Question

I am using the jengelsma code from this post Capture Image from Camera and Display in Activity to get an image from the camera.

When I get the returned image it is only small and when I try to expand it I instantly lose the image quality.

I assume that this is only the preview size however I have been unable to find out to return the large image as it is this I need in order to manipulate it.

For reference the code is:

package edu.gvsu.cis.masl.camerademo;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;

public class MyCameraActivity extends Activity {
private static final int CAMERA_REQUEST = 1888; 
private ImageView imageView;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);
    this.imageView = (ImageView)this.findViewById(R.id.imageView1);
    Button photoButton = (Button) this.findViewById(R.id.button1);
    photoButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            Intent cameraIntent = new Intent(android.provider.MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE); 
            startActivityForResult(cameraIntent, CAMERA_REQUEST); 
        }
    });
}

protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {  
    if (requestCode == CAMERA_REQUEST && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {  
        Bitmap photo = (Bitmap) data.getExtras().get("data"); 
        imageView.setImageBitmap(photo);
    }  
} 
}

Any help greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You have to do a bit extra to get a fullsize picture, it doesn’t pass it in the Intent, but stores it in a file.

To start the camera for this, add an extra to your Intent:

Intent intent = new Intent( MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE );

fileUri = getOutputMediaFileUri();
intent.putExtra( MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, fileUri );

getOutputMediaFileUri looks like:

/** Create a file Uri for saving an image or video */
private static Uri getOutputMediaFileUri(){
  return Uri.fromFile(getOutputMediaFile());
}

/** Create a File for saving an image or video */
private static File getOutputMediaFile(){
    // To be safe, you should check that the SDCard is mounted
    // using Environment.getExternalStorageState() before doing this.

    File mediaStorageDir = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(
          Environment.DIRECTORY_PICTURES), "MyCameraApp");
    // This location works best if you want the created images to be shared
    // between applications and persist after your app has been uninstalled.

    // Create the storage directory if it does not exist
    if (! mediaStorageDir.exists()){
        if (! mediaStorageDir.mkdirs()){
            Log.d("MyCameraApp", "failed to create directory");
            return null;
        }
    }

    // Create a media file name
    String timeStamp = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss").format(new Date());
    File mediaFile = new File(mediaStorageDir.getPath() + File.separator +
        "IMG_"+ timeStamp + ".jpg");

    return mediaFile;
}

Naturally you can modify the method that creates the file however you like to modify the naming.

Then in your onActivityResult you can get the URI to the picture by simply calling getData() on the Intent.