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I'm developing an app on Android Studio and I am setting a button that, when pressed, will open the camera. In particular, I need the camera to take multiple shots (keeping the "shot" button pressed on the camera view, it should take multiple shots till it is released).

My smartphone camera supports the "continuous shot" feature (Android 5.1, API 22), but I cannot use it when I call the camera from my app. As you can see in the screenshots below, when I open the camera from the official camera app, it has a different layout with more settings. When I call the camera from my app, it has less settings and if I try to keep pressed the "shot" button, it appears the toast message "Does not support continuous shot".

https://i.stack.imgur.com/yTkma.jpg

https://i.stack.imgur.com/dWAm2.jpg

The simple code I use to call the camera function in my app is the following:

public void cameraCall(View view) {
    Intent intent = new Intent("android.media.action.IMAGE_CAPTURE");
    startActivityForResult(intent, 0);
}

Any idea about how to solve this problem? Thank you

Machavity
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erik.b
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  • Possible duplicate of [android camera click continous shots](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19515878/android-camera-click-continous-shots) – Rick M. Apr 18 '18 at 09:26
  • I already checked that topic, but it's not clear how they use the takePicture() method. Furthermore, it seems that in their solution you need to press multiple times the "shot button" to take multiple pictures. I'd like to take a burst of pictures like in the native camera app if possible, i.e. keeping pressed the shot button. – erik.b Apr 18 '18 at 13:53
  • I am sure there are answers on SO directing towards what you want, something like [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6889271/how-to-make-burst-mode-available-to-camera). You need to do a thorough search! – Rick M. Apr 18 '18 at 14:41

1 Answers1

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When you use IMAGE_CAPTURE intent, Android launches some camera app on your device. Most often, this will be the Camera app that was preinstalled by the device manufacturer, but this could be an 3rd party app installed from the Play Store or even sideloaded. This Camera app declared support for this standard intent, and hopefully it honestly fulfills the contract defined for this standard intent. This contract does not mention many advanced features of the cameras, so most likely you will not get them.

You may find another intent, INTENT_ACTION_STILL_IMAGE_CAMERA, better fit your needs. Or you can launch default camera app on press of the button.

The alternative is to implement custom camera in your app.

Alex Cohn
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  • Hi Alex! Thank you for your answer! I tried the intent INTENT_ACTION_STILL_IMAGE_CAMERA and it worked: it opens the camera app that allows me to take a burst of pictures. Do you know a way to set a specific number of pictures that has to be taken (6 for example), so that after that I come back automatically to the main activity, saving the Uri of those pictures in a List? – erik.b Apr 18 '18 at 20:30
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    No, this is impossible. When you use INTENT_ACTION_STILL_IMAGE_CAMERA you lose all control over what can happen there. – Alex Cohn Apr 18 '18 at 20:39
  • Ok, thanks again for your explanation, it was really useful :) – erik.b Apr 18 '18 at 20:41