- Exploring the Xooms Cameras
- Opening the Camera App
- Configuring Camera Settings
- Taking Still Photos
- Shooting Video on the Xoom
- Creating Movies with Movie Studio
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Configuring Camera Settings
Although the Xoom’s cameras are never going to be mistaken for state-of-the-art photojournalism devices, they do have some remarkable capabilities when you consider just what they are, not to mention where they are (in a thin but powerful computer). This section shows you how to get the most from your Xoom’s cameras through adjusting the various photographic parameters available.
Accessing the Xoom’s Camera Settings panel
The settings portion of the Xoom’s camera controls deal with basics like picture size and quality, as well as where the photos are stored in memory, how the exposure is set, and whether you focus the camera yourself or let the Xoom do it for you.
To open the Camera Settings panel:
- If the Camera app isn’t already open, complete the steps in “To open the photo software” earlier in this chapter.
- Touch the Settings icon
.
The Camera Settings panel
opens.
This panel displays five categories:
Store Location. This option is a toggle (On or Off).
Focus Mode. You can set this option to Auto, Infinity, or (for those close-up shots) Macro.
Exposure. Set this option from –2 to +2 to adjust for lighting.
Picture Size. Your choices include VGA and 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 megapixels. The VGA option sets the lowest resolution; the 5M Pixels option sets the highest resolution.
Picture Quality. Your choices are Normal, Fine, and Super Fine.
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Setting effects and balance
Several effects and balance settings are available to you:
Scene mode. The Xoom’s Camera app has some cool preset scene modes available. Scene modes make taking pictures easier because they automatically adapt the camera to the lighting that’s expected in each setting.
Color effect. You can apply color effects applied to a picture before you take it. (Very cool.)
White balance. The white-balance setting allows you to adjust the white balance of a shot before you take it.
To set a scene mode:
- If the Camera app isn’t already open, complete the steps in “To open the photo software” earlier in this chapter.
- Touch the Scene Mode icon
.
The Scene Mode panel opens, as shown in
. Your choices are Auto, Action, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Night Portrait, Theatre, Beach, Snow, Sunset, Steady Photo, and
Fireworks.
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To set a color effect:
- If the Camera app isn’t already open, complete the steps in “To open the photo software” earlier in this chapter.
- Touch the Color Effect icon
.
The Color Effect panel opens, as shown in
. It lists six options: None, Mono, Sepia, Negative, Solarize, and Posterize.
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To set white balance:
- If the Camera app isn’t already open, complete the steps in “To open the photo software” earlier in this chapter.
- Touch the White Balance icon
.
TIP
Depending on what white-balance mode is active, this icon changes. In automatic mode, the icon reads A/W; in manual mode, the icon looks like a sun (
).
The White Balance panel opens, as shown in
.
This panel lists four categories:
- Auto
- Incandescent (warm feel)
- Daylight (deep colors)
- Fluorescent (cool feel)
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