Open Camera in Nexus 7 tablet

Question

I have developed a Camera application in android. It captures image using a surface view. Below is the code that I used to open camera

try {
            // attempt to get a Front Camera instance
            c = Camera.open(Camera.CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            System.out
                    .println("fail to connect to Front Camera");
        }
        if (c == null) {
            try {
                // attempt to get a Back Camera instance
                c = Camera.open(1);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // TODO: handle exception
                System.out
                        .println("fail to connect to Camera   with      id   =   1");
            }
        }
        if (c == null) {
            try {
                // attempt to get a Back Camera instance
                c = Camera.open(0);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // TODO: handle exception
                System.out
                        .println("fail to connect to Camera   with      id   =   0");
            }
        }
        if (c == null) {
            try {
                // attempt to get a Back Camera instance
                c = Camera.open();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // TODO: handle exception
                System.out
                        .println("fail to connect to Back Camera");
                return c;
            }

Where c is an object of Camera.

It works fine in other phones except Nexus 7 Tablet. In Nexus 7, the code throws exception in all cases except the last one i.e. c = Camera.open();, but still the object c is null.

Here is the stack trace

11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): java.lang.NullPointerException
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

com.MyPackage.OpenCamera.getFrontCameraInstance(OpenCamera.java:238)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

com.MyPackage.OpenCamera.onCreate(OpenCamera.java:123)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:5104)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1080)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2144)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2230)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:141)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at android.app.ActivityThread

$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1234)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at android.os.Looper.loop

(Looper.java:137)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at android.app.ActivityThread.main

(ActivityThread.java:5039)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke

(Method.java:511)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run

(ZygoteInit.java:793)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at 

com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:560)
11-22 12:36:57.559 W/System.err(7621): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main

(Native Method)
11-22 12:36:57.559 I/System.out(7621): Error in setting Parameter
11-22 12:36:57.609 I/ActivityManager(480): Displayed 
11-22 12:36:57.679 W/System.err(7621): at 

android.location.Geocoder.getFromLocation(Geocoder.java:136)
11-22 12:36:57.679 W/System.err(7621): at com.MyPackage.OpenCamera.

$MyTimmer$1.run(OpenCamera.java:336)
11-22 12:36:57.679 W/System.err(7621): java.lang.NullPointerException
11-22 12:36:57.679 W/System.err(7621): at com.MyPackage.OpenCamera.

$MyTimmer$1.run(OpenCamera.java:344)

So I can't use it to capture image. Any solution???

Thanks...

I get a NullPointerException when I try to use this object to capture Image. — AnujMathur_07, Nov 22 '12 at 10:02
@AnujMathur_07 could you please post the whole stack trace/exception message? — dumbfingers, Nov 22 '12 at 10:03

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 28 '13 at 16:58

When using the following code on the Nexus 7: int cameraId = CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT; The cameraId is 1, however, as you have seen, using 1 as the parameter results in an error. I have found that using 0 instead of 1 works but the camera must be released after each use so I go ahead and call Camera.open(cameraId).release(); I realize this is ugly but it seems to solve the issue with the Nexus 7.

    int cameraId = -1;
    boolean errorFound = false;
    boolean hasFeatCamera = getPackageManager().hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_CAMERA);

    if (hasFeatCamera) {

            try{
                 cameraId = CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_BACK;
                 Camera.open(cameraId).release();
                }catch(Exception e){
                    Camera.open(0).release();
                }

    } else if(CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT>-1){

        try{
         cameraId = CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT;
         Camera.open(cameraId).release();
        }catch(Exception e){
            errorFound = true;

        }

        if(errorFound){
            try{
                Camera.open(0).release(); // Put in for Nexus 7 as  CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT= 1 but it only loads if the id is actually 0
                cameraId = 0;
            }catch(Exception e){
                cameraId = -1;
            }
        }
    }

    if(cameraId<0){
        Toast.makeText(this, "No camera found.",
                    Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
     }

comparison with primitives is done through a double equal (==) not a single equal (=) — JoxTraex, Jan 18 '13 at 20:49
Does this solution work?? If it does, please accept it as CORRECT — Achin Kumar, Oct 17 '13 at 06:32
Note that `CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT` is a constant independent of device or platform you use; it is guaranteed to be `>-1`. The misunderstanding comes from the fact that `Camera.open(int)` uses a camera index which has nothing to do with the [constants](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Camera.CameraInfo.html#CAMERA_FACING_BACK) defined in `Camera.CameraInfo` class. Please see the [full code snippet](http://stackoverflow.com/a/4767832/192373). — Alex Cohn, May 14 '17 at 09:32

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 02 '13 at 13:50

A bit late, but maybe it helps someone. I had the exact same problem and could NOT get the Nexus 7 camera to work with any index supplied to getCamera(idx).

I installed a camera "Kamera Nexus 7" app from the playstore. I didn't have any camera app after a reset/update. This app worked and after i used it once, i could get the cam by using Camera.getCamera(0);

So maybe there is an additional "unlock requirement" that is not covered in the answers here? (They did not work for me, before installing the app)

Thanks for the answer, maybe it helps someone. – AnujMathur_07 Sep 02 '13 at 14:01 — AnujMathur_07, Sep 02 '13 at 14:01

Open Camera in Nexus 7 tablet

2 Answers2