Groundglass Support

Everything below applies to the Android app, package vn.fighttech.groundglass.

Email trunghieu4121993@gmail.com. We usually answer within two business days. For anything about a specific photo, include your phone model, your Android version, and the exposure mode, ISO, shutter speed and file format you were shooting with.

Getting started

Grant the camera permission when the app asks; without it there is nothing to show. The viewfinder fills the screen and the amber bright-line corners mark the picture: what sits inside them is what lands in the file. Tap the shutter, or press a volume key if you have mapped it. Tap anywhere in the frame to focus and meter there, pinch to zoom, and swipe up or down for exposure compensation.

FILL and FIT

These change how much of the sensor you are looking at, not what is captured. FILL scales the preview to cover the screen; FIT shows the whole sensor frame with the edges visible. In both cases the still is cropped to the bright-line frame, so the two views never disagree about the result.

P, S, I and M

You never choose a mode from a list. Dial a value in by hand and that control becomes yours; leave one alone and the camera keeps it. The letter in the readout tells you where you have ended up: P with everything automatic, S once you set the shutter, I once you set the ISO, and M when you hold both. Long-press a dial to hand that control back to the camera.

Long exposures

Shutter speeds run out to 30 seconds. Steady the phone on something solid — at a second or more, handheld is hopeless — set focus to infinity by hand, keep the ISO low, and use the 3-second self-timer so your finger is not what shakes the frame. The capture takes as long as the shutter speed says, and the preview pauses while it does.

RAW DNG

Turn DNG on in settings and each capture also writes a raw file with the sensor data before processing, which is what you want if you develop your pictures in Lightroom, darktable, RawTherapee or the editor of your choice. DNG files are large. If the option is missing, your device's camera does not report RAW support to Android and no app can add it.

Bracketing, burst and the intervalometer

In the drive panel: burst holds the shutter down for you; exposure bracketing takes 3, 5 or 7 frames from ⅓ to 3 stops apart, which is what an HDR merge wants; the intervalometer shoots by frame count or by total duration for a time lapse. Bracketing and intervals both benefit from AE and AF locks so the frames match.

Focus and metering

Manual focus is set by distance on a slider, with macro and infinity at the ends. AF-S focuses once per tap; AF-C keeps following. Metering can be spot, centre-weighted or matrix. The AE, AWB and AF locks freeze a reading so you can meter off one part of the scene and then recompose.

White balance

Eight presets cover the light you can name. The Kelvin ruler runs from 2200 K to 9500 K when you want to set it yourself — lower is cooler, higher is warmer. If your device does not support manual white balance, the ruler is hidden and the presets remain.

Framing aids

Grids (rule of thirds, golden ratio and others), crop guides, a live RGB histogram and an electronic level are all in settings. The level is the fastest way to stop horizons and buildings from leaning. Everything can be switched off, and the whole control strip can be collapsed for a clean frame.

Where are my photos?

In Pictures/Groundglass on your device's own storage, registered with the media library so your Gallery sees them at once. You can change the folder name and the filename pattern in settings. Photos stay there when you uninstall the app.

File formats and quality

JPG, PNG and HEIF, with a quality setting for the compressed formats, plus optional RAW DNG alongside. HEIF files are smaller than JPG at the same quality but are not readable everywhere; JPG is the safe choice for sharing.

Geotagging

Off by default. Switch on Save location in photos and the app requests the location permission and writes GPS coordinates into your photos' EXIF, on the device. Nothing is transmitted — the app has no internet permission. Bear in mind that the coordinates travel inside the file when you share it.

Film looks, and nothing more

A strip of bundled film looks sits in the viewfinder — all free, and None is always one tap away. There are no effects, no beauty processing and no editor. Grade it properly in the editor you already trust.

Groundglass Pro and purchases

Pro unlocks the bracket, night, long exposure, focus stacking, interval and light-trail modes, as a monthly or yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase through Google Play. Manage or cancel a subscription in the Google Play app under Payments & subscriptions. Bought Pro on another phone? Open the Pro screen and tap Restore while signed in to the same Google account.

Something is missing or greyed out

Manual sensor control, RAW and long exposure are optional Camera2 capabilities. Groundglass hides a control your camera cannot honour rather than showing a switch that does nothing, so a missing dial usually means the device does not expose it. If your phone is documented to support something that Groundglass does not offer, write to us with the model and Android version and we will look.

Reporting a bug or asking for a feature

Email trunghieu4121993@gmail.com with your device model, Android version, app version (in settings) and what you did before the problem appeared. Screenshots help.