any phone camera experts?
 

I have a problem with my phone (Samsung Ultra 21) and had the same problem with its predecessor, Samsung S9. At times when I try to take a photo or video I get the zoom bar along the bottom of the screen and the shutter won't fire. Infuriating. If I go to the image gallery and return to the camera this will sometimes resolve it.
I've tried Google but nothing relevant comes up

any phone camera experts?
 

fred wrote:

At times when I try to take a photo or video I get the zoom bar along
the bottom of the screen and the shutter won't fire.
Have you tried a 3rd party camera app, e.g.

https://opencamera.org.uk/

any phone camera experts?
 

On Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 9:47:02 AM UTC, Andy Burns wrote:
fred wrote:

At times when I try to take a photo or video I get the zoom bar along
the bottom of the screen and the shutter won't fire.
Have you tried a 3rd party camera app, e.g.

https://opencamera.org.uk/


Andy

had a wee look at that .Looks interesting except it doesn't appear to make use of the different lenses we have available. I did have a previous camera app which I seem to have lost but it was very slow to work so I generally ignored it

any phone camera experts?
 

fred wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

https://opencamera.org.uk/

had a wee look at that .Looks interesting except it doesn't appear to
make use of the different lenses we have available. I did have a
previous camera app which I seem to have lost but it was very slow
to work so I generally ignored it
I only have one front, one back camera, but I note that it says

quote
Switch multi-camera icon

This icon only shows on devices with more than one front and/or back
cameras, and allows you to switch between those cameras. For example, a
device might have two back cameras, one standard and one ultra-wide,
this icon will switch between the standard and ultra-wide camera. If
Settings/On screen GUI/"Multiple cameras icon" is disabled, then this
icon will not show; instead the "Switch camera" icon can by used to
cycle through all the cameras. Note that some devices do not allow third
party applications to access their multiple cameras, in which case Open
Camera isn't able to use them
endquote

any phone camera experts?
 

On Tue, 23 Feb 2021 01:23:24 -0800 (PST), fred
wrote:

I have a problem with my phone (Samsung Ultra 21) and had the same problem with its predecessor, Samsung S9. At times when I try to take a photo or video I get the zoom bar along the bottom of the screen and the shutter won't fire. Infuriating. If I go to the image gallery and return to the camera this will sometimes resolve it.
I've tried Google but nothing relevant comes up

My Galaxy S10 is less clever at finding the focus point that the S7 I
had previously. I find, though, that if i tap the screen where I want
it to focus it does so. (A circle appears on the screen - I haven't
taken the time to establish if it was there anyway or whether it
appears in response to my tap, but you want that to be at the focus
point.)

any phone camera experts?
 

Andy Burns wrote:
quote
Switch multi-camera icon

This icon only shows on devices with more than one front and/or back
cameras, and allows you to switch between those cameras. For example, a
device might have two back cameras, one standard and one ultra-wide,
this icon will switch between the standard and ultra-wide camera. If
Settings/On screen GUI/"Multiple cameras icon" is disabled, then this
icon will not show; instead the "Switch camera" icon can by used to
cycle through all the cameras. Note that some devices do not allow third
party applications to access their multiple cameras, in which case Open
Camera isn't able to use them
endquote

The Samsung camera app uses special proprietary APIs to talk to the camera
on top of the generic Android camera APIs. The Android side works, but
doesn't exploit the full features provided by the camera. This also means a
camera downgrade if you run something other than Samsung's Android on your
phone.

Theo

any phone camera experts?
 

Theo wrote:

Andy Burns quoted:

Note that some devices do not allow third
party applications to access their multiple cameras, in which case Open
Camera isn't able to use them

The Samsung camera app uses special proprietary APIs to talk to the camera
on top of the generic Android camera APIs. The Android side works, but
doesn't exploit the full features provided by the camera. This also means a
camera downgrade if you run something other than Samsung's Android on your
phone.

I suppose that's covered by the final sentence, though some phones with
thermal imaging also present that as an extra camera using the standard API.

any phone camera experts?
 

On Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 11:28:45 AM UTC, Andy Burns wrote:
fred wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

https://opencamera.org.uk/

had a wee look at that .Looks interesting except it doesn't appear to
make use of the different lenses we have available. I did have a
previous camera app which I seem to have lost but it was very slow
to work so I generally ignored it
I only have one front, one back camera, but I note that it says

quote
Switch multi-camera icon

This icon only shows on devices with more than one front and/or back
cameras, and allows you to switch between those cameras. For example, a
device might have two back cameras, one standard and one ultra-wide,
this icon will switch between the standard and ultra-wide camera. If
Settings/On screen GUI/"Multiple cameras icon" is disabled, then this
icon will not show; instead the "Switch camera" icon can by used to
cycle through all the cameras. Note that some devices do not allow third
party applications to access their multiple cameras, in which case Open
Camera isn't able to use them
endquote


Yes but it only shows me wide angle, standard and one telephoto

any phone camera experts?
 

Andy Burns wrote:
Theo wrote:

Andy Burns quoted:

Note that some devices do not allow third
party applications to access their multiple cameras, in which case Open
Camera isn't able to use them

The Samsung camera app uses special proprietary APIs to talk to the camera
on top of the generic Android camera APIs. The Android side works, but
doesn't exploit the full features provided by the camera. This also means a
camera downgrade if you run something other than Samsung's Android on your
phone.

I suppose that's covered by the final sentence, though some phones with
thermal imaging also present that as an extra camera using the standard API.

In the case of the Galaxy Note 4, it was something like 4K recording was
possible with the Samsung camera app, but it enforced a time limit (5
minutes) due to thermal limitations. If you used another app you didn't get
4K recording (I think), and likewise if you installed stock Android the
standard camera drivers couldn't speak the proprietary API to the camera
firmware so it disabled a number of the features like HDR.

Point being it's not just multiple cameras, it can also downgrade the
capability of the main camera.

Theo