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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

July 19, 2012 - 10:06am #1

Hello.

I've been playing with all the examples but I'm stuck with the continuous Autofocus. I can't get it on my HTC Sensation. Of course, the LogCat says : Requested Focus mode Continuous Autofocus. Not supported on this device. But I was sure it was supported. First of all, just by using the native camera app in both picture and video mode (I can see that it continuously tries to focus), then by digging Google (I didn't see a single page saying it was not supported). To clear my mind, I just built a sample app to list the Camera.getParameters().getSupportedFocusModes() and the available modes are (indeed) auto, infinity, macro, normal, so no continuous-auto. So my question is both hardware and software : how does the native Camera app continuously focuses without triggering an autofocus (it is not blurry then sharp, it is indeed continuously sharp) ? Is there a way to do this by code ? By some kind of blurry detection algorithm, with the help of OpenCV (I never used it...), by using sensors ? by a small piece of code that could be exposed in Vuforia or that we could implement by getting the amount of movement (rotation, scale, translate) applied to the GLSurfaceView ( modelViewProjection) ? It would not have to be executed every frame, something like every 2s should probably be enough. Or is it really necessary ? From my point of view, I think that it could increase the user experience...

Thanks for your answers.

franck
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July 14, 2012
Posts: 11
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

September 2, 2013 - 3:49am #11

Did hTC sensation support Continuous autofocus??

Anyone have conclusion or advices?

javck
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September 21, 2012
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

October 4, 2012 - 7:13pm #10

Can you post your full Model Number ( Settings > About Phone ). I'll see if I can find out anything more about this device.

 

DavidBeard
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January 30, 2012
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

September 14, 2012 - 6:03am #9

Hi David.

I don't how you did your tests, neither if what I'm gonna say could help you but I noticed intersting logs (using any of the SDK samples) when I move my camera from near to far things, so when I need the camera to refocus, here is a typical line

D/Camera(29874): HTC_CALLBACK: callbackType=4 arg1=0 arg2=0 mHtcCallback=null

I did not find anything on the net that could help me to understand where that line comes from. But it seems pretty sure now that somehow, my HTC Senstation is "continuous autofocus capable" since it triggers this "HTC_CALLBACK" (ot maybe that event is not related at all). The reason why I could not get it back on the SDK might come from the ICS build I'm using (virtual inquisition for 4.0.3) where it might be not supported or implemented by the developer (I don't really understand, those things are too heavy for me).

Cheers.

franck
Joined:
July 14, 2012
Posts: 11
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

August 21, 2012 - 6:50pm #8

To follow up on the original question, we've done some internal testing on the HTC One and discovered that the device can lose the ability to auto focus. This occurs below the Vuforia layer - i.e. it's an issue with device's own camera control . But the autofocus can typically be restored by pausing and resuming the app. Other HTC's may respond similarly.

DavidBeard
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

July 23, 2012 - 8:01am #7

To confirm, you're seeing continuous autofocus when using the camera outside of your Vuforia app, but are unable to enable continuous autofocus within your app?

Try the CameraDeviceMenu script that franck is referring to. This should give you a table of available camera device modes that you can test.

DavidBeard
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January 30, 2012
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

July 23, 2012 - 5:12am #6

Yogendra, JunkieHead, might sound stupid, but if your're running the examples on Android, you have to pop-up the options menu, and trigger an autofocus manually. Also check the LogCat, it will log some info on focus mode change (and tells you if the mode you choose is supported).

franck
Joined:
July 14, 2012
Posts: 11
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

July 23, 2012 - 5:02am #5

hey junkie ...

i am facing the same problem here..

can anyone suggest any working trick on htc one X(ics).

yogendra
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February 10, 2012
Posts: 58
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

July 23, 2012 - 4:29am #4

Even my HTC one x cant focus properly.

 

How can I make it focus properly

junkieHead
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July 7, 2012
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

July 23, 2012 - 4:02am #3

Thanks, I got my answer -> it's software : more an image is blurred, less it has contrast. I know now that it might be done by code, I don't have time to dig this for now, but I'll try to implement that piece of missing feature so the camera will automatically trigger an autofocus when the image is blurred.

franck
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July 14, 2012
Posts: 11
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Continuous autofocus support on HTC Sensation

July 22, 2012 - 4:34pm #2

I think that most mobile devices with autofocus capability use a passive technique based on contast detection. Basically the lense is adjusted for the point of maximum contrast, which correlates with the correct image focus.

DavidBeard
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