Camera app with HDR+ enabled

[elosito]

Hi all -- When I purchased a Moto Z late last month, I was excited about the device's performance but blind to the fact that I was going to lose the HDR+ camera mode that I had become so accustomed to with my Nexus 6.

This got me working on some potential solutions -- and after decompiling the Camera NX app posted on chromloop.com, I was able to change some settings that enable full HDR+ photography on the Moto Z. So if any of you are craving being able to take photos with Google's HDR+ mode, here is a modified APK that will allow you to do so: http://www.mediafire.com/file/l8num4lyw05vybt/Camera4-hdrplus.apk

I have been using it for several weeks on my Moto Z, and I can confirm that the HDR+ images come out looking much better than those taken with the stock camera app or even the same modified Camera NX app with HDR+ disabled. It's slightly buggy (low-light images are only occasionally not saved) but a great solution for any Moto Z users afflicted with the Nexus blues. This should also work on other devices with equivalent Camera2 API support; if you are wondering whether it will work, just try it -- if HDR+ images are successfully captured, your device supports the needed API calls.

 

[mkiller88]

Can you enable RAW capture and manual control?

 

[miki232]

Hello, I installed the camera application, but when I go to slow motion mode, App crashes. Any solution?

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Will this be continually developed?
Because this is a wonderful addition. Just needs some bug fixes and it'll be seriously golden.

 

[elosito]

Will this be continually developed?
Because this is a wonderful addition. Just needs some bug fixes and it'll be seriously golden.

I'm afraid that ongoing development of this app might be challenging, as I'm no expert in modifying decompiled apps, which this is (as the official Nexus/Pixel camera app is closed source). The extent of my modifications, believe it or not, was to return a constant boolean value of "true" for a function that checks whether a device is a Nexus 6P -- so the app enables HDR+ as the app is hard-coded to enable all functions available on Nexus 6P devices. It just happened to be very lucky that HDR+ is supported! -- I'm not so optimistic about being able to enable slow motion video, RAW capture, or manual control, but I will keep those in mind next time I have more time to work on this.

 

[taphius]

need root? or standard apk install

 

[elosito]

need root? or standard apk install

Just a standard APK install.

 

[guapinoy]

Hi all -- When I purchased a Moto Z late last month, I was excited about the device's performance but blind to the fact that I was going to lose the HDR+ camera mode that I had become so accustomed to with my Nexus 6.

This got me working on some potential solutions -- and after decompiling the Camera NX app posted on chromloop.com, I was able to change some settings that enable full HDR+ photography on the Moto Z. So if any of you are craving being able to take photos with Google's HDR+ mode, here is a modified APK that will allow you to do so: http://www.mediafire.com/file/l8num4lyw05vybt/Camera4-hdrplus.apk

I have been using it for several weeks on my Moto Z, and I can confirm that the HDR+ images come out looking much better than those taken with the stock camera app or even the same modified Camera NX app with HDR+ disabled. It's slightly buggy (low-light images are only occasionally not saved) but a great solution for any Moto Z users afflicted with the Nexus blues. This should also work on other devices with equivalent Camera2 API support; if you are wondering whether it will work, just try it -- if HDR+ images are successfully captured, your device supports the needed API calls.

Thank you so much for this. I see a big difference with HDR+. I've had the Nexus 6P and Pixel, I know how great HDR+ is. It's sad that Google closed source their app.

 

[mkiller88]

Let us know if you can enable RAW, because HDR+ takes 3 RAW photos for the composition, so theoretically RAW is supported by the app.

 

[benjamminh]

This is awesome! So far with just a little experimenting today with a Force, I can see the difference. I look forward to testing it further.

 

[xterminater07]

Hi all -- When I purchased a Moto Z late last month, I was excited about the device's performance but blind to the fact that I was going to lose the HDR+ camera mode that I had become so accustomed to with my Nexus 6.

This got me working on some potential solutions -- and after decompiling the Camera NX app posted on chromloop.com, I was able to change some settings that enable full HDR+ photography on the Moto Z. So if any of you are craving being able to take photos with Google's HDR+ mode, here is a modified APK that will allow you to do so: http://www.mediafire.com/file/l8num4lyw05vybt/Camera4-hdrplus.apk

I have been using it for several weeks on my Moto Z, and I can confirm that the HDR+ images come out looking much better than those taken with the stock camera app or even the same modified Camera NX app with HDR+ disabled. It's slightly buggy (low-light images are only occasionally not saved) but a great solution for any Moto Z users afflicted with the Nexus blues. This should also work on other devices with equivalent Camera2 API support; if you are wondering whether it will work, just try it -- if HDR+ images are successfully captured, your device supports the needed API calls.

This is incredible! How did you figure out how to bypass the checks and actually enabled the hdr+? Google never open sourced this so how were you able to get it to work? Many have tried to get hdr+ but failed.

 

[benjamminh]

Today's testing was outside and yielded mixed results. I'll continue to experiment.

Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

 

[skullman_247]

Wen trying to install the apk it says there was a problem parsing the apk

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

I created a little album on Google Photos demonstrating the difference between regular shots, the stock app's HDR mode and HDR+. They are shot in that order but I have put them in the description in order to aid identification. Differences can be subtle but often, they are very dramatic.

If you need to know, my variant is an unlocked standard Moto Z running Android 7.0 that's also rooted. It also has a 1/3" 13MP Sony IMX214 with 1.12-micron pixels and an f/1.8 aperture. Pretty sure the Force will do better since it has a larger sensor at 1/2.4". Regardless, HDR+ makes a significant enough difference that it has become my main camera app. If I still had my Note 7, I'd be drooling right now.

https://goo.gl/photos/bQ1NQzCCMmviGtCs6

 

[benjamminh]

Thanks for sharing this. I've done something similar with the Force camera.. It's a mixed bag to me. Often HDR+ did a better job with the sky, but often its shots were too dark to me. I've seen a bigger difference with indoor shots.

 

[benson1118]

Thanks for the sharing. Hope moto can implement HDR+ to its own camera app.

 

[taphius]

Thanks for sharing this. I've done something similar with the Force camera.. It's a mixed bag to me. Often HDR+ did a better job with the sky, but often its shots were too dark to me. I've seen a bigger difference with indoor shots.

Yeah, the 6p and pixel both exhibit the same thing, most of the the time their shots are going to look darker (if you compare them side by side to other phones)

 

[benjamminh]

I created a little album on Google Photos demonstrating the difference between regular shots, the stock app's HDR mode and HDR+. They are shot in that order but I have put them in the description in order to aid identification. Differences can be subtle but often, they are very dramatic.

If you need to know, my variant is an unlocked standard Moto Z running Android 7.0 that's also rooted. It also has a 1/3" 13MP Sony IMX214 with 1.12-micron pixels and an f/1.8 aperture. Pretty sure the Force will do better since it has a larger sensor at 1/2.4". Regardless, HDR+ makes a significant enough difference that it has become my main camera app. If I still had my Note 7, I'd be drooling right now.

https://goo.gl/photos/bQ1NQzCCMmviGtCs6

I like five of the shots with HDR+ more (two are very significant) 7 with the Moto HDR, and three with the normal mode fwiw.

 

[taphius]

Wen trying to install the apk it says there was a problem parsing the apk

Has to be on Nougat

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

You know, I wonder if this works with the Hasselblad mod.

I've always thought that the issues with the Hasselblad camera are software-related since the sensor is likely the same one from the 6P. If HDR+ and better processing can save it, color me impressed.