So GCam is definitely the answer for getting the best photo quality out of this phone in almost any situation, but let's see how we can record the best possible video.
Btw, when you first try video recording with the Note 7 in low light, it's natural to be disappointed since you're comparing it to GCam's photo output in low light. GCam uses frame stacking and other techniques to remove noise, increase dynamic range and get details in both shadows and highlights as well as the rest of the image. To produce only one 12-megapixel frame, it uses anywhere from 3 to 15 frames and takes a few seconds to do the complex blending and computations to create a great low light photo. Without a much stronger SoC, ISP, a better sensor and more advanced processing algorithms, this is impossible to do while recording a video, as the phone is struggling to keep up with recording 30 8-megapixel frames (UHD) each second or 2-megapixel frames in case of 1080p. They've barely managed to get SD 660 to comfortably use real-time EIS at 1080p30, along with auto focusing, WB, exposure, noise reduction etc.
So, knowing that in low light this phone's video recording will never be great, let's focus on other aspects of its video recording. My only idea for improving low light video recording is to find an app that can use a high bitrate in order to avoid introducing additional noise and artifacts. This also applies to filming in daylight.
I'll start with some findings about the differences between the stock app, GCam and Open Camera when recording video.
STABILIZATION
As far as video stabilization goes, only stock camera's 1080p30 EIS properly uses gyro-EIS and that really is the most beautiful stabilization you'll get out of this phone. No wobbling or image distortion, it just softens the shakiness, as if the phone were on a gimbal.
1080p30 EIS in GCam – it's instantly noticeable that the viewfinder here is stabilized (whereas in the stock app it isn't). It appears to be using the gyroscope, but not in the same way the stock app does. Stabilization is OK, but not as smooth as in the stock app and wobbliness can be noticed occasionally, with more abrupt movement.
UHD EIS in GCam – better than no stabilization, but wobbliness on the edges tends to be obvious when there's a lot of movement.
1080p30 or UHD EIS in Open Camera – also a stabilized viewfinder, but the stabilization algorithm here is very wobbly, which is extremely noticeable in UHD, so try to hold the phone as stable as possible when recording in Open Camera. The highlight of Open Camera for the Note 7 is its front-facing camera UHD stabilized video recording. So far this is my only use case for Open Camera on this phone (plus testing).
If you like using 1080p60 because of its smoother panning and movement in general, here's a tip to stabilize 60 fps videos: shoot in 1080p60 without EIS in the stock app or another app (using a high bitrate when possible) and then stabilize the footage in Google Photos, which does a nice job unless the video is impossibly shaky.
SLOW MOTION
In my testing, I've never managed to get a smooth slo-mo video out of the stock app and I've tried it after every MIUI update so far. At 1080p or 720p, the result is always a stuttering slo-mo video. GCam to the rescue!
GCam can record stutter-free 1080p slo-mo for a long time (I tried it for a couple minutes) and the resulting video is smooth as butter, suffering only from an occasional hiccup here and there. Perfectly usable.
Open Camera can also record in 1080p120. Different apps should be tried out to see how smooth the slo-mo is and which one is able to use the highest bitrate, leading to the highest image quality. Although image quality does appear to be limited in slow motion mode.
FIELD OF VIEW (FOV)
If you have your phone on a tripod or you can lean on a surface to stabilize it, you should turn EIS off. This will give you a wider field of view and a sharper image. When you're recording a video, the top and bottom portions of the image are cut off to accommodate for the widescreen format. This already makes you lose around 25% of the image information that the sensor can actually see. EIS works by further zooming into the centre of the sensor (or cropping the image) and using the now-extra information to shift the frame in any direction as necessary, to produce an impression of a more stable footage.
The phone will not recognize that it's on a tripod and turn EIS off. You have to do that manually. Why would you want to do that? If you want:
1) to capture more of the scene (a wider field of view), with EIS on, you'll have to step back (which is sometimes not possible)
2) better image: stabilization comes with trade-offs. If you don't need it, turn it off. The phone will be able to use a greater number of pixels to create your fixed-resolution video, resulting in a better image.
With 1080p30 EIS off or UHD without EIS, you'll have the widest FOV possible for video on this sensor. Only top and bottom are cut off for widescreen.
1080p60 EIS off – for some reason, this has just slightly narrower FOV than 1080p30 without EIS. The same FOV appears to be present in 1080p120 (slow motion).
When EIS is on, it crops the least on the stock app, slightly more on GCam and the most on Open Camera.
VIDEO AND AUDIO BITRATES AND QUALITY
Work in progress. So far I can only tell that stock and BSG's GCam produce different videos. Stock uses a higher video bitrate and GCam a higher audio bitrate. Open Camera tends to put on a yellow cast, presumably to make the image warmer. Also, bulkin's GCam allows you to select video bitrate. Haven't played with that or the bitrate in Open Camera.
It's also worth to test other apps, such as Cinema FV-5. I've had luck with that on previous phones.
My recommendation is Open Camera by mark harman
Plzz any one provide me the link
tamalnag said:
Plzz any one provide me the link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
open camera is on play store
Very detailed observation.. Thanks for sharing. ?
Have anyone tried 'Footej Camera'?
Great post. My recomendation for all uses is gcam, not the best in all but not the worst. Perfect for a daily use
There is a possibility to set the video bit rate in some of the other GCam MODs.
I can recommend this GCam MOD made from developer marlin-ku OR this GCam MOD which have much more valuable options (speed / ISO optimisations) from developer bulkin043. The last version of the second MOD is available in the Telegram channel here.
This port is the best working - one of the few other GCam MODs I'm frequently using on my Redmi Note 7.
have you tried anx camera
Quaresma_7 said:
If you like using 1080p60 because of its smoother panning and movement in general, here's a tip to stabilize 60 fps videos: shoot in 1080p60 without EIS in the stock app or another app (using a high bitrate when possible) and then stabilize the footage in Google Photos, which does a nice job unless the video is impossibly shaky
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it is also true for 4k30 ? do you getter final image quality and stabilization if you do eis in google photo as it must be a more complex algorithm vs "eis on" that only must use a simpler faster algorithm that runs in real time
is it hardware accelerated by the snapdragon 660's Spectra 160 ISP or is it software running on the arm cpu (question both for " eis on" and for stabilisation done in google photos app )
amanieux said:
is it is also true for 4k30 ? do you getter final image quality and stabilization if you do eis in google photo as it must be a more complex algorithm vs "eis on" that only must use a simpler faster algorithm that runs in real time
is it hardware accelerated by the snapdragon 660's Spectra 160 ISP or is it software running on the arm cpu (question both for " eis on" and for stabilisation done in google photos app )
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Google photos stabilization is good, sometimes it does a miracle, but some artifacts appear in the video. It's more aggressive and intelligent than eis on but quality could be not so good. (I don't know anything about which processor is used, but in Google photo is a lot slow the stabilization process, about the double of the video duration)
video quality difference between 4k and 1080p on bsg mod
i installed this gcam mod : https://f.celsoazevedo.com/file/cfiles/gcm1/MGC_6.2.030_RN7_V1a_FINAL.apk but i notice that 1080p and 4k have a completely different look (different WB, different DR) is it due to snapdragon 660 limitations ? is gcam only configuring the hardware capture codec for snapdragon 660 hardware or is it applying some software computation (google proprietary code) on each frame in real time ?
Best video camera app for me is open camera. I do 1080p with 120 fpS with that and it's awesome. Other one is filmic pro. I can shoot flat video and chose nitrate and frame rate.
Cinema f5
My RN7 can't install the GCAM, I've been getting the message "App Not Installed" please any help?
Okusac said:
My RN7 can't install the GCAM, I've been getting the message "App Not Installed" please any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstall any other previous versions. Then install this
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OAI7zoNHiBjSmxRGTv2meclafg4nmxV/view?usp=drivesdk
Ryamoz said:
Uninstall any other previous versions. Then install this
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OAI7zoNHiBjSmxRGTv2meclafg4nmxV/view?usp=drivesdk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I've than that... Thanks
My best is filmic pro. It is dedicated app for video making. U can record in flat/log profile which u then can color grade later on.
The quality is greater than other app.
Open camera is also nice but it has less control over the video. U can't control color temperature and u can't basic color grade ur videos. Plus u can't save ur preset.
I have no luck with GCam and stock one.
Pics GCam, Video Stock
Interesting Thread. On MIUI Global 10.3.6 and now MIUI Global 11.0.4 (Android 9) using GCam PMGC_7.0.009_Astrophoto_Version_V12 overall I'm impressed, activated Sabre and H265/HEVC (edit/play/upload compatibility seems good for the apps I mostly use which paired with the smaller size is good). Not sure if really but crispness/clarity seems well improved as well as less speckles/red-dots especially on the skin in artificial/low light. EIS also still very good.
I also use the stock camera and OpenCamera, so what bothered me in GCam PMGC:
a) still focus flickering in video (can it be optimized by any settings?), stock RN7 camera IMHO has considerably less such flickering?
b) needing GSF: so no CustomROMs? Or is MicroG able to solve this?
c) found no possibility to save to SD-Card DCIM, I think in PMGC V3/V4 versions this still was available?
For OpenCamera while b) und c) are no problem regarding a) there seems to be good micro movement EIS but overall movement/transition is not so smooth; focus seems manual (tapping on-screen) so I could not see flickering . I like OpenCamera for the many settings especially the filename without prefix. It is also possible to set RAW DNG or WebP (I use 4x3k JPG 84%), Exif tags, HEVC, 24 fps, flat/log profile. I wonder why half-max-res pics (2000x1500) are not available to select. For video I would like to have something 16:9 slightly bigger then FHD so like 3K (2560x1440) which is not available (only 4:3). I also can not find timelapse.
A friend has Filmic on RN7. It has pro options and as well HEVC. As i tried once EIS is ok (below stock/GCam) and it seems video focus flickering is noticable just a little more then Stock and GCAM is considerably worse. I do not like the 1/3 screen Play preview of taken videos (just 3 show up) and also the files are not saved in the standard DCIM camera folder on the SD (CMS External Storage, not found by Gallery Apps).
Currently my preference is:
Images: GCam PMGC
Video: RN7 Stock; Timelapses: GCam PMGC
Hi everyone! Back to this topic to ask you a question. After the recent upgrade to Android 10, still with MIUI 11, I've noticed that
- stock camera has video stabilization working "after save"
- gcam (tons of version tried) and opencamera have no more stabilization. Once it was directly on the screen. Now there's any noticable on the screen or offer save.
Do you have the same problem? Thanks! Any way to solve this?
Hello everyone,
》 You can use "4k video recording & click @25mP images in hdr mode" which isn't natively present in the stock camera, period, by using "Open Camera"
》Playstore Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera
》I saw a marginal improvement in highlights especially at the night time shooting where stock camera blows up the highlights almost all the times & the detail levels are also higher as the image is captured in @25mp mode with active HDR.
》There's no stabilization in 4k recording but i saw drastic Improvement in dynamic range, especially at night. The difference between the stock 1080p video & the 4k video from "Open Camera" is huge. Ofcourse the files sizes are also 4 times higher.
》The details are much higher in both the front & back camera with better dynamic range using "Open Camera" especially during daytime.
》I prefer the stock camera only to capture still images at night due to faster shutter speed & as A50 uses pixel binning in 3:4 hdr mode which helps to gather more light ofcourse. The images are comparable here, though in this situation only.
》》》 If you're going to record video at evening & night time, I highly recommend you using 4K option in the "Open Camera", trust me the difference in dynamic range especially at night is unbelievable.
》》》 Tip : Keep the scene optimizer on & use 3:4 hdr mode while shooting at Night on Galaxy A50 as it uses pixel binning & AI to get stable pictures & gather more light for a bright shot. Avoid wide angle lens at night.
》》》 Reply to this post if you want to see actual proofs else you can try it out yourself.
Here's 4k vs 1080p video sample link (uncompressed)
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1NrXoZ75VCALXn0HUYMgZcJJVafI2xhM9
Cheers
The more interesting thing is what the phone is actually capable, but isn't enabled in the stock camera. Maybe Samsung will optimise the camera in future updates.
madd0g said:
The more interesting thing is what the phone is actually capable, but isn't enabled in the stock camera. Maybe Samsung will optimise the camera in future updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes brother, exynos 9610 is infact capable of doing [email protected] as mentioned on their official website.
Also, Galaxy A50 has flagship grade imx 576 sensor :
https://pasteboard.co/I8HMVvi.jpg
I doubt that Samsung will add 4k in future updates.
Cheers
Hi, everybody. I'm using an Open Camera that's unlocked, it will unlock the camera at 2API.1280x720 resolution, bitrate 200 mbbs.120 frames per second, but the video size is 398 megabytes in 18 seconds.
xda turns into a resource to read instead of humor. The man took and unlocked camera2api without even realizing what it was. On a rooted a50, it does not allow access, but he succeeded with a finger movement in the settings ...
help! what's the settings in open camera to make 4k video?
CCCCCCCCP said:
help! what's the settings in open camera to make 4k video?
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Click to collapse
Nothing.
Change the resolution to 4k in Settings > Video Settings > Video resolution
You're good to go, Cheers.
When i video a 1080p 60fps it seems like the frames are lagging look at the hand on the video. But when i put 4k 30fps there is no frame lag. It only happens on black or dark moving subject
It isn't lagging, it is seems like black ghosting of the fingers edge.
Probably, you must to give us the properties of this video, what is shutter speed, f and iso capturing?
I am afraid that there was a low light environment, the default camera was at auto and it uses very low shutter speed.
There is a basic rule, the shutter must be the twice almost of video fps.