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Show HN: Rotate-To-Snap

maximiliankiener.com

22 pointsmaxkiener17 comments

This is a neat concept. It could potentially solve the vertical videos problem we have lately with smartphone cameras in everyone's pockets. My only nitpick is the "tap to take a picture/hold to record a video" control scheme. A viable alternative would be: tap to focus, tap and hold for a menu (think Galaxy Note 4 Air Command) where you can toggle flash, choose photo or video, etc.

I'm borrowing from snapchat here which uses a similar concept (tap for pics, hold for video) and tried to cut/avoid additional steps. As for focussing: why must focus and trigger be two distinct actions?

I sometimes play with the focus when I'm taking videos. Sometimes I'd want the focus to be very up close at first and then focus more on the background while recording. Also, it's not always easy to tell if the object is too close/far to focus on, so the picture might not come out too well.

If you're thinking Snapchat and the video lasts until you release, the focus could perhaps be controlled by dragging over the area rather than tapping.

Overall, the focus isn't that big of a deal, but, to make as many people as possible happy, I would find a way to include as many features as possible. Flash is also a very important feature that wasn't accounted for. On top of that, how would the user go about toggling between the front and back facing cameras?

Good Points. Maybe something like a Lytro-Focus-slider could be implemented.

Front/back and Flash can be adjusted on the panel I the left.

> Tap to snap / hold for video

How do I focus?

I've been working on an app that utilizes this user interaction, and what I've come up with is double tap to take a picture. Don't focus until you're sure there's no second tap (a few hundred ms). Or you could always just add a simple camera button, which solves this problem.

I'm assuming autofocus is so good these days, for snapshots you can live without it. Another option would be that focussing and the shutter are the same action.

What's the name of the app? I'd love to see it.

> How do I focus?

I've assumed that "Tap to snap..." works on the (right) button area only and tapping the photo triggers focus. This isn't clear though.

Thank you for the feedback. I hadn't thought that it could be interpreted that way. The idea is that it tapping and holding for photo/video works anywhere on the screen. I also would like it to focus on tap (shooting = focussing)

Would this not be equally useful just triggering the standard iOS camera? Tap to focus, volume buttons and a large shutter button take photos.

The feature is supposed to be built into other apps like whatsapp, Instagram or Facebook messenger. From there it offers a faster experience than jumping to the iOS camera. It is also faster than aiming for buttons to get to the apps' camera.

> With the advent of bigger screens on our mobile phones, typing in portrait-mode with two hands becomes easier

True.

> and landscape mode for keyboards less of a necessity.

Also true, but neither means I would forgo my landscape mode, especially when I can hold down the camera icon on my iPhone for the same effect.

Nice idea, it's just that more elegant solutions exist :)

Yeah, the regular camera on the iPhone is perfect. This explores how to trigger it differently in apps though (like Instagram or whatsapp). I wanted to find out if it's easier to learn a gesture than to learn tap sequences. What to you think?

Gestures replacing taps/clicks (desktop metaphors) was one of the things I wanted to explore with this.

This look like a very handy feature/app.

How to actually use it?

It's an idea for communication/social networking apps, that have a camera feature built in. It is not available in any app so far, but I'd love to see someone pick it up.

Basically turn the phone sideways and the camera turns on. Turn it back to portrait and you are back in your app.

Yes, this is a super idea. i am in love with feature already!! hopefully someone develop this feature soon.

Cheers, and thanks for sharing.

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