Need some info regarding the OpenCamera app

[Anonymous]

I'm writing a review, and I have some questions that concern OpenCamera. First of all I'm using a TP-LINK smartphone Neffos C5 (Android 5.1), and the information in "About" is as follows:

Open Camera v1.34
Code: 41
(c) 2013-2016 Mark Harman
Released under the GPL v3 or later
Package: net.sourceforge.opencamera
Android API version: 22
Device manufacturer: TP-LINK
Device model: Neffos C5
Device code-name: mt6735
Device variant: C5
Language: pl
Standard max heap?: 128
Large max heap?: 256
Display size: 720x1184
Current camera ID: 0
Camera API: Camera
Preview resolutions: 176x144, 320x240, 352x288, 480x320, 480x368, 640x480, 720x480, 800x480, 800x600, 864x480, 960x540, 1280x720, 1440x1080, 1920x1080, 1920x1088, 1680x1248
Preview resolution: 1280x720
Photo resolutions: 320x240, 640x480, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, 1920x1088, 2048x1536, 2560x1440, 2560x1920, 3264x2448
Photo resolution: 3264x2448
Video qualities: 1, 5_r1920x1080, 5_r1280x736, 5, 4_r864x480, 4, 3_r640x480, 3_r480x320, 3, 7, 2
Video resolutions: 1920x1088, 1920x1080, 1280x736, 1280x720, 864x480, 720x480, 640x480, 480x320, 352x288, 320x240, 176x144
Video quality: 5_r1920x1080
Video frame width: 1920
Video frame height: 1080
Video bit rate: 9000000
Video frame rate: 30
Auto-stabilise?: Available
Auto-stabilise enabled?: false
Face detection?: Available
RAW?: Not available
Video stabilization?: Not available
Flash modes: flash_off, flash_auto, flash_on, flash_torch, flash_red_eye
Focus modes: focus_mode_auto, focus_mode_infinity, focus_mode_macro, focus_mode_locked, focus_mode_continuous_picture, focus_mode_continuous_video
Color effects: none, mono, negative, sepia, aqua, whiteboard, blackboard, posterize, nashville, hefe, valencia, xproll, lofi, sierra, walden
Scene modes: auto, portrait, landscape, night, night-portrait, theatre, beach, snow, sunset, steadyphoto, fireworks, sports, party, candlelight, hdr
White balances: auto, incandescent, fluorescent, warm-fluorescent, daylight, cloudy-daylight, twilight, shade
ISOs: auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
ISO key: iso-speed
Using SAF?: false
Save Location: OpenCamera
Save Location SAF: 
Parameters: 3dnr-mode=on;
3dnr-mode-values=on,off;
afeng-max-focus-step=1023;
afeng-min-focus-step=0;
aflamp-mode=off;
aflamp-mode-values=off,on,auto;
antibanding=off;
antibanding-values=off,50hz,60hz,auto;
auto-exposure-lock-supported=true;
auto-whitebalance-lock-supported=true;
brightness=middle;
brightness-values=low,middle,high;
brightness_value=0;
burst-num=1;
cap-mode=normal;
cap-mode-values=normal,face_beauty,continuousshot,smileshot,bestshot,autorama,mav,asd,motiontrack;
capfname=/sdcard/DCIM/cap00;
chutter-value=0;
contrast=middle;
contrast-values=low,middle,high;
cshot-indicator=true;
cshot-indicator-supported=true;
dynamic-frame-rate=true;
dynamic-frame-rate-supported=true;
edge=middle;
edge-values=low,middle,high;
effect=none;
effect-values=none,mono,negative,sepia,aqua,whiteboard,blackboard,posterize,nashville,hefe,valencia,xproll,lofi,sierra,walden;
eng-mfll-e=false;
eng-mfll-s=true;
eng-s-shad-t=0;
eng-shad-t=0;
exposure-compensation=0;
exposure-compensation-step=1.0;
face-beauty=false;
face-beauty-supported=true;
fb-enlarge-eye=0;
fb-enlarge-eye-max=4;
fb-enlarge-eye-min=-4;
fb-extreme-beauty=true;
fb-extreme-beauty-supported=false;
fb-face-pos=-2000:-2000;
fb-sharp=0;
fb-sharp-max=12;
fb-sharp-max-values=12;
fb-sharp-min=-12;
fb-sharp-min-values=-12;
fb-skin-color=0;
fb-skin-color-max=12;
fb-skin-color-max-values=12;
fb-skin-color-min=-12;
fb-skin-color-min-values=-12;
fb-slim-face=0;
fb-slim-face-max=12;
fb-slim-face-max-values=12;
fb-slim-face-min=-12;
fb-slim-face-min-values=-12;
fb-smooth-level=0;
fb-smooth-level-max=12;
fb-smooth-level-max-values=12;
fb-smooth-level-min=-12;
fb-smooth-level-min-values=-12;
fb-touch-pos=-2000:-2000;
feature-max-fps=24@VFB+EIS;
flash-duty-max=1;
flash-duty-min=0;
flash-duty-value=-1;
flash-mode=off;
flash-mode-values=off,on,auto,red-eye,torch;
flash-step-max=0;
flash-step-min=0;
focal-length=3.5;
focus-areas=(0,0,0,0,0);
focus-distances=0.95,1.9,Infinity;
focus-fs-fi=0;
focus-fs-fi-max=65535;
focus-fs-fi-min=0;
focus-mode=continuous-video;
focus-mode-values=auto,macro,infinity,continuous-picture,continuous-video,manual,fullscan;
gesture-shot=false;
gesture-shot-supported=true;
horizontal-view-angle=62;
hsvr-size-fps=640x480x120;
hsvr-size-fps-values=640x480x120;
hue=middle;
hue-values=low,middle,high;
iso-speed=auto;
iso-speed-values=auto,100,200,400,800,1600;
jpeg-quality=90;
jpeg-thumbnail-height=128;
jpeg-thumbnail-quality=100;
jpeg-thumbnail-size-values=0x0,160x128,256x192;
jpeg-thumbnail-width=160;
m-sr-g=0;
m-ss=0;
max-exposure-compensation=3;
max-num-detected-faces-hw=15;
max-num-detected-faces-sw=0;
max-num-focus-areas=1;
max-num-metering-areas=9;
max-num-ot=1;
max-zoom=10;
metering-areas=(0,0,0,0,0);
mfb=off;
mfb-values=off,mfll,ais;
min-exposure-compensation=-3;
mnr-e=0;
mnr-s=true;
mtk-123-shad-s=true;
mtk-awb-s=true;
mtk-cam-mode=0;
mtk-shad-s=true;
native-pip=false;
native-pip-supported=false;
picture-format=jpeg;
picture-format-values=jpeg;
picture-size=2560x1440;
picture-size-values=320x240,640x480,1024x768,1280x720,1280x768,1280x960,1600x1200,1920x1088,2048x1536,2560x1440,2560x1920,3264x2448;
pip-fps-zsd-off=30;
pip-fps-zsd-on=30;
preferred-preview-size-for-video=1920x1088;
preview-format=yuv420sp;
preview-format-values=yuv420sp,yuv420p,yuv420i-yyuvyy-3plane;
preview-fps-range=5000,60000;
preview-fps-range-values=(5000,60000);
preview-frame-rate=30;
preview-frame-rate-values=10,20,15,24,30,60,120;
preview-size=1280x720;
preview-size-values=176x144,320x240,352x288,480x320,480x368,640x480,720x480,800x480,800x600,864x480,960x540,1280x720,1440x1080,1920x1080,1920x1088,1680x1248;
rotation=0;
saturation=middle;
saturation-values=low,middle,high;
scene-mode=auto;
scene-mode-values=auto,portrait,landscape,night,night-portrait,theatre,beach,snow,sunset,steadyphoto,fireworks,sports,party,candlelight,hdr;
sen-mode-s=0;
sensor-type=252;
smooth-zoom-supported=true;
sr-awb-s=true;
sr-shad-s=true;
stereo-capture-frame-rate=15;
stereo-preview-frame-rate=15;
sv1-s=3;
sv2-s=3;
vdr-cc2m-s=true;
vdr-r=0;
vdr-r2m-s=true;
vdr-r4k2k-s=true;
vertical-view-angle=37;
vfb-supported=true;
vfb-supported-values=true;
video-frame-format=yuv420p;
video-hdr=off;
video-hdr-values=off;
video-size=640x480;
video-size-values=176x144,320x240,352x288,480x320,640x480,864x480,1280x720,1920x1080,720x480,1280x736,1920x1088;
video-snapshot-supported=true;
video-stabilization=false;
video-stabilization-supported=false;
vr-buf-count=10;
vrd-mfr-e=true;
vrd-mfr-high=30;
vrd-mfr-low=15;
vrd-mfr-max=30;
vrd-mfr-min=15;
vrd-mfr-s=true;
whitebalance=auto;
whitebalance-values=auto,incandescent,fluorescent,warm-fluorescent,daylight,cloudy-daylight,twilight,shade;
zoom=0;
zoom-ratios=100,114,132,151,174,200,229,263,303,348,400;
zoom-supported=true;
zsd-mode=off;
zsd-mode-values=off,on

The questions are:

1. I was playing with the video settings a little bit, and I'm not sure whether OpenCamera can detect FPS right. Movies that are recorded via stock application shows 30 FPS at 1920x1080 px, but when they are recorded via OpenCamera, it shows 12-14 fps.
   The stock app:
   Frame rate :21.270 FPS
   Minimum frame rate :16.331 FPS
   Maximum frame rate :30.992 FPS
   OpenCamera:
   Frame rate :14.875 FPS
   Minimum frame rate :12.477 FPS
   Maximum frame rate :16.940 FPS

2. According to the specification of the smartphone, the selfie camera can record 640x480@30. It can shoot 5 mpix photos though. In OpenCamera I can see that it records using 1920x1080, and this resolution is visible, for instance, in VLC. I don't think there's any difference between the video recorded using stock app and OpenCamera, but I just wanted to know if is it a bug or something else?

3. Is there or will be an option to choose a video container? The default for this smartphone is .3gp, OpenCamera offers .mp4. What about .mkv?
4. The default behavior of OSD menu is a little bit inconvenient. I mean, you have to enter the menu each time you select an option. Is there a way to open that menu so it would say opened till you close it manually (or automatically after some secs), so you can select options you want?
5. I'm not sure whether the voice activation feature is bugged or my phone doesn't support it. I couldn't activate the camera with noise. The stock app also has this feature, but it also fails, so or I'm doing something wrong, or this doesn't work at all on this phone.
6. Is there a way to force the light to be on all the time? I'm asking because just before taking the picture, the light turns off for a short period of time and then before taking the picture it turns on again.
7. There's an option that can lock the screen so you can't accidentally interrupt the video recording. But you can still interrupt it via buttons. Can this be fixed somewhat?
8. I wanted to store photos and videos on the SD card, so I enabled the Use Storage Access Framework option. But there's just "recent". There's no 3 dots there which can show me some menu.
9. Is there a way to save photos in .png format?
10. Is there an option that would allow to rewrite old video/audio files? For instance, when you have limited space, let's say 1 GiB, and want to store video in 100 MiB chunks, now you are allowed to store 10 chunks, but if you want to store more, there could be an option where the first chunk (the oldest) would be deleted and a new file would be created, and so on. Is there a way to achieve that?

[Mark]

1a. The video recording is done by the Android API, so Open Camera has no control over the creation of the video file (it is possible to specify an FPS - this is under Settings/Video settings/"Video frame rate" - but this is just a suggestion to the Android system and often does't help). Stock camera apps may be using a device's own (internal/non-public) API rather than the standard Android APIs that third party apps have to use.

1b. I'm not sure - Open Camera offers whichever video resolutions the camera driver says are available. Interesting that it offers a higher resolution that the stock application offers (usually the problem is the other way round).

1. There isn't an option, it's on my todo to offer an option.

2. There isn't I'm afraid. Also on my todo (e.g., making it so that long press makes it open in a "sticky" mode).

3. I guess an obvious question is whether the microphone works at all for say recording videos. If it does, I'm not sure why the audio listening methods don't work either for Open Camera or the stock camera.

4. You should be able to select torch mode? Or do you mean it turns off even when you use that option?

5. I'm afraid not, certain buttons like the home button can't be overridden (probably for good reason, it'd be bad if the user got stuck in an app they couln't get out of, but it means things like preventing accidental presses when recording video aren't possible).

6. I've had a few people say this - the user interface that shows is part of the Android system UI, so it's out of my control. It works on some devices but not others for some reason. Do other third party apps have the same issue? E.g., A Better Camera uses Storage Access Framework by default (More Settings/Saving and sharing/"Save to" choose "Custom folder" should show the Storage Access Framework interface).

7. No, only JPEG, and option for RAW (DNG) if supported by the device (requires Camera2 mode).

8. There isn't I'm afraid.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the answer.

You should be able to select torch mode? Or do you mean it turns off even when you use that option?

Yes, this happens in the torch mode.

I've had a few people say this - the user interface that shows is part of the Android system UI, so it's out of my control. It works on some devices but not others for some reason. Do other third party apps have the same issue? E.g., A Better Camera uses Storage Access Framework by default (More Settings/Saving and sharing/"Save to" choose "Custom folder" should show the Storage Access Framework interface).

Yes, it seems the "A Better Camera" also has this problem.