yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Swingal:
@Izy Lets try my settings for noise reduction. Leave everything else as @Gnaius had. (Just tested it in very dark place)

Luma: 1.0 Default

Luma Denoise: 2.0

Chroma: 1.0 Default

Chroma Denoise: 2.0

Spatial: 1.0

Spatial Denoise: 2.0

Denoise: 4.0

Temporal Binning: 2.0 Default
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
I'll try those settings as well. No question that the results from this phone are inconsistent, when it comes to noise, with a lot of factors coming into play. Motion blur introduces noise — sometimes very weird pixilation. You often seem to see coarser noise when something is out of focus. @Izy's problem photo above looks to me as if the HDR is trying to lift the shadows too much, maybe.

The important thing for me is to keep the noise looking as close as possible to what you see in the RAW file: it's not so much a question of amount, as it is quality. The RAW files give very film-like noise: round grain. As GCam deviates from that, the grain becomes boxy, with geometric patterning. Sometimes quite ugly. The way the stock app deals with this, of course, is to blur out the grain completely, but that has huge problems of its own: the detail gets eliminated as well.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Izy:
it helps also made a mix of that and the mwp lib enabled and your hdr tuning with gnaius sharpness

the main culprit seems to be portrait mode and low light without nightsight on auto

although either way the images are sharper than original camera
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
Ah, interesting — I haven't experimented with portrait mode at all.

I just tried @Swingal's settings, and I got uglier noise. It sounds counterintuitive, but what you really want is *more* noise, but finer grains. The real problem with the pool table shot was that the grains were huge. I just tried something radical, and I think it may be best yet: I zeroed out all of the noise and sharpening parameters:
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Izy:
lmao that heavy swing but alot of colour noise from those settings of yours
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] quark-lepton:
No, thinking and seeing are different things. And no, if one chooses the correct white balance while looking at an incandescent scene, the resulting image simply looks natural. It looks too yellow, if you have chosen the wrong color temperature or wrong saturation. I know this because that's how I take all my photos. I get the most natural results when I choose the correct white balance while looking at the scene. That's super important. If I choose the white balance just by remembering how it looked, the results are less natural, I compared it when I looked at the scene again. Another person, who was able to look at the scene, agreed. You wouldn't notice that the colors are not natural, if you didn't look at the scene. That's why it is so important to choose the correct white balance while looking at the scene.

That's not really correct. When you manually choose the white balance, the white balance is saved in the metadata of the raw file. Furthermore, when you manually choose the white balance, you just need to look at the jpg, when you edit the raw file afterwards.

And by the way, I even don't think that most professional photographers shoot raw. Journalists are not allowed to edit photos, and I think I heard that sports photographers prefer jpg, too.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
News and sports journalists shoot JPEGs solely for reasons of file size and speed of transmission. And because Reuters (stupidly) decided that RAW files are easier to falsify than JPEGs. That's precisely backwards, which a lot of people noted at the time. But the point is that this is about speed and (wrongheaded) ethical concerns, at the expense of quality.

I shot for magazines in the days of film, and we did not submit slides or Polaroids (JPEGs) — we submitted negatives (RAW), along with a contact sheet. And contact sheets, trust me, were never about white balance. These days, professionals other than journalists — that is, the ones for whom white balance actually matters — almost all shoot RAW.

Everything is a trade-off. If nailing the white balance is your absolute priority, at the expense of detail and aesthetic quality, go to town. The fact is that the stock JPEGs out of this phone look like crap. And a single color slider is hardly the best granular way to adjust WB: if you're going to take time to dial it in, just shoot a JPEG with this mod (which will be very close to accurate), and do a quick tint and temperature adjustment in Snapseed — it will take you half a minute more.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Thibale:
Totally agree with @Gnaius , I share your photographer point of view.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
Yes, ha — heavy swings are occasionally a good experiment. The fact is that there are so many permutations possible here that it's hard to get even a rough sense of what works best. Frankly, I have *no* idea what most of these parameters do. Complete mystery.

But... I've done it! Zeroing everything gives you exactly the same luma noise profile as the RAW file, once you've sharpened the RAW to the same amount. I mean, precisely: no difference in size or geometry. As for chroma noise, there's in fact *less* in the zeroed JPEG — it's pretty much absent — and I think I've figured out why: when you zero out the "Chroma" parameter, it does something a bit like desaturating: whatever it is that causes chroma noise is considerably lessened. The downside is a less saturated image. Which you might see as an upside. I think I'm going to have to pump up the chroma a bit, because certain small patches of bright color seem to get desaturated almost completely. (It's subtle; I'm talking tiny areas. Sometimes they seem to get sucked into the color next door, as it were: they lose differentiation.)

One observation: *any* chroma noise reduction, whether added in GCam or Lightroom, seems to introduce artifacts.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] racypdx:
I'm using the "d" release of this package, with your above settings and I can corroborate your results. Noticably better texture and clarity in both 1x and 4x lenses versus stock camera.

This will be my go-to camera app now.

Thank you for taking the time to test and share your results. So many options, it quickly becomes overwhelming.

You have done well.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
You're welcome!

I've in fact gone through a whole number of experiments since then, and have (I think) refined the settings. Although I haven't yet checked the latest against that very first setup. One thing you might wish to try: set HDR Intensity to 0.875 — this doesn't simply dial the HDR down a notch (which makes things less artificial), but gets rid of odd blurring artifacts that I was noticing.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] achapman91:
Using the settings you mentioned for version d and I put my wife's 6 pro next to mine and shot photos in wide angle 1x 2x and 4x zoom and found the wide angle shots were identical but with my phone's modded gcam with your lib patcher settings it was softening things. IE a teddy bears fur and my shag carpet.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
Did you examine the images at 100%? They should be less sharp (in the sense of oversharpened), but should have much more detail. You should be able to see individual hairs on the fur. And changes should be evident at .7x, 1x and 4x. I don't test at other zoom lengths.

Try the following settings (attached). This is how I've had it set up for some time now, with great results. (Tone Curve not enabled. Custom Libs: Default Google. Mod ver : 1d.)

@racypdx -- I'd be interested in your response to this new configuration. I think it's a subtle improvement, in terms of grain and chroma noise. You want a small amount of chroma noise, I think. It's a trade-off: if you get rid of it completely, you desaturate areas in a way that can't be retrieved in post.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] racypdx:
I'll give it a try and report back in a few days(holiday busy, and won't be able to shoot much).

I agree with your philosophy preferring noise if that means I get better clarity and detail.

In post editing, I can always remove noise much easier than I can add clarity and detail that the sensor can't pick up. AI editors can only do so much.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] achapman91:
These are my results with the settings you mentioned 8.3 gcam and stock. I notice the settings you mentioned here give me more true to how things look in real life. IE darkness of the carpet etc. Colors seem a bit truer.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
Do you know where the difference really shows up? The haunches of your dog. Look at the individual hairs on the GCam Mod version; on the stock version, they're completely blended into mush. Although this isn't the worst I've seen with the stock camera. I take it this was low ISO.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] ne0ns4l4m4nder:
This might be a stupid question, but is there a magisk module that can delete stock photo all and replace it with gcam? I don't want two cameras, beacuse well 🤷‍♂️ just don't
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] roirraW "edor" ehT:
Just disable in App Info.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Alekos:
is there any way to shorten the night sight exposure times? I wonder if its possible. that would be so awesome. sometimes, it just takes so long (I get that it depends on the amount if light available, and more light there is, less time) ... but 1 second would be so great.

taking photos of the kids this year, really came out blurry. using regular mode without HDR+ has been good but some rooms are just too dark for that..
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] whatsisnametake2:
any observations about video with this modded version?

I would also echo other comments on here about white balance control being very important. if the mod doesn't have that it's a no go for me.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] whatsisnametake2:
ok just trying this version out. very cool being able to increase video bitrate. couple of queries:

- what's the significance of Google white balance? How does it differ from standard white balance? Doesn't seem any different when activated so far.

- I see there's an HDR enhanced mode. Does that happen automatically in the stock camera? Or is it not available?

- on screen exposure and ISO controls don't appear to work.

it's really promising. if the dev can re introduce white balance control could be awesome. especially if it was like a permanent offset you could make.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] whatsisnametake2:
DCI-P3 colour space added in latest version.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Swingal:
My best settings so far ...
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] racypdx:
Gnaius,

Sorry for the delay. Without a doubt, this gcam+your tweaks, takes a better picture with both the 1x and 4x lenses, hands down.

Stock is doing something wonky in post. It's over sharpening and over contrasting, and something else that I don't have a word for other than a messed up algorithm.

Stock loses micro texture as well as larger texture. An example would be a picture of a living room painted wall - stock doesn't pick up the paint texture(1), and to make matters worse it adds some synthetic looking pattern when zoomed out. It's not a light thing, nor color thing - it's just not there, yet stock seems to create this ghost pattern out of nowhere. Frankly, it reminds me of Samsung post processing and it's new to Google's camera app. I've been using Google's camera app since way back in the Nexus days, and this is new.

Some in this thread report stock camera being sharper - but on closer inspection, this is not the case. It "appears" sharper, when in fact it's fine detail is totally lost(gone in raw as well) and edge shadow is blown out. Stock almost looks "cartoonist" when closely compared to this gcam mod.

I starred the defect thread you referenced earlier.

(This is long, sorry)

Here's what I don't know. I don't know exactly what your adjustments are doing. Both configs you provided out perform stock camera across the board with 1x and 4x lenses. I haven't messed with the wide yet(I'm not impressed much with it in any camera app).

The only thing that stock has over this gcam mod is the white balance. And not by much, but it's noticeable. I just correct in my own editing with Snapseed or Lightroom.

The bottom line it, I believe there is even more room for improvement with this gcam. It's gonna take a LOOOONG time to go thru all these options.....and that's not even counting the debug flags, which number in the hundreds.

I'm holding on to this phone, which means I'm in it for the long haul and will take the time to dial it in right.

Also, all of my comparisons we're done with jpeg files. I haven't compared dng enough to come to any conclusions.

Thanks again for all of your help.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] madphone:
Is there a mod that enables portrait mode on tele lens?
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
You're welcome! I agree absolutely with your diagnosis. I don't know what all of my settings do, but a couple of things are certain: they get rid of most — if not all — of the luma noise reduction, and a fair bit of the chroma noise reduction as well. That's why you can see the grain, and a small amount of color in the shadows. I don't know what reducing luma does — technically it should reduce the brightness of the monochromatic information in the image, but I'm not sure that makes sense to me. Anyway, it works. I think the modest drop in HDR is really helpful as well: one of the things that messes up the grain structure in the photograph is the radical HDR; when you boost shadows that much, they're bound to get weird. That may be the ghost pattern you're talking about?

As for the white balance: I haven't fooled around with it at all, but you might go into "Mod Settings," and experiment with "HDR+ style/model". Apparently this affects Auto White Balance, as well as other parameters, including noise (and might mess that up; that's something to watch out for). Default seems to give you the Pixel 6 Pro AWB; but you can choose to emulate any other Pixel model. If you do this, let me know what you find out.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
Note what I said above about being able to emulate the white balance in older models of Pixel. That may or may not be useful to you.

Since you're experimenting with video (which I never do), maybe you could tell me: do changes in the sharpness and noise reduction in Lib Patcher register in video? And if so, do they improve things?
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Daeveren:
The HDR+ Enhanced used to be an option in the stock camera, but now it's been completely removed. The gcam mod lets you enable it.

Basically there were 3 modes in the stock cam:

1. no HDR -- an instant, normal photo, really bad dynamic range and tons of noise);

2. HDR+ photo -- in this mode the camera app was shooting photos continuously whenever you had the app open and when you pressed the shutter button it would store the last few photos before you pressed the shutter, plus the next few photos after you pressed the shutter (it should have been between 5 and 15 photos total), then it would align and merge the photos, eliminating any weird frames; in this mode,, the photo capture was appearing as instant, to the user;

3. HDR+ Enhanced photo -- in this mode the camera would only start capturing when pressing the shutter button and it would take a bunch of photos (between 5 and 15) and you'd see a circle filling up in the viewfinder, lasting between 0.5 to 1 sec. This mode is the best in terms of quality, most details, lowest noise, the disadvantage is that it takes some time to capture the photo, is not instant. The gcam mod lets you chose how many frames you want captured for a HDR+ Enhanced photo - up to 30. So it's your choice if you want to use it for human subject (which might move) or only for static things. For example, I've set mine to 30 and I'm using the gcam only when I want to capture a static scene and I want the best capture quality I can get.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] whatsisnametake2:
ok thanks for the info. good to have that option available again. any ideas about the google white balance thing? looks the same as stock here but maybe that's because it's on a pixel! i've exchanged a few messages with the dev of this modded version and I'm hoping he's going to do an 8.4 version with white balance control.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] whatsisnametake2:
i'll try the different model options out. with regards your question about the video - I don't know yet I need to do some experimenting. I'm hoping it does affect video as well.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gnaius:
I did a quick experiment comparing video shot with the mod (with my setting posted above) vs. the stock camera. I see no difference, although I'm not sure what to look for. It doesn't look too bad, to my eye: not quite the same issues that you see with the stock still camera.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] UserName:Required:
I'm using MWP, but I can't seem to get it to use other Gallery apps, let alone Gallery Go. If I install Google Photos, I can get it to use another Gallery by default. Once I uninstall Google Photos though, it says I need Google Photos and refuses to open the other Gallery App. I'm on a degoogled ROM on a Pixel with MicroG if that makes a difference.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] 86rickard:
Wow . With jpeg quality on 100% and with Chroma, Spatial and Denoise 1 setting BELOW default the detail retention is amazing. Yes there's more noise but it's quite natural.

The stock camera does way too much jpeg compression and noise reduction on top of sharpening. The combination of those three makes for a messy image.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] KERKEDAGAIN:
Great observations! Out of curiosity, what version of gcam are you using?
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] 86rickard:
Latest version. Lib patch only has those Denoise settings then 100% jpeg. I'm amazed how much the stock one compresses the picture. I'm getting 12-17MB as to 2-6MB stock. Add too much noise processing and stock is really bad. I think the next step is to see what sharpening does (I think stock oversharpens) as well as slightly too much highlights forming a flat image sometimes.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gytole:
Do you have a link to the version you are on that you can set Jpegs to 100? I have installed 6 gcams and have yet to see that option...lol
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] 86rickard:
MWP GCam APKs - Google Camera Port

Modified Google Camera app by MWP.

www.celsoazevedo.com

I'm using 8.3.252_V2
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] KERKEDAGAIN:
Same. Further curiosity, have you (or any of the other experts in this thread) noticed any improvements to the stock 8.4 version, ie has Google caught on to you folks' assessment?
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] gothicdemons:
Has anyone tried the latest 8.4.300 beta2? It feels good to have the WB sliders and still apply the configs posted in the previous page by Gnalus :)
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gytole:
Latest Gcam beta works fantastic on P6P with Libpatch 100% quality.

MWP GCam APKs - Google Camera Port

Modified Google Camera app by MWP.

www.celsoazevedo.com

8.4.300.v1_beta 3

I noticed on beta 2 video would stutter. Haven't tried this one out yet but pics are great.

Also, I don't know if anyone else has tried ot but I have Camera Zoom fx for like 10 years and forgot about it.m.instalked it the other day and at 100% and touch to focus, it takes GREAT PICS. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=slide.cameraZoom

I got it for 10 cents back in the day. Idk how much it is. Camera API 2 crashes the app for some strange reason. But I have used it to take a few pics. I will be experimenting with both today
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Alekos:
Camera Zoom is 5.99$. I wouldn't mind a 7 day trial but the 15 (30min?) refund window in play store is kinda meh

been waiting for the beta3 of MWP. beta1/2 didn't have the options of the latest stable. But MWP_xHDR is a gamechanger imo. The quality and depth of these photos is really unprecedented in smartphones.

been using the pixel mod from mwp for a few years. If you have a Pixel 3 for example, the quality is results can sometimes be better than the 6 series.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Gytole:
That's because they both take 12MP shots.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] dennis_cu:
New to the Pixel world, any of you guys suggest the best gcam version to download? I am using the Japan variant. Thanks!
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Lughnasadh:
No idea about your Japan variant, but this one is pretty good.

MWP GCam APKs - Google Camera Port

Modified Google Camera app by MWP.

www.celsoazevedo.com
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Rustypoo:
I'm using pixel experience 12 which is ported from pixel 6 pro, can I use this?
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] jspikeball123:
Would anyone here know how to get either this camera mod or another way to reenable auto flash? Night sight straight up doesn't work in no light situations which I am in constantly. I tried with developer tags but didn't seem to be able to make much happen. Thanks
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] User.Hemlock:
Gcam is crashing every time I try to open it. Running GrapheneOS on PIxel 7, but I do have all google play services/framework/etc enabled. Any ideas why it might not be working?
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] 73sydney:
Because youre running a tinfoil hat ROM that intentionally breaks stuff?

Just a guess....
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] User.Hemlock:
Anyway...

This time I was able to get a crash log. Can anyone make sense of this?

``` type: crash osVersion: google/panther/panther:13/TD1A.221105.001/2022113000:user/release-keys package: com.google.android.GoogleCameraEng:64473887 process: com.google.android.GoogleCameraEng processUptime: 461 + 296 ms java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean com.google.googlex.gcam.Gcam.f()' on a null object reference at jzd.run(Unknown Source:93) at btm.run(Unknown Source:169) at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:942) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:201) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:288) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7904) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:548) at com.android.internal.os.ExecInit.main(ExecInit.java:49) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit.nativeFinishInit(Native Method) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit.main(RuntimeInit.java:355) Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean com.google.googlex.gcam.Gcam.f()' on a null object reference at dux.get(Unknown Source:1765) at oum.get(Unknown Source:45) at egz.a(Unknown Source:23) at dmr.get(Unknown Source:1206) at oum.get(Unknown Source:45) at dnf.get(Unknown Source:2159) at oum.get(Unknown Source:45) at jjr.get(Unknown Source:1199) at oum.get(Unknown Source:45) at ekx.get(Unknown Source:1099) at oum.get(Unknown Source:45) at oul.get(Unknown Source:63) at bqc.c(Unknown Source:112) at bqc.a(Unknown Source:35) at bww.run(Unknown Source:41) ... 11 more ```
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] kabirjedi:
Best gcam for P6p

Bigkaka lastest with this config:

https://tinyurl.com/4xwxhhjv
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] 73sydney:
Can be helpful to provide links when you recommend things :)

BigKaka GCam APKs - Google Camera Port

Modified Google Camera app by BigKaka.

www.celsoazevedo.com

plus theres a config

here:

Config Files for BigKaka's GCam 8.4

Stable settings for BigKaka's GCam 8.4 with xml config files support.

www.celsoazevedo.com

Also, confused, theres 2 files in that zip you uploaded
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] kabirjedi:
Google search answer for everything

No problem with 2 files.
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] fillwithjoy1:
Specifically looking for a gcam mod that allows me to change the model to pixel 7 pro to get these features that we don't have on Pixel 6 Pro

Cinematic Mode

10-bit HDR (unsure if the hardware can run this)

Night Sight Exposure timer

50MP Raw (if possible)
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] Juuuuune:
Actually pixel 7 Pro also couldn't output 50mp raw originally
[Google Pixel 6 Pro] fillwithjoy1:
We talking about Pixel 6 Pro not pixel 7 pro. The reason I mentioned pixel 7 pro is that I'm looking to get the exclusive pixel 7 pro features that aren't available in Pixel 6 Pro right now like:

Cinematic Mode

10-bit HDR Video

Night sight exposure timer

50MP Raw (if possible)

However you do mention that the Pixel 7 Pro wasn't capable, was that a hardware thing or the gcam app just downscaling the 50MP to 12.5MP?