Capturing Video
One has to understand that the Android platform is limited to the power capabilities of today's cell phone. Nonetheless, although not in HD, the movies of the Android cell phone are a great solution for one when a camcorder is out of reach.
To shoot a video is quite easy. One merely has to launch the video camera application and then click on the small switch on the right hand of the screen and toggle to the video mode.
One must hold the cell phone horizontal when taking a video as there is no portrait mode with the Android cell phone. This might seem quite simple and straight forward to note but taking video with a cell phone is still new and many picture software applications can allow for rotation between landscape and portrait. However, with video this is not so.
The cameras default settings most generally will do a good job of doing some automatic compensation for the various lighting conditions that you'll run into. You'll also have the ability to tune the capture settings a little finer through pressing the menu button that is on the phone and then choosing the settings option.
There you're going to find options for:
* Adjusting the capture quality
* Video duration
* White balance
* Color effects
If you're planning on sharing your videos via MMS messaging, you should be sure to shoot them in the lower quality resolution in order to ensure their small enough to actually be sent. Normally you will be shooting in higher quality which is something that will take up quite a bit of space.
Video durations:
* 30 seconds is good for MMS
* 10 minutes is the maximum length for a YouTube
* 30 minutes (pretty long video there ;))
The automatic white balance is an enabled default and you'll find that almost all of the time the results are going to be decent. A suggestion though is that if you're planning on staying in just one place while you're shooting you should select your white balance manually. You'll want to do this so you can have it fit the lighting that is in the environment you're shooting in.
Your four different options:
* Incandescent lighting
* Daylight
* Fluorescent lighting
* Cloudy days
If you're someone that wants to get even fancier you can opt for some color effects through the application of a sepia tone, negative effect or even a colored tint into your footage. Honestly though if you want to be creative, truly creative, with your video you should simply export it to your PC and edit it and make your changes through a video editing program there. The results you'll get are going to be better and you're going to be able to get your footage without marring it in the original process.
When you're finally happy with all of the settings you simply need to press the red record button on the screen and start your video capture. When you're finished just press the same button again and save it to your SD Card.
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