iPhone Much better low-light performance & wider field-of-view for iPhone 4/4S/5/5s, iPad3/4

[Menneisyys2]

I've read through this thread beginning in April: from what I've gathered, shooting with all three bullet points below is not possible(?). If it is possible: Please specify the iphone model and iOS requirements.
- high resolution
- high (nominal 30 fps) framerate
- wide (non-narrow) field-of-view.

It's possible with the 5s only, assuming you shoot outdoors (that is, under good light).

 

[AndyAndoo]

It's possible with the 5s only, assuming you shoot outdoors (that is, under good light).

If you get a chance please provide a plist or solution to achieve VGA mode that works for the JB'n iPhone 4S running iOS 6.1. I tried overwriting the plist file with this http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13100693/html/0220124s-video/AVCaptureSession-640x480-default.plist, but it was unsuccessful. I made sure to quit the camera app before overwriting the plist. When I open the camera app, the photo feature works but the video feature does not.

 

[plympton]

Is there any way to shoot > 640x480 (ie: hd, but not 1080p), with binning (enable low light), in 16x9 (no weird aspect ratio). I don't care if it is zoomed in, i just want HD binned video. Low light video on the 5s isn't that great in default non-binned mode!

 

[braddick]

Recent shot I took of a medal I own using this method/tweak:

 

[Menneisyys2]

Is there any way to shoot > 640x480 (ie: hd, but not 1080p), with binning (enable low light), in 16x9 (no weird aspect ratio). I don't care if it is zoomed in, i just want HD binned video. Low light video on the 5s isn't that great in default non-binned mode!

It is possible but the net resolution will be half of that of the nomimal one. That is, if you shoot 720p binned, the net resolution will be 1280x720/2, that is, 640x360. Nevertheless, the low-light performance will indeed be considerably better if you do enable binning.

This is why, BTW, the 720p60/120 modes of the iPhone 5, 5c / 5s, respectively, is so low-res - the sensor uses binning over 30 fps at 720p.

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If you get a chance please provide a plist or solution to achieve VGA mode that works for the JB'n iPhone 4S running iOS 6.1. I tried overwriting the plist file with this http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13100693/html/0220124s-video/AVCaptureSession-640x480-default.plist, but it was unsuccessful. I made sure to quit the camera app before overwriting the plist. When I open the camera app, the photo feature works but the video feature does not.

I haven't added VGA mode because there are plenty of alternatives:

- On iOS versions prior to iOS7, you can easily have VGA mode if you use CameraTweak right in the stock Camera app - it's highly recommended. (Note: it isn't compatible with iOS7, should you want to upgrade the OS.)

- On all iOS versions, if you don't mind using third-party AppStore apps for shooting, plenty of camcorder apps support VGA recording.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Guys, the absolutely essential Camera app tweaker CameraTweak 7 is out!! And it's both fully compatible with my tweak & even makes resolution switching between my custom mode and stock resolutions much faster. My writeup on the compatibility is at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18786655/ , while the full thread (with a lot of other info) is at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18786655

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I haven't added VGA mode because there are plenty of alternatives:

- On iOS versions prior to iOS7, you can easily have VGA mode if you use CameraTweak right in the stock Camera app - it's highly recommended. (Note: it isn't compatible with iOS7, should you want to upgrade the OS.)

Now you can safely upgrade - CameraTweak 7 has just been released.

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

Re:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18640187/

Is there a way to make it run on iPod touch 4G and iPad mini retina? It says I have incompatible hardware. Thank you.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Is there a way to make it run on iPod touch 4G and iPad mini retina? It says I have incompatible hardware. Thank you.

1, the iPt4G has an exactly 720p sensor, which is fully used (in an 1:1 manner sensor pixel-to-output file pixel) when shooting video. This means there's no way of oversampling the sensor. (BTW, this is why the stills the 4G takes are 960*720 - it crops the 16:9 sensor input to 4:3; hence the vast reduction in the width.)

2, I don't have an iPad mini Retina to test it on. However, if you aren't afraid of some betatesting, let me know and I explain what you need to look for in the file system to help me create an iPad mini Retina-compatible version.

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

Actually, I wanted these app only for changing bitrate to lower because for example 5 minute FULL HD video captured by iPad has size of 700 MB which is quite much. I have 16GB iPad so I do not have enough space to store so big videos. The same with iPod touch 4G. I wanted to change bitrate.

And I can be betatester of iPad mini version, no problem.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Actually, I wanted these app only for changing bitrate to lower because for example 5 minute FULL HD video captured by iPad has size of 700 MB which is quite much. I have 16GB iPad so I do not have enough space to store so big videos. The same with iPod touch 4G. I wanted to change bitrate.

OIC. I may be adding iPad 2 / iPt4G support, then. (Both employ the above-described 720p sensors; hence the lack of support in my app.)

And I can be betatester of iPad mini version, no problem.

See my mini-tutorial on finding the directory name at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18599314/

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

See my mini-tutorial on finding the directory name at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18599314/

The name of directory in /System/Library/Frameworks/MediaToolbox.framework/ is J85 for iPad mini retina

 

[Menneisyys2]

The name of directory in /System/Library/Frameworks/MediaToolbox.framework/ is J85 for iPad mini retina

OK, will release an updated version soon.

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

Will it allow changing bitrate of native camera to any value?

 

[Menneisyys2]

Will it allow changing bitrate of native camera to any value?

Hopefully.

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

But on iPod touch 4G it won't work, will it?

 

[Menneisyys2]

But on iPod touch 4G it won't work, will it?

It will - I'll just hide the "wideangle" list item in the picker. I also have an iPt4G so I can test it firsthand.

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

Is there any ETA?

 

[Menneisyys2]

But on iPod touch 4G it won't work, will it?

OK, test version ready: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...videocameraenhancerios67_1.2_iphoneos-arm.deb (full source code: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...nhancerDEB/iPhoneWideFoVCamcorderEnhancer.zip )

I've only tested the new, bitrate change-only mode on my iPad 2. All reduced-bitrate modes worked just fine. (Just don't try using higher bitrates than the default 10.5 Mbps.)

For some reason, I couldn't jailbreak my iPod touch 4G I've quickly upgraded from 4.3.3 to 6.1.5 to be able to test the new iPt4G support in the app - p0sixspwn v1.0.7 continuously crashed at the end of the process (OS X 10.8.x on an MBP 17") and redsn0w 0.9.15b3 did JB the device (I've seen this from being able to see the root of the file system from the desktop) but didn't install Cydia. And I couldn't downgrade to 6.1.3, which I previously JB'n a lot (and, consequently, also have the SHSH blobs of it.) The tweak should work on it too.

It also should work on the Retina Mini.

Let me know if you encounter any problems. Install the DEB file from iFile's "Installer".

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Is there any ETA?

Already done Feel free to report on it ASAP so that I can fix it before going to bed. (I plan to stay up for some 2-3 hours more.)

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

Ok. I will test it and post response.

 

[Menneisyys2]

By the way, a quick remark: under iOS7, the video bitrate setting only has effect in the default (iPhone4: 720p; all other non-iPad2/iPt4G devices: 1080p) mode, not the full-sensor oversampled one. In the latter, the default bitrate is used and AVCaptureDevices[0] > AVCaptureSessionPreset1920x1080 > VideoCompressionProperties> AverageBitRate is fully ignored.

I don't know the cause for this. Under previous versions, the oversampled mode didn't ignore the bitrate setting. (I've shot a LOT of oversampled videos back in the 6.1.2 days at much lower datarates on my iPhone 5 so I know this was indeed the case back then.)

I've tested this under both 7.0.4 (iPhone 5) and 7.1b3 (iPad 3).

All in all, under iOS7 (only), if you use oversampling (the wide mode), no matter what value you set on the right picker, it will be ignored and the default data rate will be used. Which is a bit of a bad news...

On the other hand, if you stick with 1080p (on the iPhone 4, 720p) mode and don't use oversampling, the bitrate setting will work OK. This, naturally, also applies to the iPad2 and the iPt4G receiving support in the latest beta and entirely lacking the default resolution vs. oversampling picker.)

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

I have a problem. I used higher bitrate than 10.5 Mbps on iPt 4G and now the iPod only capture sound not the video and I cannot fix it.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Guys, the absolutely essential Camera app tweaker CameraTweak 7 is out!! And it's both fully compatible with my tweak & even makes resolution switching between my custom mode and stock resolutions much faster. My writeup on the compatibility is at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18786655/ , while the full thread (with a lot of other info) is at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18786655

Also note that CameraTweak (7), while allowing for quickly switching between different resolutions, doesn't at all allow for changing the recording bitrate. However, if you shoot in the default 1080p / 720p / 480p mode (depending on the device model) and not a lower-resolution one and use my tweak to set the bitrate, this bitrate will be used by the system. This way, they co-operate just fine - my tweak fills a hole in CameraTweak (7).

This applies to all iOS versions - not only iOS7. (Obviously, under previous OS versions, assuming you use the first CameraTweak, not CameraTweak 7.)

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I have a problem. I used higher bitrate than 10.5 Mbps on iPt 4G and now the iPod only capture sound not the video and I cannot fix it.

This is why I've stated "(Just don't try using higher bitrates than the default 10.5 Mbps.)" in a previous post above I might dynamically hide those incompatible bitrates some time.

What happens when you switch back to the default mode? In exactly the same situation, my iPad 2, having exactly the same camera module as the iPt4G, started shooting video again. (Just make sure you kill the Camera task so that the changes are seen, of course.)

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

Ok, now it works fine. The problem was that I did not shut down the camera process after changing values of bitrate. So changing bitrate works fine on both iPT4G and iPad mini retina.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Ok, now it works fine. The problem was that I did not shut down the camera process after changing values of bitrate. So changing bitrate works fine on both iPT4G and iPad mini retina.

Great to hear

BTW, did you also test oversampling with the iPad mini retina? If you did: how does it fare? I assume it doesn't deliver more than 15-20 fps.

 

[Thomasxxxxx]

When I used Wide, Full Sensor on iPad mini retina and set the bitrate, it did not capture video, only the sound in 20 Mbit/s. I selected 1 Mbit/s.

Ok. We will solve it tomorrow. Now I am really tired and I go to sleep.