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Hi, I got an idea, it could be used for camera 3G(front camera) HTC Touch HD as the sensor distance to act as a sensor that has OmniaHD?
Would be kind of cool but not the front camera. The main camera would be better with its auto focus and whatever else for judging distance. I do not know much about cameras but I think that the focus judges distance to adjust for best picture. I think it would be cool to hold up the device and tap the view screen to estimate the distance. Do not know what I would use it for though lol. It would also be cool if the front camera could perform a retinal scan! Like that will ever happen haha.
I was applying my tempered glass screen protector and after everything was done, I did a thorough check to realize that my laser sensor has hairline scratches. Will it affect the focus or performance? It's my first LG phone..
Thank you in advance!
My laser appears to have a few tiny scratches as well.
Highly doubt it will hurt anything. My g3 laser was scratched up and it seemed fine.
I was thinking of polishing the plastic and applying a film protector to get it protected. Any idea if a film would affect the focus? Thank you for the reply.
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app
Anyone got preventive measures to prevent laser focus plastic cover from getting scratches further? Mine is quite scratched up and I'm pretty annoyed by it. I believe it won't affect the focusing speed but it's a flagship phone from LG and yet such thing happens..
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app
The laser cover is soft, cheap plastic. Nothing you can do about it. No, it won't affect the focusing unless you put a giant gash in it that will deflect the beam. Same thing was happening on the G3. Just be careful about it.
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brysonwong said:
Anyone got preventive measures to prevent laser focus plastic cover from getting scratches further? Mine is quite scratched up and I'm pretty annoyed by it. I believe it won't affect the focusing speed but it's a flagship phone from LG and yet such thing happens..
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app
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Polish it with ABS polishing compound, then put a drop of optical hard lacuqer on it. More trouble than it's worth, IMHO.
Although LG brands it as "laser" it's nothing more than a ray of infrared shot and measured after it bounces off obstacles. So unless the emitter/receptor is REALLY weak, there will be likely no effect on the focus.
Double that with the fact that the camera uses both the "laser" and phase detection to focus, if the "laser" fails to provide focus information the phase detection will do (slower).
Think of it that way: Do you care that much about the scratches on your TV's remote infrared emitter?
Don't worry, your "laser" is fine
AnteusFogg said:
Although LG brands it as "laser" it's nothing more than a ray of infrared shot and measured after it bounces off obstacles. So unless the emitter/receptor is REALLY weak, there will be likely no effect on the focus.
Double that with the fact that the camera uses both the "laser" and phase detection to focus, if the "laser" fails to provide focus information the phase detection will do (slower).
Think of it that way: Do you care that much about the scratches on your TV's remote infrared emitter?
Don't worry, your "laser" is fine
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I don't think you really know what a laser actually is.
The whole point of the laser-assisted autofocus is to project a tightly focused, coherent beam of light shining in a single direction so that it reflects off the photo subject and nothing else. A non-laser IR diode projects light in a "cone" in all directions, which is useless for focusing the camera. It is a laser by all means, otherwise it would not work at all.
Scratching the cover might diffuse the beam slightly but only a major gash will actually impair it to the point of uselessness (since it will scatter the light in many directions).
Here's a more thorough explanation: http://www.androidauthority.com/lg-g3-laser-auto-focus-386896/
siraltus said:
I don't think you really know what a laser actually is.
The whole point of the laser-assisted autofocus is to project a tightly focused, coherent beam of light shining in a single direction so that it reflects off the photo subject and nothing else. A non-laser IR diode projects light in a "cone" in all directions, which is useless for focusing the camera. It is a laser by all means, otherwise it would not work at all.
Scratching the cover might diffuse the beam slightly but only a major gash will actually impair it to the point of uselessness (since it will scatter the light in many directions).
Here's a more thorough explanation: http://www.androidauthority.com/lg-g3-laser-auto-focus-386896/
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I know very well what a laser is, thank you very much
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8062/a-closer-look-at-the-g3s-ir-laser-auto-focus-system
A "perfect" laser would be actually counter-productive, for unless you have a sort of "crosshair" on your viewfinder to mark the focusing point, you may very well have your phone focus on the tree behind your beautiful significant other, just because your subject is not in the laser's line of sight.
It is actually necessary for this concept to work that the beam is conic. Here, see this image from LG's own keynote: http://androidspin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/LG-G3-Laser-Autofocus.png
If it was a super-focus laser, would they represent it as a conic, albeit very narrow, beam?
They don't need a "perfect" laser emitter to work out their concept. Granted, they need a narrow beam to avoid interference and allow an accurate measure of the scene being captured but a perfect laser beam (perfectly coherent, single direction light) would just do more harm than good. This is not used for sniper rifle or whatever, it's used for focusing on a scene.
Scratches will maybe deviate a portion of the beam a little but the majority of it, unless the window is completely buffed, will still serve its purpose. I'm strongly guessing that the way it works is: Send a burst, receive reflectionS (plural because there will be more than one) and apply some algorithm that'll define the most appropriate distance to focus on, based on the collection of durations from the receiver.
So I have a question on this topic. Since its supposed to be infrared, on a remote, you cant see anything being emitted unless you look at the emitters through a camera or something. When I have my camera on my G4 on, I can see a tiny red red light shining. Can anyone else actually see the red light being emitted? Just making sure mine's not defective.
rustypie said:
So I have a question on this topic. Since its supposed to be infrared, on a remote, you cant see anything being emitted unless you look at the emitters through a camera or something. When I have my camera on my G4 on, I can see a tiny red red light shining. Can anyone else actually see the red light being emitted? Just making sure mine's not defective.
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I can see it too. Very much like you can see the IR emitter of your TV remote, except it's more focused here so even more noticable. Your device's fine
More on why we can "see" infrared in certain conditions even though it's out of the visible spectrum: http://phys.org/news/2014-12-human-eye-invisible-infrared.html
You'll notice that the "laser" is pulsing rapidly, which is the required condition to trick the eye into "seeing" the beam.
I've noticed 2 things that are a little bothersome, seeking opinions.
1)When you take a macro, there is a sever aberration on the edges, beyond just bokeh. It almost looks like a motion blur. Is this a manufacturer blemish? Or are others noticing this too?
2)Would scratches on the laser cover screw with the ability to focus? I'd think that the lasers might skew and get confused....
Thanks!
I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.
dontbeweakvato said:
I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.
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Don't think that hasn't popped into my mind
dontbeweakvato said:
I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.
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Tried to take a close up shot with laser focus covered with my finger. Couldnt focus on the object. Uncover it and voila it focuses in to time
I have guessed (!) that the laser simply provides illumination for dark scenes, so the camera can see better, letting it autofocus more accurately.
Many conventional digital cameras have autofocus illumination functions, just a source that helps light up the middle of the scene before shooting, so the AF can work properly.
My assumption is that this is basically what the laser is doing. I don't claim to understand why it would have to be a laser vs some other light source. Perhaps because a laser can light up something further away, vs a broader light beam of the same power. Or maybe because a laser can make a small dot (unlike a broader beam), which the autofocus system can assume should be crisp, and can adjust the focus so that the laser's dot looks sharp.
But I don't think it's something like a laser rangefinder. I think it just kind of flicks around and "paints" the scene with light, so the image sensor can see better.
Try the focus tests in dim/dark lighting. I'm guessing the camera will have a harder time focusing if you cover the laser when trying to focus in a dark environment.
Again, this is speculation, I haven't tried to test the focus with and without the laser. But if it's basically acting like an AF-illuminator, then I wouldn't call it a useless gimmick. Instead, it's something that should be most-helpful in poorly-lit areas. And not needed if you're outside in bright lighting.
dontbeweakvato said:
I have taken shots with the laser completely covered up and uncovered. There appeared to be no noticeable difference with the images. Wouldn't it New funny if there "laser focus" was just a gimmick, no actual functionality.
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It does have functionality but imagine you are trying to take a photo through a window of something outside. The laser would bounce off the glass and not be very useful.
in this case the G4 will fall back on contrast detection which is the std auto focus method. so covering up the laser means it uses contrast detection. might not be as quick though.
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drtchocky said:
1)When you take a macro, there is a sever aberration on the edges, beyond just bokeh. It almost looks like a motion blur. Is this a manufacturer blemish? Or are others noticing this too?
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i notice the first 10% and last ten % are softer than the centre. is this what you mean ? maybe post an image.
2)Would scratches on the laser cover screw with the ability to focus? I'd think that the lasers might skew and get confused....!
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no, i doubt it would affect functionality.
Now for something colossally boring A picture of the laser's output.
This is a 15 second exposure using another camera, at ISO 800, f2.0, with the G4's camera running, and its laser aimed at a white sheet of paper maybe 10" away. An exposure like this captures a lot of light, and you can still barely see anything from the laser.
I can only assume that the output from the laser is simply very, very dim. I can see a red flicker when looking at the laser's window. But I don't see anything with it aimed at paper.
If the camera is reading something about the laser light not using the lens & image sensor (eg-, somehow using it as a range finder), that's impressive. If the image sensor can actually detect something useful from the laser by itself, that's maybe more impressive. That would mean the sensor is very, very sensitive. Or that maybe the laser light is largely outside our visible spectrum, but within a wavelength that the G4's image sensor sees (that is, the light is actually brighter than it looks to the eye).
I then tried focusing the G4 on things in the room in very, very dim lighting. It's dark out, the TV was on, and that's it. The camera claimed it was focused (green square, beep), but it wasn't. I even tried covering the lens & window with my finger (pitch black "scene"), and it claimed it focused.
I then aimed it at my laptop on the floor, which had one visible LED. With the flash off (no AF-assist light), I'd tap on the LED on the screen, to focus there. I tried it with the laser exposed, and the laser window covered. It kept claiming it focused, but it wasn't. The LED appeared as a big fuzzy blob. When I'd enable the flash, it would turn that on to help focusing, and would actually focus properly.
But in my very-limited test, in a dark room, with the flash disabled, I didn't observe a focusing improvement from having the laser in-use.
TL;DR/dream response to this post:
If anybody that has Camera FV-5 (this is the app I want to use and it seems to have the best support for MF via Camera2 API and "LENS_INFO_FOCUS_DISTANCE_CALIBRATION_CALIBRATED") could...
1. Switch to MF in FV-5
2. Set focus distance to infinity (drag the MF slider all the way to the left to the "mountain symbol")
3. Take a snap of a landscape type of scene.
I'd really like to take a look at the resulting DNG/JPEG in full size.
Long version:
I'm considering selling my Nexus 5 because the MF does not work (because of mechanical reasons) with my favorite apps "Manual Camera", "L Camera" or "Camera FV-5".
This GitHub issue comment explains why it doesn't work:
The problem relates to the fact that the focus system of the Nexus 5 is not calibrated, as the construction of the focusing system (a relatively simple spring with an electromagnet) does not allow for calibration. That means that the chip cannot know when it is on a certain position or not. If you point your phone downwards (i.e. you try to photograph your feet yourself while standing up) your phone will reach infinity (i.e. the spring will stretch farther), while pointing to the ceiling will be the worst case, and even when setting the focus position to infinity (manually) the focus will be farther away from infinity (the sprint contracts because of the lens weight). While autofocusing, the camera uses an iterative process to achieve focus, and do not rely on absolute positioning.
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My question now: will it work on the 5X, or does it suffer from the same hardware design fail? The Nexus 5X should be calibrated (says apps should be able to read "LENS_INFO_FOCUS_DISTANCE_CALIBRATION_CALIBRATED" from the Camera2 API), but right now I don't trust this information at all, since support for for basic Camera2 features in many handsets (even Googles "own") has been a big fail.
To be clear: I'm not interested in manually focusing flower macros. Manually focusing at objects at up to 1 meter or so works perfectly with the Nexus 5. It is focusing at things at a distance (or at infinity) that isn't working. I want to be able to snap pictures fast without engaging AF in a street setting (see hyperfocal distance) with the focus set to infinity. Phone cameras are well suited for this because their sensors are abysmal which results in a very deep DOF.
Thanks in advance!
@8fold Here you go...
PiousInquisitor said:
@8fold Here you go...
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Thank you!!! I'm sad to see that this picture isn't in focus though. I guess that means that Google has released yet another Nexus phone which is incapable of manual focusing. You can see what the picture should really should have looked like by turning on the AF and focusing at something distant in your scene.
I wonder though if it's possible to have a distant object in focus by setting the MF a little to the right of the mountains on the MF slider i FV-5. If there is a another position, even if it isn't "at the mountains icons", which allows distant objects to be in focus that wouldn't bother me much. If you, or somebody else, has the time/energy/curiosity to research it that would be marvelous.
I think Google should give a notice on foto flaring... Pixels has one of the worst flare effects...
What do you think about it?
Have you tried switching from wide angle to standard camera? (0.7x, 1, 2,4x zoom)
ocujos said:
Have you tried switching from wide angle to standard camera? (0.7x, 1, 2,4x zoom)
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Standard camera Flares
Light is reflecting off the lens. Since they probably don't make any ND filters, if you have some old sunglasses that aren't too dark, try placing the lens over the camera sensor. The lenses on my d-slr have coatings to help reduce it, along with the lens hood, but if you are shooting directly at bright light, it can still happen. When it does I just photoshop it out.
You can also try settings in manual mode (I use camera FV-5) to set the f/stop at a different setting to change the exposure.
p51d007 said:
Light is reflecting off the lens. Since they probably don't make any ND filters, if you have some old sunglasses that aren't too dark, try placing the lens over the camera sensor. The lenses on my d-slr have coatings to help reduce it, along with the lens hood, but if you are shooting directly at bright light, it can still happen. When it does I just photoshop it out.
You can also try settings in manual mode (I use camera FV-5) to set the f/stop at a different setting to change the exposure.
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Thanks for the tips... I already knew some of them... Google should do something deleting them using software... S21 ultra and s22 ultra have reflections of the lens too but don't have so annoying Flares..
It is more the light reflecting off the glass sheet that covers the whole of lens assembly than just lens flare, a cheap skin on it reduces it significantly. When using the night modes however it is difficult to stop simply because you are using multiple exposures and therefore stacking any flare on top of itself and multiplying the effect.
FWIW you cannot change the aperture, they are fixed and there is no diaphragm to open and close, hence the reason why you get really, really high shutter speeds when the light it good.
You will be able to alter the shutter speed though I'd have thought, it is an electronic shutter so it can pick any number it sees fit to limit the light coming to the sensor.