OnePlus Nord - OC freezes while taking RAW pictures

[Arvind P]

I have been using Open Camera with OnePlus Nord (with Android 11) for few months.
I have enabled Camera API setting to Camera2 API for taking raw (dng) pictures, and also for focus stacking.
Also RAW setting is enabled as Standard and DNG.

Everything works fine with JPEG files, but whenever I set the picture mode to RAW or RAW ONLY
the app freezes the moment it clicks the picture. Snapshots of the screen (before and after clicking) are attached. I have to restart the app.

I tried the following -

(1) Cleared the cache in App Settings. No effect.
(2) Uninstalled the app and re-installed it twice. Whenever the app is re-installed it starts taking RAW pictures. But after a few days it starts freezing while taking RAW pictures. I haven't detected any pattern in whatever I do till that time; its mostly normal photography.
(3) I also tried to change the Camera API setting back to 'Original camera' and then to Camera2 API again, but the problem persists.

So effectively I am unable to take raw pictures a few days (or hours) after I reinstall the App.

Attaching the debug information emitted by the app.

Would appreciate any clues. Thanks.

[Arvind P]

An update: The RAW files generation issue described above seems to be specific to STD mode only. DNG files are being generated in the Exp bracketing and Focus Bracketing mode (with and without jpg as per options selected).

[Arvind P]

Update #2: For version 1.49.1 running on Android 11 (Oxygen OS 11):

Have noticed that the above problem occurs only when the flash mode is OFF in the STD mode. If the flash mode is set to AUTO or ON then the raw pictures are getting generated.

There is a Photo setting that refers to use of alternative flash meter if the flash behavior with Camera2 API is buggy, etc. But that doesn't seem to make a difference in this case.

So now am avoiding use of flash = OFF. That's not a big limitation for me anyway.

[Gerard H. Pille]

Having the same issue on Oppo Find X3 Neo. Thanks for providing a workaround.

[Arvind P]

Which workaround worked for you?

[Gerard H. Pille]

Seems I answered anonymously. So I enabled exposure bracketing. Also with focus bracketing, I get 3 DNG's + 3 JPG's.

[Anonymous]

Enabling bracketing. I'd read somewhere that combining bracketing with raw was problematic, seems not.

[Anonymous]

Hi, could you please inform, approximately, after how many RAW/DNG pictures this happens?

I'm shoot RAW+JPG_100% or RAW-only sessions, wth Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T (Adroid 11) and have not had issues. I do not save very many shots, a session consists something in between 10 to 100 shots, then I choose only a few to keep. Open Camera 1.49.1 has been in use since day 0 and saves to SDcard, I use Simple Mobile Tools Gallery app (the Google Gallery has no permissions allowed (unfortunately Google or Xiaomi does not allow me to uninstall nor disable it), .During a session I do notice, sporadically, a pause that can be up to several seconds, but I'm thinking it must be due to the large size of the files, especially from repeat bursts in RAW only.

[Arvind P]

With mode=STD and flash=Auto, the app continues to take raw pictures apparently without a limit (other than the storage of course). Tried about 50 shots sequentially - no issues. But in real life I seldom take so many in one go. With flash=OFF it hangs while taking the first raw picture.

Yes, the raw files do seem to take a little while to get stored.
Does the burst mode "III" allow raw files on my phone? I don't think so.

[Anonymous]

I never ever use the flash=Auto, mainly flash=OFF, rarely Flash=ON. Usually I use STD. Now I tried 30 shots for each three flash settings, in STD mode, no issues.

The burst mode " []]] " does not allow RAW files on Xiaomi either, therefore I use the Repeat -function (with the Timer:Off) to simulate the rust mode, gives the same result. I did the above bursts that way.

Does it change the issue if you change the "Save location"? On Xiaomi, the Internal storage is faster than the SDcard (no matter how fast R/W specifications the SDcard has). The class 10 SDcards (they have the mark ⑩ printed on theirs face) are extremely slow especially for video/camera.

[Judith Bush]

Brand new Open Camera user with a Galaxy Note20 Ultra. I ma having a similar "freeze" and no save when settings are for Raw pr Raw only. Fiddling with flash hasn't helped. I'll look into it more this weeekend.

[Anonymous]

Similar problem here on LineageOS 18.1. Only it's not limited to RAW mode - it seems to happen at random at all times, with different settings.
Needless to say - extremely annoying.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm having the same problem since two or three days

[Anonymous]

Has anyone found a reliable solution to this problem? This is a major issue.
It's not limited to the Camera2 API, it happens with with the original API, as well as with JPEG, Auto Flash and STD shooting modes!
About half the time the camera can't take a picture. It pretty much makes the app unusable.

[Anonymous]

Surely not a major issue if an issue at all. Original poster seems to be running OxygenOS and another LineageOS, it is quite common that 3rd party operating systems have troubles with apps that use plenty of HW resources. Open Camera has 50,000,000+ installs from Google Play alone so if this was an issue, there would be loads of complaints.

[Anonymous]

complaints or not,the problem is still there.
I can not save RAW files on my stock xiaomi note 11

[Anonymous]

Oh its a problem, for me its a huge problem. I am an imvestigator and I cant say more about that. Witb my "Job' its important no its imperative that I have the ability to snap shots fast and as many as I can . It is a must that I use a phone camera for this. Lately Open Camera wants to take a smoke break between snap shots and thats a huge problem for me. My phone worked great and I played with the setting messed up the picrure then reset settings and now this, Funny thing about this i have had it stop when just watching the viewer. I am pretty sure its the save to SD but I need to save to SD I take thousands of photos every month or two and fills my internal storage. I drop box many of my phots so I was thinking using DB backup?? anyway OC is really messing me up. help!!

[Anonymous]

Hello,
I encounter the same problem with Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 and OpenCamera.
The DNG can't be saved and the OpenCamera app freezes.
The same when I set flash to auto and use bracketing, as suggested.
Fortunately, it works if I choose manual exposure mode (setting ISO and shutter speed) !

[Anonymous]

I'm so glad I came across this post
I was trying to save raw .dng photos in standard mode with flash off, but the camera would just freeze without saving. I looked all over the internet for solutions, until I tried setting the flash to auto as mentioned by Arvind further up the thread. Now the photo saved properly.

The problem with this is that I want to be able to take raw pictures without the flash on. It would be great if this bug were patched out
I use Android 13 on a redmi note 11

[Gerard H. Pille]

Then try exposure or focus bracketing. Gives you raw with flash off. Just tried it myself.

[Anonymous]

At least in OnePlus Nord case the freezes seem to be caused by ZSL. The following patch fixes this for me:

diff --git a/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java b/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java
index 1f7fa3a9..7b1f6749 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraController2.java
@@ -6729,7 +6729,13 @@ public class CameraController2 extends CameraController {
                     // unclear why we wouldn't want to request ZSL
                     // this is also required to enable HDR+ on Google Pixel devices when using Camera2: https://opensource.google.com/projects/pixelvisualcorecamera
                     // but don't set for extension sessions (in theory it should be ignored, but just in case)
-                    stillBuilder.set(CaptureRequest.CONTROL_ENABLE_ZSL, true);
+                    if ( want_raw && Build.MODEL.equals("AC2003") && (camera_settings.flash_value == "flash_off" || camera_settings.flash_value.startsWith("flash_frontscreen")) ) {
+                        if( MyDebug.LOG ) {
+                            Log.w(TAG, "Detected AC2003 camera with flash off and capturing in RAW mode - not enabling ZSL");
+                        }
+                    } else {
+                        stillBuilder.set(CaptureRequest.CONTROL_ENABLE_ZSL, true);
+                    }
                     if( MyDebug.LOG ) {
                         Boolean zsl = stillBuilder.get(CaptureRequest.CONTROL_ENABLE_ZSL);
                         Log.d(TAG, "CONTROL_ENABLE_ZSL: " + (zsl==null ? "null" : zsl));

I also use the following patch to disable "fake" cameras on OnePlus Nord, might be useful to someone:

diff --git a/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraControllerManager2.java b/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraControllerManager2.java
index 719237bd..16fcaa7b 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraControllerManager2.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/opencamera/cameracontroller/CameraControllerManager2.java
@@ -30,7 +30,13 @@ public class CameraControllerManager2 extends CameraControllerManager {
     public int getNumberOfCameras() {
         CameraManager manager = (CameraManager)context.getSystemService(Context.CAMERA_SERVICE);
         try {
-            return manager.getCameraIdList().length;
+            int len = manager.getCameraIdList().length;
+            if( Build.MODEL.equals("AC2003") && len == 8) {
+                    Log.w(TAG, "AC2003 detected, ignoring fake cameras");
+                    return 6;
+            } else {
+                    return len;
+            }
         }
         catch(Throwable e) {
             // in theory we should only get CameraAccessException, but Google Play shows we can get a variety of exceptions