Hi all,
i just bough an i-mate Jam and it's the first time that i post a new topic here. I'm doing it because i find my new phone (is it a phone? ) wonderfull except for one thing. I guess u all know what i'm talking about: its crappy camera!
I mean, i already own a digital camera and don't really need this one, but why making it 1.3 Mpix if it can't even do a decent photo...
I tried it inside but the light was too low and the picture was too dark, i tried it outside in a perfect sunny day but there was too much light and the picture had some pink areas :? , i even tried to take a photo of a document (maybe that was its pourpose) but couldn't read it cause the picture was blurry...
Now, it's obvious that HTC (or who made it) had used cheap lens and sensor and my question is: can we replace it with a better one?
I ask u this because i know ppl that have done it to other phones; it's a quite simple task if the camera is not soldered on the main board, but i don't wanna loose my warranty to try to do something that maybe can't be done...
So, since i bet that there is already someone that have disassembled his Magician :roll: , i'm here to ask:
- is the camera soldered or just plugged into the main board?
- is it hard to remove the case?
Maybe someone would like to try it or maybe i will if i get enough support :lol:
Show me your interest, cheers
XDA cameras
Yep, it's sad isn't it? Bloody great device with an eye-wateringly bad excuse for a camera (if you think 1.3 mpix is bad, try the XDA II camera!) all before they even sorted out bluetooth, wi-fi, headsets etc. typical O2 headless chicken approach, get used to it. We've been putting up with this crap for years! Happy New Year! Hope this is the year when O2 finally gets 'The Plot' !!!!!! Oops! There goes another flying pig! :wink:
The photo quality is actually good in daylight, but very bad in night mode or dim light.
I think a new firmware could improve it greatly.
They can maybe kidnap a developer that worked on Sharp phones :lol:
tinto said:
I tried it inside but the light was too low and the picture was too dark, i tried it outside in a perfect sunny day but there was too much light and the picture had some pink areas
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Click to collapse
The MDA Compact, as sold by T-Mobile in Germany, comes with an upgraded Camera application (v 2.70, build 17736) in the Extended ROM. I don't know how much difference this makes, but you may want to try. That ExtROM is available somewhere here...
Also, did you try to change the "Mode" setting (not sure if this is the correct name - on my German MDA Compact, it's "Umgebung") in the Camera settings? If you change it to "Night", interior shots will have visible noise, but be at least not underexposed. And changing this setting to "Daylight" will help a lot for outside shots. On mine, the default was Tungsten ("Neon"), which is totally inappropriate for almost all conditions.
Cheers, Daniel
jacoch said:
They can maybe kidnap a developer that worked on Sharp phones :lol:
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Click to collapse
Well, i just took a look at some pictures taken by a Nokia 6630 and belive me those are photos!!! Incredibly high definition and wonderfull colors... Not a picture is blurry and even those taken indoor are beautyful; could be easely compared to those that come from mid-end digital cameras (except for the fact that they are 1.3 mpix only). I would definetly kidnap the guy that implemented the 6630 camera...
I belive anyway that such a result is not only obtained via software but mostly due to a high quality CMOS and lens. If changing those in my Jam allowed me to obtain half the quality of 6630 pictures i would be more than happy.
tadzio said:
Also, did you try to change the "Mode" setting (not sure if this is the correct name - on my German MDA Compact, it's "Umgebung") in the Camera settings? If you change it to "Night", interior shots will have visible noise, but be at least not underexposed. And changing this setting to "Daylight" will help a lot for outside shots. On mine, the default was Tungsten ("Neon"), which is totally inappropriate for almost all conditions.
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I tried that thx, but i still consider those pictures of a too low quality for a 1.3 mpix. I'll try to flash my Jam with the extended ROM but i'm a total noob in flashin PDAs and don't have a clue from where to start (i'll learn anyway, don't worry . Just two questions: what's the difference between extended ROMs and "normal" ROMs? If i flash my Jam with the German extended ROM do i get a German OS?)
I'll try to flash my Jam with the extended ROM but i'm a total noob in flashin PDAs and don't have a clue from where to start
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not tried to install the German Camera update to an English device, so there's no warranty that it'll work. But to install that Camera update, you don't have to flash anything! Just get the Camera*.cab, copy it to your device via ActiveSync, and execute it there. It will install itself.
Unfortunately, this .cab does not contain uninstall info, so if it doesn't work, you can't simply uninstall it. You'll either have to use special tools, or perform a Hard Reset.
Just two questions: what's the difference between extended ROMs and "normal" ROMs? If i flash my Jam with the German extended ROM do i get a German OS?)
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Click to collapse
All HTC PocketPCs have (logically, not necessarily physically) three Flash memories: the main ROM that contains the OS and Radio Stack, then the Extended ROM where network providers can put their customized apps, and lastly the user-accessible "Storage".
When you first switch on your device (or do a Hard Reset), the OS looks for AutoRun.exe in the ExtendedROM, and that program installs several .cab files from the ExtendedROM. If you perform a Soft Reset immediately after the short tutorial that executes after each Hard Reset and before the Today Screen appears, the ExtendedROM is not executed and remains visible. You then can decide which .cabs you want to install - just use a file explorer to browse the ExtendedROM. But I disgress...
Most programs in the ExtendedROM just add some branding and network-specific settings, so you should not install German T-Mobile ones on your device. Some others (Intellidialer, Intellipad) are also available in English, so again don't use the German ones. The Camera may be the only one not available in English, but maybe we should first try to find out what the differences really are between the built-in and the ExtendedROM Camera app. Which version is your Camera app?
Cheers, Daniel
Thx a lot for your explaination, i think i got it now
Now, my camera app version should be 1.0.0.1 (i had to get it through ActiveSync since u don't have a property menu in the FileExplorer, right?), so i belive it's the very first release (or at least the second if the first was 1.0.0.0). What's yours?
Could u post a picture taken with your camera so i'll do the same and we can compare them? (i suppose u have the German camera update)
Thx again for your help :wink:
tinto said:
Now, my camera app version should be 1.0.0.1 (i had to get it through ActiveSync since u don't have a property menu in the FileExplorer, right?)
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Click to collapse
That number surprises me, and I don't think it's the correct one. Where exactly did you look? Try the following: start the Camera app, tap the toolbox icon to go to the settings page, then click on the "Extras" menu, then on "Info" (names are from my German app, may be slightly different on your device). What is the version number displayed on that page?
Could u post a picture taken with your camera so i'll do the same and we can compare them? (i suppose u have the German camera update)
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Click to collapse
Attached are two pictures (packed into one ZIP file) - one taken with my MDA Compact, the other one with my Ricoh Caplio R1. It was a rainy and dark day, so both are somewhat dull. It's true that despite the darkness, the MDA picture is still a bit overexposed. It was taken with the mode set to "daylight". And of course the difference between 1.3 and 4 MPixel and the difference in the quality of the lenses is very evident. But I think the quality is in line with what can be reasonably expected.
Oh, btw, I did not compare myself, but I heard people say that if you set the resolution to less than the maximum of 1280*960, the picture quality increases. This could be due to some post-processing of the image. I always use 640*480 when taking photos with the MDA Compact.
So, how does the quality of your pictures compare to mine?
Cheers, Daniel
tadzio said:
That number surprises me, and I don't think it's the correct one. Where exactly did you look? Try the following: start the Camera app, tap the toolbox icon to go to the settings page, then click on the "Extras" menu, then on "Info" (names are from my German app, may be slightly different on your device). What is the version number displayed on that page?
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Click to collapse
idd was the wrong one
anyway i upgraded today to the italian ROM and the camera app version is 2.70 build 17975. Let me know if it is the same
tadzio said:
So, how does the quality of your pictures compare to mine?
Cheers, Daniel
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Click to collapse
I gotta say it's almost the same. Anyway i didn't know that with lower resolutions the quality of pictures increases. All the picture i took before where in 1280*960.
Now i'll show u something i discovered:
i attached 2 pictures taken today before the ROM upgrade; i know they are ugly but was the first thing i had in my view . The picture number 1 is a street where i live during a rather sunny afternoon. Notice that everything bright is shown with a pink tone (and in every other picture taken by MDA compact that i've seen it's the same). Now look picture number 2; that's the same picture with levels, contrast and colors automaticly set by Photoshop. IMO picture quality is much higher...
So my point is: after all the MDA camera is not that bad, what really sux is the sofware that reprocesses the pictures, as maverick stated above...
tinto said:
anyway i upgraded today to the italian ROM and the camera app version is 2.70 build 17975. Let me know if it is the same
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You now have a newer one, see my first post in this thread.
Notice that everything bright is shown with a pink tone (and in every other picture taken by MDA compact that i've seen it's the same).
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Oh, that! Then I think I have good news for you: the Camera app has settings to correct such problems. In the Settings Page, tap on "Extra", then on the first menu entry (in German it's "Ansicht einstellen") - not the "Options" menu entry! There you can set contrast, brightness, hue, gamma, crispness etc.
Although these settings are under "Ansicht" ("View"), they do affect the pictures you take! (I have to admit I only just discovered this. Otherwise I would have let you know a lot earlier, of course...)
Hope that helped!
Daniel
tinto said:
tadzio said:
contrast and colors automaticly set by Photoshop. IMO picture quality is much higher...
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Click to collapse
what do u mean by automatically set by photoshop ??? how,d u do that :$ ??? plz explain.....thanks
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zairyaab said:
what do u mean by automatically set by photoshop ??? how,d u do that :$ ??? plz explain.....thanks
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my version of photoshop is in italian so i dunno the right name of the menu but i'll try to explain...
Go to menu Image (3rd menu from the left), then Regulations (the second string from the top) and then click on Automatic Levels, Automatic Contrast and Automatic Color. Anyway u can do a better job manually if u know what to do. My example was just there to show that the pictures of our lovely Compact could be slightly improved with a simple piece of software.
tadzio said:
Oh, that! Then I think I have good news for you: the Camera app has settings to correct such problems. In the Settings Page, tap on "Extra", then on the first menu entry (in German it's "Ansicht einstellen") - not the "Options" menu entry! There you can set contrast, brightness, hue, gamma, crispness etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've seen those too when u told me where i could find the camera app version. I've tried to change some but i don't really see a big improvement; anyway i'll try again tomorrow with the daylight. I'll let u know the results (and let me know yours :wink: )
I guess there should be some1 developing 3rd party camera software don't you think?
ramram said:
I guess there should be some1 developing 3rd party camera software don't you think?
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Click to collapse
I hope so. I'll try to take a look
For what concerns the camera settings, i've made some tries today in a perfect sunny afternoon and i found that i could improve a little the overall photo quality. Anyway the generalized pink tone is still present and can't be removed (u can turn it in a cyan tone but still not white; i belive u should be able to use decimals in the settings to remove it, cause with a hue of 5 the picture has pink while with a hue of 4 it has cyan tones).
My settings for a perfect sunny day are:
Contrast 6
Brightness 5
Gamma 5
Hue 5
Higher crispness gives u better details under the daylight, lower gives better quality in low light conditions.
Cheers
XDA II CAM SOFTWARE ALLLLL CRAPPP !!
i haf noticed one thing....n i think alll the xda II or guys usin himalaya device shud try this toooooo.....wat ive noticed is....i taken out a pic from ma xda II on default settings wid out changin gamma or contrast or sharpness.....wid pic resolution of 480 (thts the max it has FOOOOOK) ne wayz...i sent the pic to ma frnd via bluetooth on his nokia 6600 n the other frnd on some new siemens set....n guesss wat.....the freaky pic was loookin as if i toook it out from a DIGI CAM......not just on the damn cellll but wen they downloaded from the celll to their pc's too then also the damn pic had a totallllly diffff color n resolution then wat ma xda II was givin me.....so i am sure there has to be something wid the software tht generates the pic n reproduces it on the lcd....caz after takin a pic out from xda II n sendin it to frnds cell n burnin it out on the comp it was just awesome wat does tht MEAN ????? SOFTWARE PROB FOR SURE..... wat do u guys say ????
anyone tried the thing i mentioned above ??
I have noticed one thing, I think all the XDA II or people using Himalaya device should try this too, what I've noticed is, I took out a picture from my XDA II on default settings without changing GAMMA, CONTRAST or SHARPNESS.... with picture resolution of 480x640 (that’s the max XDA II has) any ways after taking out the picture I sent the picture to one of my friends via Bluetooth on his NOKIA 6600 and the other friend on some new SIEMENS Cell and guess what ??? the picture was looking totally different as if someone took it out from a DIGI CAM not just on the cell but also when they downloaded it on their computers the resolution and colors (graphics) was totally different then what my XDA II was giving out.
So I am sure there’s something to do with the software that generates the picture while sending it out on the Desktop Pc or LCD of the Handheld’s we are using.
What do you people have to say about this ?
Hope the grammar is OK for you guys to understand now
CAmera Version
Hello, I am a newbie in this area. I recently bought an I-Mate Jam and was immediately dissatisfied with the performance of its camera. I read that the German ROM cab file works better. Could you please tell me where I can find this cab file?
THanks
I have the JAM, bought it 2 weeks ago. The camera version is 2.70, build 18177. I would say the pic quality is mediocre for 1.3MP camera. Sometimes I get white spots in the pic too.
Maybe as someone above said, the processing is doing something odd. However I personally suspect that its a cheap camera and cheap lens.
Also, I wouldn't be suprised if its NOT really a 1.3MP camera. Maybe they have that "1.3MP by software enhancement" crap and that's its really a VGA camera. That would be my guess.
Anyway, lets face it, we didn't buy this device for the camera. If the Jam had no camera, I would have paid the same price for it as a PDA/Phone of this size. THAT's why I bought it, not for the toy camera.
I see the Nokia 1.3MP camera and it IS better, but you know these things are still basically toys. When I want a picture I use my Panasonic DMC-FX7, which is about the same size as the JAM and has 5MP and a kick ass picture.
When they make a phone camera that is at least 4MP and has an 3x optical zoom lens, give me call. Becuase that is the point when there is any value in the camera that would make me leave my real cameras at home. Until then I dont think I really care about these toy-class 1.3 MP cameras. Its not worth the trouble to even worry about it. That would be me stressing over the video quality of my digital camera - its a gimmick.
Hi all guys, the panorama function of diamond is very interesting and I used it a lot. Wow it is fantastic but the only pity is this apps only can capture 3 different angle pics and make a view picture. Is there any possible to capture more than 3 pics? Per my experience, the original apps can get 120 degree picture not 360 degree landscape.
My wish is to get 360 degree landscape......Anybody can give a hand?
why not mesh 3 panoramics?
Blazeitup123 said:
why not mesh 3 panoramics?
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Hi thanks, yeah I know I can get 3 panoramics and Photoshop it in my computer...But my questions is how to directly get 360 degree landscape on phone. Anybody can ajust this apps to capture more pics like 5 or 6 and get a wider view pic easly? not by using Photoshop, I assume everybody can do it with this tool.
...
i hope this is possible..it sounds like an amazing idea..
im not sure if it can be done with the original camera software but maybe it could be done with a custom program
There is a registry setting for this uder:
HLK>Software>HTC>Camera>Captparam>Panoramashoots
Increase that number from 3 to watever you want it to be.
Surur
royleecn said:
Hi all guys, the panorama function of diamond is very interesting and I used it a lot. Wow it is fantastic but the only pity is this apps only can capture 3 different angle pics and make a view picture. Is there any possible to capture more than 3 pics? Per my experience, the original apps can get 120 degree picture not 360 degree landscape.
My wish is to get 360 degree landscape......Anybody can give a hand?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know if I'm wrong but you can get more than 3 pics, you can get 6.
Select panorama > go to options menu of camera > select advanced > go to page 4/5.
Here you can change from 3 to 4/5/6.
ah thanks alot morphox£¡£¡ I make it £¡£¡
.........£¡£¡?
Which image size do you use for the pictures of a contact ?
I tried almost every combination but the picture of a contact/people in the Touch Flo 3d still remains of poor quality .
BerreZ said:
Which image size do you use for the pictures of a contact ?
I tried almost every combination but the picture of a contact/people in the Touch Flo 3d still remains of poor quality .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was about to start a thread about this too. The biggest pain is that there is no sample picture you can use to make your own pictures the same size. Does anyone know the answer?
256x256px 72dpi
BerreZ said:
Which image size do you use for the pictures of a contact ?
I tried almost every combination but the picture of a contact/people in the Touch Flo 3d still remains of poor quality .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After some research I found it. The resolution is 256x256. I use a PNG, but jpg works as well. I found out by looking at one of the avatars you can use when you have no picture of your own. Now the contacts picture looks perfect
david-v said:
After some research I found it. The resolution is 256x256. I use a PNG, but jpg works as well. I found out by looking at one of the avatars you can use when you have no picture of your own. Now the contacts picture looks perfect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you do it?
Take a pic of the person, crop the wanted part and downsize it?
Yes,
that's what I will do.
I will replace all of my contact photo's in Outlook that way.
Ofiaich
david-v said:
After some research I found it. The resolution is 256x256. I use a PNG, but jpg works as well. I found out by looking at one of the avatars you can use when you have no picture of your own. Now the contacts picture looks perfect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect??
I'm using a 256x256 JPG or PNG as well at 300 dpi...and it is still poor...
?
Ok I tried it . The result is better but still far from perfect.
Does someone has another idea ?
I´ve heard, but not tested, that you could use S2V (Slide to view) to add contacts´ picture without downsizing to low resolution.
If anyone tries it and works, tell us here.
Could someone post how contact picutes look like on the HD so we can see whats you mean when you say its bad quality...
Thanks!
Thanks
Thanks HelderJr I tried 2SV and that worked perfectly.
There is a setting when taking pictures with your phones camera to take contact pictures.. also for some strange reason when you use the pictures and videos program to add a photo in your library as a contact image the quality looks like crap. What looks best to me on the touch pro is open the Album program and add an image to a contact from inside the program. The contact picture quality looks much better.
Now this could turn out different on the Touch HD, but it works like this on my Touch Pro.
The thing that I dont like with TouchFlo 3D Photo Contact ... There is no standard "matrix" view of the photo contacts, for example 5 x n number of photos.
With TouchFlo 3D, we need to scroll to the correct photo and take action.
It is nice to see that 3D animation, but it is better to have an option for the user interface like the old HTC HOME.
Correction
2SV does the job. But !!!!!!!!!
Touch Flo 3d became extremely slow especially when reaching the tab "PEOPLE" and even crash down . Has to perform a soft reset and then 2SV doen't seem to work anymore.
So back to first question .
recorrection
UTVOL has it right.
Using the album(program) to assign a picture to a contact does almost the job.
Picture quality in tab "People" is largely improved but still not perfect.
asci said:
Perfect??
I'm using a 256x256 JPG or PNG as well at 300 dpi...and it is still poor...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... i think you must save in 72 dpi to avoid resizing by the HD ... in 300 dpi, there is a resize to web definition.... i 'm currently trying becaus ei have same problem, ...i will post the answer later ...hope it works.
Charles
Add photos from Album
Hi, try to add photos to your contacts from Album application
the difference is tremendous ... see samples:
1. foto used in both tries
2. set in outlook and synced via activesync
3. viewed with touch hd fotoviewer and saved to contact
so are you saying we should use 446 x 446 res?
tboy2000 said:
so are you saying we should use 446 x 446 res?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No!
256x256 pix. but you need to set it from the phone. Copy the picture to device, open it and set to contact. Outlook will blurr it.
I have an HTC AT&T Pure running duttys R10 rom.
everythings great but in camera mode I have no macro mode (little flower) for shooting up close pictures. I've searched all over this forum and the web and have found no mention of a macro mode for this phone's camera. Except review mentions of "with macro mode for up close shots" etc.
With a 5 megapixel camera I would figure that such a mode would be possible but I cannot find it or a way to make it appear.
any ideas? am I just asking too much of my Topaz?
So just like everywhere else? Nobody has any idea?
My personal view is that the auto focus does a very good job of focusing at around 6-8 cm from the subject. Thus not needing the macro (flower icon). My Samsung WB1000 focuses only very slightly nearer than 6cm and thats in macro mode but dues to wide lens on the unit it coin still seems further away.
Attached are photos, infact I would say that the Diamond 2 gets closer to the coin but does not hold as much detail.
I have not tried this with my DSLR but it would depend on which lens I used.
Diamond 2 photo on the right
To enable Macro Mode navigate in registry to HKLM\Software\HTC\Camera\General\MacroMode=>1
OMG!!! sweet.. thx bruce.. ill try that now and see if that works.. or is what im looking for..
EDIT: Seems to be working better. Close up pics are clearer that autofocus.. thx again.
Id say this tread is done.. lol
Bruce Inman said:
To enable Macro Mode navigate in registry to HKLM\Software\HTC\Camera\General\MacroMode=>1
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Hi Bruce,
One more help, when I keep on super fine and 5M also the file size is coming to max of 800 mb only! Anyway to save the files in RAW format or much better resolution please?
j_svas said:
Hi Bruce,
One more help, when I keep on super fine and 5M also the file size is coming to max of 800 mb only! Anyway to save the files in RAW format or much better resolution please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, not sure how to force to RAW format.
I just applied Bruces Reg suggestion, and don't see any Macro setting, after resetting. Will it just automatically go to Macro when close up? This site is a great source of info!
rbrsddn said:
I just applied Bruces Reg suggestion, and don't see any Macro setting, after resetting. Will it just automatically go to Macro when close up? This site is a great source of info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should open the control panel within the software, giving you the flower icon for close ups.
Recheck the key and see if it stayed = 1.
Yes, it stayed at 1. Hmmm. I'll take some close up pics, and see how they come out.
Bruce Inman said:
It should open the control panel within the software, giving you the flower icon for close ups.
Recheck the key and see if it stayed = 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bruce, I am using 6.5.3 and even I tried above and did not get flower/ Macro in settings! Kept it back to Zero,
Thanks for that note on RAW format
j_svas said:
Bruce, I am using 6.5.3 and even I tried above and did not get flower/ Macro in settings! Kept it back to Zero,
Thanks for that note on RAW format
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Click to collapse
Yes, sometimes the registry can be touchy, sorry.