Apache Camera Mode Flash
 

I have been reading this forum and a few others for a couple of months and have gained so much information that my brain is hurting. :D

I have asked HTC, Audiovox (UTStarcom) and Verizon Wireless why, if and how the flash for the camera functions the way it does. No one is able to give me an answer other than "That is the way it is supposed to be!" I understand the constant illuminated LED is useful for video and as a flashlight, but taking someone's photo, especially close up, I feel like an idiot by blinding them. In addition to that, the flash is not timed correctly and most of the time blurrs or washes out the picture. I have messed with some of the registry settings, tried I think it is called Cool Camera, but still have not resolved what I consider to be a major flaw of this device.

Please excuse me if this has been addressed before. I have done keyword searches, google searches, etc. and have not had any luck finding any results.

I've found the camera really isn't good enough to be useful for just about anything. It's 2 slow.

Did you try coolcamera?

http://www.ateksoft.com/download.html

That may be what you are looking for.

Thank you for the prompt reply. Heh, I understand how you feel. I do notice that when outdoors in the bright sun, the pictures do come out pretty nice. I am pretty sure I tried that program, a while back and it still had the same rediculous constant camera flash... I can not see how it would be hardware limitation as it does seem to flash when the button is pressed and you can turn the LED on and off anytime you want. Anyway, thanks for trying to help.

I agree. CoolCam makes the best out of the crappy camera hardware that we're stuck with. The quality still isn't what it should be on a device of this caliber, but it does make it nearly acceptable.

Unless you want to shoot video, you can use the free (unlimited trial) version.

Ok, I feel like a total idiot! I just installed Cool Camera again and now I do see the ability to use the flash like a normal camera flash. They call it flashlight for some reason. Ok, here is me being picky again... do you know if it is possible to modify the default camera app to have the "flashlight" as in Cool Camera? I don't really like the Cool Camera interface at all.

From what I see, it does look like the "flashlight" functionality is via the executable and not the registry or internal to the camera itself. Oh well, thanks for taking the time to help me out here... maybe someone one day will figure out how to fix the default camera app.

VJCandela is a good flashlight program.