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Optimizing Zmax Pro Camera

PSYB0RG

Member
Dec 15, 2009
58
2
Georgia
(This post is to gather/share camera settings/tips so that we can have optimal quality videos/pics)

So...we all pretty much agree that this is the BEST $100 phone EVER. For it to be so cheap, we all know that the manufacturer had to cut some corners. While some of you wish they could have added NFC, my biggest wish was since they've given us an upgraded 13mp rear & 5mp front camera, then why not top that off with 4K for rear camera? That is about the ONLY real gripe I have with this amazing budget phone.

I've tried Open Camera from the app store in hopes that I can force 4K, that did NOT work. Im also hoping that IF/when we get root, maybe the dev's can force 4K...but that may be a while from now. My goal now is to simply work with the resolutions we have & maximize/optimize the quality of our cameras to get the best possible images/videos that we possibly can.

Back to open camera tho...it allows you to set the resolution, fps & even set the video bitrate, which should give quite amazing results if we can find the "sweet spots" for each different resolution. The main problem is that the app doesn't allow you to save those settings as a profile so that you can easily switch back & forth between these custom profiles....meaning each time you change something, you have to reconfigure all the parameters all over again.

For initial testing, I downloaded VLC player so I can look at the bitrate & fps info...so I can have something to compare results with. After taking a 10 second video in both 720/1080 modes, I noticed that the audio is the same @ 1.5mb.
The 10s 720p video (which is only 30fps...dont know why they didn't make it 60fps) was about 18.1mb total.
The 10s 1080p video was only about 28mb total.


I tried to shoot moving the camera pretty quickly left to right to see if the camera can keep up with motion pretty well, and there was quite a bit of blur where I just wasn't satisfied with the results. The other major problem is 1.5mb for audio is insanely high, its not like these phones have professional quality mic's in them, so its a total waste of data/space...with that being said, there is no way to adjust the audio bitrate at all with that app. I rather have more data in the video source vs audio to find that sweet spot for quality vs size.

1) Do any of you know of a better app to give (user friendly) precise control?
(I've seen some dslr camera app that lets you change focus, aperture, etc., but that isn't user friendly to the non-dslr owners...and I have a dslr camera, I just never use it)

2) Would you guys mind sharing your settings (I'll update this post with a few different of your settings for the meantime, until we can get a dev to bake these settings in)
 
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Not being able to record in 4k is a gripe on a 100dollar phone with all the great features it already has that BY THE WAY only has a 1080p display?

If it were possible to add in a another feature at the insanely low price of 100....id want it to be something useful.


What's the point of being able to shoot in 4k if you can't even appreciate the 4k video without having to export that file to something that does support 4K? Why? NFC would be infinitely more useful than being about to shoot 4k on a 1080p display
 
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Not being able to record in 4k is a gripe on a 100dollar phone with all the great features it already has that BY THE WAY only has a 1080p display?

If it were possible to add in a another feature at the insanely low price of 100....id want it to be something useful.


What's the point of being able to shoot in 4k if you can't even appreciate the 4k video without having to export that file to something that does support 4K? Why? NFC would be infinitely more useful than being about to shoot 4k on a 1080p display
It's actually under $100 Sir.
 
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