Camera app basics

The camera app is opened by pushing the dedicated camera button, or pressing the camera app icon on the home screen. The camera app opens and gives you the viewfinder filling the screen with what the camera currently sees. When the camera app is running, the buttons are from left to right, toggle video, image and landscape mode, shutter button and advanced settings menu. Images are taken when you release the blue shutter button on the screen, or when you release the dedicated camera button. You get confirmation that the image has been taken when the viewfinder “blinks” by quickly flashing white. The images are stored on the camera, and you can access the images instantly when swiping right, or by choosing the “gallery” icon in the menu.

You can point your finger on the screen (viewfinder) at the part of the image you want to be in focus. The camera could take a few moments to find focus, when that particular part of the screen is in focus and white balance, the crosshair will become green. If you do not press the area of the image you want to be in focus, the camera takes focus in the middle of the image. The camera has face recognition. When the camera recognizes faces, it tries to have the faces in focus. This can be manually overwritten by choosing another part of the image for the focus.

Menu options and structure

NB! If your device has not been updated to Android Lollipop 5.1.1, (device purchased after August 2016) the menu in the camera will look a bit different, however most of the features will still be present in the camera app!

Always use the viewfinder and tap the part of the picture you want to be in focus before taking an image! This ensures that the focus is correct. Some times it takes 1-2 seconds for the device to find focus and correct white balance settings.

From the top left corner you get access to the menu. The menu contains several settings. You can slide or click each function in the wheel. Screenshots in the gallery below.

• Bottom right you have the front and back camera toggle
• Next to camera toggle you have the flash settings. The flash can be on flash, automatic flash, and flash off. Automatic flash chooses the flash if the scene is dark.
• Second to the left is the grid toggle
• Second from the right is the timer, you can set it to instant, 3 seconds or 10 seconds
• Bottom menu is the settings tab, where you can choose the type of scene mode, Auto, Action, Night, Sunset and Party.
• The bottom left icon is the exposure time. You can choose to overexpose or underexpose the image. For still, low light scenes, you might want to overexpose to get a clearer image with more details. For fast moving or conditions with vibrations, shorter exposure times could give you a better result.
• In settings you can toggle location services, enable “high quality” mode, choose manual exposure, antibanding and set the the camera resolution. By default, your BARTEC PIXAVI device is set to “High Quality” 8M pixels images.

 

 

 

Dark scenes

Taking images in the dark has never been easier. The BARTEC PIXAVI mobile devices have image sensors specifically designed for taking images in dark areas. Here is our top tips when taking images in dark areas

1. Enable flash /LED
2. Set focus by tapping on screen
3. Use a tripod or similar for keeping the camera steady
4. Over expose if necessary

Video Capture

The Impact X and Gravity X are the first true HD video cameras for hazardous areas. The cameras are able to capture full HD, 1080p 30 fps videos. The flipscape feature allows you to take landscape videos holding the camera in portrait mode. When enabling the video functionality, the flipscape camera is chosen automatically. The video menu is a bit different from the image menu. You have toogle flash on / off (continuous video light), light settings and the video settings menu.  Under video settings, you have the following options:

• Time lapse
• Video Quality
• Anti-Flicker
• Video Stabilization
• Store Location

 

“Time lapse” enables the time lapse function. You need to choose the time interval between each frame. Default is 0.5 which means 2 images per second. “Video Quality” can be set to low (480p), medium (720p) or full HD (1080p). “Anti-flicker” should be used when you are taking videos under fluorescent lights. “Video stabilization” will run a stabilization algorithm to reduce shaking and unwanted movement in the video. “Store Location” will add a GPS geotag to the videos meta data.

 

 

Media Library

For easy, secure and high capacity image and video storage online, we offer the Media Library functionality in Collaboration X This is an online, web-based, secure file storage solution tailor made for BARTEC PIXAVI devices. You can set your mobile device to upload images and video automatically, using either Wi-Fi, mobile networks or both. The files are automatically sorted and stored in folders, you can preview images and video in HD, download and share. The file storage capacity is unlimited, and we support https and two factor authentication for logging into the service. Try it for yourself at collaboration-x.net.

More tips and tricks

• Make sure the lenses and screens are clean before taking images. Fingerprints and dirt will make the images blurry. We recommend a microfiber cloth and clean water or a mild cleaning agent to clean the lenses before taking images.
• Use a tripod or camera holder for videos, long exposures and dark scenes.
• Consider using a third party camera apps that allows you to choose ISO settings, focus during video, set file names and destinations, file types etc. We recommend Camera FV-5 for still image capture and Cinema FV-5 for video capture.
• Add time and date stamp on each picture by using apps available from Google Play Store. For example this one.
• Upload images using the provided USB cable directly to any computer (just like a normal digital camera) or using the Collaboration X
• Media Library functionality explained above. You can also use third party apps such as dropbox, flicker and others.
• Read more about our camera technology in the “Megapixels vs. Quality” blog post
• View image samples and videos taken with our products