There are plenty of great photography apps you can use to help you improve your photography skills and meet new people on social networks. But what if you want more functionality out of your camera phone? Fortunately, most Android devices include basic camera settings, allowing you to tweak things like white balance, exposure, and focus, though you’ll usually have to dig deeper and find them.
Camera settings don’t generally have the best name. It’s sometimes called “Aperture” (yes, seriously), and other times “Controls” or even “White Balance” on the camera app. The name is not always indicative of what the setting does, either. Sometimes the instruction is to use it, sometimes it’s for only specific modes, and sometimes the setting is only for some cameras. This is true for both Standard and Manual modes.
What are the In-built Camera Settings?
Shutter Speed
The term “shutter speed” refers to the amount of time it takes a camera to open and close. This is important because a slow shutter speed will cause motion blur in an image, and a fast shutter speed will cause a completely frozen image.
Aperture
It’s the opening of your camera’s lens, and it determines how much light gets into your camera sensor. The largest aperture you can use is f/2.8, while the largest aperture your camera will let you use without some serious hacking is f/16. For most cameras, that means that the smallest aperture your lens can have is f/5.6, which is pretty tiny. This can be limiting, as you won’t be able to use the widest aperture available in your camera’s native mode, which is marked by a red value in the corner of your viewfinder.
Image Stabilization
Image Stabilization (IS) is a feature found in many photographers’ cameras. It’s beneficial when shooting in low light conditions and where the camera needs to remain steady. The biggest IS sensor for DSLR cameras is 15.6 mm x 13 mm. The smaller ones are 5.6 mm x 4.8 mm. Although this is good, this is not enough IS to take a photo of a moving object.
ISO
The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) measures the sensitivity of a film or digital camera. It is the standard temperature of the film or camera sensor. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the film or camera sensor is. Higher means more light is captured, and you will get a lower exposure.
Camera Mode
Take a smartphone and look at the various camera settings it offers. Though all of them have different names and different functions, they all have one thing in common: the smartphone takes pictures and videos in camera mode.
White Balance
When it comes to the art of photography, whether it is a hobby or profession, we can’t escape the myth that everything is about white balance. It refers to the process of adjusting for the color temperature of the light in a scene. The bigger the difference between the white and black points of the scene, the more adjustments you need to make. This is where the term “white balance” comes from.
Metering Mode
Metering mode is among the most important settings available in your camera’s menu. It allows you to precisely control the exposure of your photos by selecting the right metering mode depending on the lighting conditions.
Focus Area
Of all the things we take for granted with cameras today, arguably the most important is the ability to focus. Now, with phones, we can focus on just about any part of the image; we simply tap the screen, and the camera focuses on whatever we want. But, as you know, there are many other things to focus on when taking a photograph. Think about the depth of field, the exposure of the image, the focus of the lens, and the other parts of the image that you need to consider, and pretty soon, you’ve got an extensive list of things to keep track of.
If you like to use the camera on your smartphone, you need to know the in-built Camera Settings and what each one does. This can be tricky at first because there are several options, and some of them are hidden. But this is an excellent way to learn how to use the Camera and Photo editor on your smartphone.
