A better camera app with less shutter lag?

[Blackdog]

The stock camera app is not bad. It has good options/settings/panorama, etc. But that shutter lag is just absolutely in fail territory. 4 or 5 seconds to actually take a picture?! What the h#ll was samsung thinking?

Is there an app that does a better job? I'm hesitant to dl Zoom. Is this inherent to Android 2.3 on this piece of hardware or can a new app solve this problem?

[CrowdAds]

[1776]

Camera 360 is a pretty good camera app and it is free. I find the photos to be sharper and there are a lot more features. I have not found any camera app other than the stock that has the correct orientation in the viewfinder of the image. They are always mirrored on the SGP. The photo taken is correct in orientation.

[Daniel644]

Originally Posted by 1776

Camera 360 is a pretty good camera app and it is free. I find the photos to be sharper and there are a lot more features. I have not found any camera app other than the stock that has the correct orientation in the viewfinder of the image. They are always mirrored on the SGP. The photo taken is correct in orientation.

Can you turn off the shutter sound with that app?

[1776]

Yes, you can turn off the shutter sound with Camera 360. This had been a paid app and the developers decided in December to make it free - and they keep updating it and adding features.

[Blackdog]

And most importantly, is the shutter lag shorter duration?

Never mind...I'll just dl and check it out.
Thanks.

[Blackdog]

edit: post removed.

[Blackdog]

Well 360 is interesting.
there's a little setting routine that prompts you to orient your device until the viewfinder image is correct. unfortunately, it is mirrored. Adn when you oprient correctly for vertical axis, the horizontal axis is upsidedown AND backwards. It's like shooting on an old Rolleiflex with the ground-glass viewfinder!

But another question, when I first used it, I took a shot, adn then after the shot is recorded, there are editing options at the bottom for Warm, Cool, Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, Intense, etc. Which is pretty cool (npi)

After one or two shots, somhow this menu of edits changed and now the menu is stuff like Autumn, Maple, Frozen, Passion, etc.

How do I get those "stock" edit options back like Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, Warm, Cool...?

thanks

[Blackdog]

Ah, never mind. got it.
Shutter lag is not much improved over stock app, unfortunately. Not much good for kids shots.
But it really is a nice app. All those effect options are quite good. I like that you can edit/process before the save.

[Goucham]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

Ah, never mind. got it.
Shutter lag is not much improved over stock app, unfortunately. Not much good for kids shots.

It may not completely be a hardware limitation but at the very least there would have to be some sort of low-level firmware change to improve shutter lag. The camera does a bang up job at taking bar-codes though.

[Blackdog]

The stock camera is darned good in almost every way.
Except that shutter lag, which is so bad that I consider it a FAIL.
If you like taking pictures of trees, rocks and buildings, you're fine. If you take photo's of kids, forget it.

[skwatch]

My guess is that shutter lag it is largely a hardware issue (time it takes to auto focus). That doesn't mean some app dev may not produce an app that provides some work around. I remember my first digital camera had terrible shutter lag waiting for auto focus. However, you could half press the shutter button to focus and press the rest of the way when the subject was appropriately posed. While our SGPs may not have any buttons capable of half pressing, a prefocus button could be offered. Any industrious devs listening?

[puddnhead]

I don't have an SGP (yet -- waiting on 4.2), but I've read that the camera takes significantly better quality pictures than the touch. I wonder if the reason that is achieved (the tradeoff) is that the touch is more "fixed focus" hardware, while the SGP has optics that require time to focus better?

Does anyone have the 3.6 here? Any observation on whether anything's improved there?

[sanderant]

You should try camera zoom fx. It works better with the Galaxy Player and it has a burst mode which may help.

[Blackdog]

The other thing I noticed is that while 360 offers the zoom slide control bar, apparently the SGP can't zoom. Doesn't work on mine anyway.

How come makers of free apps are updating every few days it seems like and Samsung won't issue an update for any of "their' stock apps ever? (Like File Manager, Camera, Calendar, Email, FM Radio...)

[Goucham]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

The other thing I noticed is that while 360 offers the zoom slide control bar, apparently the SGP can't zoom.

I think the zoom function won't work if you are capturing at the highest resolution. If you bump it down a notch it should work although, cropping the image at full resolution after the fact effectively does the same thing.

[Blackdog]

10-4 thanks

[scowl]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

How come makers of free apps are updating every few days it seems like and Samsung won't issue an update for any of "their' stock apps ever? (Like File Manager, Camera, Calendar, Email, FM Radio...)

Because once they're done, they're shipped and forgotten. Then the developers are on to the next product.

That's the huge advantage of an Android device. Development on applications continue non-stop, 24 hours a day, all around the world.

[Daniel644]

Originally Posted by Goucham

I think the zoom function won't work if you are capturing at the highest resolution. If you bump it down a notch it should work although, cropping the image at full resolution after the fact effectively does the same thing.

Thats why I always tell people when looking at digital cameras to focus more on Optical zoom numbers versus digital zoom, since digital zoom is really just the camera "cropping" in on the image.

I always assumed, at least with the 4.0, that they didn't have a "zoom" as not all devices do, so thats interesting to here.