed RAW (closer to the JPEG output). Since Nokia understands the characteristics of the lens and sensor they produce a much more pleasing output. I think that is a better baseline for RAW editing (assuming we still have access to demosaic and NR)

NR is Noise Reduction. I prefer very heavy Chroma NR vs luminance. Chroma NR gets rid of the red and blue dots. Luminance gets rid of grain.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Any chance we might get manual control over shutter speed and ISO?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Shutter speed:
I don't think I can control the shutter speed.

ISO:
There are two modes for the ISO level, automatic and
manual. In manual mode any value can be set.
The restriction to the three ISO-level values (100/200/400)
is just in the UI.

Nicolai

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Hey Nicola. Thanks for all of your hard work on all of this.

Of course you're right about the ISO having manual options. According to my RAW viewer and RAW Therapee though I can get to ISO 800 using Auto ISO but that is not available manual option. Would it be possible add manual options for 800 and 1600?

Also, do you think it would be possible for the RAW output to be closer to the JPEG output?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Maybe.

No, I just take what the camera api gives. I don't make any
processing on my own. The RAW output is what the camera
driver delivers and the jpeg image is what the gstreamer components made (dspjpenc for example).

Nicolai

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Ha ha! taking a shortcut often does not pay - after having tested the dng in rawtherapee originally, I made the comparisons based on what I saw using rawviewer on the n900. Your assessment is good news. So both fcamera and camera-ui2 raw have the vignetting, which perhaps is the most troublesome to correct? I would love to know Nokia's correction parameters.

thanks

PS: I wonder what then is the problem with the camera-ui2 dng for Lightroom? Remember that the fcamera devs had a problem with their dng at first and needed to tweak it.... Hmm, I wonder..

PPS: (off-topic) Darktable is another but new RAW developer http://darktable.sourceforge.net/about.shtml

PPPS: rawviewer on the n900 it seems, uses the embedded jpg.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Me too. I am currently using the ColorChecker Passport to profile the camera. I thought that I could address color shift but because color is not uniform across the sensor profiling is not as effective as I had hoped.

I was under the same impression about RAW Viewer.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Just a note.
This is a "feature" of the stock camera ui, but the fact that it's missing from this clone is a plus for me.
The stock UI pauses the mediaplayer when it's started and resumes it when it's closed.
Stringing the binaries shows that they both talk to the policy daemon through libplayback.

I'm not sure if you want to implement this, but I like the idea of being able to record videos with the N900 while playing music.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

I also despise having audio pause when I'm taking a PICTURE. There no rhyme or reason for this from an experience point of view. Same issue with tying up PA on phone calls.

S60/Symbian handsets can play audio concurrently with an ongoing voice call and both parties hear them. Why on EARTH is this gimped on Maemo?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 14.03)
 

Please don't perpetuate that nonsense Nokia introduced regarding Version=
According to freedesktop.org .desktop specs the version tag is a) optional, but b) has to tell the version of the .desktop file syntax, which is always 1.0 for now.

compare wiki about .desktop files

/j

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Maybe the audio pausing 'feature' was to reduce disk IO and CPU usage whilst recording video. I imagine trying to process a FLAC file or similar high bitrate stream would have a somewhat adverse reaction on video performance. If you try to add 720p it may be worth enabling for specific modes.

I noted a few pages back a post relating to the "recorded from device" tag. They mentioned how it is generated from concat device-id, random string and hashing (somewhat more detailed than what I put here). Haven't heard anything from you Nicolai on this. Does it solve the issue?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Hi,
Not sure what type of bugs I'm supposed to report. In RAW mode and (no pictures to review) mode the app freezes after taking a photo (the display is back) and returns a) if you switch to another app and then switch back b) close and open the lens cover.
Also in RAW mode there are instances when it says its using ISO 800 and I think its actually higher. I try to use the same exposure for Camera-UI2 as FCAM and FCAM would be at ISO 1600/ 3200 and Camera-UI2 says its at ISO 800.
Is there a way to display the shutter speed? I know it was already mentioned that shutter speed was impossible to set but if there is a way to show it so I can see it that would be great. In the DNG the shutter speed is not displaying properly.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Hi geohsia,

thank you for reporting this.

All bug reports are helpful. I can not test all use cases myself.
So I am happy for any help.

Ah, yes, the RAW mode is coupled with the preview mode as I am using
the preview image as the embedded preview for the raw file :-)
The app may get confused when preview mode is disabled and the
preview image arrives from the camera api.

Yes, as I wrote, the image tags for the raw file are not complete
some are missing and some are wrong (I hardcoded 800 as ISO-level
for all raw files)

The problem with the image tags for the raw file is, the camera
capture parameter like iso and shutter speed are there, but
not directly accessible from my application. I searched the last
days to find a way to capture these parameters.
The more technical explanation:
The camera api is based on gstreamer. There are multiple
gstreamer elements involved. A camera source (gstv4l2camsrc)
reads the camera capture parameter and send this data
as gstevent. This events go through the gstpipeline
get caught by the metdatamux which converts them to exiftag
data for the filesink.
Until yesterday I couldn't find a way to catch this data. I searched
for a way to monitor or listen for this gstevents.
But it seems to be a uncommen requirement. Finally I found
this method gst_pad_add_event_probe()
which is exactly what I need.

Nicolai

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Hi Nicolai,
is there any chance to increase the GPS accuracy in the EXIF header?
see https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11934 and https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6584

Thanks that I don't have to confirm that no Internet connection is available in your version! https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9918 (difference of GPS data and location name)

MikeCC

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

just a thought

wouldn't it be nice if you added a "switch windows" button to the top left, made "options" its own button and then did away with the "tap to show titlebar" thing? its really annoying and the tap-screen could then be assigned to something else

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Not from this application. Both camera-ui deliver the right gps data.
It is a gstreamer component (metadatamux) which truncates
the seconds when converting the gsttag to an exif tag
gst-plugins-bad0.10-0.10.14-git265/ext/metadata/metadataexif.c:

But this code is open, so maybe it can be fixed as part of
the community SSU.

regards
Nicolai

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

by the way, you should prevent the screen from locking while the video camera is running :)

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Yes I hate this "tap to show titlebar", too. But I don't want to remove
this fully, as you may want to see the titlebar with the clock
and the statusbar in some situations.

Ah right, this is missing.

Nicolai

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Short tap take picture/start-stop recording and long tap (hold) to swap to full screen?

I always wanted to take pictures by tapping the screen, sometimes the camera isn't in the best position to depress the button. Like when using your left hand. Or taking right-hand pics in portrait, the button is really low and takes force, makes me worried I'll drop it.

Even better, long hold switches between

a) non-full screen, with status display and menu bars and controls and customizing stuff (as it is now)

b) a full mode, that has no touchable areas for comfortable imaging - all the screen takes pic or starts recording. Screen could be either camera image only or the controls could be non-clickable - drawn only.

Parenthesis added for clarity :)

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Is there a Pause functionality while recording video in this camera?

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed
 

BlessN900 has a mode where it takes pictures over a range of focal lengths, to composite them into a better picture.

So it is probably possible to control the focus, to some extent.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

Yes, as joerg_rw noted here
It is possible, the same way as LiveFocus works.
It is already implemented
(I should update the first page:-) )

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 17.03.)
 

p on keyboardq

PS. I forgot the on-screen pause icon (doh!). Topmost of 2 that appear mid-left when filming begins.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

Update! (see first post)

- add remaining image count label.
- add exif/dng tag in dng file for iso speed and exposure time
- fixed bug in dng tag (maybe this was the reason why lighthouse
refused to load the raw files)
nicolai

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

Thanks for another great update. You're right. LighrROOM ( ;-) ) now loads. It's interesting comparing FCAM vs Camera-UI2 RAW output.

Camera-UI2 can't seem to go higher than ISO 800. Strangely FCAM RAW files have less noise. The noise at around ISO 3000 (FCAM) is easier to manage than ISO 800 (Camera-UI2). It is difficult to really compare side by side unless I am able to set options manually ISO (> 400) and shutter speed. I will try to profile the Camera-UI2 output and see if that makes a difference.

The OOTC JPEGS still seems to be the best. I wonder if it does some dark frame subtraction.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

by the way, there's a keyboard shortcut for automatic video, but I can't seem to find one for automatic camera

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

There is none. Just p/l/m/n for portrait, landscape, macro and night.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

oh
it would be nice if you added one for automatic camera

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

I've uploaded 3 files at iSO 800 , 1/15 sec so you can see FCam vs Camera-UI2 output. These are 100% crops. It's rather interesting because the exposures are fairly similar but the white balance is completely different. The Camera-UI2 output is noisier but the white balance is perhaps more accurate.

The first is the JPEG output for reference, the second is the Camera-UI2 and the third is FCAM

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

The camera-ui2 output looks sharper.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

I think that is just a difference in focus

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

I agree - look towards the end of the temple (the ear rest, if you like), that band is more in focus in the fcamera than camera-ui2 shot.

Talking of focus: that tap selectable focus circle option in fcamera is a really nice utility. The focus box in camera-ui(2) is quite large and can struggle to lock correctly. For example, focussing across a table with a few objects can be tricky. Nicolai's new focus distance display goes a long way in helping assess where is the focus, particularly at short range. Thanks for that.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

Others have already replied I should have done a better job on focus.

I ran both photos through RAW Therappee it seems like RAW Therapee works better with FCam DNGs and Lightroom a bit better with Camera-UI2 DNGs. RAW Therappee is the best in terms of noise reduction.

Re: camera-ui2 testers needed (updated 23.03.)
 

At least I can make more options for the ISO value.
I uploaded a new version (see first post).

You can use the keyboard control (key "i") to cycle
through the Automatic/100/200/400/800/1600 ISO setting.

Nicolai