Camera FX 1.0 Help

Help

This is a full screen view of the camera.

The focus is set to infinity, the flash to automatic. Depending on your phone’s camera you can set your flash-mode tooff; on; red-eye as well and your focus-mode to macro as well. Auto-focus is indicated by the absence of a focus-icon on the camera’s screen.

This is another full screen view of the camera.

The focus-mode has been set to automatic and this changes the shutter-button to and the focus-button to.

Right now, the shutter-button is in required auto-focus mode (points to ‘AF’). This means that the camera will auto-focus first before a picture can be taken. Since the camera will auto-focus, pressing the focus-button to manually obtain focus is useless. The button is disabled.

When you swipe your finger upwards on the shutter-button, it will change to(points to ‘MF’) and the focus-button will change to(button is enabled). This will allow you to always take a picture whether the image is in focus or not. If you need to pre-focus Manually, press the focus-button. As soon as the image gets in focus, the center of the shutter-button will turn from gray to green.

If the focus-mode is set to infinity, the shutter-button will always point to ‘MF’ and the focus-button is not shown.

In the top-left corner you see the last-picture-taken thumbnail. It shows a thumbnail of the last picture that you took. When you click on it, it will open up the Image Editor allowing you to modify this picture.

You can take a picture by either clicking on the shutter-button (“Click anywhere” is not set) or by clicking on the image-preview area (“Click anywhere” is set).

The green push-pin in the bottom right corner indicates the GPS mode and status of the camera.

GPS Status:

· If the pin is grey, your phone does not support GPS (or other location finding methods) or your GPS is disabled in your phone’s settings.

· If the pin is green, GPS is supported and enabled.

GPS Mode:
You can change GPS mode by clicking on the green GPS push-pin.

· If the pin has a red cross through it, you disallow locations to be saved in your pictures.

· If the pin is steady and green, a GPS location has been obtained (has been fixed) and your current location will be saved in the pictures you take.

· If the pin is green and jumping up and down, a GPS location has not yet been obtained. Your latest location, which may be different than your current location, will be saved in the pictures you take. Wait until the pin stops jumping up and down to be sure that your GPS location is accurate.

The entire preview-screen of the camera is overlaid with a semi-transparent grid. The uninterrupted lines divide the screen into 9 areas, which helps you compose the image according to the ‘Rules of 3rds’. The moving dotted lines help you to ensure that your camera is properly lined up vertically or horizontally.
You can click the grid-button to hide or show this grid.

Camera FX Settings

To show the settings of the camera, push the phone’s menu key. You will then see this screen, showing you the camera’s control-bar:

Push the phone’s menu key again and you will get the secondary settings-screen, showing you the camera’s image-capture settings:

Controls on the control-bar:

· The slider on the left allows you to specify the dimension (width/height) of the pictures you take. The smaller the picture, the faster the image will be taken and saved.

· The settings-button allows you to specify additional camera settings.

· The gallery-button allows you to open the Pictures FX application from the camera.

· The grid-button allows you to show or hide the composition grid.

Image-capture settings:

· White balance
Allows you to select, and immediately preview, the white balance used for your pictures. The selection of available white balance settings is dependent on your phone model.

· Effects
Allows you to select, and immediately preview, the color effect used for your pictures. The selection of available color effect settings is dependent on your phone model.

· Scene mode
Allows you to select the scene mode used when taking pictures. The selection of available scene mode settings is dependent on your phone model.

· JPEG quality
Allows you to select the quality with which your pictures are saved. The possible values are 0, 10, 20 … 100 and PNG (save images as uncompressed PNG).

Additional camera settings:

· Flash mode
Change the flash-mode to one of the following: Off, On, Automatic, Red-eye, Torch. Depending on your phone’s model, some or all of the possible modes may not be available.

· Focus mode
Change the focus-mode to one of the following: Automatic, Macro, Fixed, Infinity. Depending on your phone’s model, some or all of the possible modes may not be available. Most phones support at least ‘Automatic’ as a default.

· Preview Screen Width
If the image on the preview screen looks stretched or squashed, you can fix this by narrowing or widening the preview screen through this setting. The three available widths for the preview screen are Narrow, Wide and Stretched.

· Click anywhere
If checked, you can take pictures by not only clicking on the shutter-button but by clicking anywhere in the preview area. If unchecked, you can take pictures only by clicking on the shutter-button.

· Auto-hide
If checked, the control-bar automatically hides itself after 5 seconds (as long as the image-capture settings are not visible).

· Show notifications
If checked, certain actions will show confirmations in the form of briefly shown messages. Uncheck this checkbox if you don’t want these messages.

· Show last picture taken
If checked, the last-picture-taken thumbnail will be shown in the camera’s preview screen. Uncheck it if you don’t want this thumbnail to show up.

· Store EXIF data
If checked, EXIF data will be saved in the pictures you take. Camera FX will save the following EXIF fields in the JPEG or PNG files: Model and make of the phone, Date taken, Date modified Image width and height, Image orientation, GPS longitude and latitude (if you allow it to), EXIF version and Software description.

· Enable sound
If checked, certain action will produce a sound. Uncheck this checkbox if you don’t want to hear these sounds. Note, however, that the shutter-sound may always be heard. In certain locations it is a legal requirement for camera phones to have an audible sound when a picture is taken.

· Full brightness
If checked, the preview screen of the camera will be at full brightness. This can be beneficial for taking pictures outdoors. It improves visibility in bright conditions. However, it consumes more battery power.

FAQ

· What are ‘AF’ and ‘MF’?
When the shutter-button points to ‘AF’, the camera will auto-focus and only when the image is in focus, the picture will be taken. If it points to ‘MF’, the camera will not auto-focus and take a picture as soon as possible. You can pre-focus by clicking the focus-button.

· Why is there no ‘Stability Mode’?
Some camera applications have a so-called Stability Mode. The camera only takes pictures when you hold the phone steady enough. I won’t include this in Camera FX, because it does not really work. The camera is too slow and by the time it’s ready to actually take a picture, you may already be shaking a little again. Also, Android does not provide information about the camera’s shutter-time and this is crucial information to calculate whether you hold your camera stable enough or not.

· Why are there no ‘Self Timer’ and ‘Multi Shot’ modes?
These two modes will be added in a future version of Camera FX.

· Why does it take so long to take a picture?
Mobile phones are still not the fastest devices out there and are not optimized for taking pictures. This means that taking pictures is relatively slow. However, reducing the image size (using the slider on the left-side of the control bar) will greatly increase the speed of taking pictures.

· Why do the shutter-button and the focus-button disappear for a little while?
Just after you take a picture, it is being processed by the camera and Camera FX. During this time, no other picture can be taken - it would cause memory issues - and these two button disappear for a little while. When they re-appear, another image can be taken.

· Why does that green push-pin keeps jumping up and down?
Sometimes it can take a while before your phone can obtain a fix on the GPS satellites. When a fix on your location has been made, the push-pin will stop jumping up and down.

· Why are there no manual controls for shutter speed and aperture?
So far, no Android phone has a camera that supports these features. If they become available for Android, Camera FX will support them.

· Problems, suggestions or compliments?
Please send me an e-mail if you encounter problems, when you have suggestions for enhancements or just to tell me you like my application J.

Legal Notices

EULA:
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Notices:
Streets Of Boston "Snap FX"

This product runs on software developed at Google for the Android "An Open Handset Alliance" project.

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