Smartphone Photography – Camera App Focus – HTC ChaCha

Throughout this series we are going to look at some of the camera applications on different devices. 

Megapixels and camera quality aside, the capabilities and customisation within the camera applications on smartphones too can have a big difference on the overall experience and final effect of the image. 

Some devices allow little change to the image, resolution, contrast etc. whilst others have a lot of flexibility.  Yes add on apps can make changes to, but the more you can do in the native application the better.

The first one we shall look at is the application of the HTC ChaCha

So first things first on the left we can adjust the zoom of the camera, this is the digital zoom not optical zoom.

The first shows no zoom whilst the second image shows more zoom. 

In the next image we can see in the centre the auto-focus function of the camera kicking in to ensure quality and focus throughout the shot.

The following shows the options we have once the image has been captured using the shutter button at the bottom of the above image.

We can click the camera icon to take another image, the bin to delete the image, the arrows to share the image via MMS, email etc or the final bottom icon to see all photos.

This next shot is of the front facing camera on the HTC ChaCha.  We can take a picture or record a video.  The difference is shown by the shutter icon in the middle at the bottom or a red record icon.

On the right hand side the menu gives the option to reverse between camera and video capture on the front facing camera, whilst the second button down when pressed flicks between the front and rear facing camera. Flash is disabled with front facing cameras and the bottom button takes you back to the gallery.

When recoding video on the rear facing camera, you can adjust the zoom, like you can with the still images by using the zoom icons on the left of the display.

On the ChaCha there are plenty of settings that can be altered to help take a better picture.  The following screenshots show some of these including Self-timer, white balance and resolution.

For added benefit HTC include some pre-configured white balance options to save you fiddling to get it perfect.  So if in a cloudy/dull day use the Cloudy option within White balance and the settings will be adjusted accordingly to assist with a better white balance.

Taking a picture or video at different resolutions can be beneficial if the image is not important, if you need to send it by mms or email for example.  Remember however, you can not increase the resolution so it is always easier to capture in a higher resolution and then reduce the size.

The following image shows the options you get once you have captured an image and view it within the gallery.  You can edit, share, delete, take another picture – there are plenty of options.

One of the unique features about this device is that it has a Facebook button.  When in the camera application it will actually pulse using the backlight.  By pressing the facebook button, the image will be captured and uploaded to Facebook where you will then be shown the following screen.

You can choose which album to upload it to, tag it and add a description.  Great if you are a big Facebook fan and like to share your photos!