Something appears to be wrong with the app on my Samsung Galaxy S10, because it's massively zoomed in by default when I try to take a photo. Attached here are photos taken from exactly the same position using Open Camera and Samsung's stock camera app. It's not possible to zoom out any further in Open Camera. Is this fixable?
Hi Mark, thanks for your quick reply. I'm embarrassed to admit that despite owning this phone for a year I had had no idea that it has multiple cameras - thanks for the enlightenment.
Testing covering the lenses shows that Open Camera is only making use of the central camera. It doesn't look like all third-party camera apps can use the other cameras - I tested two, "HD Camera for Android" and "Camera MX", which couldn't and could respectively.
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Thanks for the update! Note I think at least the ultra-wide camera is exposed to third party camera applications (at least it is on my S10e) (you can switch through all cameras in Open Camera using the switch camera icon, same as used to change between front/back). But other cameras aren't exposed as far as I know.
The Samsung stock camera makes the different cameras less obvious as things like zooming will seamlessly switch cameras. Ideally Open Camera would do that too, however it's much harder for a third party application that has to support many different devices with different kinds of multi-camera setups.
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OK, so... promise you won't laugh, alright? Well - I didn't realise that using that icon changed between the back cameras. Like, I saw "ID: 1" (etc) flash up but it didn't really register with me. I just tried it while paying more attention and yes, it does switch between the available cameras just fine. So what's been happening during my use of Open Camera is that sometimes I've been using one camera, sometimes another and not actually noticing that they were presenting a different zoom.
Now knowing that, I guess I would rewrite my opening post to this thread as "Switching between back cameras isn't very obvious" - perhaps you could add an onscreen indicator as to which camera is in use, rather than a transient label? Or to be quite honest, I find the method of choosing back camera by using the front-back switch icon a bit awkward. The other app I tested that had multiple camera support had a separate icon for switching camera that appeared when it was possible (ie not using the front camera).
In conclusion, nothing's wrong with Open Camera and I should have been paying more attention. Thanks for your help!
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It could be better as you say. It's on my todo to offer a different way to switch cameras (two separate icons, as you suggest), along with maybe some kind of on-screen icon.
The next version will also show a "toast" if using a non-default camera when starting up.
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Something appears to be wrong with the app on my Samsung Galaxy S10, because it's massively zoomed in by default when I try to take a photo. Attached here are photos taken from exactly the same position using Open Camera and Samsung's stock camera app. It's not possible to zoom out any further in Open Camera. Is this fixable?
Just to check, are these both using the same cameras (since the S10 has multiple rear ones)? How do other third party camera applications behave?
Hi Mark, thanks for your quick reply. I'm embarrassed to admit that despite owning this phone for a year I had had no idea that it has multiple cameras - thanks for the enlightenment.
Testing covering the lenses shows that Open Camera is only making use of the central camera. It doesn't look like all third-party camera apps can use the other cameras - I tested two, "HD Camera for Android" and "Camera MX", which couldn't and could respectively.
Thanks for the update! Note I think at least the ultra-wide camera is exposed to third party camera applications (at least it is on my S10e) (you can switch through all cameras in Open Camera using the switch camera icon, same as used to change between front/back). But other cameras aren't exposed as far as I know.
The Samsung stock camera makes the different cameras less obvious as things like zooming will seamlessly switch cameras. Ideally Open Camera would do that too, however it's much harder for a third party application that has to support many different devices with different kinds of multi-camera setups.
OK, so... promise you won't laugh, alright? Well - I didn't realise that using that icon changed between the back cameras. Like, I saw "ID: 1" (etc) flash up but it didn't really register with me. I just tried it while paying more attention and yes, it does switch between the available cameras just fine. So what's been happening during my use of Open Camera is that sometimes I've been using one camera, sometimes another and not actually noticing that they were presenting a different zoom.
Now knowing that, I guess I would rewrite my opening post to this thread as "Switching between back cameras isn't very obvious" - perhaps you could add an onscreen indicator as to which camera is in use, rather than a transient label? Or to be quite honest, I find the method of choosing back camera by using the front-back switch icon a bit awkward. The other app I tested that had multiple camera support had a separate icon for switching camera that appeared when it was possible (ie not using the front camera).
In conclusion, nothing's wrong with Open Camera and I should have been paying more attention. Thanks for your help!
It could be better as you say. It's on my todo to offer a different way to switch cameras (two separate icons, as you suggest), along with maybe some kind of on-screen icon.
The next version will also show a "toast" if using a non-default camera when starting up.