Google has rebuilt its Android camera app and added burst mode and RAW support directly onto the hardware abstraction layer.
The rebuilt app will give new powers to developers allowing them to tap into the two new features through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) once Google provides them. Spokeswoman Gina Scigliano said “Android’s latest camera HAL (hardware abstraction layer) and framework supports raw and burst-mode photography,” reports CNET.
“We will expose a developer API [application programming interface] in a future release to expose more of the HAL functionality”, Scigliano added further.
The APIs are yet to be released and it would be sometime before developers would be able to get their hands onto the new features. Once released developers will be able to apply more intelligent filters, while also increasing the dynamic range. They will also be able to apply all sorts of advanced post processing techniques on RAW images.
RAW support doesn’t mean a great deal to end users as for each megapixel the RAW images take up 1MB of space and for this reason they aren’t likely to replace JPEG for now.
Traditional burst mode photography involves taking a series of shots with a set of predefined parameters. However, with burst support at HAL, programmers can have their apps initiate “request to take multiple shots each with different parameter settings such as exposure gain.” The camera subsystem will then capture the required number of shots based on the parameters and developers can process these images at the application layer.
