Sure, I'm clever in some ways, but I'm also clever enough to be able to admit that there are much smarter people than myself. Hopefully, one of you super-smart people will take me up on this a make my year by helping out. Here's the scoop:
I love my Note 2. LOVE it! It's perfect in all ways....but one. My stock camera app is messed up, in the sense that when I record video, there is a popping sound (like static) that occurs from time to time. No way to predict it, and I've at least determined that it is the fault of one of the mics used. (no mic problem using phone or voice recording). This bums me out because, for the FIRST TIME EVER, I prefer the stock Samsung camera app over alternative camera apps. Just too feature-rich.
Now: I used the camera app "Snap Camera", which is based on Camera 4.2 and is great, just not as perfect for me as the stock app. HOWEVER, Snap Camera has a setting for "Use Alternate Mic", which totally solves my problem. NOW...if I could only disable that mic in the stock app...
I wrote to the developer of Snap Camera and asked if he knew how I could do so. His response was: "I don't think there is a way to override it, if you really want to change it you could use apktool to decompile the stock app, find the code that sets the audio source and change the mic value."
So now the problem is: I have no experience with that sort of thing and don't trust myself to do it correctly right out of the gate (I've already investigated some guides).
So, as the title of this thread states, I will pay a cool $20 to whoever is willing to take on this challenge and save my day/month/year.
PLEASE!
Try freezing or renaming the stock camera app. Rename to SamsungCamera.apk.bak
ExperiMENTAL
But won't that render it inoperable?
velveteen71 said:
But won't that render it inoperable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if you have another camera app.
ExperiMENTAL
Yes, but I WANT to use the Samsung camera. I just want to be able to disable the one mic, like it does in Snap Camera.
That is exactly what needs to be done, the key is finding the string of code that defines it. I know how to decompile and recompile, but I wouldnt have the faintest which one of the files holds that information.
Needless to say this isnt just swapping out .pngs or editing xml files. Lol!!
I have had my Xperia Z1 Compact for a few weeks now and for the most part I am very happy with it. The thing that lets the phone down for me is the camera.
1st issue is the photos themselves. The quality of the photos seems very poor and noisy which was extremly disappointing for me as one of the main reasons I chose this phone was for the 20 Mega pixel camera. I have heard that this problem is due to the ISO being ramped up when using auto and can be solved with 3rd party camera apps (an example given was "Perfectly Clear") that clean up the images nicely. I haven't tested this myself but if anyone can recommend any app or tips to getting cleaner images I would be most greatful.
2nd issue is how the camera saves pictures. I have the camera setting set to "burst with long press" which mean every time I take a couple of snaps it creates a new folder for that "burst" which more often than not is a single photo or two. This is annoying enough without the fact that with each new folder it starts repetitively naming the photos "DSC_000001" onward meaning I have 10 separate folders all with about 1-2 pictures in each and most of those pictures are named "DSC_000001" so when it comes to moving these pictures in to a folder on my P.C. I have to rename them manually to keep them in order. What I would like is to have all of my photos saved to one folder with a filename that resembles the date that I took them. For example if I took 3 photos today they would be named "02.05.14-00001" "02.05.14-00002" "02.05.14-00003" respectively. Not only would this make creating albums a lot easier it would help us keep track of when the photos were actually taken.
Please tell me there is a way of doing this! It is so simple. (Also side note on why the multi folder burst thing is terrible. I delete the photos from that burst - empty folder remains.)
3rd issue. This has happened to me a few times now and it is the most frustrating. When I press the 2 stage camera button in sleep mode to bring up the camera and an error comes up saying something along the lines of "Camera could not be found"... The only way I have found to fix this issue is to power down the phone and restart. When the main reason for this function is to get a quick shot off like when your best mate is crossing the finish line of a big race, this error is the last thing you want to see. Trust me I know. (Sorry Ryan I really did try to get a photo of it.)
Any who, if any of you lovely people have a fix or work around for these issues it would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Lawro.Woods said:
I have had my Xperia Z1 Compact for a few weeks now and for the most part I am very happy with it. The thing that lets the phone down for me is the camera.
1st issue is the photos themselves. The quality of the photos seems very poor and noisy which was extremly disappointing for me as one of the main reasons I chose this phone was for the 20 Mega pixel camera. I have heard that this problem is due to the ISO being ramped up when using auto and can be solved with 3rd party camera apps (an example given was "Perfectly Clear") that clean up the images nicely. I haven't tested this myself but if anyone can recommend any app or tips to getting cleaner images I would be most greatful.
2nd issue is how the camera saves pictures. I have the camera setting set to "burst with long press" which mean every time I take a couple of snaps it creates a new folder for that "burst" which more often than not is a single photo or two. This is annoying enough without the fact that with each new folder it starts repetitively naming the photos "DSC_000001" onward meaning I have 10 separate folders all with about 1-2 pictures in each and most of those pictures are named "DSC_000001" so when it comes to moving these pictures in to a folder on my P.C. I have to rename them manually to keep them in order. What I would like is to have all of my photos saved to one folder with a filename that resembles the date that I took them. For example if I took 3 photos today they would be named "02.05.14-00001" "02.05.14-00002" "02.05.14-00003" respectively. Not only would this make creating albums a lot easier it would help us keep track of when the photos were actually taken.
Please tell me there is a way of doing this! It is so simple. (Also side note on why the multi folder burst thing is terrible. I delete the photos from that burst - empty folder remains.)
3rd issue. This has happened to me a few times now and it is the most frustrating. When I press the 2 stage camera button in sleep mode to bring up the camera and an error comes up saying something along the lines of "Camera could not be found"... The only way I have found to fix this issue is to power down the phone and restart. When the main reason for this function is to get a quick shot off like when your best mate is crossing the finish line of a big race, this error is the last thing you want to see. Trust me I know. (Sorry Ryan I really did try to get a photo of it.)
Any who, if any of you lovely people have a fix or work around for these issues it would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mate, I'll tackle issue 1 as not sure about the others. Forgive me if I at any point sound patronising/condescending but obviously I don't know how well-versed you are in photography or not, so don't want to suggest something insulting if you actually know your stuff!!
Yeah, the auto modes (esp. superior auto) aren't great. Especially in low light. But as far as I am concerned, you don't get a phone with a camera this good (f2.0 aperture, 20meg/8meg downsampling) to use the auto modes. Unlike an iPhone, which is designed specifically to be a one-button job, these android phones (the best ones) have decent manual modes as every photographer knows that's how you get the very best results.
I always use manual as you have to for best results (ESPECIALLY in low light). You're correct, the auto mode does ramp up the iso too much. Actually quite a lot of phones do this too much....iphones indoors are a good example.
Tip 1: Stay with the stock camera. It will be purpose built for the sensor and will get you the best results
Tip 2: Always shoot manual
Tip 3: With every shot you take, you want the lowest ISO you can get away with. So practice a bit with different environments and you will soon get a sixth sense about roughly what you'll need. If you're in a restaurant or indoors for example, do a quick experimentation with changing the iso's and see what the scene looks like in real-time (make sure you're phone brightness is high). That's usually a good indicator of how the photo will come out.
Tip 4: Tap to focus on what you want focused, THEN hit capture. Don't just hit capture alone.
Tip 5: Phone camera flashes are TERRIBLE. It's the thermonuclear option when you HAVE to capture whatever is in front of you. Never use one unless you absolutely have to. If I have to use the flash....I don't take the picture. I also don't take any pictures higher than iso 800 as the noise is awful (for all phones). For indoor/lowlight you want 200/400 or worst case scenario 800 if you absolutely have to get that shot.
Tip 6: In manual, you will actually get superior photos if you shoot in the 8megapixel mode. Only ever choose 20megapixel if you are going to be doing some extreme cropping with the photo or are going to be blowing it up to huge sizes somewhere.
Hope that helps?
Thank you for the tips. They are useful and when I have time to mess with manual settings to take a photo I will certainly use them. But the things that originally attracted me to this phone were the quick launch 2 stage button and the burst mode. I wanted to use this phone as a quick point and click camera for capturing fleeting moments. Unfortunately the quick launch immediately opens in auto mode (with that ****ing annoying sound effect I might add) and by the time I've switched to manual and messed around with the settings (which could use a better layout) that fleeting moment might have passed me by.
Good news is I have come up with a backward way of getting the photos to save by date. Dropbox automatically backs up my pictures with a file name done via date and time. Although this isn't a true fix since I still have to delete the burst folders from my phone every now and then this will do for now.
Thanks again for the tips paddy. Hopefully I will work something out.
Lawro.Woods said:
Thank you for the tips. They are useful and when I have time to mess with manual settings to take a photo I will certainly use them. But the things that originally attracted me to this phone were the quick launch 2 stage button and the burst mode. I wanted to use this phone as a quick point and click camera for capturing fleeting moments. Unfortunately the quick launch immediately opens in auto mode (with that ****ing annoying sound effect I might add) and by the time I've switched to manual and messed around with the settings (which could use a better layout) that fleeting moment might have passed me by.
Good news is I have come up with a backward way of getting the photos to save by date. Dropbox automatically backs up my pictures with a file name done via date and time. Although this isn't a true fix since I still have to delete the burst folders from my phone every now and then this will do for now.
Thanks again for the tips paddy. Hopefully I will work something out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries.
Yeah admittedly if you take a lot of sudden/spontaneous shots that you don't have time to adjust for, the results might be less than ideal. To be honest on my xperia and my gs4 before that, after a while you become so quick at changing the manual options it becomes second nature and you can do it fast enough to catch spontaneous moments with the ideal settings.
Phone cameras are much simpler than normal cameras as the aperture (which is EXCELLENT for low light on the xperia - f2.0) is fixed, so really when it comes to mobile photography it's all about ISO, ISO and more ISO. Therefore when I say 'use manual mode' you can get away with JUST altering the iso to your needs and leaving all the other manual settings on auto. Like white balance for example, which the computer is MUCH better at detecting correctly.
Unless you're shooting outdoors on a sunny day, you must learn to assume that 99 times out of 100, your xperia in auto will select an ISO that is far higher than what you can actually get away with using. So it's good practice not to trust it.
This is for people who has Pixel 6 (Pro) AND Tasker.
One of the most frustrating thing when I using my P6P taking photos is it's difficult to tell which lens P6P is using for high zoom. The phone has a tendency to use the main lens for even 4-5x zoom range whenever it thinks the Tele lens cannot focus or too dark. Main lens with SuperRaz is used in those situations results less detailed, processed photos.
This Tasker task will add a small indicator right on the camera UI which will display what lens is in use now. N=main sensor, W=ultrawide, T=Tele and F=Front. I haven't figure out how to "force" use one lens but at least this gives you a chance to reframe/adjust distance until desired lens is used.
Please let me know how it works for you. The project can be downloaded from:
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
lssong99 said:
This is for people who has Pixel 6 (Pro) AND Tasker.
One of the most frustrating thing when I using my P6P taking photos is it's difficult to tell which lens P6P is using for high zoom. The phone has a tendency to use the main lens for even 4-5x zoom range whenever it thinks the Tele lens cannot focus or too dark. Main lens with SuperRaz is used in those situations results less detailed, processed photos.
This Tasker task will add a small indicator right on the camera UI which will display what lens is in use now. N=main sensor, W=ultrawide, T=Tele and F=Front. I haven't figure out how to "force" use one lens but at least this gives you a chance to reframe/adjust distance until desired lens is used.
Please let me know how it works for you. The project can be downloaded from:
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to be working as intended. Very useful. Thank you!!!
I Love how efficient this project's programming is, and love how well it not only works, but looks like a native feature.
lssong99 said:
This is for people who has Pixel 6 (Pro) AND Tasker.
One of the most frustrating thing when I using my P6P taking photos is it's difficult to tell which lens P6P is using for high zoom. The phone has a tendency to use the main lens for even 4-5x zoom range whenever it thinks the Tele lens cannot focus or too dark. Main lens with SuperRaz is used in those situations results less detailed, processed photos.
This Tasker task will add a small indicator right on the camera UI which will display what lens is in use now. N=main sensor, W=ultrawide, T=Tele and F=Front. I haven't figure out how to "force" use one lens but at least this gives you a chance to reframe/adjust distance until desired lens is used.
Please let me know how it works for you. The project can be downloaded from:
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was thinking this must be straight forward, import your scene project in tasker and that's it. However doesn't seem to be working for me, any tricks? Thanks for suggestion in advance
Edit: Play around it and finally make it work, thanks
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"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
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lssong99 said:
This is for people who has Pixel 6 (Pro) AND Tasker.
One of the most frustrating thing when I using my P6P taking photos is it's difficult to tell which lens P6P is using for high zoom. The phone has a tendency to use the main lens for even 4-5x zoom range whenever it thinks the Tele lens cannot focus or too dark. Main lens with SuperRaz is used in those situations results less detailed, processed photos.
This Tasker task will add a small indicator right on the camera UI which will display what lens is in use now. N=main sensor, W=ultrawide, T=Tele and F=Front. I haven't figure out how to "force" use one lens but at least this gives you a chance to reframe/adjust distance until desired lens is used.
Please let me know how it works for you. The project can be downloaded from:
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it for a couple of hours now and deinstalled it again. The function works beautifully, but for some unknown to me, the small indicator field often remains after the cam is closed, meaning I have a permament indicator field (often not with N but with % written in it) on my screen. When opening the camera, that sometimes resets, but not always. It's very annoying and I found no easy way to fix it.
Morgrain said:
I tried it for a couple of hours now and deinstalled it again. The function works beautifully, but for some unknown to me, the small indicator field often remains after the cam is closed, meaning I have a permament indicator field (often not with N but with % written in it) on my screen. When opening the camera, that sometimes resets, but not always. It's very annoying and I found no easy way to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just found the same as you. I don't like it either, so unless the op is able to fix it, have to uninstall also.
I haven't had that problem...yet.
Haven't had that problem either....yet
Morgrain said:
I tried it for a couple of hours now and deinstalled it again. The function works beautifully, but for some unknown to me, the small indicator field often remains after the cam is closed, meaning I have a permament indicator field (often not with N but with % written in it) on my screen. When opening the camera, that sometimes resets, but not always. It's very annoying and I found no easy way to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed, had this happen to me as well. I noticed it pop up while using WhatsApp but it went away when switching to another app. However should up again going back to WhatsApp.
Looking into the tasker project I saw under "CameraRunning", tried adding WhatsApp to the apps list, run profile, go back to WhatsApp where the overlay showed when using a camera function. Hitting back a few times ended up at home screen and the overlay disappeared.
I sum it up to the overlay possibly persisting when using an app with Camera permissions. Maybe someone with more experience can make more sense of it than I can and possible solution.
If you use the camera to take photos, normally the indicator field would just disappear a couple seconds after you close the camera app. However, if you open another app which called out the camera, e.g. scanner apps such as Adobe Scan and/or Barcode Scanner, even after you closed those apps, the indicator field would remain on your home pages, you would have to open camera app and close it to get rid of the indicator, this is really annoying.
roirraW "edor" ehT andLughnasadh perhaps you guys can test if this is the case.
acwcanada said:
If you use the camera to take photos, normally the indicator field would just disappear a couple seconds after you close the camera app. However, if you open another app which called out the camera, e.g. scanner apps such as Adobe Scan and/or Barcode Scanner, even after you closed those apps, the indicator field would remain on your home pages, you would have to open camera app and close it to get rid of the indicator, this is really annoying.
roirraW "edor" ehT andLughnasadh perhaps you guys can test if this is the case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, you're right. I confirmed with Google PhotoScan (there aren't many apps I allow to have camera permissions). I launched PhotoScan, confirmed the indicator was present, didn't take any photos, gestured back which took me to the home screen, the indicator was still there and stayed there until I opened the regular Google Camera app and then gestured back again.
It worked the same way when I gestured Home both times as well, for completeness sake of reporting. Since I don't use the camera with very many different apps, it's not a real problem for me, but I can definitely see how it would be for others.
Note for further completeness in reporting that the indicator doesn't merely stay on the home screen either, it stays on the screen no matter what other app is launched too until you launch Google Camera and then get out of it.
@lssong99 , any ideas?
roirraW edor ehT said:
Thanks, you're right. I confirmed with Google PhotoScan (there aren't many apps I allow to have camera permissions). I launched PhotoScan, confirmed the indicator was present, didn't take any photos, gestured back which took me to the home screen, the indicator was still there and stayed there until I opened the regular Google Camera app and then gestured back again.
It worked the same way when I gestured Home both times as well, for completeness sake of reporting. Since I don't use the camera with very many different apps, it's not a real problem for me, but I can definitely see how it would be for others.
Note for further completeness in reporting that the indicator doesn't merely stay on the home screen either, it stays on the screen no matter what other app is launched too until you launch Google Camera and then get out of it.
@lssong99 , any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
acwcanada said:
If you use the camera to take photos, normally the indicator field would just disappear a couple seconds after you close the camera app. However, if you open another app which called out the camera, e.g. scanner apps such as Adobe Scan and/or Barcode Scanner, even after you closed those apps, the indicator field would remain on your home pages, you would have to open camera app and close it to get rid of the indicator, this is really annoying.
roirraW "edor" ehT andLughnasadh perhaps you guys can test if this is the case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed using Google Lens afterwards.
TL;DR: I made some modification which should make the removal of the UI more robust after switching to non-camera app (including launcher). Please redownload and let me know how it works.
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
Description:
It seems there are some bugs/delays/reliability issue in Tasker's Current Running App detection logic so sometimes Tasker will sometimes not detect Camera APP is running or exiting... Thus I reverse the logic to detect ANY non-camera app then remove the UI as long as it's not camera...
Also, I haven't yet find a solution to hide the UI when other app are running which is not stock camera. Since Tasker is not able to detect Camera app reliability. (I tried add a condition that the UI will only be shown when Camera app is detected, but UI never show....).
Anyone has better idea on detecting foreground Camera app?
lssong99 said:
TL;DR: I made some modification which should make the removal of the UI more robust after switching to non-camera app (including launcher). Please redownload and let me know how it works.
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
Description:
It seems there are some bugs/delays/reliability issue in Tasker's Current Running App detection logic so sometimes Tasker will sometimes not detect Camera APP is running or exiting... Thus I reverse the logic to detect ANY non-camera app then remove the UI as long as it's not camera...
Also, I haven't yet find a solution to hide the UI when other app are running which is not stock camera. Since Tasker is not able to detect Camera app reliability. (I tried add a condition that the UI will only be shown when Camera app is detected, but UI never show....).
Anyone has better idea on detecting foreground Camera app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for providing this. Perhaps I am not sense enough, I just do not see and feel any difference of the 2 versions. Hopefully somehow you can figure out a way to hide the UI when third party apps are running with non stock camera. It would be even more wonderful if forced lens options can be achieved.
acwcanada said:
Thanks for providing this. Perhaps I am not sense enough, I just do not see and feel any difference of the 2 versions. Hopefully somehow you can figure out a way to hide the UI when third party apps are running with non stock camera. It would be even more wonderful if forced lens options can be achieved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it doesn't work for you?!
What is changed the logic of detecting Camera App. Originally the UI will be hide only when Camera App exited, now I changed it to dismiss the UI whenever any app except Camera app is activated.
By making this, 90% of the time UI will be dismissed when camera app exited (and another app activated). for the remaining 10%, at least when return to launcher (I am using Nova), the UI is always cleared. I am not sure why it doesn't work for you well...
I tried several app detection method but all not 100% foolproof..... Maybe Joao can share some idea? (He is in holiday now...)
lssong99 said:
So it doesn't work for you?!
What is changed the logic of detecting Camera App. Originally the UI will be hide only when Camera App exited, now I changed it to dismiss the UI whenever any app except Camera app is activated.
By making this, 90% of the time UI will be dismissed when camera app exited (and another app activated). for the remaining 10%, at least when return to launcher (I am using Nova), the UI is always cleared. I am not sure why it doesn't work for you well...
I tried several app detection method but all not 100% foolproof..... Maybe Joao can share some idea? (He is in holiday now...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also using Nova, yes, it doesn't work for me! To me, both of your two versions are the same, I just don't see any difference. It worked with the main Camera App, but I tried more than 10 different other apps, such as Barcode Scanner, PDF Scan, WhatsApp, Instagram, Lightroom etc..., the UI always presented after those apps were closed, only open/closed the main Camera App could clear the UI.
The real fix for this is for Google to give us more control or sort out the silly Ai forcing 4x on the main lense if it thinks things are too close. You can trick it by focusing far away on 4x and then back again as long as it's not within the 1.2-1.5m focal range.
acwcanada said:
I am also using Nova, yes, it doesn't work for me! To me, both of your two versions are the same, I just don't see any difference. It worked with the main Camera App, but I tried more than 10 different other apps, such as Barcode Scanner, PDF Scan, WhatsApp, Instagram, Lightroom etc..., the UI always presented after those apps were closed, only open/closed the main Camera App could clear the UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still got the same problem. The "UI" (small transparent box with % or N or whatever written it in) remains often after closing the camera app. It's very distracting and renders this mod, sadly, unusable.
Morgrain said:
I still got the same problem. The "UI" (small transparent box with % or N or whatever written it in) remains often after closing the camera app. It's very distracting and renders this mod, sadly, unusable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems you got the old version..... Maybe delete the whole project from Tasker and redownload from TaskerNet again?
I also updated another version which add a timer that will hide the UI if no lens selection in 15 seconds, no matter camera App is in using or not... (If you switch the lens then another 15 seconds are extended.) The UI will be hide after ❶Camera App closed or ❷no selection of lens in 15 seconds, whichecer comes first.
Please let me know if it works for you....
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
lssong99 said:
It seems you got the old version..... Maybe delete the whole project from Tasker and redownload from TaskerNet again?
I also updated another version which add a timer that will hide the UI if no lens selection in 15 seconds, no matter camera App is in using or not... (If you switch the lens then another 15 seconds are extended.) The UI will be hide after ❶Camera App closed or ❷no selection of lens in 15 seconds, whichecer comes first.
Please let me know if it works for you....
Tasker Share
taskernet.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to be working for me. The UI stays on now even if just using 1 camera app but does disappear in around 10 seconds for me. It disappears in around 10 seconds if subsequently using another camera app as well. It seems this workaround is working as intended. Thank you!