Maybe this is a reference to the new Torch white balance setting? I had to install the camera app manually from the build server for that. Also, I noticed that after the update, the torch brightness now has 5 levels instead of 3.
Before i see 3 level, now i detect 4 level, may be 5 level including the off of led, so under my test with colors scanner, i see i little high temp, by brighter. Like less orange, as far i know a dedicated orange pattern improve photo quality over the harmfull white color.
4 levels before and 6 after the update including the off setting.
I think that I know what is happening. Perception is based on contrast. Color temperature is obvious when it is compared to another color temperature. If everything in a room is illuminated with the same color temperature, then color temperature is less noticeable as opposed to having 2 different light sources with different color temperatures. With the brighter extra warm light, the other color temperature light in your room is swamped out, so your perception is able to see the object’s colors more distinctly (than the contrasting color temperature lights).
You may skip to the last paragraph marked “Question” or review the preamble. The question won’t change if you just skip to it.
The phone uses the British term of “Torch” for the flashlight icon. It doesn’t say a nightlight. A Torch/flashlight should be bright enough to light a substantial area, as do all other digital phones.
But using a dim amber/yellow light doesn’t work when taking a lot of different pictures, unless of course, no one here uses it unless they are setting up a choreographed area with remote lighting. This phones light is not for a digital phone. Maybe it works for you at night in your home, and works for those that worked to make it. But it can and I believe has happened, that some things just don’t always work right in the wild.
I have been spending a great deal of more time, since mid-Feb, reading old ideas, new ideas, and here is what happened:
- When I received the device, and updated it and all, the Camera, as such, had text at the top of the app so small, none of us could read it. I tapped on the lines of text several times, and this devices tap is a loose cannon, that aside - tapping did nothing.
Right below the micro-text was what appeared to be lines, I later discovered were sliders. Too small to tap, drag, shake or rattle. I was sternly told that I had to use the text and sliders to set up the camera.
What I was seeing, and trying did not work, and wasn’t what I was told.
That was repaired with a new update, that I was told fix the problem. It did.
The sliders were moved down and bigger, and the fonts at the top were larger.
I learned to tap, tap, tap tapittatap. and soon the Gain slider appears. Sometimes the slider will move but not usually. And, I repeat that obstacle course again for each setting, It’s a battle to get the sliders to move to the far with end. Repeat with each of the 4 little bit (hint bit) larger text.
This has to be done, every time with each setting and it is close to taking a better picture.
I have to do this every time I want to use the camera. EVERY time!
How useful is a device like that. I wanted to take a picture of my granddaughter sitting on her dad’s lap, but by the time I had it set high enough to see them, she was in a state, lousy pose.
The picture has a sepia tone right through. All the pics do…
QUESTION:
Is there a way that when I manage to get the taps in and sliders to slide to set the 4 camera settings (Gain, Exposure, Balance, Focus) to it’s maximum via slider, to lock it in and stay at max?
TIA,
~f
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I have 2 of these phones, and on 1 of them, I installed an unreleased & experimental version of the camera app. The experimental version that I have is at least a few weeks old, but when you start it, Gain & Exposure automatically adjust as the lighting changes. Balance & Focus have automatic modes, but you have to manually activate each of their auto modes.
About a week ago, Purism released an update that enabled both LEDs (before, only 1 was on because an older hardware edition could not handle the heat) and increased the brightness levels. It will not replace an actual flashlight, but it seems to be good enough in a dark room with the gain and exposure turned up. Someone said that the light looked less amber/yellow. The color temperature did not change, but with the extra brightness, the difference in color temperature contrast/perception between the torch and other lighting in the room was less noticeable to the human eye. We still need the Torch color temperature level for the picture to come out right. Try allowing a software update. One of the more knowledgeable people around here mentioned that sometimes a “sudo apt-get full-upgrade” is needed because the normal updates skip over things that need something removed first. That is probably not needed with this feature, but if you are seeing other problems, it might be worth a try.
The phone comes with a screen protector. I am not sure if it is used solely for protecting it in shipment. You could removing it so that you are touching the glass directly. I have not needed to, but if there is an air bubble, then that would make tapping more frustrating. I noticed that the plastic was annoying to use at first, but after some oil built up, it is easier. I did not notice the camera stuff moving around, but the camera app is very much a work in progress, and I have not used every update. In fact, for most of the Librem 5’s existence, the camera had no working software at all. The problem is that normal Linux software never needed to use this type of image sensor interface before, so Purism had to do a lot of low level work with very poor or absent documentation. Normally, Linux laptops & desktops use USB cameras, which hide a lot of this complexity. The problem is that they do not fit into a phone very well and/or use more power.
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Hi @matt2 Glad to see you chime in.
When I see updates are available on the device, I let it do it’s thing. I do believe the Torch is much brighter today…
I booted from a pwr-down and using screen to preview, and a bit of trial and error to get best image on-screen, which I realize isn’t WYSIWYG, but set the cameras setting to 501 3118 50 250 which gave me the best picture.
I powered down. Not sleep, right off.
Then I rebooted checked camera and the settings dropped right off to 32 990 D50 250. It doesn’t light much at all, and what little can be seen up close is sepia.
What works best for me indoors, is to set everything to it’s max, then I get a good image sans the sepia.
Then I took the device outside and it’s a bright day. Then turned it on, then took a pic. The on-load default (32 990 D50 250) took a OK picture. Indoors, without setting everything higher, very dark.
I powered-off, reboot again and settings went to default again.
I did the "sudo apt-get full-upgrade” that reported that everything was ‘0’, "0 upgraded0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 upgraded".
So I should wait then until your version is available?
Should have come with it maybe. But there was no peel off protection. Unless the protector is very well placed even with holes to accommodate the speaker and other little circle to it’s right and worked right down the very edge and into the frame.
I have been trying to find a screen protector that stays on the screen. It might help reduce the temperamental tap.
I hoped it would be that easy. Tap issue is not just one place, it’s everywhere. Even logging in, swipe up, again, again, again - sooner or later it will go up. Same with some buttons. Back-button tap needs several hits to coerce it into < . Same in Image Viewer, going back or forward is nearly impossible. Tap easy, harder harder easier, then, maybe it will go < or >. I keep the screen clean using a Hoya lens cloth.
I am afraid to try to get beside the screen and slide something underneath peel off what doesn’t seen to be there. I dbl checked the box it came in, not there either.
Might not matter much. Today I’m plugging L5 into a Hoyoki hub and hub into a Z400 workstation that runs Pure OS. Hopefully, it won’t 
Thanks very much,
~s
RE screen protectors, some brands reviewed here:
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They are nice, these viascreens. I bought the impact variety. Easy to apply, seems like a good protection of the glass - but time will tell of course.
They are a bit thicker than the protector that came with the phone, yet they somehow appear a bit moe transparant (or maybe that’s just my imagination).
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Thanks for the tip. How can one tell if the device has a screen protector? I look at the Puri side-view (scroll down) and I do not have the raised glass at the left top corner in image. Mine is more flush to the frame.
No one removed anything from the face of the device so maybe there is a protector 
~s
If there is screen protector on, there should be a noticeable gap around the earpiece opening and the proximity sensor at the top of the screen, as those two items should never be covered by a film or glass screen overlay. If you can’t see any overlay at that spot, then there must not be one.
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The ‘glass’ goes nicely around earpiece but the little circle (proximity?) is covered. I watched video you suggested above, and am 90% certain there is no cover. So it looks like I should order one? That might help get the ‘tap’ off steroids 
Thanks very much @amarok
~s
- edited to include photo
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It does not look like there is a screensaver there. As amarok said, there would be a raised edge around the ‘ear piece’/speaker and the led.
And you would see the same raised edge around the whole screen, about a millimeter inward from the actual edge of the screen.
The original screen saver is only a fraction of a millimeter thick, and doesn’t offer much protection anyway.
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The sensor is actually below the glass of the screen. If you were to see plastic film up to and around it, but not covering it, then that would be an overlay on top of the glass.
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You may have done this and just not mentioned it here, but if you’re going to sudo apt full-upgrade, you have to sudo apt update first.
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Usually, the PureOS Store does that for you, although it can be stale by about a day. Issues solved with a full upgrade can be around for a while, because the PureOS Store only upgrades packages that do not need older packages removed first.
I used a Librem 5 to take a picture of a Librem 5 
The latest one came with a protector on it. I also installed a 3D printed case. You can see the outline of the screen protector around the speaker. The LED is covered, but the camera is not. If it is difficult to notice visually, you can probably feel it by running a fingernail over where one of the edges is, such as between the LED and camera. The nail should catch it.
One idea is to try using it after your fingers are damp (but not dripping). Capacitive sensors are measuring the absorption of RF energy. Water absorbs RF fairly well. If there is something else absorbing the RF, or a film of the wrong type is in the way, it could get a bad reading. I would suggest cleaning it with a lens wipe, but I think that you said this was an issue out of the box.
By the way, the lighting was provided by the Librem 5’s torch. The only reason why it does not look amber is that this is the development version that contains the Torch color temp. You can probably get somewhat close to this by turning down the color temp to “A”.
Capacitive touch screens sense a change in capacitance and have nothing to do with RF energy or its absorbption.
Thanks @matt2,
There is nothing around edges, or at the speaker (that long slot at the top.), or anywhere.
Camera took the image:
The ‘speaker’ area is the only thing Open. The rest are covered by glass that bevels down and below edge.
The following is your pic with my input.
From others and your pics, I am 100% confident there is no protective cover on this device. It’s that or the ‘protective cover’ if there is one is wrong in covering the lens.
I will add that to my shopping list. If it doesn’t help, and is a projector, I’ll leave it. If it doesn’t help, or worsens, at least the new layer can be peeled of. If there is one on here, it’s on before it’s put into the case.
You’ve been a great help - thanks,
~s
Cool. Yes, the 3 arrows are pointing to the edge of my screen protector. I do not think that adding a layer will help. The surface of Librem 5 (without a cover) covers the lens, so it is flush with everything except for where the speaker is. The glass sticks out from the frame, which I suppose is easier to build and looks nice, but is less protective of the glass.
I was looking into how touch screens work because someone mentioned that it was not RF (radio frequency) energy. They are correct, but there are charges being produced. It is just not high enough in frequency to be considered RF. Exceptionally dry skin, such as calluses would make it difficult to detect a touch, but I am not sure it would produce what you are seeing. RF, however, can interfere with touch screens. One source could be the charger that a phone is plugged into, or some kind of transmitter that is near by, like a WiFi access point. Does this only happen on a charger? Does it change behavior in another room or building? It is possible that the touch screen interference can be coming from within the phone. Maybe try turning the top 2 kill switches in the down position to check the cell and WiFi cards. It could still be coming from the mainboard though.
Continuing the discussion from Librem 5 camera software:
I’ll keep a mini-diary and what is off and on. I might have time on weekend to test it out in different places. But the sensitive is that of broken hearted teenager after first breakup.
That said, I am trying to get the L5 docked to a keyboard/mouse/monitor and I will be able to type faster, and navigate better. Even see full width (I hope) instead of side chopped off.
But I’ll look for a protector anyway, and try that too.
Many thanks
~f