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Take better low pictures using google camera and HDR mode

Hi Guys,
I wanted to let you all know that I happened to install Google camera as I was not particularly impressed with the noisy low light photos of the stock camera app.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the results using the google camera after enabling the HDR mode ,the low lights are vastly better than the stock camera in HDR mode, also photos in HDR mode with the google camera are saved much faster than the stock camera in the HDR mode.
Please note that google camera doesn’t show up for me in play store ,so I have side loaded 3.1.025 version .it’s not all rosy though, as the video mode is not working for me and there are occasional FC’s while the pic has been clicked and if you press the home button.
But despite all these, I honestly can’t go back to the stock camera for low light photos,I would suggest you all give it a try and let me know your thoughts.
Cheers.

Attaching some low light picture taken using the google camera.dont have the stock app photos side by side for comparison.sorry.

I have found low light with stock RAW very good as you can control noise levels and lights, even the simple gallery app DNG post treatment make very good results

vegetaleb said:
I have found low light with stock RAW very good as you can control noise levels and lights, even the simple gallery app DNG post treatment make very good results
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Thanks for the Tip mate ,would try it out.I am inclined towards google camera because without any post processing the images have lesser noise compared to the stock camera.I would try to post some better pics,I will admit the ones I have put dont make a strong case for themselves because I was just trying them out
Cheers.

A Guide for Better Photography [How to use manual mode][camera api2 pros]

It is boring to always use the auto mode in camera so let's try the manual mode and have greater quality pictures, which is better than auto mode.
What is manual mode ?
Manual mode is one of the main settings on your camera, and it lets you manually control shutter speed, white balance, manual focus, and ISO in most. These three settings work together to control the how bright or dark your photo is (known as exposure), as well as change the overall look of the image.
What is ISO ?
In photography ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds.
What is Shutter Speed ?
In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time when the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light, also when a camera's shutter is open when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time.
What is White balancing ?
White balancing is a process in which a camera will attempt to detect the type of white light largely visible in different environments. This is typically utilized to account for different light sources (fluorescent, incandescent, etc.), as well as different weather types and times of day (overcast, sunny, sunset, etc.). White balance generally focuses on collecting the proper temperature of white light in a scene, which ranges from cold (blue-tinted) to warm (orange or gold-tinted).
This is one setting that is often best left on automatic settings, unless the viewfinder suggests that the automatic white balance is obviously wrong. Of note, RAW images will have to be manually white balanced in post-processing, as RAW shooting will not modify the white balance in-camera.
What is Manual Focus ?
Manual focus controls are a more recent and much-appreciated addition to the control suite of manual smartphone photographers. Most camera apps features a simple and intuitive circular slider which can be used to accurately set focus manually in lieu of the jumpier and imperfect auto-focus, something which is often exaggerated when trying to take photos of close subjects. If you want to take a closer pic of something very near try macro focus.
What is Manual exposure ?
manual exposure is a small supplement to ISO and shutter speed settings, and it is one of the rarer manual settings one will find in smartphone camera applications. If a combination of shutter speed and ISO produce an unsatisfying image, manual exposure is often offered as a way of tweaking the brightness of an image in-camera. It can quite easily be replaced by simply modifying brightness after taking the photo, but it can sometimes be more efficient to get the image right the first time.
What do we have in our Lenovo P2 :
I had Camera api2 activated and snap camera hdr+ and oneplus 5 camera apps.
Shutter speed
Minimum 0.68s maximum 1/96423s
ISO
Minimum 100 Maximum 19200
Verdict approximate values
In low light condition
Higher ISO [ 500 ~ 19200 aprx] + Higher shutter speed [0.68 ~ 1/200 aprx]
In heavy light condition
Lower ISO [below 500 aprx] + Lower shutter speed [1/200s ~ 1/96423s aprx]
Camera Api2 advantages
Raw image capture support
In depth manual mode control
Enable camera api2
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lenovo-p2/themes/flashable-zip-activating-camera-api2-t3724207
Which app is best for manual mode?
? Snap camera HDR
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=Snap+camera+HDR+paid+apk&gws_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=bXs-WuDaI4HEvQSYyLWQDQ [Google search result page, Cuz many getting confused about this app]
? Oneplus 5 camera
Download link https://forum.xda-developers.com/lenovo-p2/themes/stable-oneplus-5-camera-t3709983
? Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC
? Camera FV 5

Reserved [for samples]

I can't use the RAW format, the scrren get mad and the camera crash, am i the only one with this problem?

Liacon said:
I can't use the RAW format, the scrren get mad and the camera crash, am i the only one with this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Screenshot

It's like this with all the camera apps that have avaible the raw format
At first I was thinking that the problem it's present because I usa a micro sd, but the image gets mad even without it.
I'm on the last lineage build by Higway Star

Liacon said:
It's like this with all the camera apps that have avaible the raw format
At first I was thinking that the problem it's present because I usa a micro sd, but the image gets mad even without it.
I'm on the last lineage build by Higway Star
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only the bug in camera driver can make mess like this.

Wonder Wicked Witch said:
Only the bug in camera driver can make mess like this.
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Click to collapse
So it's a rom's related problem?

Liacon said:
So it's a rom's related problem?
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Click to collapse
Same issue on stock s244, with every app.
Also, I've seen many others

Liacon said:
So it's a rom's related problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
icsdia said:
Same issue on stock s244, with every app.
Also, I've seen many others
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe due to changing roms in mobiles the camera driver can get into buggy, not confirmed yet.
If you want Camera with Raw capture try "snap camera HDR" with force HAL1 enabled in-app setting.
If you looking for completely manual configuration try camera api2 ON in-app setting.
[camera api2 HAL3 vs HAL1 screenshots]

I can't find force hal1, sucks.
At least the manual controls it's a very sweet thing

Liacon said:
I can't find force hal1, sucks.
At least the manual controls it's a very sweet thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you check it out properly? It is in-built in app itself.

Wonder Wicked Witch said:
Did you check it out properly? It is in-built in app itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have check the same option that you show in your screen shot, but maybe it's because I have the trial version

Liacon said:
I can't use the RAW format, the scrren get mad and the camera crash, am i the only one with this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same problem here.

Liacon said:
I have check the same option that you show in your screen shot, but maybe it's because I have the trial version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you can get it for free if you Google it.

YoYoRishi said:
Same problem here.
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With camera api2 raw fails as it is not supported in P2 right now. But without camera api2 or with Hal1 enabled you can capture raw image in DNG format.

Best camera settings for P20?

Hello,
been using the P20 for a few days now and it's great but I'm not sure how to get the best out of the camera. Been having it with AI on and 20Mp but a lot of the pictures seem overexposed.
If anyone could enlighten me that'd be great.
Thanks

Bobbite said:
Hello,
been using the P20 for a few days now and it's great but I'm not sure how to get the best out of the camera. Been having it with AI on and 20Mp but a lot of the pictures seem overexposed.
If anyone could enlighten me that'd be great.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello!
I disabled the AI, it oversaturates colors and the contrast and sharpness are too high for my taste. Shooting in photo mode without the AI gets me pretty good results, I then edit my shots in Lightroom CC, it's a free app, try it if you haven't already If you have the feeling that your shots are overexposed you can always focus on a bright part of your scene and the phone will adjust the exposure accordingly.
For best results you want to be shooting in pro mode and better yet enable the RAW format. It's more work to edit those RAW photos but you do get the best quality!
Have fun with your phone

I also turned off the AI. If you want to have more control you can use RAW

Thanks for the replies! I'll try out RAW mode and Lightroom CC and disable the AI. I guess there would be a great change of quality if I went from 20 MP 4:3 to 18:9 as it's only 8MP?

I did some photos today and i must say that there are few iritating things in our phones software.
One of the is HDR mode wich is hidden ant we cant usue it in auto mode

The image quality of the camera is a LOT worse than advertised

Hello there, other S10e owners,
Recently, I took advantage of an early Black Friday sale to get an S10e, the phone I was craving for a while. They said the image quality is on par with the Pixel 3 after the May update, but in reality, it's just as noisy and "oil-paintingish" as my Xperia Z1 Compact from four (!!!) years ago.
The samples are in the attachment of this forum post; the first and the third image was taken with the Google Camera app, and the second and forth one with the Samsung Camera app. The first two images were taken with HDR, but the latter ones without HDR.
As you can see in the non-HDR pictures, the Samsung Camera picture has less noise, but cold, washed-out colours and less detail thanks to the aggressive noise cancellation.
On the other hand, the Google Camera image has the correct colour representation and more detail, but with the sacrifice of noise cancellation.
With HDR+, though... Things get even worse. The Samsung Camera app now blurs out even more detail and the Google Camera app just cranks up the ISO to levels that make the image too bright.
In conclusion, the image quality is not on the promised levels, but I hope there's something I can do with it (like a good setup.xml file that can fix GCam to shoot exceptionally good images in both sun- and low light or fixing the Samsung Camera app). So, in order to fix this, I need your help. Please give me advice to pimp back up the image quality to the levels I saw in camera reviews.
Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention that I have the Exynos version.

ThePS4Gamer said:
Hello there, other S10e owners,
Recently, I took advantage of an early Black Friday sale to get an S10e, the phone I was craving for a while. They said the image quality is on par with the Pixel 3 after the May update, but in reality, it's just as noisy and "oil-paintingish" as my Xperia Z1 Compact from four (!!!) years ago.
The samples are in the attachment of this forum post; the first and the third image was taken with the Google Camera app, and the second and forth one with the Samsung Camera app. The first two images were taken with HDR, but the latter ones without HDR.
As you can see in the non-HDR pictures, the Samsung Camera picture has less noise, but cold, washed-out colours and less detail thanks to the aggressive noise cancellation.
On the other hand, the Google Camera image has the correct colour representation and more detail, but with the sacrifice of noise cancellation.
With HDR+, though... Things get even worse. The Samsung Camera app now blurs out even more detail and the Google Camera app just cranks up the ISO to levels that make the image too bright.
In conclusion, the image quality is not on the promised levels, but I hope there's something I can do with it (like a good setup.xml file that can fix GCam to shoot exceptionally good images in both sun- and low light or fixing the Samsung Camera app). So, in order to fix this, I need your help. Please give me advice to pimp back up the image quality to the levels I saw in camera reviews.
Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention that I have the Exynos version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please give me the Gcam download link. I couldn't find any Gcam version that worked well on my S10e Exynos. Thanks

Julyh0rse.ManU said:
Please give me the Gcam download link. I couldn't find any Gcam version that worked well on my S10e Exynos. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can do something with it, here's the link: GCam Exynos APK
In sunlight, it should theoretically work with the stock settings, but they say it's recommended to change the auto-exposure correction to 1/2 sec, the Night Sight correction to 1/4 sec and the exposure compensation to -3,0 to get the best out of daytime GCam photos.
For Night Sight images, it's recommended to use the mackytravel-nightsight.xml file without any changes for outdoor night photos and for indoors, turn off auto-exposure correction and exposure compensation, change the Night Sight correction to 1
or 2 sec (depending on the level of darkness) and in the Advanced drop-down menu, turn off the ISO limit. This way, you can get more detail out from the S10e's powerful camera sensors.
Lastly, if you'd like to shoot something with the wide-angle lens, just change the auxiliary camera switching method to the long-press method.
You can find my GCam config folder with all of the said configuration files at the link here.
Just install the GCam apk, copy-paste the config folder to the root of your internal storage (/storage/emulated/0/) and double tap on the black area around the shutter button to choose between the three configuration files.

I've noticed a similar thing with my camera on my SD 855 model where images taken using the camera just don't look very natural or realistic. They look very much like a painting!
Currently I get better results with HDR on and scene optimiser turned off.
My iPhone 7 photos still look a bit more natural at times but obviously less detailed.
Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

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!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.