Synthetic exposure

The synthetic exposure camera mode lets you capture long exposure photographs with a duration up to one minute, regardless of the maximum native exposure duration supported by your device. This is achived by simulating a long exposure using multiple, shorter exposures.

This mode is identical to the standard Photo camera mode, however, when you select the exposure button, the exposure time scale will display "Synthetic exposure time" and the scale reaches up to 60 seconds.

Limitations of the synthetic exposure

The synthetic exposure is no substitute for a normal long exposure you could capture with the standard Photo camera mode and selecting a long exposure there if it is available. The main limitations are:

• The maximum resolution is limited to around 2 or 3 MP. The maximum resolution depends on your device, but it is important to note that it is not possible to capture long exposures with the maximum resolution of your sensor using this mode.
• If capturing a sharp moving object, artifacts might be visible. The synthetic exposure mode simulates a long exposure by using multiple shorter exposures. Therefore, there is a very small gap between one and the next. This gap is usually less than one millisecond, but still it might render small artifacts. For instance, it might be visible when capturing sharp light rays.