Switching from Android Camera API to Camera2 API

Question

I'm using a tablet running Android 5.1. I have implemented a service using the Camera API for recording the front cam in the background. The code is shown below. Now I would like to change it to Camera2 API. In addition I would like to manually set the apperture and the exposure time (which is only possible with Camera2 API but not Camera API I think). How can I adapt my code?

import android.app.Notification;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.PixelFormat;
import android.hardware.Camera;
import android.media.CamcorderProfile;
import android.media.MediaRecorder;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.support.v7.app.NotificationCompat;
import android.view.Gravity;
import android.view.SurfaceHolder;
import android.view.SurfaceView;
import android.view.WindowManager;
import inf.ethz.ch.affectivestudy.MainActivity;

public class RecorderService extends Service implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {
    private WindowManager windowManager;
    private SurfaceView surfaceView;
    private Camera camera = null;
    private MediaRecorder mediaRecorder = null;

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        windowManager = (WindowManager) this.getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE);

        surfaceView = new SurfaceView(this);
        WindowManager.LayoutParams layoutParams = new WindowManager.LayoutParams(
                1, 1,
                WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_OVERLAY,
                WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_WATCH_OUTSIDE_TOUCH,
                PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT
        );
        layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.LEFT | Gravity.TOP;
        windowManager.addView(surfaceView, layoutParams);
        surfaceView.getHolder().addCallback(this);
    }

    @Override
    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
        Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(this, MainActivity.class);

        PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0,
                notificationIntent, 0);

        Notification notification = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this)
                //.setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.app_icon)
                .setContentTitle("Background Video Recorder")
                .setContentText("")
                .setContentIntent(pendingIntent).build();

        startForeground(MainActivity.NOTIFICATION_ID_RECORDER_SERVICE, notification);

        return Service.START_NOT_STICKY;
    }

    @Override
    public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder) {
        camera = Camera.open(1);
        mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
        camera.unlock();

        mediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder.getSurface());
        mediaRecorder.setCamera(camera);
        mediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.CAMCORDER);
        mediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);
        mediaRecorder.setProfile(CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_720P));

        mediaRecorder.setOutputFile("/storage/emulated/0/Study/Camera/test.mp4");

        try { mediaRecorder.prepare(); } catch (Exception ignored) {}
        mediaRecorder.start();
    }

    @Override
    public void onDestroy() {
        mediaRecorder.stop();
        mediaRecorder.reset();
        mediaRecorder.release();

        camera.lock();
        camera.release();

        windowManager.removeView(surfaceView);
    }

    @Override
    public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder, int format, int width, int height) {}

    @Override
    public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder) {}

    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) { return null; }
}

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 05 '18 at 01:57

Camera2 is quite different, so adapting is not straightforward.

I'd recommend you look at Google's sample apps, especially Camera2Video, to see how to do recording with camera2.

Once you have that running, you can look at using manual controls on devices that support it (have capability MANUAL_SENSOR); though note that very few phones actually have a variable aperture.

Switching from Android Camera API to Camera2 API

1 Answers1