OnePlus 2 camera tips and tricks

It's a simple camera app, but there are a few tricks to know.

There isn't much to be said about the Camera app on the OnePlus 2. That's not to say there isn't anything to be said about the camera itself, in fact it's one of the better cameras you can get on an Android phone today, but the user interface that powers this experience isn't much to look at and doesn't include a ton of features. It's a solid point and shoot app, with modes for video, panorama, slow motion, and timelapse — but several of these modes include no settings at all. What you see, in most cases, is what you get.

That having been said, there's a couple of things you should know about poking around in the few settings that do exist, and we've got them here for you.

Read now: OnePlus 2 Camera Tips and Tricks

1. The Brightness Slider doesn't work everywhere

If you tap to focus in any of the camera modes, you get a pair of circles to confirm the area you want to focus on. Included in those circles is a little sun, which is actually a round slider for brightness controls. It's a clever, quick way to adjust brightness for a photo that either works really well or not at all.

Even though you can move the slider around in the HDR and Clear Image mode, nothing happens to the brightness of the photo you are taking as you move the slider around. It only works in the auto mode, but the app never tells you this.

2. Panorama mode needs a constant, steady motion

The panorama mode in this camera does a great job stitching together photos, even when the subjects are moving a bit. OnePlus designed the interface so you've got a set of dots to follow to keep you on the right path, and as long as you follow the instructions you'll be able to grab decent pictures every time.

What the interface doesn't tell you is there needs to be constant motion once you've started taking photos. If you stop, there's a good chance you might accidentally shift backwards in to the photo, which will cause the app to cancel the panorama altogether and force you to start over. It's not the best design in the world, but if you keep moving and use the stop key the image results are impressive.

3. Clear Image mode works best with things at a distance

The few options you do have in the OnePlus camera app don't do a great job explaining what the features actually do, and while HDR and Beauty mode are fairly self explanatory if you've ever used a smartphone camera before, there's a good chance Clear Image is a fairly new option.

Essentially, this camera mode intelligently adjusts the sharpening in the photo to help other things stand out. This is great if you're taking photos of a huge landscape and want the things in the background to stand out a little more, but it isn't particularly helpful when taking photos of things up close.

Source: OnePlus 2 camera tips and tricks