n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Whenever a photo is taken the lights/flash will blink red and whenever taking video the lights/flash will stay red during filming. The light does not seem to have any point whatsoever other than informing others of my photo/video recording.

Is there a way to disable this red light?

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Nevermind. Thought I knew where to fix that but nope.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

I'm guessing this would have been the line... if i understand this:
Priority: 20
# ScreenOn - 0 only show pattern when the display is off
# 1 show pattern even when the display is on

Changing from 1 to 0 didn't do anything after a reboot, still getting the red light, is this actually in the camera driver?

That line must be for the eventual use of the front camera....

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

It's enabled via an ioctl (done by the camera app itself, I believe) on the camera's devfs entry, not by MCE.

V4L2_CID_INDICATOR_INTENSITY... that's the one - search http://repository.maemo.org/pool/fre....6+0m5.diff.gz for it.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

On standard cameras, the red light is used for autofocus.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Exactly... if you try to take a picture somewhere that is not illuminated enough for the autofocus to work, cameras turn on a little light. Without it autofocus will not work.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

but the focus of the camcorder is fixed right?

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Fixed for the duration of a recording; it auto focuses once at the start, then stays there. It should be possible in principle to use the light only during that stage, and then turn it off.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

I tried it, but it seems to make less sense now:
the focus is, indeed, been done while pressing the button half way.
but it doesn't use the red light. if you focus in the dark it uses the white leds.

the red light seems to be an indicator for the people that you record only
Like Clayton suspected.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Guys, the red light on the N900 is not used for auto focussing like other cameras use it. It's used as a protection device to let people know when they're being filmed and to let you know the countdown of the auto timer. It has been a standard feature on all Nokias for a few years now. I think it's driven by laws in Asia and Australia about the usage of concealed cameras.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

but how we turn it off?

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

bump, i want to disable it completely.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

I agree, I find the light kind of obnoxious, not to mention it makes it harder to get candid shots of friends doing stupid s**t. It would be cool if it could be repurposed perhaps a focus indicator (for taking pictures of oneself?).

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Exactly.

bump - any ideas.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

If i understand this correctly, there is no software way to prevent the light
If it's true that it doesn't do anything practical (try to cover it and take pictures in all sorts of situations), then hardware butchering sounds like the only way.
You could:

*tape it over
*kill the led (might be surface mounted ~ harder to kill)

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

The light is there solely for the purpose of allowing other parties the knowledge that they are being filmed. It is the same on all recording devices (UK anyway) be it your mobile phone or camcorder. Why do you want it disabled unless you like to sneakily film people? I haven't got a problem with the light being on as I'm not hiding in a bush or filming people who dont want to be filmed or not know that they are being filmed. If you need to disable this light then you have to question what exactly is it that you are filming.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

This is Big Brother ******** as far as I'm concerned. Do you think real photographers use cameras that are gimped in this way? Anyhow they can use a huge optics and zoom in on you from far away, and you'll never know.

Anyhow i can give you a recent example that happened to me recently where the red light was an annoyance and nobody's privacy was violated.

I was at an art museum, and I decided to take pictures of a couple paintings. Photography was allowed, but there was a big sign saying no flash. So I try to take a picture, and the stupid red light kicks in... it's not a flash but it is clearly visible on the painting, annoying everyone around. I say **** that.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Precisely!

Think about it realistically, how much brainpower does it require for your would-be perv to put a bit of black sticky tape over the led.
People are too quick to blame the technology instead of addressing the real issues which in turn leads to normal users being presumed guilty based upon the few who digress. This applies from red camera leds, all the way to DRM.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Yes the red light can be annoying at times but it only stays on when shooting video so taking a snap of some paintings isn't really an issue as it's not even activated. Yes there are many ways to covertly photo/film people but again why do you want to hide the fact that you are recording them or taking their picture. All I'm saying is that the light was put there for a reason.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

i bump this......regardless vyper if it was put there for a reason or not some ppl like myself dont want it there. just like mod'ing the intro video. nokia wants us to watch hands embrace but most of us could care less. ive also made videos in bad lighting and the light has actually hindered video quality.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Just curious if anyone has an update </bump>

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

We're not from UK, we're from US and we like to film people secretly without showing off your toys with unnessary red light and shutter noises on as if to beg them to give you some unnecessary attention.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

This isn't true. The light also blinks when a still picture is taken.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Cheers that made me :) no doubt someone will figure this out for you. Goodluck. ;)

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

BUMP

i want this redlight thing to be removed too and no, duct tape is not the solution as i may need flashlight in some situation and i dont want to remove it every now and then.

funny how this law applies in uk, the "one nation under cctv"... anyway i live in a even less democratic country thats a bigger reason to be allowed to film discretely!

this is just big brothers ******** as someone said before. its not nokia business to decide how i use my camera. to the people saying that filming secretly its just perv stuff i say a big OH DEAR.

there's plenty of good reason to do it actually. like filming documentary for example. like using it to record and report bad situation.

sin is in your eyes not in your camera. the pervs are you. shame!

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

can't you see these numerous cams without the red-light that belongs to the state filming you? stay controlled, but don't document back.

maybe the light can be disabled via the v4l2 library... the app "flashlight" is also able to turn on/off the (white) leds at the cam...

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Another use-case scenario: Shooting a movie through glass (a window) or of a reflective surface. The red light is HIGHLY visible and only detracts from the resulting movie.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

If you have v4l2-ctl on your device, running a
after starting to record video will shut off the light.

As for a permanent solution, commenting out the bits in drivers/media/video/adp1653.c that handle the actual setting of the indicator_intensity would do the trick.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Any step by step instructions on commenting out the file? Or where the exact location of the file is?

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

This whole thread is creepy.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

I would love to have those lights off, not because I "want to be creepy" but because I end up taking pictures/videos through windows a lot, and that light DOES show up, and it is quite annoying. Furthermore, for all the things that I do to conserve battery life, it is simply one more way to be more sparing of battery usage.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

You'd need to compile and flash a custom kernel. It shouldn't take me long, maybe I'll get around to it in a few hours.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Probably only replace one module, not flash a new kernel.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Yeah, correct. Didn't see that adp1653 was loaded as a module.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

"v4l2-ctl -c indicator_intensity=0" works. If someone needs v4l2-ctl binary, take a look at that topic: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=501350

However, it's very unpractical. There is no way to execute this command without camera going into standby and therefore stopping recording. And keep in mind that command has to be executed AFTER the start of the recording.

So I've made a workaround. I've created a shell script with v4l2-ctl entry and put "sleep 7" line in front of it. This delays execution by a few seconds (yeah, it should be 7 seconds, but it's not, however it is enough). So I execute this script, switch to camera and start recording. Then I wait a second or two as script executes v4l2-ctl command as well. This disables red light.

My idea how could this be simplified is integrating command into Flashlight application or making similar application which would control the red light. Because power key menu is the only menu accessible while recording, it has to be there.

EDIT: I added it as a feature request in Flashlight's garage page.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Having to disable it by hand would work, but get annoying quick. How about something like the headphone daemon? It'd sit in the background waiting for the activation of the red LED then automatically disable it. It's just another bandage, but at least it doesn't require you to activate it manually.

Edit: Here's a video I shot awhile ago with the n900. Demonstrating, among other things, the annoying red light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilq12QLxYZU

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Bump.

Need this implemented if possible. The light is a huge nuisance.

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

Just put your finger over it if it's reflecting on glass or spoiling your dark video..

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

So I guess you don't mind being filmed secretly either?

Re: n900 Camera red light - ways to disable?
 

...Im from the UK and would also like this feature please :)

- I have quite a few cameras, and think that pictures from events and parties I attend, and pics of friends having a laugh always look 100% better when the people involved are acting natural, and not 'posing'. I have a similar red light on my better camera, and It causes anoyance.. the only way to turn off is to manual focus, but then i cant snap the shot quick enough, and miss the 'moment'.