Question Modded GCam?

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Swingal

Member
Nov 17, 2010
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27
Bratislava
Google Pixel 6 Pro
What exactly are we looking at here? The second one has less processing, and noir mode applied? There's definitely more detail in the surface of the lid, and the HDR seems to have been toned down: it's not uniformly bright across the frame.

What were your precise settings?
Right, less saturated, less HDR. Settings attached, its my 2nd attempt. 1 one was too color noisy in low light but this one looks better. But the settings are attached. Also, used MWP_xHDR custom lib from Mod Settings.

The Noir mode makes black/white photos and some magic and they look beautiful.

//edit: The first two samples were not an good test i know, but wanted to test low light denoise as my first lib was very bad at low light. This one seems to do better.

//edit2 (Some F1 Talk, dont mind it :ROFLMAO: ): Max went all-in, he was amazing. When I saw that second sector split, I was sure he will be on pole if kept that tempo, but as we saw, it was too much. Right now, I am on team 44 (from the VER/HAM sides, other than that, ALO, VET, RAI are my old league :p), just to make that 8th title and then retire peacefully. Than there could Max to rule the grid? Or perhaps next season will mix everything up with the new rules? We will see ...
 

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Gnaius

Senior Member
Aug 2, 2018
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Google Pixel 6 Pro
Right, less saturated, less HDR. Settings attached, its my 2nd attempt. 1 one was too color noisy in low light but this one looks better. But the settings are attached. Also, used MWP_xHDR custom lib from Mod Settings.

The Noir mode makes black/white photos and some magic and they look beautiful.

//edit: The first two samples were not an good test i know, but wanted to test low light denoise as my first lib was very bad at low light. This one seems to do better.

//edit2: Max went all-in, he was amazing. When I saw that second sector split, I was sure he will be on pole if kept that tempo, but as we saw, it was too much. Right now, I am on team 44 (from the VER/HAM sides, other than that, ALO, VET, RAI are my old league :p), just to make that 8th title and then retire peacefully. Than there could Max to rule the grid? Or perhaps next season will mix everything up with the new rules? We will see ...

Thanks for this! I guess I now have to start experimenting with the Noir mode, which I knew nothing about. (I've always done my black and white processing in post, with Silver Efex Pro — it will be interesting to compare results.)

I must confess that the last part of your post is a bit opaque.
 

quark-lepton

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2015
111
42
An issue arises at 4x: things look terrible. Extreme noise reduction turns the jpeg into a water color. Now, unless the EXIF is lying to me, this mod is not using the telephoto lens: it's trying to produce 4x using the main lens and sensor — that would of course explain things. When I look at EXIF in Lightroom, or click on "info" in Google Photos, the lens identified in 1x, 2x, and 4x photos is always 6.81mm, which is the main lens. Superwide is properly identified as 2.35mm. But the periscope lens is nowhere to be seen. I believe it should be 19mm.

I understand this can be a problem in the stock app: unless lighting conditions are perfect, the phone will decide to use the main lens and sensor until you get to around 7x. I can understand why: the maximum aperture on the periscope lens is f3.5, as opposed to f1.8 on the main lens — significantly less light-gathering ability. But for those of us who don't care about a bit of noise, it would be VERY useful if the nice people working on the mod would attempt to give us an option to force the periscope to kick in at 4x.
That's not really correct, I explained it here: https://xdaforums.com/t/gcam-camera-px-for-google-pixel-1-2-3-3a-4.3875663/post-85816579

Whenever the camera app chooses 4x digital zoom, the results are nearly always worse than the periscope results, when you force the periscope camera. The 4x digital zoom is only better, when the periscope camera can't focus or in complete darkness without long exposures.

I don't have the Pixel 6 Pro anymore because I have returned it due to multiple camera issues (including the super aggressive luminance noise reduction and color noise reduction), in some cases even the raw files have terrible artifacts.
 
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Gnaius

Senior Member
Aug 2, 2018
98
64
Rome
Google Pixel 6 Pro
That's not really correct, I explained it here: https://xdaforums.com/t/gcam-camera-px-for-google-pixel-1-2-3-3a-4.3875663/post-85816579

Whenever the camera app chooses 4x digital zoom, the results are nearly always worse than the periscope results, when you force the periscope camera. The 4x digital zoom is only better, when the periscope camera can't focus or in complete darkness without long exposures.

I don't have the Pixel 6 Pro anymore because I have returned it due to multiple camera issues (including the super aggressive luminance noise reduction and color noise reduction), in some cases even the raw files have terrible artifacts.

Fascinating. Yeah, that's far more rigorous than my simple conjecture. Interesting what you say about the light-gathering capability; why does that not apply when using longer lenses on larger digital cameras? (Or does it, in some way that I don't understand?) I ask this at risk of taking this thread way off-topic...
 

lemonspeakerz

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2021
55
20
Right, less saturated, less HDR. Settings attached, its my 2nd attempt. 1 one was too color noisy in low light but this one looks better. But the settings are attached. Also, used MWP_xHDR custom lib from Mod Settings.

The Noir mode makes black/white photos and some magic and they look beautiful.

//edit: The first two samples were not an good test i know, but wanted to test low light denoise as my first lib was very bad at low light. This one seems to do better.

//edit2: Max went all-in, he was amazing. When I saw that second sector split, I was sure he will be on pole if kept that tempo, but as we saw, it was too much. Right now, I am on team 44 (from the VER/HAM sides, other than that, ALO, VET, RAI are my old league :p), just to make that 8th title and then retire peacefully. Than there could Max to rule the grid? Or perhaps next season will mix everything up with the new rules? We will see ...
Huh? I'm lost
 

quark-lepton

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2015
111
42
Fascinating. Yeah, that's far more rigorous than my simple conjecture. Interesting what you say about the light-gathering capability; why does that not apply when using longer lenses on larger digital cameras? (Or does it, in some way that I don't understand?) I ask this at risk of taking this thread way off-topic...
The sensor of the periscope camera captures less light per time than the sensor of the main camera, but the sensor of the periscope camera captures more light per time per angle (more light per time from an object) than the main camera.

But more light per object doesn't always mean less noise per object. The sensor can't measure the amount of light 100% correctly, this leads to noise (read noise) and is noticeable in bad light conditions and when the light is distributed over too many pixels. A tele lens leads to far more pixels per object than a wide angle lens.

A 24mm f/1.85 lens captures more light per time from an object than the 6.81mm f/1.85 lens of the Pixel 6 because 24/1.85 is larger than 6.81/1.85. The effective diameter of the lens is larger.
 

Swingal

Member
Nov 17, 2010
48
27
Bratislava
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Just some photos from Lib testing ... hopefully next week Ill be confident to post here the settings. :giggle:

I would be gratefull if you let know the google devs, that we would like to update postprocessing of stock cam to be more up to date witch curent lenses. Right here:


and also here:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/208860802
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/208842971

Thank you
 

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OPOmaniac

Senior Member
Aug 24, 2014
65
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OnePlus 8 Pro
OK so my phone just DIED because of this modded Gcam. I donwloaded latest Gcam mentioned here above and then went to settings - developer settings - and tried to turn off "segmenter_use_darwinn_tpu_delegate" so I can use also front camera. Once i unticked that, my phone freezed, screen turned to black and its technically dead.

I cannot turn it on. If I put charger, nothing shows up, just black unresponsive screen. Holding power button for 30 sec - nothing, holding power button + volume up also did not help. Its completely unresponsive.

Any help please?? I am from Czech republic, bought it from Google Germany. Warranty is technically not possible, I do not know how to do it since I do not live in Germany.
 

Gnaius

Senior Member
Aug 2, 2018
98
64
Rome
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Just some photos from Lib testing ... hopefully next week Ill be confident to post here the settings. :giggle:

I would be gratefull if you let know the google devs, that we would like to update postprocessing of stock cam to be more up to date witch curent lenses. Right here:


and also here:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/208860802
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/208842971

Thank you


Nice work. Numbers 2 and 5 are just about perfect, to my mind. The others are a bit soft, but would probably sharpen up nicely in post. (A bit soft is just fine, as far as I'm concerned.) Which lens/sensor did you use for each picture? Numbers 3 and 4 look to be perhaps ultrawide? Is number 2 with the periscope lens?
 

Swingal

Member
Nov 17, 2010
48
27
Bratislava
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Nice work. Numbers 2 and 5 are just about perfect, to my mind. The others are a bit soft, but would probably sharpen up nicely in post. (A bit soft is just fine, as far as I'm concerned.) Which lens/sensor did you use for each picture? Numbers 3 and 4 look to be perhaps ultrawide? Is number 2 with the periscope lens?
1,2,3 and 5 with periscope, 4 ultrawide. They are little bit soft because of dehaze probably. Need to tweak it a little bit more, but far better than stock. Ill test/tweak it until friday and post the settings and difference 👍
 
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Gnaius

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Aug 2, 2018
98
64
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Google Pixel 6 Pro
1,2,3 and 5 with periscope, 4 ultrawide. They are little bit soft because of dehaze probably. Need to tweak it a little bit more, but far better than stock. Ill test/tweak it until friday and post the settings and difference 👍
It would be helpful if you could test your best setting with at least one shot on each of the three lenses/sensors. If we can find parameters that work nicely on all three, we're golden. (The one quick test I did was fine on the main sensor, but miserable on the periscope.)

Oh, and which precise version of the mod are you using?
 
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Swingal

Member
Nov 17, 2010
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Google Pixel 6 Pro
It would be helpful if you could test your best setting with at least one shot on each of the three lenses/sensors. If we can find parameters that work nicely on all three, we're golden. (The one quick test I did was fine on the main sensor, but miserable on the periscope.)

Oh, and which precise version of the mod are you using?
Yes, was there too. Main lens was very good, tried the other two and really bad. Especially in low light. I am using latest MWC.


//edit, some zoooomed in samples from telephoto and ultrawide cam (the 3rd one is ultra wide)
 

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Gnaius

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Aug 2, 2018
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Google Pixel 6 Pro
Yes, was there too. Main lens was very good, tried the other two and really bad. Especially in low light. I am using latest MWC.


//edit, some zoooomed in samples from telephoto and ultrawide cam (the 3rd one is ultra wide)
Okay, clearly the bottom one in each double image is vastly superior. What's the difference between top and bottom?
 

Gnaius

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Aug 2, 2018
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Google Pixel 6 Pro
Right. I just downloaded this — I've been on the previous version. Couple things: I can't seem to access the Noir thing. I turned on the toggle in Mod settings, but it's not showing up. Another, more important issue: if I turn HDR+ to "off", it won't let me shoot RAW files -- it automatically reverts to JPEG only.
 
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Swingal

Member
Nov 17, 2010
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27
Bratislava
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Right. I just downloaded this — I've been on the previous version — and even untweaked, it seems to be a huge improvement over the stock cam, on all three lenses.

Couple things, though: I can't seem to access the Noir thing. I turned on the toggle in Mod settings, but it's not showing up. Another, more important issue: if I turn HDR+ to "off", it won't let me shoot RAW files -- it automatically reverts to JPEG only.
Enable Noir in - Mod Settings -> Valley Noir (switch and toggle). Didnt test the raw files tho.
 
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Gnaius

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Aug 2, 2018
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Google Pixel 6 Pro
Enable Noir in - Mod Settings -> Valley Noir (switch and toggle). Didnt test the raw files tho.
Okay, I got Valley Noir to work, but I can't get it to show the toggle in the viewfinder. I also can't get it to show the Lib Patcher toggle in the viewfinder. (Although I can turn both of these on and off in the menu.)

UPDATE: I restarted the app, and the Noir toggle now shows. The Lib Patcher toggle doesn't. (Not that I really need that.)
 
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Gnaius

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Aug 2, 2018
98
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Google Pixel 6 Pro
I've been playing with the Lib Patcher. I was quite wrong: untweaked, the app is no better than the stock app — in fact, precisely the same, as far as I can determine. Which is to say: horrible. But... I've managed to get brilliant results, dialing a few parameters down. New settings:

Sharpness (0.25)
Luma (-0.5)
Chroma (-0.25)
Luma Denoise (0) — which is probably default, if 0 is the same as OFF
Tone Curve: "Shadows (Lower Curve Half)" and "Highlights (Upper Curve Half)" both set to 0.

This is a detail; click on it to zoom to 100%. One the left is with the Lib Patcher off; on the right is with it on. I sharpened the patched example a bit in Lightroom, and the noise profile is now remarkably close to the RAW file. ISO 500.

I can certainly live with this. And it works equally well on the periscope lens/sensor. (The ultrawide maybe not so much: with the Lib Patcher set like this you get very noisy photos, even at low ISOs, and the noise shows banding. Have to do some more experiments there.)

LibPatcherComparison.jpg
 
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Mikulec

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Oct 19, 2007
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OK so my phone just DIED because of this modded Gcam. I donwloaded latest Gcam mentioned here above and then went to settings - developer settings - and tried to turn off "segmenter_use_darwinn_tpu_delegate" so I can use also front camera. Once i unticked that, my phone freezed, screen turned to black and its technically dead.

I cannot turn it on. If I put charger, nothing shows up, just black unresponsive screen. Holding power button for 30 sec - nothing, holding power button + volume up also did not help. Its completely unresponsive.

Any help please?? I am from Czech republic, bought it from Google Germany. Warranty is technically not possible, I do not know how to do it since I do not live in Germany.
Try to hold the power button for couple of seconds (more then 20) and see if something happens.
 
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  • 9
    The latest experiment. I'm *really* happy with this camera now. With these settings, I get JPEGs that are almost precisely the same, in terms of noise and sharpness, as the DNG files. On all three sensors! (Haven't tested the front camera.) And I've compared the main sensor results to my modified 3XL, which I've been happy with for years: I can cheerfully report that the new, larger sensor does just what it's supposed to: lowers noise at equivalent ISO. The results are very close at low ISOs, although there's no question that the 6 Pro is a subtle improvement. But that's for ordinary light levels. When I compare at very high ISOs (eg. in the range of 2800, without using Night Sight), the results aren't close at all: the 6 Pro blows the 3XL out of the water. And when you do use Night Sight, the results are similar: much more noise on the 3XL.

    I'm not sure I'm going to fiddle around with these setting any more, unless people have specific recommendations; there isn't much point, given that I now have JPEGs that are as useful as the DNG files. To turn the DNG into almost the same image, all I have to do is pump saturation and vibrance (significantly!) in Lightroom, and add a touch of clarity. The DNG still has the distortion issue, and doesn't seem to offer a significant increase in exposure latitude (surprisingly enough — although I haven't experimented with extremes). So I expect I'll shoot only JPEGs from now on. Here's what I've come up with:

    GCam 8.3.252 | Mod (ver : 1d) by MWP

    Tone Curve: OFF

    Everything on the Lib Patcher is set to "OFF (Default as lib)", except the following:

    Sharpness: 0.25
    Luma: 0.5
    Chroma: 0.3125

    This in fact gives me an image that's sharper, OOC, than the 3XL, which requires more sharpening in Lightroom to match it. And the noise profile is still marginally better in daylight, and *vastly* better in low light.

    Folks, this is a good camera. The ultrawide sensor is merely okay (but we knew that); the main and telephoto lens/sensor combinations are probably as good as you'll see on a smartphone.
    7
    I am using MWP gcam 8.3.253: it works rather well on the P6 pro (all lenses) and offers some manual tweaking (including for astro). It is still a beta version.
    4
    I've asked the dev on his Telegram group about the crashing issue when faces were on the frame and he gave me the solution :

    in Mod Settings -> Developer Settings : untick "segmenter_use_darwinn_tpu_delegate"
    And no more crash for me! No side effect so far as well

    BTW, the latest 252 1c version has been released here :
    https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-MWP/
    3
    This is without the modded apk... Pretty excited to have the modded version!!!!!
    I swear I don't know where these stars come from lol but here in Ireland when I look to the sky I can see max about 10 stars 😂😆 other countries have everything 😔 even stars! Lol
    3
    This is without the modded apk... Pretty excited to have the modded version!!!!!