Question

I want to set the camera orientation according to the device orientation in Android but nothing seems to be working. I tried to rotate the Surface as well as the camera parameters but the camera preview in portrait mode always comes upside down. I would need to rotate it by 90 degree clockwise for it to be correct. Here is the code I am using right now which works in landscape mode only.

    SurfaceHolder.Callback surfaceCallback = new SurfaceHolder.Callback() {

    @Override
    public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
        camera.stopPreview();
        camera.release();
        camera = null;
    }

    @Override
    public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {          
        initCamera();           
    }

    private Size getOptimalPreviewSize(List<Size> sizes, int w, int h) {
        final double ASPECT_TOLERANCE = 0.2;
        double targetRatio = (double) w / h;
        if (sizes == null)
            return null;

        Size optimalSize = null;
        double minDiff = Double.MAX_VALUE;

        int targetHeight = h;

        // Try to find an size match aspect ratio and size
        for (Size size : sizes) {
            Log.d(TAG, "Checking size " + size.width + "w " + size.height
                    + "h");
            double ratio = (double) size.width / size.height;
            if (Math.abs(ratio - targetRatio) > ASPECT_TOLERANCE)
                continue;
            if (Math.abs(size.height - targetHeight) < minDiff) {
                optimalSize = size;
                minDiff = Math.abs(size.height - targetHeight);
            }
        }

        // Cannot find the one match the aspect ratio, ignore the
        // requirement
        if (optimalSize == null) {
            minDiff = Double.MAX_VALUE;
            for (Size size : sizes) {
                if (Math.abs(size.height - targetHeight) < minDiff) {
                    optimalSize = size;
                    minDiff = Math.abs(size.height - targetHeight);
                }
            }
        }
        return optimalSize;
    }

    @Override
    public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width, int height) {
        Camera.Parameters parameters = camera.getParameters();

        List<Size> sizes = parameters.getSupportedPreviewSizes();
        Size optimalSize = getOptimalPreviewSize(sizes, width, height);         
        Log.d(TAG, "Surface size is " + width + "w " + height + "h");
        Log.d(TAG, "Optimal size is " + optimalSize.width + "w " + optimalSize.height + "h");           
        parameters.setPreviewSize(optimalSize.width, optimalSize.height);           
        // parameters.setPreviewSize(width, height);            
        camera.setParameters(parameters);
        camera.startPreview();
    }
};  

Answer 1

I finally fixed this using the Google’s camera app. It gets the phone’s orientation by using a sensor and then sets the EXIF tag appropriately. The JPEG which comes out of the camera is not oriented automatically.

Also, the camera preview works properly only in the landscape mode. If you need your activity layout to be oriented in portrait, you will have to do it manually using the value from the orientation sensor.