Indeed, Microsoft appears to have some big changes in store for Windows Camera through the next Windows 10 upgrade due this spring. Of course, Windows Insiders are tasting those abilities in previews through the Redstone 4 development branch. Through Windows 10 Preview Build 17074, Microsoft has added seven new interface features. The result should hopefully be a more intuitive Windows Camera application and more customizable. In the build release notes, Microsoft points out the app gets “core architecture changes to the product.” The changes made to the app have brought seven new interface additions:
Users can now use all their attached cameras in parallel (if the OS allows) on different app windows. The last used camera is always remembered and the next time the app opens we try to load that camera first The last used scene is always remembered (video, photo) and that is the one we load first the next time the app is launched Users can select now more photo resolutions (before there was only max resolution per ratio) and more video ratios (before there was only 16:9) The brightness slider (which is widely available on all USB cameras) is more smooth (more stops) and shows the actual selected brightness value to the user Swipe left on the capture button to show all sliders is not anymore possible Wheeling on the capture button between scenes (photo, video) is not anymore possible
Reasons for Change
Interestingly, Microsoft admits the Camera app was configured poorly previously. Well, at least the complexity of the app meant it was not easy to fix bugs, create features, and innovate with. “From a Windows user perspective, this led to performance problems during photo capture time, lack of new features, and sometime failure of the Camera app. We think that this set of changes will long term yield a much higher quality Camera experience for all users!” The new UX additions change the situation to make a more rounded and useable application.
