Camera 2 API for Nexus 7, what works?

[medloh]

I updated my 2013 WIFI Nexus 7 to 5.01, then I installed the Camera 2 API example, and it works. But it's very simple, doesn't illustrate any of the new features of the new Camera API except for taking a picture and saving it to JPG.

After a little digging I read the the Nexus 7 hardware doesn't support some features in the new API like outputting images to Raw format and ?DNG?. I installed LCamera which exercises more of the Camera 2 API, but it doesn't run--just says 'your device is not supported'.

Looking for some information specific to the Nexus 7 camera 2 API, what it supports and what it does not support.
Does it support burst mode, or does that require Raw format that the Nexus 7 doesn't do?

Some sample code would be tremendous.

 

[Rukbat]

It supports exactly what it supported before. The new APIs didn't change the hardware, and the app can only support what the hardware can. The software features are whatever the app itself can do, but anything dependent on the hardware hasn't changed. (The app can call the API to output in Raw format, but if the hardware can't do it, it won't.)

What's most important is having control over the shutter speed, the aperture (F-stop) and, in automatic mode, which takes precedence. Having a really large lens (F0.95) and a really slow shutter (16 seconds) and a really fast shutter (1/1,000 second or faster) would be good, and having a CCD that can give an ISO of 16 or 17 without much noise would be great, but we're not going to see those things in a phone for quite a while. (If you want a good camera, get a Nikon D4, The phone sensitivity is worse than a string and 2 cans without the string, but it can take a great picture where your phone will tell you that there's no light. And it can stop a race horse so you can watch the dirt grains falling off his hooves individually.) Remember, the camera on a smartphone is really an afterthought. You want a good computer, a great phone and, oh, yeah, it has a couple of cameras. If you want to do serious photography, you need 2 things - an education (Ansel Adams took some fantastic pictures with a $3 box camera, just to show it could be done, and Dorothea Lange's pictures - granted, she used a Graflex - were great because she took them, not because she used a great camera) and, if you want to get pictures in the dark, or with a scene with a 1,000:1 luminance ratio, or of the writing on a box car passing by at 75mph 5 feet from the camera, a great camera. Otherwise, the education and a shoe box with a pinhole and some film are enough. Learn what makes a great picture and you'll take great pictures - with any camera. And Kodak has all sorts if free tutorials on line to teach you what makes a great picture.

 

[johnpjackson]

Rukbat I think you're completely blinded by your obvious photographic elitist perspective. I think most normal people interested in getting full manual control of the camera in their phones wouldn't be surprised or argue the point that they shouldn't expect Smithsonian/National Geographic results with them. That doesn't mean though they wouldn't find any added desirable/valuable results from that added capability. I think it's completely reasonable and understandable for regular people who are enthusiastic about their devices to want to explore the utmost limits/capabilities of them, even if they are not ultimately the highest, most dazzlingly mind blowing results possible from the most expensive pro gear.