The HTC One X Camera Support thread

Hello everyone,

I’ve decided to start this thread to ask for your help in creating a central One X Camera Support thread.

Please feel free to share all your experience, best tips & tricks, advice, links and anything else you may feel useful. Also feel free to ask questions if you're having trouble!

Over the coming days, weeks and months, I’ll do my best to organise useful info within this first post to help people get the info they need quickly and easilly. I’ll also try to put together some tutorials of my own as we go along.

Cheers,
Bugsy.


Here's a tiny selection to be going on with. There are many more to come, and I'll find a way to make it more tidy soon:


Why are my photos 6MP instead of 8MP?

While the One X can take 8 megapixel images (and will do with a simple change of settings), the phone’s CMOS sensor is designed to capture images with a different aspect ratio to that of the phone’s physical display (4:3 vs 16:9 respectively). What this means, is that 8 megapixel photos don’t fill the entire display and result in black bands being shown down either side of the image. To combat this, HTC include (and enable by default) a widescreen option that crops the image to make it fill the entire screen. This results in a more visually appealing look that makes full use of the screen's real estate.

If you want to disable this function and capture full 8MP photos, you can do this quite easily via the camera’s settings menu (Settings>Camera Options>Widescreen).

If you’d like to know more about the effect this option has on functionality and image quality, I’ve put together a short video that may help:

http://youtu.be/JU-NLQrjb9w


When I start recording HD video, my camera zooms in. Why is that?

This is often thought to stem from only a small portion of the sensor being used for video capture. However, In the case of the One X, the main cause appears to be the result of pixels being reserved for Image Stabilisation. By cropping the camera’s view, HTC are able to use the spare pixels from outside the visible frame to counteract motion. The downside is a limited Field of View.

Currently, the effect of Real Time Image Stabilisation seems quite limited, so you may wish to trade this feature for a better viewing angle. Thankfully, HTC do allow you to do this via the settings menu (Settings>Video Options>Stabilisation). By disabling this option, you will gain (almost) the same field of view that you have in standard widescreen photo mode. The difference will be more visible in 720p mode due to the different capturing technique used.


I want to take low Light photos without using the flash. Is ISO 800 the maximum setting I can use?

ISO 800 is the highest level that you can select manually, but the phone will use anything up to ISO1250 if you leave the ISO mode set to Auto (or if you use Low Light Scene mode, which overrides any manual setting). Unfortunately there isn’t currently a way to manually select anything higher than ISO800 within the stock app.


The 4:3 live preview image doesn’t look sharp

This appears to be a software scaling issue that affects the stock app. Hopefully HTC will fix this in a future software update.


Will using a screen protector on the lens affect picture quality?

Image quality is really quite subjective. What one person considers a distinct loss of quality, another may consider negligible. Personally, I wouldn’t use one, as even the best protectors cause some degree of image degradation.

Having said this, you really have to consider your own personal situation. Are you someone that puts your phone in your pocket without a case or pouch? Do you have young children that might put the phone on a rough surface without considering the consequence? One thing is for sure – a screen protector will cause fewer problems than a lens covered with scratches!


White or light objects have a glow around them, especially when it’s sunny

This problem is, almost without fail, the result of finger prints on the lens (or possibly a lens protector if you have one). You’d be surprised how the smallest greasy mark can affect the picture in this way. Unfortunately, lens HTC’s lens design does little to help keep the lens clean.

xn1 said:

I'll get the discussion ball rolling. 16:9 or 4:3, I can't decide.

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Click to collapse

He he.. People are going to think I put you up to that question when they see my reply.


Here's a video I prepared earlier:


Bugsy.

LeonF said:

Does anyone have a solution for the green picture problem when using the flash?

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Click to collapse

Flash isn't the problem, the device in the picture is :laugh::laugh:

Message on behalf of Bugsy


Hello,

I'm a close friend of Bugsy and he has asked me to log into his account and post this message on his behalf.

Bugsy is quite ill right now, so he's likely to be spending a good week or so stuck in bed. He seemed very concerned about some work that was only part finished and wanted you to know that he'll be back as soon as he can. He also sends his apologies to anyone that might be awaiting a reply from him.

Kind regards,
Danny

Just wanted to do the right thing Bugsy, especially when you've put so much work into this

Changing the subject if anyone would like to see a comparision I did between the stock camera app, Camera ICS, Camera 360 and Camera FV-5, please check out the following link.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/htc-one/discuss/72157629696073156/