Can you use a smartphone’s LED flash as a continuous light for preview before taking a photo?
Asked 10/14/2015
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On some phones, the camera flash only fires at the moment of exposure, so the live preview doesn’t show how the scene will look when the flash goes off. Is there a way on iPhone or Android to keep the phone’s LED light on continuously before taking the shot, so the preview more closely matches the final photo? A third-party app is fine if needed.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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I didn't know I could do this with my Android phone until I read your question and tried it.
On my Android I have an app called 'Torch' that let's me use my phone as a flashlight. It just turns the camera's flash on and it's a good powerful flashlight.
It seems that if I turn 'Torch' on before I take a picture, I'm accomplishing what you asked. The scene is lit before (for preview) during and after the shot. Then I have to turn 'Torch' off.
My phone's flash is set to 'Auto', I'm not sure if that matters or not, but you could experiment.
'Torch' was a standard app that was on my phone when I bought it--it's a Galaxy S5--but there's got to be at least one app on the App Store that behaves the same. I've found them before by searching for "flashlight".
Originally by user17634. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user17634
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—on many smartphones you can approximate this by using the phone’s LED as a flashlight/torch before taking the photo. A built-in Torch/Flashlight app, or a third-party flashlight app, can turn the LED on continuously so you can see the scene lit in advance.
One community example was an Android Galaxy S5 using a standard “Torch” app: turn the torch on, frame the shot with the continuous light, take the picture, then turn the torch off afterward.
A few caveats:
- This may not be integrated into the camera app itself.
- Behavior varies by phone and app.
- The camera’s normal flash mode may still need testing (auto/on/off) to avoid the LED firing differently at exposure.
So the practical solution is: use the phone’s flashlight/torch function as a continuous light source for preview, then capture the image and adjust flash settings as needed.
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