The camera's controls

The camera’s controls are on the rail down the left of the screen, with the zoom slider on the right. Each rail button shows what it is set to. Every control here works while the phone sends; only the connection and the picture’s format wait for Stop.

Choosing a camera

Camera, on the rail, shows the camera in use (.5×, 1×, 3× or Front) and opens the Camera drawer, with every camera on the phone: the back lenses, widest first, each by its figure and name (.5× Ultra Wide, 1× Wide, 3× Telephoto, as the phone has them), then Front. The one in use is marked.

A back lens is picked at any time, while sending too.
Front and back change while sending too: the picture stops for a moment, and InterDirector rides it out. If the other camera cannot capture the format being sent, the phone says Can’t switch camera instead, since the stream’s size and rate must not change under InterDirector. Stop and choose another format, or stay on this camera.

Zoom

Zoom with the thumb slider on the right, or pinch the picture. Every zoom eases in and out, and none goes faster than the top speed you set, from the slider, a pinch or a lens picked. The slider’s top end shows the zoom, and on a phone with several lenses, the lens it comes from.

In Settings › Zoom:

Thumb slider: Rocker: push for speed, which springs back when you let go (push further to zoom faster), or Position: slide to a zoom, where the slider’s place is the zoom.
Easing: how long a zoom takes to speed up and to slow down, from 0.1 to 2 seconds. Longer looks gentler.
Top speed: how fast the zoom may go at most, as the time it takes to double.

Crossing lenses, in Settings › Camera and in the Camera drawer, decides what happens at a lens’s end:

Stay on one lens (to begin with): the zoom stays within the lens, digitally up to 5×, and picking another lens cuts to it. Manual exposure and anti-flicker work on every lens.
Switch lenses automatically: one continuous zoom across the lenses. The picture can shift slightly as it changes lens, and on some phones exposure then stays automatic.

The front camera zooms digitally, up to 3×. Sharp zoom to, in Settings › Video, says how far a zoom stays sharp at the resolution you send.

Focus

Focus on the rail shows AF, AF-L (autofocus, locked) or MF (manual).

Autofocus on: the camera focuses by itself, and a tap on the picture tells it where to look. AF-L in the Focus drawer holds the focus where it is.
Autofocus off: the slider beside the rail focuses by hand, from Far to Near, and a tap focuses once and holds. A lens that only focuses by itself, such as some ultra-wides, has no slider; the drawer says so.

A tap sets, in the Focus drawer, chooses what a tap on the picture does: Focus, Exposure or Both.

Exposure

Exposure on the rail brings up its slider beside the rail; a second tap opens the drawer.

Auto: the slider sets the compensation, from −2 to +2. AE-L in the drawer holds the exposure.
Manual: the slider sets the ISO, and the drawer the Shutter. A shutter that would make lights band is marked ⚠. No shutter is longer than a frame.

Anti-flicker, in Settings › Camera (50 Hz lights or 60 Hz lights), keeps automatic exposure’s shutter in step with mains lighting, so LED and fluorescent lights do not band. In very bright light the picture may be a little overexposed instead.

White balance

White balance on the rail shows AWB, AWB-L (locked) or the Kelvin set by hand.

Auto, with AWB-L in the drawer to hold it.
Manual: the slider beside the rail sets the Kelvin, and the drawer has the Tint and the Presets (Tungsten, Fluorescent, Daylight, Cloudy).
Pick grey: the controls make way, and the phone asks you to Tap a grey area in the picture. It sets a manual white balance that makes that area neutral. Cancel leaves it as it was.

The torch

The torch button opens the Torch drawer: Torch as fill light, and its Brightness. It runs warm and uses the battery. The front camera has none.

Long presses on the rail

A long press on a rail button switches without opening anything, with a tap you feel and a note on screen:

Focus: between autofocus and the focus you last set by hand.
Exposure and White balance: between automatic and the manual setting you last used.
The torch: on or off.
Camera: the next camera, every back lens from the widest, then the front camera, then round again.

Where a switch cannot be made, such as a lens that only focuses by itself, the note says so.

Simple mode

For a shooter who should only point the phone: Settings › Camera › Simple mode. Focus, exposure and white balance are made automatic, and their three buttons leave the rail. A tap on the picture still focuses and meters there, the zoom stays, and InterDirector can still set them all (control from InterDirector). Simple mode stays on after the app is closed. Turned off, everything stays automatic until someone changes it.

Stabilisation and lens correction

Stabilisation, in Settings › Camera:

Off (to begin with): best on a tripod, with no delay.
Standard: steadier handheld; delays the picture a little and crops in slightly.
Cinematic: smoothest handheld; delays the picture the most and crops in.

The sound is held back with the pictures, so they stay in step whatever stabilisation adds.

Lens correction, on phones that have it, straightens the ultra-wide’s curved edges.

Held upright

The phone always sends a landscape picture, the right way up, however it is held. In Settings › Camera:

Turn with the phone (on to begin with): held upright, the controls turn with it, the zoom slider stays under your thumb, and Held upright decides the picture:
- Crop to fill (to begin with): the middle of the upright picture, filling the frame. Narrower and softer than held sideways; the slice sent is marked on screen.
- Fit: all of the upright picture, as sharp as held sideways, with black bars either side.
Turn with the phone off: the app stays landscape however the phone is held, so pointing it down at a table never turns it. Held upright, the picture is sent on its side. Turning it the other way round still turns it.

Hiding the controls

The eye at the top of the rail hides every control, for a clean view of the picture. The picture still takes taps to focus and meter, warnings stay on screen, and a small light says the phone is still sending (see Sending from the phone). The eye, still in its place, brings them back.