Ultra wide and tele not recognized by opencamera

[Anonymous]

Thanks mark-h for bringing us such a good camera app, it works fine on my Huawei P40pro, but as many other android phones, the ultra wide and tele camera were not recognized by my new Nubia Z40pro, the multi-camera feature was shown as false on it even with camera2 api, however, they can be recognized by modified GCAM, freedcam as well as the camera2.test app.

below was the debug information of my Nubia:
Open Camera v1.50.1
Code: 85
Package: net.sourceforge.opencamera
Android API version: 31
Device manufacturer: nubia
Device model: NX702J
Device code-name: qcom
Device variant: P898A21
Language: zh
Standard max heap?: 256
Large max heap?: 512
Display size: 1080x2310
Display metrics: 1080x2310
Current camera ID: 0
No. of cameras: 2
Multi-camera?: false
Camera API: Camera2 (Android L)
Camera orientation: 90
Photo mode: 普通(Standard)
Min zoom factor: 1.0
Max zoom factor: 8.0
Preview resolutions: 2400x1080, 1920x1080, 1440x1080, 1280x960, 1560x720, 1024x1024, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600, 864x480, 800x480, 720x480, 640x480, 640x360, 352x288, 320x240, 176x144
Preview resolution: 1440x1080
Photo resolutions: 4624x3472[no burst], 4608x3456[no burst], 4160x3120, 4080x3072, 4000x3000, 4608x2592, 3616x2720, 4624x2080, 2976x2976, 4096x2160, 3840x2160, 3280x2460, 3264x2448, 4080x1836, 2592x1944, 2560x1920, 3240x1458, 2304x1728, 2048x1536, 1920x1440, 2400x1080, 1920x1080, 1600x1200, 1440x1080, 1280x960, 1560x720, 1024x1024, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600, 864x480, 800x480, 720x480, 640x480, 640x360, 352x288, 320x240
Photo resolution: 4624x3472
Video qualities: 1, 6, 5, 4, 3_r640x480
Video resolutions: 4096x2160, 3840x2160, 4080x1836, 2592x1944, 2560x1920, 3240x1458, 2304x1728, 2048x1536, 1920x1440, 2400x1080, 1920x1080, 1600x1200, 1440x1080, 1280x960, 1560x720, 1024x1024, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600, 864x480, 800x480, 720x480, 640x480, 640x360, 352x288, 320x240, 176x144
Video quality: 1
Video frame width: 3840
Video frame height: 2160
Video bit rate: 200000000
Video frame rate: 60
Video capture rate: 60.0
Video high speed: false
Video capture rate factor: 1.0
Auto-level?: true
Auto-level enabled?: false
Face detection?: true
RAW?: true
HDR?: true
Panorama?: true
Gyro sensors?: true
Expo?: true
Expo compensation?: true
Exposure compensation range: -12 to 12
Manual ISO?: true
ISO range: 100 to 6400
Manual exposure?: true
Exposure range: 74616 to 348128892
Manual WB?: true
WB temperature: 1000 to 15000
Optical stabilization?: true
Optical stabilization enabled?: true
Video stabilization?: true
Video stabilization enabled?: false
Tonemap curve?: true
Tonemap max curve points: 64
Can disable shutter sound?: true
Camera view angle: 52.934994 , 39.84658
Flash modes: flash_off, flash_auto, flash_on, flash_torch, flash_red_eye
Focus modes: focus_mode_auto, focus_mode_macro, focus_mode_locked, focus_mode_infinity, focus_mode_manual2, focus_mode_continuous_picture, focus_mode_continuous_video
Color effects: none, mono, negative, solarize, sepia, posterize, aqua, blackboard, whiteboard
Scene modes: auto, action, portrait, landscape, night, night-portrait, theatre, beach, snow, sunset, fireworks, sports, party, candlelight
White balances: auto, manual, incandescent, fluorescent, warm-fluorescent, daylight, cloudy-daylight, twilight, shade
Magnetic accuracy?: -1
Using SAF?: false
Save Location:
Save Location SAF:
Parameters: None

[Anonymous]

I second this. A recent update to the Nokia camera app on my 7 Plus has disabled my telephoto camera and the 2x switch does nothing but digital now. Gcam regularly fails to save images to my device without a restart, and Proshot has edge sharpening I can't seem to turn off.

I'd love if there was a way for OpenCam to force recognise these extra lenses like all these alternative 3rd party apps seem to manage.

[Mark]

"No. of cameras: 2" means that the camera API is only showing 2 cameras.

My understanding is that Freedcam attempts to open camera IDs, whether or not they're advertised by the API. Whilst this can in some cases gain access to extra cameras, in my opinion it's a bad idea - it risks exposing buggy cameras or cameras that weren't intended to be exposed. Consider that it's not just a case of different cameras, you also have devices where different physical cameras work together to form a single virtual camera. So for example on my Pixel 6 Pro, Freedcam shows several back cameras - but switching them causes it to freeze, and it doesn't work until I clear Freedcam's storage to reset it. (Even if it didn't freeze, it wouldn't be correct to expose separate cameras on the Pixel 6 Pro since they are instead exposed by zooming).

The various Google camera ports are specifically targetted for every device.

The camera2.test app one is curious though, and I don't know why that is showing extra cameras (the same app on my Pixel 6 Pro only shows two cameras, i.e., it doesn't show the extra cameras that Freedcam exposes).

Really though, Nokia should be exposing their cameras via the CONTROL_ZOOM_RATIO, as recommended by Google at https://source.android.com/docs/core/camera/multi-camera#best-practices .

[Anonymous]

Based on what they've done to the stock camera app, they aren't exactly following best practices with their updates. I miss old Nokia :/

Sorry to be a bother but is there a way you could implement a 'dev options' hidden menu with the ability to force these other lenses on? Back when i first got my Nokia 7 Plus (sent it for repair, got a replacement 7.2 instead) telephoto toggles worked flawlessly, but now in 2022 there's so few options to use this lens I'm feeling stuck with this half-functioning camera. If it were a little buggy i wouldn't mind, having an app as fully featured as yours with log video (the best!) and all the other fantastic features it's a tradeoff i wouldn't mind too much. :)

[Anonymous]

Hey Mark, photoncamera works fine on my Nubia Z40s pro, 3 cameras including 3.5x, 1x and 0.4x can be accessed, it's really weired that opencamera can only access 1 of the rear cameras. so can you do some investigations on the code of photoncamera, because opencamera is still my best solution for photo and video.

[Mark]

My reply at https://sourceforge.net/p/opencamera/discussion/general/thread/09e007a238/?limit=25#8626 applies to this too - I think Photon Camera uses the same method of trying camera IDs whether or not they're advertised, and in my opinion that has the same risks I mention. Photon Camera on my Pixel 6 Pro just shows a frozen preview on my Pixel 6 Pro if I select one of the other cameras.

Google's solution for multiple cameras is the CONTROL_ZOOM_RATIO, and Open Camera supports this - it's a really good solution for multi cameras, and I wish other manufacturers would support it...

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply, so could you just give us a choice to force access those cameras by id in setup, and let the program to disable it when failed, just a suggestion, because these is little hope that all the manufacturers meet the develop standard of Google in their rom. Thanks again, and I really love opencamera for it's performance on video and photo taken, 4K time-lapse, sharpless photos, and so on, so I really hope that it can access all the cameras of my phone. I also tried to modify the code, defining a total camera number, enabling the multi-camera feature, but failed.

[Anonymous]

Here's a comparison of stock camera, opencamera and GCAM, the stock one has too much sharpness, and GCAM one takes too much time, opencamera one is a good balance between quality and time.

[Anonymous]

Hello, as many others, I am facing the same thing. I have Xiaomi Redmi note 9 and Open Camera sees only the main sensor and front facing one. No change if I use Camera 2 API or the other one. All the sensors (4x rear facing + 1x front facing) are usable in PhotonCamera and GCam, also I am not sure if these apps would be adjusted for this phone as I tested many random versions of GCam. Although there are other apps that also see only two cameras... Still it is a great app and I love using it.

[Anonymous]

I used note 9 pro for a long time and believe me only the main camera can provide good photos, the rest 3 of them were just junk cameras.

[Anonymous]

Well you're right that macro and the "depth" sensor are junk and not really worth using but I would say that ultra wide is not that bad. When you have conditions that allow you to use low ISO it is not so bad for this cheap phone. The stock camera app makes lot of photos ugly with its noise filtering even on Pro mode. When you shoot raw you can get much better results as well as using GCam or PhotonCamera or OpenCamera with lower noise reduction.

[mungo3000]

There is already a fork of OpenCamera that is able to handle two lenses ("normal lens" and "wide agle lens") https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/camera/-/tree/v1.51.1/ This fork of OpenCamera is used by the custom rom /e/ foundation . You could try to install an apk-artifact https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/camera/-/artifacts, but it crashes immediately on Lineage 20 even if I install it as a system app.

The screenshots (see attachments) are made with a MOTO X4 (payton) on a Android 11 based /e/foundation custom rom.

@mark-h => Could the button for selecting the lens be merged into the official OpenCamera app?

[Mark]

Open Camera supports multiple lenses too. What happens if Open Camera is run on that same device?

[mungo3000]

Yes you are right. After installing OpenCamera from f-droid store on /e/foundation OpenCamera shows an additional button for changing the lens.

@mark-h: Why does OpenCamera not show this lens-switching-button on LineageOS ?

[Mark]

It's based on what the Android API returns for the number of available cameras. So this must be to do with what the different operating systems are exposing to third party applications.

[mungo3000]

I have two Moto X4 devices:

Device 1: LineageOS 20 (no GAPPS): OpenCamera does not show any button/option to change the lens
Device 2: /e/foundation (microG included): OpenCamera -/e/foundation-fork shows a button to change the lens

Currently I use FreeDCam from f-droid-store or PhotonCamera on device 1, when I need the wide-angle lens.

On Monday I could try to install the official OpenCamera from f-droid-store on device 2.

@mark-h Does the multiple lenses-support of OpenCamera app depend on GAPPS or microG?

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to use the ultra wide camera integrated with zoom? My default camera app does that. (Android 11 Moto G Power 2020)