Develop Reference

Taking picture while recording video on Android

I have written the Android service shown below for recording the front cam in the background. This works very well. But now I would like to also take a picture every 5 seconds while recording. Is this somehow possible? When I try to open a second camera (in another service) I'm getting an error.
public class RecorderService extends Service implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {
private WindowManager windowManager;
private SurfaceView surfaceView;
private Camera camera = null;
private MediaRecorder mediaRecorder = null;
#Override
public void onCreate() {
// Create new SurfaceView, set its size to 1x1, move it to the top left corner and set this service as a callback
windowManager = (WindowManager) this.getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE);
surfaceView = new SurfaceView(this);
WindowManager.LayoutParams layoutParams = new WindowManager.LayoutParams(
1, 1,
WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_OVERLAY,
WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_WATCH_OUTSIDE_TOUCH,
PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT
);
layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.LEFT | Gravity.TOP;
windowManager.addView(surfaceView, layoutParams);
surfaceView.getHolder().addCallback(this);
}
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(this, MainActivity.class);
PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0,
notificationIntent, 0);
Notification notification = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this)
//.setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.app_icon)
.setContentTitle("Background Video Recorder")
.setContentText("")
.setContentIntent(pendingIntent).build();
startForeground(MainActivity.NOTIFICATION_ID_RECORDER_SERVICE, notification);
return Service.START_NOT_STICKY;
}
// Method called right after Surface created (initializing and starting MediaRecorder)
#Override
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder) {
camera = Camera.open(1);
mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
camera.unlock();
mediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder.getSurface());
mediaRecorder.setCamera(camera);
mediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.CAMCORDER);
mediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
mediaRecorder.setProfile(CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_720P));
FileUtil.createDir("/storage/emulated/0/Study/Camera");
mediaRecorder.setOutputFile("/storage/emulated/0/Study/Camera/" + Long.toString(System.currentTimeMillis()) + ".mp4");
try { mediaRecorder.prepare(); } catch (Exception e) {}
mediaRecorder.start();
try {
camera.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Runnable runnable = new PictureThread(camera);
Thread thread = new Thread(runnable);
thread.start();
}
// Stop recording and remove SurfaceView
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
mediaRecorder.stop();
mediaRecorder.reset();
mediaRecorder.release();
camera.lock();
camera.release();
windowManager.removeView(surfaceView);
}
#Override
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder, int format, int width, int height) {}
#Override
public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder) {}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) { return null; }
}
Edit: I have now written a thread PictureThread. This thread is started from RecorderService and tries to take a picture while video recording.
public class PictureThread implements Runnable {
private final static String TAG = PictureThread.class.getSimpleName();
private Camera camera;
PictureThread(Camera camera) {
this.camera = camera;
}
#Override
public void run() {
camera.startPreview();
camera.takePicture(shutterCallback, rawCallback, jpegCallback);
}
Camera.ShutterCallback shutterCallback = new Camera.ShutterCallback() {
public void onShutter() {
}
};
Camera.PictureCallback rawCallback = new Camera.PictureCallback() {
public void onPictureTaken(byte[] data, Camera camera) {
}
};
Camera.PictureCallback jpegCallback = new Camera.PictureCallback() {
public void onPictureTaken(byte[] data, Camera camera) {
Log.i(TAG, "onPictureTaken - jpeg");
}
};
}
Unfortunately jpegCallback gets never called (i.e. the Log message is never printed). When I open the camera app of my tablet then I can take pictures while video recording, so this should be possible.
I have also tried the Camera2 API example as suggested by Alex Cohn (https://github.com/mobapptuts/android_camera2_api_video_app). Recording a video works and also taking a picture works but when I try to take a picture while recording, no picture is created (but also no error). Nevertheless, I have found this example app not working very reliable (perhaps there is another example app).
Edit 2: The shutterCallback and rawCallback of takePicture gets called but the data of the rawCallback is null. The jpegCallback gets never called.. Any idea why and how this can be solved? I have also tried to wait in the thread for a period of time to give the callback time for being called and I have tried to make the callbacks static in my main activity (so that it gets not garbage collected). Nothing worked.

Edit:
With the clarification:
The old camera API supports calling takePicture() while video is being recorded, if Camera.Parameters.isVideoSnapshotSupported reports true on the device is question.
Just hold on to the same camera instance you're passing into the MediaRecorder, and call Camera.takePicture() on it.
Camera2 also supports this with more flexibility, by creating a session with preview, recording, and JPEG outputs at the same time.
Original answer:
If you mean taking pictures with the back camera, while recording with the front camera - that's device-dependent. Some devices have enough hardware resources to run multiple cameras at once, but most won't (they share processing hardware between the two cameras).
The only way to tell if multiple cameras can be used at once is to try opening a second camera when one is already open. If it works, you should be good to go; if not, that device doesn't support multiple cameras at once.

No, you cannot open separate camera instances for video recording and stills capture. The deprecated Camera API is not reliable for such tasks (see e.g. Android camera parameter IsVideoSnapshotSupported incorrectly set to false about Samsung S4).
You can use camera2 API (on devices that support such mode) to capture different formats and resolutions from the same camera instance. Here is a video tutorial: https://www.nigeapptuts.com/android-video-app-still-capture-recording/

Android app camera preview stopped working (using deprecated `setType` method)

I have a camera app that had a Camera Preview which worked. The app was developed some years ago (2012) and i decided to reuse parts of its code, but, upon testing again (on same hardware i9100, different OS 4.4 vs 3.0), my camera preview image has a problem
when i move the phone, i see the image change and it responds to light and dark patterns (therefore app is communicating with camera).
this is my code (it uses deprecated method setType):
class CameraPreview extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {
private static final String TAG = "TGCamera";
SurfaceHolder mHolder;
public Camera camera;
public final String fileName = "/download/CameraGPS/zdelTempPhotoPreview.jpg";
CameraPreview(Context context) {
super(context);
// Install a SurfaceHolder.Callback so we get notified when the
// underlying surface is created and destroyed.
mHolder = getHolder();
mHolder.addCallback(this);
mHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
}
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
// The Surface has been created, acquire the camera and tell it where
// to draw.
camera = Camera.open();
Parameters parameter02 = camera.getParameters();
parameter02.setJpegThumbnailSize(80, 60);
parameter02.setPictureSize(640, 480);
camera.setParameters(parameter02);
try {
camera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
camera.setDisplayOrientation(90);
Parameters parameters00 = camera.getParameters();
//parameters00.setRotation(90);
//parameters00.setFlashMode("on");
//parameters00.setJpegQuality(20);
camera.setParameters(parameters00);
camera.setPreviewCallback(new PreviewCallback() {
public void onPreviewFrame(byte[] data, Camera arg1) {
CameraPreview.this.invalidate();
}
});
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
// Surface will be destroyed when we return, so stop the preview.
// Because the CameraDevice object is not a shared resource, it's very
// important to release it when the activity is paused.
camera.stopPreview();
camera = null;
}
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int w, int h) {
// Now that the size is known, set up the camera parameters and begin
// the preview.
//camera.getParameters().setRotation();
//camera.getParameters().setJpegQuality(20);
//camera.getParameters().setPictureSize(width, height)
Parameters parameters = camera.getParameters();
parameters.setPreviewSize(w, h);
camera.setParameters(parameters);
camera.startPreview();
}
#Override
public void draw(Canvas canvas) {
super.draw(canvas);
Log.w(TAG,"clicked in preview");
Paint p = new Paint(Color.RED);
Log.d(TAG, "draw");
canvas.drawText("PREVIEW", canvas.getWidth() / 2,
canvas.getHeight() / 2, p);
}
Any suggestions?

You cannot set the picture size and preview size to arbitrary values. Make sure you check the lists returned by getSupportedPictureSizes() and getSupportedPreviewSizes(), respectively.
Often (I don't remember if this applies to Samsung Galaxy S2), the camera does not work correctly when the aspect ratio for picture is different from the one for preview.
Furthermore, you are not supposed to draw on the preview surface, and definitely not from onPreviewFrame() callback.

The first thing would be to add camera.setPreviewDisplay(holder) in your surfaceChanged() method too
Update:
Please debug in surfaceCreated and surfaceChanged that holder.getSurface() != null
Also you should add camera.release() in surfaceDestroyed and then clean install app (uninstall first and then fresh install the app). The camera service could be hanging since a previous run of the app.
Update 2:
I just noticed that you missed registering to callbacks from the SurfaceHolder passed by the surfaceCreated() and surfaceChanged() methods. In this case it would make sense that surfaceChanged() is never reached and that means startPreview() is never actually called..
In surfaceCreated and surfaceChanged methods, please update the code to include:
mHolder.removeCallback(this); // unregister from old SurfaceHolder
holder.addCallback(this); // register to new holder
try {
camera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
mHolder = holder;

Zbar scanner and autofocus

I have used zbar scanner for android and it captures the barcodes quite easily.
But the problem is that on phones which have autofocus, it captures the barcodes too quickly to detect it correctly.
If only it could wait for a few milliseconds more, it could then be able to capture more clearer image and thereby not show "not found" page.
How can I solve this problem?
Is there a provision to delay the focus on the barcode?
Maybe a delay in capturing the image?

Are you talking about the example code, CameraTestActivity.java?
Implement a counter that counts for similar scanning results. If the scanning result remains the same (e.g. for 10 times in a row), we can assume the result is quite reliable.

I really like #Juuso_Ohtonen's reply, and actually just used it in my own reader, however if you want an AutoFocus delay you can create a Camera.AutoFocusCallback object and implement its onAutoFocus method with a .postDelayed. This object is then used on your Camera camera.autoFocus() method.
// Mimic continuous auto-focusing
Camera.AutoFocusCallback autoFocusCB = new Camera.AutoFocusCallback() {
public void onAutoFocus(boolean success, Camera camera) {
autoFocusHandler.postDelayed(doAutoFocus, 1000);
}
};
This section is used in the class that extends SurfaceView, which then implements surfaceChanged();
public CameraPreview(Context context, Camera camera,
PreviewCallback previewCb,
AutoFocusCallback autoFocusCb) {
super(context);
mCamera = camera;
previewCallback = previewCb;
autoFocusCallback = autoFocusCb;
// Install a SurfaceHolder.Callback so we get notified when the
// underlying surface is created and destroyed.
mHolder = getHolder();
mHolder.addCallback(this);
// deprecated setting, but required on Android versions prior to 3.0
mHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
}
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width, int height) {
/*
* If your preview can change or rotate, take care of those events here.
* Make sure to stop the preview before resizing or reformatting it.
*/
if (mHolder.getSurface() == null) {
// preview surface does not exist
return;
}
// stop preview before making changes
try {
mCamera.stopPreview();
} catch (Exception e) {
// ignore: tried to stop a non-existent preview
}
try {
mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(mHolder);
mCamera.setPreviewCallback(previewCallback);
mCamera.startPreview();
mCamera.autoFocus(autoFocusCallback);
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.d("DBG", "Error starting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
}
}

android camera error 1001 - what the heck is that?

I've searched all over on the web and I can't find out what that 1001 error is. A few seconds after that I get the camera 100 error but I can't find out what the first error is. Does anyone have any ideas?

I encountered this error as well on my S3. I believe I tracked it down to how the camera preview surface was used by the MediaRecorder. In my case the preview display was getting reset when I was attempting to start recording. I solved it by cleaning out my code and just used the calls to set, start and stop the preview display in the SurfaceView implementation below (from the Android Camera developer guide):
public class CameraPreview extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {
private SurfaceHolder mHolder;
private Camera mCamera;
public CameraPreview(Context context, Camera camera) {
super(context);
mCamera = camera;
// Install a SurfaceHolder.Callback so we get notified when the
// underlying surface is created and destroyed.
mHolder = getHolder();
mHolder.addCallback(this);
// deprecated setting, but required on Android versions prior to 3.0
mHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);
}
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
// The Surface has been created, now tell the camera where to draw the preview.
try {
mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
mCamera.startPreview();
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.d(TAG, "Error setting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
// empty. Take care of releasing the Camera preview in your activity.
}
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int w, int h) {
// If your preview can change or rotate, take care of those events here.
// Make sure to stop the preview before resizing or reformatting it.
if (mHolder.getSurface() == null){
// preview surface does not exist
return;
}
// stop preview before making changes
try {
mCamera.stopPreview();
} catch (Exception e){
// ignore: tried to stop a non-existent preview
}
// set preview size and make any resize, rotate or
// reformatting changes here
// start preview with new settings
try {
mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(mHolder);
mCamera.startPreview();
} catch (Exception e){
Log.d(TAG, "Error starting camera preview: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
}

Just thought I would add a post here for future reference. This issue bothered me for a long time.
It turns out that my problem was caused by an incorrect preview size, although the resolution set was obtained from the getSupportedPictureSize method.
So for example you can get the sizes as follows:
//first entry in list is 1392x1392 for front facing camera on an S3
List<Camera.Size> supportedPictureSizes = params.getSupportedPictureSizes();
Setting this resolution or neglecting to set a picture size alltogether will cause the dreaded error 1001.
If you encounter this on any other device I would recommend trying different picture sizes.

So there was another reason for why I got it on my Galaxy S3. I was using a TextureView to show my camera preview and got this dreaded error when pressing the home button after a successful preview and then entering the app again. In the onResume() function I started up the preview again and found that I had not released the SurfaceTexture instance variable in the onSurfaceTextureDestroyed() function.
I added the release line to this function and it now looks like this and works perfectly:
#Override public boolean onSurfaceTextureDestroyed(SurfaceTexture surface) {
mSurfaceTexture = null; //This was the offending culprit.
releaseMediaPlayer();
releaseVideoRecorder();
releaseCamera();
return false;
}

In my case, in Samsung S3, the video-size parameter was not set and this led to the 1001 error. Setting the video size on the media recorder using preview size fixed the issue. However, this change may fail on other devices since the parameter may or may not be available/set in all devices. The following code addresses most of the devices:
if(params.get("video-size") != null && params.get("video-size").isEmpty()) {
int videoWidth = params.getPreviewSize().width;
int videoHeight = params.getPreviewSize().height;
mediaRecorder.setVideoSize(videoWidth, videoHeight);
} else {
mediaRecorder.setVideoSize(profile.videoFrameWidth, profile.videoFrameHeight);
}

Android Camera Surface View

I am trying to create a surface view for a camera so it renders on the surface whenever is in the view of the camera. At the moment all I can see on my camera view is a black screen view. I have tried to look on Google and here but so far I haven't found what I am looking for. Anyone can suggest me some idea.

I have written a class that can help you.
public class Preview_can_work extends Activity {
private SurfaceView surface_view;
private Camera mCamera;
SurfaceHolder.Callback sh_ob = null;
SurfaceHolder surface_holder = null;
SurfaceHolder.Callback sh_callback = null;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
getWindow().setFormat(PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT);
surface_view = new SurfaceView(getApplicationContext());
addContentView(surface_view, new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));
if (surface_holder == null) {
surface_holder = surface_view.getHolder();
}
sh_callback = my_callback();
surface_holder.addCallback(sh_callback);
}
SurfaceHolder.Callback my_callback() {
SurfaceHolder.Callback ob1 = new SurfaceHolder.Callback() {
#Override
public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
mCamera.stopPreview();
mCamera.release();
mCamera = null;
}
#Override
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
mCamera = Camera.open();
try {
mCamera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
} catch (IOException exception) {
mCamera.release();
mCamera = null;
}
}
#Override
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width,
int height) {
mCamera.startPreview();
}
};
return ob1;
}
}
in your manifest file copy this code for camera permission
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>
Explanation:
SurfaceView is a type of View which contains a SurfaceHolder. SurfaceHolder holds the surface on which we can display our media (generally frames).
mCamera is a Camera object which will contains the camera instance.
When you want to hold default Camera instance then you can simply call Camera.open();
Camera mCamera = Camera.open();
Now you have an open camera or you are having default camera instance. Now you need to capture frames from the camera and display it on a surface. But you cannot display it without any
surface. Here the surfaceView provides surfaceHolder and surfaceHolder provides surface to display camera frames. Now when surface will be created three callback functions will be
called.
1. public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder)
2. public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width, int height)
3. public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder)
Note:- Surface will be destroyed when your application will go on pause.
surfaceCreated:
surfaceCreated is a callback function which will be called when your surface will be created. In this, you can open your camera and set other attributes.
surfaceChanged:
This will be called atleast one time when your surface will be created. After that it will be called whenever your surface will change(In device rotation). Here you can
start your preview because your surface have already created.
surfaceDestroyed:
This will be called every time when your surface will destroy. Now if you dont have surface then where you can display you camera frames so I have released camera by using
mCamera.release(). This is very important because if your activity will be on pause and any other activity tries to open camera then it will not able to open it as you have
already open camera. Camera is a shared resource so one time only one application can use it. So remember one thing whenever you open a camera then always release it.
stopPreview:
When you start preview then your camera starts capturing your frames and display it on a surface. Now if your surface have destroyed then you need to stop capturing frames
from camera so you have to call mCamera.stopPreview.

Make shure you added the permission :
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>
Also these window properties:
getWindow().setFormat(PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT);
requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON,
WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON);
setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);
Post some code if that doesn't work in order to help you