Camera++ - what and why...
Dear all,
First of all I'd like to thank the CrackBerry community for such a great support, we really appreciate it! I'd also like to thank each of you, who wrote emails to our support with bug reports and feature requests and for all your kind words about our apps.
In the last week we encountered unexpectedly high number of complains about Camera++ app (sadly in reviews only). Therefore I'd like to clarify a bit what Camera++ is and what it's not.
Here it's worth to mention that there are two completely different versions of Camera++ app, one v1.1.3 is available on all devices with OS 10.2.1 and above except Passport and Classic, the second one is v2.0.0 and is available for Passport only. Due to limitations of APIs on OS 10.2.1 the Camera++ v1.1.3 supports only Photo and Burst modes (video is not available yet, but not because of APIs limitations). v2.0.0 supports 4 capture modes - Photo, Burst, Snapshot and Manual (again video mode is in the works). Both versions support manual setting of ISO, EV offset, White balance, etc. But here is the catch - range of supported values and certain capabilities STRONGLY device model dependent. Few examples:
manual ISO - most devices support manual control of ISO, but range is hardware dependent. For example Z10 models except Z10 STL100-1 support fixed list of values from 100 to 3200. In case of Z10 STL100-1, ISO goes from 100 to 1900.
White balance - again, most devices support manual control of White balance, but some devices have larger range of supported values then the other.
I should also point out that changes in ISO can lead to a completely different results on different devices. Again an example: on Z10 STL100-2 model changes in ISO are visible on the viewfinder, the image gets noisier, but also brighter. Completely different story with the Passport. After certain value of ISO, image of the viewfinder is not getting any brighter, but hardware starts to adjust the shutter speed (higher ISO usually mean faster shutter, except for a really poor lighting, when ISO of 3200 can still keep shutter at 1 sec). There is another device with a similar behavior, namely Z30. You can try to experiment with ISO to see the differences in shutter speed (Effetica Social or Pro can be used to see the EXIF info).
Macro focusing is another area of misunderstanding. The macro mode is a built-in mode (hardware dependent) and may or may not give a priority to close objects during focusing. During my experiments on Z10 STL100-2 focus locks faster on close objects in macro mode compared to standard AF. On Passport it's equally slow. Why does it still exists in the list? Because camera hardware advertise it as supported and in some OS version BlackBerry may decide to actually use it :)
One user has reported that he sees the dark lines in poor lighting when Macro mode is used. Just to clarify, those line will be present even in standard AF in certain conditions. And those conditions are rather familiar to most of you, namely when refresh rate of sensor differs enough from refresh rate of lighting (yes, some lighting has a non-continuous brightness, it's just our eyes can't see it. This is mostly happen with daylight tubes) or display device you're pointing to (monitor, TV, etc.). So, if you see the moving dark lines on your screen (usually horizontal), don't panic, your device is not necessary broken. Most probably refresh rate of your sensor (in given lighting conditions) differs enough from surrounding lighting or refresh rate of display you're pointing to.
I also found that in last week too many people become too concerned about permissions (did I miss any security issue BlackBerry discovered?). Does anyone really expects a camera app to work without Camera permissions? Does anyone really expect the app to be able to save the captured image without Shared Files permission? Please, make sure that those two permissions are granted or you'll get half functioning (or not functioning) app. If you plan to geo tag your images, also enable Location permission. I also would like to make it clear, we DON'T use Internet permissions in our apps (the permission exists in general, but you won't get notification if app uses it. The only way to know it is to try to monitor the traffic when you use the app, or ask your fried-hacker to analyze if app tries to do any network connections).
So let's make a list of what you CAN do in Camera++:
- manually adjust ISO (list of values hardware dependent)
- manually adjust White balance (list of values hardware dependent)
- manually adjust EV offset (list of values hardware dependent)
- manually adjust focus (on Passport changes are visible in real time, improvements for other devices is on its way)
- manually adjust zoom (it's a digital zoom, so expect image degradation)
- set flash mode (auto, always on, always off)
- set timer that delays the image capture
- set number of images that have to be taken
- set delay between taken images (in case number of images greater than 1)
- set output image resolution (list of values hardware dependent)
- set output arbitrary folder for captured images
- deactivate shutter sound (It's illegal to silence shutter sound in some countries, make sure you don't break the local law. In any case all responsibilities are on you :D)
- activate grid
- activate geo tagging for captured pictures
- take EV bracketed series (currently BlackBerry Passport only)
- take HDR (currently BlackBerry Passport only)
What you CANNOT do at the moment with Camera++:
- you cannot take video (working on it)
- you cannot capture images in RAW format (working on it for those devices that support it)
- you cannot take Panorama (still not sure what can be improved over built-in camera app panorama mode)
- you don't have Time-Shift mode (offline will be added later)
- your camera lens cannot be cleaned by the app (countless number of bad pictures were taken with dirty lens)
- your protecting film cannot be removed by the app (some people forget to remove that film)
In conclusion, I'd like to ask you to contact us first if you experience any issue with any of our apps. Our support usually replies withing 24 hours. In some cases solving the problem may take few email exchanges, but we always try to fix the issue. Some people first post a negative review and days later contact our support asking for help (in most cases problem solved right away). We're not exactly appreciate this order, especially in the light of latest changes in vetting policies of BlackBerry World. Please, let's make the collaboration between developers and users pleasant for both sides and improve BlackBerry experience together.
If you have any questions, please, post them here or send to our support ([email protected]). I'll try to regularly check this thread. Thank you!
With best wishes,
I&N MobiSoft Team
P.S. Special thanks to our competitors for their negative reviews on our apps, we extremely appreciate the time you spent and creativity you used to write them!