CameraView

CameraView is a well documented, high-level library that makes capturing pictures and videos easy, addressing most of the common issues and needs, and still leaving you with flexibility where needed.

This is a fork of Dylan McIntyre's CameraKit-Android library, originally a fork of Google's CameraView library. The library at this point has been completely rewritten and refactored. See below for a list of what was done. This works better than any other library I have tried, and I would be grateful for any issue, suggestion or contribution.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Setup
• Usage
  • Capturing Images
  • Capturing Video
  • Other camera events
• Dynamic Sizing Behavior
  • Center Inside
  • Center Crop
• XML Attributes
  • cameraSessionType
  • cameraFacing
  • cameraFlash
  • cameraFocus
  • cameraZoomMode
  • cameraCropOutput
  • cameraJpegQuality
  • cameraWhiteBalance
  • cameraGrid
• Other APIs
• Permissions Behavior
• Manifest file
• Roadmap

Features

• Seamless image and video capturing, even within the same session
• System permission handling
• Dynamic sizing behavior
  • Create a CameraView of any size
  • Center inside or center crop behaviors
  • Automatic output cropping to match your CameraView bounds
• Built-in tap to focus
• Built-in pinch to zoom
• Built-in grid drawing
• Multiple capture methods
  • Take high-resolution pictures with capturePicture
  • Take quick snapshots as a freeze frame of the preview with captureSnapshot (similar to Snapchat and Instagram)
• Control flash, focus, zoom, white balance, exposure correction
• CameraUtils to help with Bitmaps and orientations
• Metadata support for pictures and videos
  • Automatically detected orientation tags
  • Plug in location tags with setLocation() API

Setup

For now, you must clone the repo and add it to your project.

Usage

To use CameraView engine, simply add a CameraView to your layout:

<com.otaliastudios.cameraview.CameraView
    android:id="@+id/camera"
    android:keepScreenOn="true"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

Make sure you override onResume, onPause and onDestroy in your activity, and call CameraView.start(), stop() and destroy().

@Override
protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    cameraView.start();
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
    super.onPause();
    cameraView.stop();
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    cameraView.destroy();
}

Capturing Images

To capture an image just call CameraView.capturePicture(). Make sure you setup a CameraListener to handle the image callback.

camera.setCameraListener(new CameraListener() {
    @Override
    public void onPictureTaken(byte[] picture) {
        // Create a bitmap or a file...
        // CameraUtils will read EXIF orientation for you, in a worker thread.
        CameraUtils.decodeBitmap(picture, ...);
    }
});

camera.capturePicture();

You can also use camera.captureSnapshot() to capture a preview frame. This is faster, though will ensure lower quality output.

Capturing Video

To capture video just call CameraView.startRecordingVideo(file) to start, and CameraView.stopRecordingVideo() to finish. Make sure you setup a CameraListener to handle the video callback.

camera.setCameraListener(new CameraListener() {
    @Override
    public void onVideoTaken(File video) {
        // The File is the same you passed before.
        // Now it holds a MP4 video.
    }
});

File file = ...; // Make sure you have permissions to write here.
camera.startRecordingVideo(file);
camera.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        // This will trigger onVideoTaken().
        camera.stopRecordingVideo();
    }
}, 2500);

// Shorthand:
camera.startRecordingVideo(file, 2500);

Other camera events

Make sure you can react to different camera events by setting up a CameraListener instance.

camera.setCameraListener(new CameraListener() {

    @Override
    public void onCameraOpened(CameraOptions options) {}

    @Override
    public void onCameraClosed() {}

    @Override
    public void onPictureTaken(byte[] picture) {}

    @Override
    public void onVideoTaken(File video) {}
    
    @Override
    public void onFocusStart(float x, float y) {}
    
    @Override
    public void onFocusEnd(boolean successful, float x, float y) {}
    
    @Override
    public void onZoomChanged(float zoomValue, PointF[] fingers) {}

});

Dynamic Sizing Behavior

CameraView has a smart measuring behavior that will let you do what you want with a few flags. Measuring is controlled simply by layout_width and layout_height attributes, with this meaning:

• WRAP_CONTENT : try to stretch this dimension to respect the preview aspect ratio.
• MATCH_PARENT : fill this dimension, even if this means ignoring the aspect ratio.
• Fixed values (e.g. 500dp) : respect this dimension.

You can have previews of all sizes, not just the supported presets. Whaterever you do, the preview will never be distorted.

Center inside

You can emulate a center inside behavior (like the ImageView scaletype) by setting both dimensions to wrap_content. The camera will get the biggest possible size that fits into your bounds, just like what happens with image views.

<com.otaliastudios.cameraview.CameraView
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

This means that the whole preview is visible, and the image output matches what was visible during the capture.

Center crop

You can emulate a center crop behavior by setting both dimensions to fixed values or to MATCH_PARENT. The camera view will fill the rect. If your dimensions don't match the aspect ratio of the internal preview surface, the surface will be cropped to fill the view, just like android:scaleType="centerCrop" on an ImageView.

<com.otaliastudios.cameraview.CameraView
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" />

This means that part of the preview is hidden, and the image output will contain parts of the scene that were not visible during the capture. If this is a problem, see cameraCropOutput.

XML Attributes

<com.otaliastudios.cameraview.CameraView
    android:id="@+id/camera"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:keepScreenOn="true"
    app:cameraFacing="back"
    app:cameraFlash="off"
    app:cameraFocus="continuous"
    app:cameraZoom="off"
    app:cameraGrid="off"
    app:cameraSessionType="picture"
    app:cameraCropOutput="true"  
    app:cameraJpegQuality="100"
    app:cameraVideoQuality="480p"
    app:cameraWhiteBalance="auto" />

XML Attribute	Method	Values	Default Value
cameraSessionType	setSessionType()	picture video	picture
cameraFacing	setFacing()	back front	back
cameraFlash	setFlash()	off on auto torch	off
cameraFocus	setFocus()	fixed continuous tap tapWithMarker	continuous
cameraZoomMode	setZoom()	off pinch	off
cameraGrid	setGrid()	off grid3x3 grid4x4 phi	off
cameraCropOutput	setCropOutput()	true false	false
cameraJpegQuality	setJpegQuality()	0 <= n <= 100	100
cameraVideoQuality	setVideoQuality()	max480p max720p max1080p max2160p highest lowest	max480p
cameraWhiteBalance	setWhiteBalance()	auto incandescent fluorescent daylight cloudy	auto

cameraSessionType

What to capture - either picture or video. This has a couple of consequences:

• Sizing: capture and preview size are chosen among the available picture or video sizes, depending on the flag. When picture, we choose the max possible picture size and adapt the preview. When video, we respect the videoQuality choice and adapt the picture and the preview size.
• Picture capturing: due to sizing behavior, capturing pictures in video mode might lead to inconsistent results. In this case it is encouraged to use captureSnapshot instead, which will capture preview frames. This is fast and thus works well with slower camera sensors.
• Picture capturing: while recording a video, image capturing might work, but it is not guaranteed (it's device dependent)
• Permission behavior: when requesting a video session, the record audio permission will be requested. If this is needed, the audio permission should be added to your manifest or the app will crash.

cameraView.setSessionType(CameraConstants.SESSION_TYPE_PICTURE);
cameraView.setSessionType(CameraConstants.SESSION_TYPE_VIDEO);

cameraFacing

Which camera to use, either back facing or front facing.

cameraView.setFacing(CameraConstants.FACING_BACK);
cameraView.setFacing(CameraConstants.FACING_FRONT);

cameraFlash

Flash mode, either off, on, auto or torch.

cameraView.setFlash(CameraConstants.FLASH_OFF);
cameraView.setFlash(CameraConstants.FLASH_ON);
cameraView.setFlash(CameraConstants.FLASH_AUTO);
cameraView.setFlash(CameraConstants.FLASH_TORCH);

cameraFocus

Focus behavior. Can be off, continuous (camera continuously tries to adapt its focus), tap (focus is driven by the user tap) and tapWithMarker (a marker is drawn on screen to indicate focusing).

cameraView.setFocus(CameraConstants.FOCUS_FIXED);
cameraView.setFocus(CameraConstants.FOCUS_CONTINUOUS);
cameraView.setFocus(CameraConstants.FOCUS_TAP);
cameraView.setFocus(CameraConstants.FOCUS_TAP_WITH_MARKER);

cameraZoomMode

Lets you enable built-in pinch-to-zoom behavior. This means that the camera will capture two-finger gestures and move the zoom value accordingly. Nothing is drawn on screen, but you can listen to onZoomChanged in your camera listener.

cameraView.setZoomMode(CameraConstants.ZOOM_OFF);
cameraView.setZoomMode(CameraConstants.ZOOM_PINCH);

cameraGrid

Lets you draw grids over the camera preview. Supported values are off, grid3x3 and grid4x4 for regular grids, and phi for a grid based on the golden ratio constant, often used in photography.

cameraView.setZoom(CameraConstants.GRID_OFF);
cameraView.setZoom(CameraConstants.GRID_3X3);
cameraView.setZoom(CameraConstants.GRID_4X4);
cameraView.setZoom(CameraConstants.GRID_PHI);

cameraCropOutput

Whether the output picture should be cropped to fit the aspect ratio of the preview surface. This can guarantee consistency between what the user sees and the final output, if you fixed the camera view dimensions. This does not support videos.

cameraJpegQuality

Sets the JPEG quality of pictures.

cameraView.setJpegQuality(100);
cameraView.setJpegQuality(50);

cameraVideoQuality

Sets the desired video quality.

cameraView.setVideoQuality(CameraConstants.VIDEO_QUALITY_480P);
cameraView.setVideoQuality(CameraConstants.VIDEO_QUALITY_720P);
cameraView.setVideoQuality(CameraConstants.VIDEO_QUALITY_1080P);
cameraView.setVideoQuality(CameraConstants.VIDEO_QUALITY_2160P);
cameraView.setVideoQuality(CameraConstants.VIDEO_QUALITY_LOWEST);
cameraView.setVideoQuality(CameraConstants.VIDEO_QUALITY_HIGHEST);
cameraView.setVideoQuality(CameraConstants.VIDEO_QUALITY_QVGA);

cameraWhiteBalance

Sets the desired white balance for the current session.

cameraView.setWhiteBalance(CameraConstants.WHITE_BALANCE_AUTO);
cameraView.setWhiteBalance(CameraConstants.WHITE_BALANCE_INCANDESCENT);
cameraView.setWhiteBalance(CameraConstants.WHITE_BALANCE_FLUORESCENT);
cameraView.setWhiteBalance(CameraConstants.WHITE_BALANCE_DAYLIGHT);
cameraView.setWhiteBalance(CameraConstants.WHITE_BALANCE_CLOUDY);

Other APIs

Other APIs are provided and are well documented and commented in code.

Method	Description
getCameraOptions()	If camera was started, returns non-null object with information about what is supported.
getExtraProperties()	If camera was started, returns non-null object with extra information about the camera sensor. Not very useful at the moment.
setLocation(double, double)	Sets latitude and longitude to be appended to picture/video metadata.
setZoom(float)	Sets a zoom value, where 0 means camera zoomed out and 1 means zoomed in. No-op if zoom is not supported, or camera not started.
setExposureCompensation(float)	Sets exposure compensation EV value, in camera stops. No-op if this is not supported. Should be between the bounds returned by CameraOptions.
isStarted()	Returns true if start() was called succesfully. This does not mean that camera is open or showing preview.
getPreviewSize()	Returns the size of the preview surface. If CameraView was not constrained in its layout phase (e.g. it was wrap_content), this will return the same aspect ratio of CameraView.
getSnapshotSize()	Returns getPreviewSize(), since a snapshot is a preview frame.
getPictureSize()	Returns the size of the output picture. The aspect ratio is consistent with getPreviewSize().

Permissions behavior

CameraView needs two permissions:

• android.permission.CAMERA : required for capturing pictures and videos
• android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO : required for capturing videos

You can handle permissions yourself and then call CameraView.start() once they are acquired. If they are not, CameraView will request permissions to the user based on the sessionType that was set. In that case, you can restart the camera if you have a successful response from onRequestPermissionResults().

Manifest file

The library manifest file is not strict and only asks for camera permissions. This means that:

• If you wish to record videos, you should also add android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO to required permissions

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO"/>

• If you want your app to be installed only on devices that have a camera, you should add:

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera"
    android:required="true"/>

If you don't request this feature, you can use CameraUtils.hasCameras() to detect if current device has cameras, and then start the camera view.

Roadmap

This is what was done since the library was forked. I have kept the original structure, but practically all the code was changed.

• a huge number of serious bugs fixed
• decent orientation support for both pictures and videos
• EXIF support
• real tap-to-focus support
• pinch-to-zoom support
• simpler APIs, docs and heavily commented code
• new captureSnapshot API
• new setLocation and setWhiteBalance APIs
• new setGrid APIs, to draw 3x3, 4x4 or golden ratio grids
• option to pass a File when recording a video
• other minor API additions
• replacing Method and Permissions stuff with simpler sessionType
• smart measuring and sizing behavior, replacing bugged adjustViewBounds
• measure CameraView as center crop or center inside
• add multiple CameraListeners for events

These are still things that need to be done, off the top of my head:

• fix CropOutput class presumably not working on rotated pictures
• test video and 'frame' capture behavior, I expect some bugs there
• simple APIs to draw grid lines
• check focus, not sure it exposes the right part of the image
• replace setCameraListener() with addCameraListener()
• better threading, for example ensure callbacks are called in the ui thread
• pinch to zoom support
• exposure correction APIs
• change demo app icon
• refactor package name
• Camera2 integration
• publish to bintray
• attach operations (e.g. zoom, exposure correction) to vertical swipes or horizontal swipes
• check onPause / onStop / onSaveInstanceState consistency
• add a setPreferredAspectRatio API to choose the capture size. Preview size will adapt, and then, if let free, the CameraView will adapt as well
• animate grid lines similar to stock camera app
• add onRequestPermissionResults for easy permission callback
• better error handling, maybe with a onError(e) method in the public listener, or have each public method return a boolean