OK... once the Pixels got released, it became open season on the phone's APKs... we've seen mods that bring Google Assistant, live wallpaper apks, sound packs, etc... One of those mods happened to be a man named Charles Chow that took the Pixel's Google Camera (v4.2) and modified it to run on the 6P and 5X. He brought along other goodies like burst, etc... but I came across an update he posted that claimed to allow for the same instant, zero shutter lag for HDR+ shots that we see on the Pixels. This, of course.. well, this sums up my feelings:
Now, one thing that always got on my nerves with the 5X is that there was always a bit of a pause when taking even normal pics. A slight delay after hitting the button until the shot. I wasn't sure where this is, but apparently, it was due to how the GC interacted with the 5X's camera stack. The clever dev here ripped open the Google Camera APK and modified it to go in and access the dual ISPs that both the 5X and 6P both have... sure, they aren't as fast as the Pixel's ISP, but they should still be able to handle the continuous data stream that the Pixel can...maybe not able to sustain it when taking a bunch of pics back to back, but for a single picture....
I loaded up the APK on my 5X and.... my word, it worked!
HDR+ off, shutter is near instant, no delay (big improvement over stock)
HDR+ Auto, shutter is identical to above, with little to no delay. There is no HDR+ checkmark that you would normally see, but if you look in the internal gallery, it is processing HDR+ in the background. Now, the 5X was always stingy with HDR+ Auto, it would only trigger it when looking at a dark scene (unlike the 6P which triggered it whenever it was looking at a static scene). Here, every pic is HDR+.
HDR+ On, you will see the usual HDR+ circle animation and there is a slight delay to start... i.e. it basically acts the same as stock.
Couple of things to note... flash... auto flash does not work. If you want a flash, you need to toggle it on. Doesn't affect my usage much since I tended to avoid the flash altogether unless I absolutely had to.
I also can't attest to the battery life (we're hitting the ISP harder, so I suspect it'll use a bit more power).
Quality... here is where things get a little bit pro/con
Normally, when you take an HDR+ pic, the app will crank the exposure time down and take a series of underexposed images. It then takes the best one of the set, makes that the base image, then uses the other exposures to reduce noise and improve the dynamic range of the image. I just checked my 6P and the difference is pretty substantial. The standard image was 1/60s and on HDR+ Auto and HDR+ On, both had exposures of 1/125s.
Here is were things deviate with the modified app. That same scene... Standard and HDR+ Auto were 1/60s and HDR+ On was 1/125. This is a pretty key difference. As I mentioned before, HDR+ reduces noise AND improves dynamic range. By not decreasing the exposure time, the modified app also reduces its ability to improve dynamic range in situations where you might have a very bright source, like a glare-y, cloudy sky in the background. If the standard shot is blown out to the point of being clipped, or close to it, HDR+ Auto won't be able to do much. But either way, you still get the noise reduction without all the heavy, artifical processing artifacts.
Now this might SOUND like a big deal, but on the 5X, it really isn't. The 5X doesn't like to pop into HDR+ much when in Auto mode... it'll only go there if the majority of the scene is in lower light. If there is a fairly bright source somewhere in the frame, it'll drop quickly down to standard mode. So there really isn't much lost. If you have a TON of dynamic range in the shot, pop it over to HDR+ On, which you would have to do anyway. And this all ignores the fact that the modified GC is a LOT quicker....
If you are on 7.1.1 and want to check it out, you can see it over here : Camera NX V4 Bring ZSL Photo Shooting with HDR+ on Nexus, Same as Pixel Phone's Way (Update for N6P) The app isn't in the Play Store, so you will have to sideload it. But it doesn't require root, a custom recovery, etc... and if you don't want it, just uninstall the app... easy peasy.
Hope that makes sense.
Now, one thing that always got on my nerves with the 5X is that there was always a bit of a pause when taking even normal pics. A slight delay after hitting the button until the shot. I wasn't sure where this is, but apparently, it was due to how the GC interacted with the 5X's camera stack. The clever dev here ripped open the Google Camera APK and modified it to go in and access the dual ISPs that both the 5X and 6P both have... sure, they aren't as fast as the Pixel's ISP, but they should still be able to handle the continuous data stream that the Pixel can...maybe not able to sustain it when taking a bunch of pics back to back, but for a single picture....
I loaded up the APK on my 5X and.... my word, it worked!
HDR+ off, shutter is near instant, no delay (big improvement over stock)
HDR+ Auto, shutter is identical to above, with little to no delay. There is no HDR+ checkmark that you would normally see, but if you look in the internal gallery, it is processing HDR+ in the background. Now, the 5X was always stingy with HDR+ Auto, it would only trigger it when looking at a dark scene (unlike the 6P which triggered it whenever it was looking at a static scene). Here, every pic is HDR+.
HDR+ On, you will see the usual HDR+ circle animation and there is a slight delay to start... i.e. it basically acts the same as stock.
Couple of things to note... flash... auto flash does not work. If you want a flash, you need to toggle it on. Doesn't affect my usage much since I tended to avoid the flash altogether unless I absolutely had to.
I also can't attest to the battery life (we're hitting the ISP harder, so I suspect it'll use a bit more power).
Quality... here is where things get a little bit pro/con
Normally, when you take an HDR+ pic, the app will crank the exposure time down and take a series of underexposed images. It then takes the best one of the set, makes that the base image, then uses the other exposures to reduce noise and improve the dynamic range of the image. I just checked my 6P and the difference is pretty substantial. The standard image was 1/60s and on HDR+ Auto and HDR+ On, both had exposures of 1/125s.
Here is were things deviate with the modified app. That same scene... Standard and HDR+ Auto were 1/60s and HDR+ On was 1/125. This is a pretty key difference. As I mentioned before, HDR+ reduces noise AND improves dynamic range. By not decreasing the exposure time, the modified app also reduces its ability to improve dynamic range in situations where you might have a very bright source, like a glare-y, cloudy sky in the background. If the standard shot is blown out to the point of being clipped, or close to it, HDR+ Auto won't be able to do much. But either way, you still get the noise reduction without all the heavy, artifical processing artifacts.
Now this might SOUND like a big deal, but on the 5X, it really isn't. The 5X doesn't like to pop into HDR+ much when in Auto mode... it'll only go there if the majority of the scene is in lower light. If there is a fairly bright source somewhere in the frame, it'll drop quickly down to standard mode. So there really isn't much lost. If you have a TON of dynamic range in the shot, pop it over to HDR+ On, which you would have to do anyway. And this all ignores the fact that the modified GC is a LOT quicker....
If you are on 7.1.1 and want to check it out, you can see it over here : Camera NX V4 Bring ZSL Photo Shooting with HDR+ on Nexus, Same as Pixel Phone's Way (Update for N6P) The app isn't in the Play Store, so you will have to sideload it. But it doesn't require root, a custom recovery, etc... and if you don't want it, just uninstall the app... easy peasy.
Hope that makes sense.
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