Test video of the front 1.3 mp camera...mirror image?

[SoFLO]

HTC EVO 4G front-facing camera test: good, but it records a mirror image | Google Android Blog

First off I have to say the quality from just the camera itself is excellent for a webcam IMO.

The weird thing is that it seems to record a mirror image meaning if something is on the right in real life it's actually on the left in the video. The article explains it. You think it's something that can corrected through an update?

 

[Roman G.]

HTC EVO 4G front-facing camera test: good, but it records a mirror image | Google Android Blog

First off I have to say the quality from just the camera itself is excellent for a webcam IMO.

The weird thing is that it seems to record a mirror image meaning if something is on the right in real life it's actually on the left in the video. The article explains it. You think it's something that can corrected through an update?

Thanks for posting this.

I don't know about you, but i don't see much of a difference from the front cam to the back cam.

 

[esone1ll]

Good find! The mirror image thing is freaky.

 

[SoFLO]

Thanks for posting this.

I don't know about you, but i don't see much of a difference from the front cam to the back cam.

The difference is very little which tells you megapixels don't mean much when it comes to camera phones. I'm pleased by the front camera's quality, I think it's better than the webcam on my Toshiba laptop.

 

[esone1ll]

The difference is very little which tells you megapixels don't mean much when it comes to camera phones. I'm pleased by the front camera's quality, I think it's better than the webcam on my Toshiba laptop.

Well, megapixel counts don't matter for video, so 8MP vs 1.3MP has to do with still shots only.

The 8MP shooter on the back does video at 720p, or 1280x720; the 1.3 on the front does 640x480. The difference is there, but it's not as much as a leap from 1.3MP to 8MP.

You won't notice the diff on web-encoded videos on YouTube.

 

[GeneralPatton]

The recorded video he posted on YouTube is quite good quality for the front facing camera. The Qik video is a whole other story.

The mirrored image is weird, but it's whatever.

 

[MyHTCevo]

HTC EVO 4G front-facing camera test: good, but it records a mirror image | Google Android Blog

First off I have to say the quality from just the camera itself is excellent for a webcam IMO.

The weird thing is that it seems to record a mirror image meaning if something is on the right in real life it's actually on the left in the video. The article explains it. You think it's something that can corrected through an update?

I have a contact at Sprint and told them about this. I only saw it when someone had a graphic on their t-shirt and the video resulted in it being flipped. Wouldn't this kind of thing be tested before it is released???

 

[skinnyguy]

hope there is an option to change it...or if you take pix with it, it automatically flips it. would suck if you're trying to show someone a pic of your shirt or something..

 

[SoFLO]

Well, megapixel counts don't matter for video, so 8MP vs 1.3MP has to do with still shots only.

The 8MP shooter on the back does video at 720p, or 1280x720; the 1.3 on the front does 640x480. The difference is there, but it's not as much as a leap from 1.3MP to 8MP.

You won't notice the diff on web-encoded videos on YouTube.

Ah okay thanks for the clarification!

 

[Roman G.]

Well, megapixel counts don't matter for video, so 8MP vs 1.3MP has to do with still shots only.

The 8MP shooter on the back does video at 720p, or 1280x720; the 1.3 on the front does 640x480. The difference is there, but it's not as much as a leap from 1.3MP to 8MP.

You won't notice the diff on web-encoded videos on YouTube.

It's funny that you mention YouTube, because thats what we are all basing the quality on.

 

[Roman G.]

I have a contact at Sprint and told them about this. I only saw it when someone had a graphic on their t-shirt and the video resulted in it being flipped. Wouldn't this kind of thing be tested before it is released???

Prolly a simply firmware upgrade, or they mounted the camera backwards

 

[esone1ll]

It's funny that you mention YouTube, because that what we are all basing the quality on.

I know. See, for Web video, the encoding matters. The raw video captured by the EVO can be encoded to be a smaller file, and a smaller size, and then uploaded. So the quality takes a nose dive, and everyone is like "OMG the EVO's video capture sucks!"

The best way would be for a user to bost the raw files on a file sharing site, and for all of us to view them on our comps. This method has its own problems, though.

 

[Roman G.]

I know. See, for Web video, the encoding matters. The raw video captured by the EVO can be encoded to be a smaller file, and a smaller size, and then uploaded. So the quality takes a nose dive, and everyone is like "OMG the EVO's video capture sucks!"

The best way would be for a user to bost the raw files on a file sharing site, and for all of us to view them on our comps. This method has its own problems, though.

Ya I understand all that, I can tell the youtube videos of the back camera have some type of HD quality's in them, and I really can't notice a difference in the front camera, if someone asked me front camera or rear camera video, I would of said rear, as I had no idea the front one would take such nice videos.

 

[reallynotnick]

It's flipped because when you are recording with the front camera you are looking at the screen and it flips the video so it acts like a mirror. This happens in a lot of desktop apps for video chatting, it's very disorienting if the video is not flipped to look at yourself.
I however would hope they could find a way to display the video flipped on the screen for you to look at and record the video not flipped, as I have seen that a lot too.

 

[NicksGarage]

My laptop has a built in camera above the screen, when I turn it on, it's not a mirror image. Doesn't feel unnatural to watch it.

 

[cesjr02]

Yes Qik seems very disappointing from the reviews. I'm hoping Skype or another 3rd party chat client will step up to the plate.

Recording quality seems par with most webcams though, very nice!

 

[BlackDynamite]

The ideal solution would be to have an option- flipped or regular. I can't imagine why anyone would prefer flipped, but might as well have the option for those that do. Leaving the normal view out would be a huge mistake though.

 

[Clock]

This is probably a really stupid question, but I haven't seen it mentioned.

Is it possible out of the box to take pictures using the front-facing picture and using the screen as a viewfinder? My fiancee would use the crap out of that feature.

 

[AndremG]

sort of makes sense (at least to a warped mind like mine).

Think about projecting a image onto a sheet, like shadow puppets, but from both sides of the sheet. Then viewing the sheet from the other side, the projection is reversed. The screen and the normal camera video capture sensor is on the one side of the sheet and the front facing camera is on the other side.

However, it does seem that HTC could have taken care of this in the software.

 

[reallynotnick]

sort of makes sense (at least to a warped mind like mine).

Think about projecting a image onto a sheet, like shadow puppets, but from both sides of the sheet. Then viewing the sheet from the other side, the projection is reversed. The screen and the normal camera video capture sensor is on the one side of the sheet and the front facing camera is on the other side.

However, it does seem that HTC could have taken care of this in the software.

You're making it way too complicated, lol, points for creativity. It's all software, designed to make the EVO work as a mirror when you record yourself. The screen is shown reversed because people are used to mirrors when seeing themselves. If you raise your right hand and the hand on the left of the screen get's raised it's harder to make a video. While NicksGarage disagree's with me, he clearly has become used to looking at a non-mirrored image of himself. It's not like it is impossible, but it's just much easier to understand if the EVO's screen works like a mirror. It however should still record non reversed if it did it right.

 

[BlackDynamite]

Dang I just read the info on his site and he was in the driver's seat in that video, lol. That is not cool at all. They need to issue an update that fixes it. I don't even need it to display like a mirror. Just show me what everyone sees when they look at me, and record it that way too.

That is too funny that he's actually in the driver seat in that video.

 

[dales]

This is like almost 2 years later but my friend was just video chatting with her husband who is far away on a trip right now and his wedding ring "looked" as if it were on his right hand and not on his left! Thanks to this answer she is a lil bit more relieved that it has that mirrored effect! She was fretting fiercely I might add!! She has a Samsung Skyrocket ATT! Hopefully this is really what has happened!