Open Camera / Blog: Recent posts

If you're on Android 4.4.3 or higher, you may notice aspect ratio bugs, both in the preview for photos, and for video in the preview and recorded video. This is likely related to this Android bug: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=70830

The next version of Open Camera will feature a workaround for this bug for video. (The same workaround that the stock Google Nexus camera already curiously applies, which is why that isn't affected - to call Parameters.setPictureSize with a size that matches the aspect ratio of the video resolution - although it's unclear why that should have any effect on video recording.)... read more

I'm pleased to see Open Camera is now at over 60,000 downloads. This includes over 21,000 downloads on Google Play - and curiously, over 29,000 on F-Droid. Whilst Google Play has a far bigger audience, it's also much harder for new apps due to so much more competition - if you write Open Source Android apps, I'd certainly recommend F-Droid as a way to reach users (and I'd recommend F-Droid as a user too, it's a great way to find Open Source apps, and free apps that aren't spammed full of ads).... read more

Version 1.13 is now available - various improvements have been made since I last posted about version 1.9 (see below).

I've also started uploading the binary APKs to Sourceforge at https://sourceforge.net/projects/opencamera/files/ . This has various benefits:

• It means old versions can always be obtained. Whilst I test each new version, there is always the risk of bugs appearing, especially if they only occur on devices that I don't have. And though I'll do my best to fix reported problems, it's still a pain to upgrade, only to find something doesn't work - unfortunately Google Play doesn't allow people to install old versions. So instead, you have the option to install an old version from Sourceforge.... read more

Version 1.9 is now available - this fixes an unfortunate bug in 1.8 that was causing crashes for some devices (either on startup, or switching camera).

One of the biggest problems in developing a camera application is that there are many different Android devices with different camera features and drivers, so sometimes crashes happen that don't occur on the devices I have access to (currently Galaxy Nexus and 2013 Nexus 7). If you experience a crash, this may be something I'm unaware of - the most helpful thing to do for me to fix the issue is to click the option to Report the crash, and let me know please (email, or on the forums, or open a ticket). Thanks!

Version 1.8 is now available:

FIXED   Crash on startup if Network or GPS location providers not available,
        and geotagging was enabled.
FIXED   Crash if specified save folder was an empty string.
FIXED   Don't ever turn on flash during autofocus when app is launched.
FIXED   Various other crashes.
ADDED   Option to not force screen display to maximum brightness.
ADDED   Option to display horizontal "level" line.
ADDED   Support for hardware menu button (now opens settings).
ADDED   Option to display a 4x2 grid (if you previously had a 3x3 "rule of
        thirds" grid, you'll have to reenable it under the Settings).
ADDED   Added privacy policy (for location permission/geotagging) to intro
        window text (needed for Nokia Store).
ADDED   Uses setRecordingHint, may improve performance of starting video
        recording.
ADDED   New About option in Settings, providing debug info.
UPDATED Don't re-autofocus before taking a photo, if camera recently
        successfully focused due to user touching the screen.
UPDATED Display yellow or green dot next to earth icon to indicate location
        accuracy.
UPDATED Display earth icon with red dash through it, if geotagging is enabled,
        but the app doesn't have a location.
UPDATED Current zoom is now saved when app goes idle, or switching cameras.
UPDATED Offset zoom slider slightly so as to not interfere with Google Now
        swipe.
UPDATED Allow greater range of characters (including unicode) for save location
        (now allows any character other than those reserved by filesystem).

I have released Open Camera on Nokia Store, making it available for Nokia's new Android-based Nokia X platform.

No changes were required, the same APK file works automatically (I'm not using any Google Play services, so it should be no different to any other variant of Android, such as Samsung's Touchwiz). I've briefly tested this on Nokia's Remote Device Access, but I don't have a real Nokia X to test it on - so please let me know of any problems!

Version 1.7 is now available:

FIXED   More fixes for aspect ratio - the preview display should now always
        have a 1:1 aspect ratio (on some devices this may mean black bars are
        shown, if there isn't a match between the camera's available preview
        sizes, and the aspect ratio of the device's display).
FIXED   Possible crash relating to creating thumbnails.
FIXED   Autofocus on startup didn't always actually focus.
FIXED   If camera doesn't support focus areas, but does support metering areas,
        still set the metering area.
FIXED   Was sometimes trying to set metering areas when metering areas not
        supported by device.
FIXED   If image is deleted after taking the photo, the thumbnail is now
        properly updated to what is now the most recent photo or video.
UPDATED Save folder can now be an absolute path, allowing possibility to save
        on external SD cards (though you need to know what the path is, which
        typically varies depending on device; I am unable to test this, so
        please let me know if it does or doesn't work).
UPDATED Zoom -/+ control now matches the zoom slider orientation.
UPDATED Hide some icons when taking video, as they don't do anything.
ADDED   New option to set preview aspect ratio to match the picture/video
        aspect ratio (WYSIWIG).

Version 1.6 is now available:

FIXED   Crash when trying to access image or video resolutions in settings, if
        camera didn't offer these settings.
FIXED   Exposure compensation wasn't available on devices if min or max
        exposure compensation level was equal to 0.
FIXED   Aspect ratio problems with the preview on some devices (if you are
        still having problems, please let me know what Android device you are
        using).
FIXED   Aspect ratio problems with the preview on all devices when switching
        the camera.
FIXED   Problem on smaller devices where on-screen text overlapped with take
        photo button; the text is now aligned to above the button on all
        devices.
ADDED   Zoom can now be also controlled via on-screen slider (next to the
        plus/minus zoom buttons).
ADDED   Option for volume keys to control the exposure compensation.
ADDED   Option to display compass direction of camera on-screen (defaults to
        on, disable it in options if you don't like it).
ADDED   Option to choose microphone for recording audio (support for external
        microphones).
UPDATED Exposure compensation is now set via a new button in the on-screen GUI
        (the black and white +/- symbol) instead of the settings. Clicking this
        will bring up a slider and plus/minus buttons to adjust the exposure
        compensation. To get rid of the slider and buttons, either click the
        Exposure button again, or click elsewhere on the screen.
UPDATED Geotagging now stores image compass direction (GPSImgDirection,
        GPSImgDirectionRef).
UPDATED Display degree symbol for displayed on-screen angles.
UPDATED Zoom control is now transparent.
UPDATED Filter applied to sensor for device angle.

Version 1.5 is now available - various crash fixes, including a problem with Android 4.4:

FIXED   Crash on Android 4.4 when launching for first time, or changing the
        save folder (issue with creating the save folder, due to Android no
        longer allowing ANDROID_MEDIA_MOUNTED to be broadcast).
FIXED   Crash if failed to open camera after switching cameras, then user tried
        to zoom.
FIXED   Other potential crashes (NumberFormatException on "es209ra" on startup;
        RuntimeException on Xperia Go when taking photo; RuntimeException on
        "maxx_ax5" when taking photo with face detection).

Version 1.4 of Open Camera is now available from Google Play.

Release notes:

FIXED   Calculation for focus areas wasn't right for front facing cameras.
FIXED   Exif data wasn't getting saved if auto-stabilise option was enabled
        (this also meant that on some cameras/focus modes, the orientation
        would have been incorrect).
FIXED   "Toast" pop-up messages looked poor on Android 4.4.
FIXED   Fixed potential crash if taking picture fails.
FIXED   Touch to focus with continuous focus shouldn't show red box.
FIXED   Crash with auto-stabilise for some angles larger than 90 degrees.
FIXED   Crash when rotating device when viewing "Photo and video settings".
FIXED   If device was rotated when app was idle, the UI sometimes showed with
        the incorrect orientation.
ADDED   Images now tagged with current location (optional, off by default). Note
        that Open Camera now requires Location permission, for this feature.
ADDED   Option for face detection.
ADDED   Touch to select focus area also now sets the metering area (used to
        determine exposure).
ADDED   Now displays current time.
ADDED   Option to display a 3x3 grid ("rule of thirds").
ADDED   Now displays flashy thumbnail animation when taking a photo (you can
        disable this in the options under "More camera controls..." if you
        don't like this sort of thing!)
UPDATED Gallery button now displays thumbnail of last image/video taken.
UPDATED Clicking the Gallery button now goes to most recent image/video.
UPDATED Made it easier to see on-screen text when underlying photo preview is
        bright, by drawing a background with the text.

Version 1.3 of Open Camera is now available from Google Play.

This version adds a new burst mode feature - take a repeated set of photos at once, or with a delay. You can also now set the video resolution. The battery status is now displayed on screen, the settings page has been reorganised, along with various other fixes.

Version 1.2 of Open Camera is now available from Google Play.

This version adds control of exposure compensation to the options. The auto-focus box (which turns red/green to indicate failure/success of auto-focus) now shows whether or not a focus region has been selected. A couple of crashes were fixed, along with with various other bug fixes.

Open Camera is a new camera app for Android phones/tablets, available now for free on Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera .

I created it because none of the existing camera apps worked quite like the way I wanted. Also many I tried were either adware (with often no option to pay to remove them) or paid versions without free versions to try out first. And some miss basic features (e.g., multitouch zoom, or in some cases having zoom at all).... read more