ProShot camera app.

[RiseUpGames]

Hi RiseUpGames and everyone,

I've got another question on how to properly use the manual focus. I just got my own iStabilizer XL today and decided to play around with 2 and 4 seconds exposure options of ProShot. I absolutely love to be blown away by the low-light capability of my Lumia 920 :wink:.

So, I put the Lumia on the tripod, went outside, and shot long-distance shots. For these, I used manual focus and set it to hyperfocal (slider to the most right). I went back into my apartment, uploaded the pics into the computer, and noticed that the pics came out grainy and out of focus. Even without fully zooming in, I could already tell the pics didn't look too sharp. The pics quality totally don't match many of the pics posted in this forum.

So, I decided to try again, but this time, I was shooting two identical frame with auto and manual focus back to back. Below is the result.

Camera settings: ISO 100, exposure = 0, shutter time = 4, the rest = automatic, with a tripod. Time: around 11pm.

With auto focus. The focus is around cars in the center of the pic.
View attachment 36185

With manual focus set to 100% hyperfocal.
View attachment 36186

The first pic is clearly sharper than the second one. The apartment and the trees in the center of the screen just look so much better in the first pic.

So, am I using the manual focus wrongly? To use hyperfocal, what does the minimum distance of the object have to be? The distance between my Lumia and the trees in the center is about 100 feet. Isn't that supposed to be far enough? RiseUpGames, is there actually a special trick to the manual focus of this app?

The answer to this requires a bit of an explanation:

Under extreme weather conditions (hot or cold), certain materials can warp. Lenses are no exception to this. In order to compensate for the expansion or contraction of elements, lenses are designed to focus past infinity, so that there will never be a condition in which the lens cannot focus to infinity.

When you adjust focus to 100%, depending on your environment, you may be focusing past infinity, resulting in a slightly out-of-focus image.

There is no way for me to determine exactly where infinity lies on these cameras. The best practice would be to just AF on a far-away object and use focus lock.

 

[Nabkawe5]

I love Proshot

 

[Nabkawe5]

just amazing.

 

[Nabkawe5]

Again Amazing
I just love how the Lumia 920 can stand up on its own so I can take long shutter shots without my tripod.



BTW the light is ACTUALLY changing

 

[HansTj]

Another 4 seconds of beauty by Nokia Lumia 920 + ProShot.

 

[deepteesh dey]

does proshot has a better close-up mode? I tend to scan docs a few. Also, anyone using proshot on lumia 720 without hiccups?

 

[Nabkawe5]

does proshot has a better close-up mode? I tend to scan docs a few. Also, anyone using proshot on lumia 720 without hiccups?

use manual focus. Its in the foc tab

 

[Jonathan Piferrer]

Question.. i have a Lumia 720 using Proshot, but pictures at night, or in dark rooms shows ALWAYS RED EYE EFFECT ON PEOPLE...

Do you have any suggestion to avoid Red Eye on Lumia 720 with Camera?

 

[Nabkawe5]

Question.. i have a Lumia 720 using Proshot, but pictures at night, or in dark rooms shows ALWAYS RED EYE EFFECT ON PEOPLE...

Do you have any suggestion to avoid Red Eye on Lumia 720 with Camera?

while the best advice is not to use flash but use longer shutters with low ISO , sure in this case friends should remain still and you have to coin a tripod or buy one at least.

 

[Jonathan Piferrer]

while the best advice is not to use flash but use longer shutters with low ISO , sure in this case friends should remain still and you have to coin a tripod or buy one at least.

Ok, tried on my birthday with lights off... and red eyes always appears... i will try what you said!

 

[yeewiz]

OK, been a while since this thread has been on page 2, and I haven't contributed in a while. So time to solve both ...

My dog:


Supermoon over the Golden Gate Bridge:


RiseUpGames, thank you again, what a great app!

 

[RiseUpGames]

Hey everyone! Just wanted to give you some info on what's been going on.

First, the good news:

I have received a confirmation that the really critical memory leak in the WP API will be fixed in the coming OS update (GDR2). This is incredibly awesome news for ProShot as it will allow me to add a really important feature.

And now the bad news:

The OS update won't come with some stuff I was hoping for to help me implement a fast HDR feature. That doesn't mean HDR won't be coming to ProShot, it's just a roadblock.


In other news, still working on fixing the bugs, haven't had much time lately due to various circumstances but will be back to normal after //build/ is over.

Oh and I just got back from Taipei. Here are some pics (captured with ProShot, of course):



Straight out of camera, manually set shutter to 1/15 to capture motion



Jiufen, Taiwan. Underexposed image to preserve more highlight detail in the sky. Some PP in Creative Studio.

I actually took some better captures of this scene that preserve more highlight detail, but they need to be run
through the big guns (Lightroom) before they are ready for prime time. This is just a quickie done on the phone

 

[cyppisek]

2013_06_28_10_30_47_ProShot by cyppisek_, on Flickr


2013_06_27_11_21_59_ProShot by cyppisek_, on Flickr


2013_06_29_21_07_11_ProShot (1) by cyppisek_, on Flickr

 

[vrokolos]

Can you guys think of some 3-4 presets for me in order to make me start learning quicker?

 

[yeewiz]

Well it kind of depends on what kind of shooting you want to do. Here's 2 scenarios I've done recently testing out Manual Mode. Now, remember, these are just general guidelines and you'll have to adjust after you shoot the initial shot because your lighting may be different. You may have to shoot MORE than one test shot to zero in on the right settings.

FIRST, go to manual mode in ProShot. Then pin it to your start screen.

1) For shooting in daylight right after the sun sets (there's daylight, but the light is getting darker since the sun is gone):
Focus: Set to Auto (lots of folks here like to do manual focus because it gives them better control. I use Auto because it works fine for me. Aim the center of the viewfinder to where you want the sharpest point, press the camera button half way and wait for the focus indicators to lock on and beep. Then press the button the rest of the way to shoot the shot. For beginners, Auto means one less setting to worry about)
ISO: 100 (you want to try and use 100 because the slower the ISO, the sharper/cleaner the final image)
WB: Daylight
Flash: Off
Exposure compensation: 0 (I could discuss the exposure compensation setting but that would just be TMI at this point so leave it at 0).
Shutter speed: 1/30 (If the resulting image is too light, use a faster shutter speed like 1/60. If too dark, use a slower shutter speed like 1/15. It may be that at 1/15, you can't hold the camera steady enough and the image is blurred. In that case, set the shutter back to 1/30, and up the ISO to 200.)

2) For night time shots (the sky is black):
Same settings and advice as in 1) above, but set your shutter speed to 4 secs. AND, you'll need a tripod and phone holder to eliminate camera shake. This will get you those headlight and taillight blurs. If the resulting picture is too light, set the shutter speed to something faster like 2 secs. If the picture is too dark, the only thing you can do is change the Exposure compensation control to +1 or +2 since 4 secs is the slowest shutter speed on a Nokia 920.

Hope this helps. Try the above and come back with questions.

 

[Omar Zak]

hello Developer.

i want to report a problem that is happening to me since almost a week.

whenever i launch the app to take a photo, the app just takes the photo and turned off automatically without saving it.
and im forced to re launch the App once again and everything is running smoothly after that.

im using a lumia 820, with pictures saved to Memory card, 8GB Class 4.

 

[Jonathan Piferrer]

Taken by me with Lumia 720 yesterday on Car expo.... :smile:

 

[Davide_sd]

I've done a little test with long exposure... Unfortunately it was a windy night, so it was really difficult to use long exposure time, even with the tripod.

Exposure time: 4 sec; ISO-400.


Exposure time: 4 sec; ISO-100


Taken with Lumia 920.

 

[RiseUpGames]

hello Developer.

i want to report a problem that is happening to me since almost a week.

whenever i launch the app to take a photo, the app just takes the photo and turned off automatically without saving it.
and im forced to re launch the App once again and everything is running smoothly after that.

im using a lumia 820, with pictures saved to Memory card, 8GB Class 4.

I am really sorry for this, it's a bug that I'm trying to get solved asap (something to do with saving images to the SD card).... haven't had enough time the past few weeks to address it, but now that //build/ is over I will go back to regular updates, with this bug being priority #1

 

[RiseUpGames]

I've done a little test with long exposure... Unfortunately it was a windy night, so it was really difficult to use long exposure time, even with the tripod.

Exposure time: 4 sec; ISO-400.
View attachment 36696

Exposure time: 4 sec; ISO-100
View attachment 36697

Taken with Lumia 920.

I'd be interested to see how it would look if you took multiple 4 sec exposures from the same vantage point and stacked the dark areas in post. Since the subject is static, this could be a way to simulate 8, 12, or 20s exposures (I haven't tried this myself, just wondering out loud