Google’s CameraX update prepares Ultra HDR rollout for third-party apps

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At its I/O 2024 developers’ conference in May, Google announced plans to support Ultra HDR image capture across all third-party apps with built-in camera functionality. It appears the company has made some progress towards this. It has updated the CameraX library with initial support for Ultra HDR capture, laying the groundwork for a public rollout.

Google prepares to bring Ultra HDR image capture to all camera apps

HDR or high dynamic range is an advanced camera technology that uses computational photography and image stacking to produce vibrant images with excellent contrast. Ultra HDR is a JPEG-based HDR image format created by Google. The company offers an API for Android 14 and higher that app developers can implement to capture HDR images on supported devices. These JPEG image files have an HDR gain map embedded in their metadata.

The benefit is that these pictures can be viewed on any device, even those without an HDR display. When not supported, users will see standard (SDR) JPEG images. But when supported, the HDR gain map is applied over the SDR version of the image to enhance the vibrancy and contrast of colors. Any camera app can capture these JPEG-based HDR images using Google’s Ultra HDR format as long as the device has the necessary hardware capabilities.

However, Google’s API system has limited its adoption, particularly on apps where photography isn’t a primary function, such as social media apps. The API that enables Ultra HDR for camera apps in Android 14 is part of Camera2, not CameraX. The former comes with the Android OS framework and offers advanced camera functionality. “Think full-fledged third-party camera apps with pro-level controls over multiple lenses,” Android expert Mishaal Rahman explains.

On the other hand, CameraX is bundled with the Jetpack support library and is better suited for social media apps and other apps that offer built-in camera functionality for adjacent features. While developers are free to select either API, CameraX’s simplicity means apps that aren’t necessarily camera apps usually forego Camera2. As such, they miss out on the latest or advanced features or get them later than regular camera apps. The same is happening with Ultra HDR.

Google has already made some progress

While the Ultra HDR API has been available on Camera2 since the beginning, Google is finally bringing it to CameraX. The company updated the CameraX library in April to support Ultra HDR image capture on all Android camera apps. Spotted by Rahman, the updated version (v1.4.0) isn’t available publicly yet. Maybe Google still has some work to do. He explained the technical tidbits of the feature in a lengthy post on Android Authority.

The gist is that your social images might soon be more vibrant. According to the report, Google Chrome is currently the only app that “fully” supports Ultra HDR images across Android and desktop. Hopefully, developers of other third-party apps will quickly adopt the updated version of the Jetpack CameraX library as soon as Google releases it. All high-end Android phones and some newer Windows PCs can display Ultra HDR images.

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