Question

I use the android camera and allow the user to take stills, but I would also like to also allow the user to toggle the ability to use flash. From off/on/auto

This button will be overlayed on the camera just like in the default android camera application. But I do not want to use that application.

How would I do this? I understand Camera.Parameters, but if I added a button on the layout that added key/value pairs to camera.parameters, would I need to refresh the camera? I will eventually try this (sometimes just typing out problems helps me come up with ideas), but any insight would be appreciated!

Answer 1

You can change the Camera parameters at any time (after you have your camera object).

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Camera.Parameters.html

Use whatever settings you want, and attach them to whatever you want your buttons to look like. It’s 100% straight forward.

here’s a sample from something I did…

    Camera.Parameters cp = mCamera.getParameters();
    cp.setJpegQuality(100);
    cp.setColorEffect(Parameters.SCENE_MODE_PORTRAIT);
    cp.setFlashMode(Parameters.FLASH_MODE_ON);
    cp.setColorEffect(Parameters.EFFECT_MONO);
    setPictureSize(cp);
    mCamera.setParameters(cp);

You can call setParameters at any time, and they will take effect immediately.