Advanced Camera app using dual pixel sensors - General Questions and Answers

As many of us know that Google pixel 2 camera uses the dual pixel sensor ability for fast Autofocus as well as to get depth of field. Again face and body recognition algorithms are used to get dslr like portrait not using the dual camera but the same single camera. Dual pixels help in separating the person in focus from background, resulting amazing portraits..
Can the same features be implemented in a camera app that can utilise dual pixel sensors of phones like s7, note 8, x4, g5 plus and others to achieve similar results?
A new app may be.. Or we are waiting to port the pixel 2's camera app?
P. S. Please don't limit to sd 820,830 processors like the Google camera mod for hdr+ app. :laugh:
Here's an extract from petapixel post for better understanding of the new and the best ever Google Pixel camera:
Each pixel on the sensor has a “left and right split,” something that gives the sensor greater capabilities for depth of field and autofocus. This means that the camera’s sensor has two images, from slightly different perspectives, of the world in front of it. Consequently, the Pixel 2 can create a depth map and allow for shallow depth of field effects in its “Portrait Mode.”
Then there’s HDR+, which uses an algorithm that allows the tiny sensor to “act like a really big one,” introducing greater dynamic range. It combines several photos together with different exposures like a standard HDR image, but HDR+ also looks to realign each frame to avoid ghosting.
YouTube video "youtu.be/PIbeiddq_CQ"

Related

Stacking Photos to increase resolution and reduce noise.

I have had the practice of stacking photos in photoshop to increase the spacial resolution and increase tremendous detail in photos taken from my DSLR. I Want the same to be implemented on android but how?
I know there is an app called Camera super resolution on the play store that worked on limited phones. It worked on my oneplus 2 but the way it was implemented just didnt look great as it just enalarged the pic and the stacking used to work seldomly and even when it took 1 single pic it used to enlarge it 4 times.
I took some photos using my oneplus 6 consecutively handheld and stacked them in photoshop and the results are beautiful. Less noise and more detail. The oneplus 6 has the Snapdragon 845 so the stacking should almost be in real time as anyways the camera app stacks photo exposure for hdr.
So my question is can anyone implement this photoshop stacking feature on android. Please............

Camera2Api

Why everyone need camera 2 API. Miui camera is best, I test on miui 9 Google camera and it is the same. Only advantage of camera api it is possibility to write RAW file, but only some people want it
No, Gcam produces better dynamic range, better color production, less noise. In daylight difference not that big but especially in low light gcam is far better. Only bad thing on gcam you have to wait too long for shoot a photo. Also stock camera on selfies is literally garbage, doesn't use all capabilities of the sensor.
No, Google Camera is absolutely better, especially on the night photos :highfive:
I not tested front camera on camera 2 API.
Back camera is near the same imo
Gcam generally produces better images, the result is worth the added processing time. Portrait selfie is a lot damn sharper and that one is nowhere MIUI camera can touch.
Guys, join the petition on the official MIUI forum. Here's the link, we want our Camera2 API back on our Mi Note 3!!
http://en.miui.com/thread-3737375-1-1.html
Done
Config about Camera from Miui 10 has difference from Miui 9 which Mi 10 has not Level 3 but Mi 9 has config Level 3
you can install app name : camera2 Probe and droid hardware info from play store to check your config
So we are staying with miui 9 until xiaomi unlocks this?

48 megapixel RAW Support

Is anyone aware of a mod that would enable us to save to raw format with full 48 megapixel resolution? That would be amazing.
It's not a "full" 48mp sensor anyway. The color resolution is 12mp only, so I doubt you will get much better images using 48mp Raw :good: Quote:
"The sensor is characterised by its 48MP resolution and ability for 4:1 pixel binning into 12MP. The actual sensor’s colour filter is a quad-bayer setup, meaning the real chromatic spatial resolution is 12MP anyway, and the 48MP mode is enabled via pre-processing on the sensor itself, really only achieving chromatic spatial resolution equivalent to about ~27MP. OnePlus here does things better than a lot of other vendors; the 48MP simply isn’t available outside of the Pro mode, and I suggest users to just avoid using it at all."
(From Anandtech review, it's very thorough, as ever)

Can an additional camera sensor attached via USB-C be read by apps via current APIs?

ok... so totally crazy idea. Hypothetically speaking, what if there is a way to attach a much larger camera sensor (eg. APS-C size with e-mount) onto a fast SD865 phone (or future) via usb-c? And then would it be possible to have camera apps read data from it via current APIs? obviously there are alot of steps i'm missing here, but the biggest weakness in phone cameras is the sensor and there is simply no physical way to put an APS-C sized one in. The lenses would be humongous.
That said, at SOME times, especially those who are more serious into photography, being able to attach your phone to a big sensor would give you superior gear than anything that exist right now. combining the existing computation techiques with a fast processor WITH a large sensor does not exist. it's one or the other, no one has tried to do both yet (there are some old ones like Samsung Galaxy NX and currently Zeiss, but it doesnt seem like they are going to take advantage of computational tech)
Benefits:
- superior HDR with AI (most DSLRs have multi-stacked HDR but they are not as advanced as Google's)
- potentially AI HDR in video footage (no DSLRs have this , done in post)
- Enhanced artificial bokeh on top of already good bokeh to simulate medium format look
- immediate access to mobile lightroom / sharing direct to sources
- all media creation/library in one source
- utilize superior EIS to have stable footage (again, no DSLR has any good EIS tech. more focus in IBIS and OIS which is beneficial only in photos). ever tried S20 or iphone 11 pro at night? it's a noise party. In this case it would be a clean 4k footage with gimbal like EIS
it's true alot of the above can be done in POST when shooting with large sensor cameras
thoughts?

Google Camera Mod for Zenfone 7/7 Pro

Google Camera Port for Zenfone 7/7 Pro​
Features
- All cameras working with ZSL HDR+ and HDR+ Enhanced
- Night Sight/Astro photography
- Super Res Zoom (Main camera)
- AWB
- Top Shot
- Portrait on front & back camera
- Video recording upto 4K 60FPS With EIS
- Focus tracking
- Motion photos
- Photosphere/Panaroma
- Playground/Stickers (how to install)
Download & Changelog
GCam 7.3
- 15 December 2020: GCam_7.3.018_Urnyx05-v2.1_Wichaya_V3.1.1 by me
Bugs
- Face retouching
- Slow motion on main (id 0), ultrawide, telephoto but working on 64mp mode
GCam 8.1
- 15 August 2022: GCam_8.1.101_Wichaya_V1.6 by Wichaya
Bugs
- Face retouching
- Slow motion
Credit
@S4turno (Celso) , @Arnova8G2 [donate] , @defcomg (Savitar) [donate] @Urnyx05
Many thanks to other modder who help me make this possible
Many thanks to the testers.
Donation
You can support my work by send me a donation
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/wichayapoka
Thanks for this - great work. Definitely seems to capture better images than stock!
I've had GCam on my Oneplus 5 for years now and even that produces better images overall than the ZenFone 7 stock cam IMO!
crumble6 said:
Thanks for this - great work. Definitely seems to capture better images than stock!
I've had GCam on my Oneplus 5 for years now and even that produces better images overall than the ZenFone 7 stock cam IMO!
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I would love to see some sample pictures showing the difference.
Does this install just like the GCam for the ZF6 (i.e., you just have to run the APK)?
Perse26 said:
I would love to see some sample pictures showing the difference.
Does this install just like the GCam for the ZF6 (i.e., you just have to run the APK)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try do a few comparison shots when I get chance. Someone already posted a couple in the regular ZenFone 7 forums (non Pro). And yes just install the apk.
Big thanks to everyone involved.
I'm receiving the 7 Pro sometime this week, and I will definitely give GCam a try. Are there any config XML files for this phone yet?
Could someone post comparisions? Especially in situations with high dynamic range and at night on a street. Thanks!
I will post some in about 9-10 hours for the ZF7Pro.
Perse26 said:
I will post some in about 9-10 hours for the ZF7Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try to post some outdoor pictures in the next day or two. These were basically the only pictures I could take with my kids in my face.
The national geographic bag was a low light situation.
In my opinion the Gcam pictures look better (in most ways) except the 3x zoom of the National Geographic bag. Please note there are two different Gcam versions of the "Onward picture." It almost seems like the Gcam
Here are some fairly close range 3x examples of the Zenfone 6 Gcam, Zenfone 7 Gcam and Zenfone 7 Stock. The Zenfone 6 did its best but digital zoom wasn't enough. The Zenfone 7 Gcam added strange dots that show up when pixel peeping. The stock Zenfone 7 software did a decent job.
I processed the 3x shots with some software that I have to see if I couldn't make it look a bit better.
Perse26 said:
I'll try to post some outdoor pictures in the next day or two. These were basically the only pictures I could take with my kids in my face.
The national geographic bag was a low light situation.
In my opinion the Gcam pictures look better (in most ways) except the 3x zoom of the National Geographic bag. Please note there are two different Gcam versions of the "Onward picture." It almost seems like the Gcam
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So now I'm actually having a problem with Gcam.... This morning I downloaded the Gcam from this thread, everything worked great (that's when I took those pictures) it gave me options for the wide angle, 1x, 3x and 64mp cameras. I did a restore from my Zenfone 6 and now I have the gcam from the Zenfone 6. I deleted the Gcam and tried to reinstall the one from this thread and now I keep getting the Zenfone 6 version with just the 1x camera instead of the other options.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to clear app data to reinitialize default config
mickey36736 said:
You need to clear app data to reinitialize default config
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brilliant, thank you. I deleted the cache data and all of the "app data," and it worked.
The 3x on the GCam definitely adds lots of little dots, which are visible without pixel peeping. It seems to be some type of error. If this can be resolved in future updates, it will really improve the functionality of the Zenfone 7 Pro's 3x capability.
Perse26 said:
The 3x on the GCam definitely adds lots of little dots, which are visible without pixel peeping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What could be causing those dots?
jericho246 said:
What could be causing those dots?
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Click to collapse
I took about 6 more pictures with different settings, it seems to only happen when HDR or HDR enhanced is on.
Perse26 said:
I took about 6 more pictures with different settings, it seems to only happen when HDR or HDR enhanced is on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's because the telephoto sensor has "limited" Camera2 API level. Same with the ultrawide one. Only the main sensor is Level_3, apparently. Although this should be easily fixed, since the bootloader can be unlocked.
What do you think, @mickey36736 ?
jericho246 said:
I think it's because the telephoto sensor has "limited" Camera2 API level. Same with the ultrawide one. Only the main sensor is Level_3, apparently. Although this should be easily fixed, since the bootloader can be unlocked.
What do you think, @mickey36736 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Telephoto use OmniVision sensor which is a well known for dots issue and hard to fix. There is a work around by adjust some lib patcher for tele to reduce dots. Not depends on Camera2 API level.
Thanks for the work and the samples. Does flipping the camera for front facing images also work?
ThoroSOE said:
Thanks for the work and the samples. Does flipping the camera for front facing images also work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does
I just got the 7 Pro and tested it extensively with stock camera and this GCAM version. As a comparison I used my Pixel 3 also with an enhanced CGAM version. First I ran into some issues:
- HDR plus (not enhanced) is not working when the camera is in selfie mode. Full HDR plus does work. This means outside HDR plus enhanced images in HDR scenes have VERY badly overexposed parts and simply are unusable. Turn the camera back and everything is great. Sadly I do not like the look of HDR plus enhanced (night mode is also a workaround)
- In selfie mode the app does not recognize, that it has a full fledged flash. It only offers sefie light (lit up screen around the viewfinder).
- Colors in low light scenes are too muted. This goes especially for skin tones.
Apart from that the cameras perform very nice. Using night mode on the zoom lens even in better lighting conditions gives very good results. But overall it falls short of what even a Pixel 3 can deliver on its main camera. Sure, in perfect conditions the cameras are very capable - with GCAM and without. But Pixel is sooo much more consistant! Being able to consistantly getting better pictures of faces in low light (selfie or not) even when awkwardly taking selfies with the Pixel's main camera than with the Zenfones flip camera is a no go. I am honestly very saddened; I had high hopes.
(Just a disclaimer to not come across as someone too fixated on selfies: As this is the "killer feature" of this camera and its main gimmic, this was a focus of my testing.)
ThoroSOE said:
I just got the 7 Pro and tested it extensively with stock camera and this GCAM version. As a comparison I used my Pixel 3 also with an enhanced CGAM version. First I ran into some issues:
- HDR plus (not enhanced) is not working when the camera is in selfie mode. Full HDR plus does work. This means outside HDR plus enhanced images in HDR scenes have VERY badly overexposed parts and simply are unusable. Turn the camera back and everything is great. Sadly I do not like the look of HDR plus enhanced (night mode is also a workaround)
- In selfie mode the app does not recognize, that it has a full fledged flash. It only offers sefie light (lit up screen around the viewfinder).
- Colors in low light scenes are too muted. This goes especially for skin tones.
Apart from that the cameras perform very nice. Using night mode on the zoom lens even in better lighting conditions gives very good results. But overall it falls short of what even a Pixel 3 can deliver on its main camera. Sure, in perfect conditions the cameras are very capable - with GCAM and without. But Pixel is sooo much more consistant! Being able to consistantly getting better pictures of faces in low light (selfie or not) even when awkwardly taking selfies with the Pixel's main camera than with the Zenfones flip camera is a no go. I am honestly very saddened; I had high hopes.
(Just a disclaimer to not come across as someone too fixated on selfies: As this is the "killer feature" of this camera and its main gimmic, this was a focus of my testing.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing I noticed is that the front camera id 1 use ultra wide sensor with cropped resolution at 6.5 mp instead on main camera due to camera2 api. No idea why asus did this but this is the reason why the ultra wide lens doesn't perform as good as the main back camera.
Plus newer Gcam require a lot of individual tweaking by lib pacther settings. Once you try to play around with lib patcher. You realize how much headroom can improve photo quality to suit your tastes. It may not be as simple as the pixel because of different sensors setup but you can tweak as much as you like.
mickey36736 said:
One thing I noticed is that the front camera id 1 use ultra wide sensor with cropped resolution at 6.5 mp instead on main camera due to camera2 api. No idea why asus did this but this is the reason why the ultra wide lens doesn't perform as good as the main back camera.
Plus newer Gcam require a lot of individual tweaking by lib pacther settings. Once you try to play around with lib patcher. You realize how much headroom can improve photo quality to suit your tastes. It may not be as simple as the pixel because of different sensors setup but you can tweak as much as you like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm finding there's a lot of noise in some lighting conditions on the gcam wide angle lens. Anyone else found this? I've tried tweaking all the denoise settings but can't seem to get rid of it. It's strangely in the outer edges of the shot. Also, such noise is present on stock wide angle too at times.
Though very interestingly, stock night mode used in the same shot with the wide angle pretty much eliminates it.

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