Page Camera just not working

[Vance 38]

The new Page Camera feature still does not work.   I have the Evernote Moleskine and it simply won't apply any processing, just takes the picture like normal.  It worked ONE time, on a single page among multiple, so I know what it is supposed to look like and I know that the software is capable of it, but I have tried numerous times and just doesn't work. Very frustrating after buying an expensive notebook.

[Xavier_ 132]

Thanks for the feedback. 

We are facing the challenge of supporting a large variety of camera on Android, that capture with different balance of contrast, hue, resolution...

The team is continuously working on improving the performance so it gets more accurate. 

 

You may want to indicate what phone and version of Android you are using so we can include it in our tests. 

[Vance 38]

Sure, I am on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus using 4.1.1.  I sent in logs after first getting the app and noticing that it didn't work. I was hoping that getting the Evernote version of the Moleskine would help, but still no results.  

[JeffreyC 66]

Though this could turn into a very broad thread, I decided to go ahead and post here, especially since you asked about posting camera models.

 

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

I just today was getting back to a receipt I "Page Camera" -ed last week to process it.

 

The image I got is just * horrible * - it is like it is too low of resolution, even though, as I checked, my Page Camera is set to 8mp.

 

Sadly, the image is about useless and that is a problem as I disposed of the receipt after "scanning" it.

 

I love the idea of the Page Camera, but, hope you guys will work rapidly to make it usable.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

PS: Decided I would show you the example.  Had to redact some stuff.  But, LOL, the image is so bad I'm not 100% I actually needed to.

[Rgrenader 35]

Though this could turn into a very broad thread, I decided to go ahead and post here, especially since you asked about posting camera models.

 

PS: Decided I would show you the example.  Had to redact some stuff.  But, LOL, the image is so bad I'm not 100% I actually needed to.

 

Your image is of an invoice.  I thought the intent of Page Camera was to work specifically with Moleskine notebooks?  The Page Camera images I have taken from the M-S notebook are clear and readable.

[Vance 38]

Though this could turn into a very broad thread, I decided to go ahead and post here, especially since you asked about posting camera models.

 

PS: Decided I would show you the example.  Had to redact some stuff.  But, LOL, the image is so bad I'm not 100% I actually needed to.

 

Your image is of an invoice.  I thought the intent of Page Camera was to work specifically with Moleskine notebooks?  The Page Camera images I have taken from the M-S notebook are clear and readable.

The Moleskine notebook is simply supposed to make it work better, it should still be able to work on any similar notebook or paper.  If yours works well, you should try it on other sources and see if it works as well.  That would be an interesting experiment.  I have the Evernote Moleskine and it doesn't work at all.

[JeffreyC 66]

Vance - thanks for taking point.  Ditto!

 

Per the blog announcement (at: http://blog.evernote.com/blog/2013/03/25/evernote-5-for-android-new-camera-evernote-smart-notebook-support-document-search-shortcuts-and-more-2/) ----

 

Page Camera is like having a scanner in your pocket. Turn on this mode and you’ll be able to save physical documents and papers in Evernote. Just align the page with the on-screen rectangle and take the photo. The app will find the edges of the page, remove any shadows and improve the contrast, so you’ll have a perfect copy in Evernote.

 

Again,hoping Evernote can get this resolved pretty soon or remove the feature.

[Vance 38]

Andreas, the idea behind Page Camera is pretty awesome if you want take pictures of pages (notebook or otherwise) and have them come out flat, skewed correctly, with the corners of the page found and used to create what LOOKS like a scanned document.  I had it work correctly on one page, and it made that page MUCH easier to read.  So, I think this is definitely a feature worth getting right.

[gnologic 11]

"have them come out flat, skewed correctly, with the corners of the page
found and used to create what LOOKS like a scanned document"

 

I found the new page scanner useless as well ... but apparently it isn't working correctly because it doesnt do the above. I didn't even know it was *supposed* to. It just takes a picture, and a blurry one as described by others. I thought, wow, thats some great new feature *yawn* (I had already been yawning after seeing the new UI made to look ... old?? What is that?)

 

For a couple years I have been using Camscanner to accomplish this task quite well. From the new PDF, I just "share" the image itself to Evernote. Evernote should take some pointers from Camscanner done right, but skip the PDF creation and go straight into a image attachment.

 

Galaxy Exhibit, CM10 (JB 4.1.2)

[Vance 38]

What is frustrating is that I spent good money buying two of the new Evernote Moleskine notebooks because they were supposed to help getting the skew and finding the corners to create a flat document out of an "unflat" notebook page.  That is around $50 wasted if this doesn't get fixed.

[nlsnbrn 0]

I also have a Galaxy Nexus, with Verizon, but with Android 4.2.2.  I tried using the page scanner.  Page 2 of 7 is a regular picture (doesn't seem to be enhanced as a document?) but all of the other images are just black (the looked OK at the time, so I tapped the checkmark).

 

I don't mean underexposed, I mean the image is completely pure black.

 

I have a different app that does a much better job as a document scanner, but it would be nice to have this functionality inside Evernote.  It might make it worth upgrading to Premium.

[gnologic 11]

@Vance I know it doesn't get your money back, but try the Camscanner method above. It finds edges reliably, corrects skew, auto crops, and enhances to a readable flat document very well. I even suggested like 2 years ago to the Camscanner people that they create a specialized version called "Everscan" that would use their "front end" to scan an image directly to Evernote instead of using the PDF "workaround", and mentioned they would have a large user base willing to buy it. Guess they didnt agree or understand. But anyway the workaround works far better than EN's own. Why do I have the feeling Page Camera will remain half finished and buggy for quiet some time ... past experience maybe?

[Vance 38]

@Vance I know it doesn't get your money back, but try the Camscanner method above. It finds edges reliably, corrects skew, auto crops, and enhances to a readable flat document very well. I even suggested like 2 years ago to the Camscanner people that they create a specialized version called "Everscan" that would use their "front end" to scan an image directly to Evernote instead of using the PDF "workaround", and mentioned they would have a large user base willing to buy it. Guess they didnt agree or understand. But anyway the workaround works far better than EN's own. Why do I have the feeling Page Camera will remain half finished and buggy for quiet some time ... past experience maybe?

 

I may have to resort to that, which is really too bad.  I sent my logs in a long time ago (upon request) and have heard nothing back. It would be good to know what the status of fixing this problem is before I completely switch gears.

[rjbasmagi 0]

Dear friends at Evernote,

I'm very pleased with what you've done so far and I've become a premium user after about a year of using Evernote for free. This is now my main archive and school backpack. I also use it for work meetings, and lately, I've started using the page camera to scan receipts. I've also started using it for school documents (past exams, paper notes, etc.). I just wanted to give you a few compliments because I believe they're due. 

 

My complain: The page camera only works sporadically. When it does, it does a wonderful job. When it doesn't, it takes a picture but after it "processes it" (the loading / rotating circle indicator) it returns a completely BLACK picture. If I switch into regular camera mode within the app, it will work. I've noticed that if I quit the app, clear any note upload notifications, and close all running apps and clear the ram, the page camera works again. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S III. So I'm guessing there is some RAM issue. I hope that feedback helps and the problem gets solved soon!

 

-RJ

[LexBrew 0]

Having the same issues with my Nexus 4. The Page Camera does not focus the image, you will watch is scan past the clear image, stop unfocused and then snap the picture.

 

I think its a great feature but it shouldn't have been released from beta in its current condition. Consumers expect a polished product when you advertise a $30 notebook on your website.  

[mark_nl 0]

Same problem here. Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4.2.2, Evernote version 5.0.3.

Not a single picture I took using the 'page option' resulted in a nicely cropped and tagged note.

 

Are you guys taking the mick or what?

 

Please fix this asap or provide some more information about this problem.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Vance 38]

Yes, an update on this would be nice.

[eric99 980]

The page camera doesn't focus properly on my Sony XPeria Neo (mainly when flash is on) and the page processing is extremely slow (15 seconds or more).

Also, when I switch on the camera, it sometimes switches to the native camera application (distorted view) instead of the evernote camera app.

 

Eric

[Tony_M 0]

I had the iPhone 5 until recently and now have the Samsung Galaxy S4 (4.2.2). I'm a business user and really appreciate the software on my mobile device(s). I must say that I never encountered an issue with the iOS version but the Android version has caused some issues. I have sync issues and the page camera provides "Black" images which causes some frustration when I have to find the same receipt, scan it again, delete the old one, etc.....

 

Please can you let us know if this issue is due to be rectified soon?

[Lutherian 22]

Hi. I have the same problem, but instead of simply saying "please fix it" - I have an alternative perspective to offer Evernote.

 

There are a lot of 3rd party apps in both Android, IPhone, Windows "app-spheres" that already do what Evernote is trying to do, namely

 

1) Enhance Text by optimizing contrast

2) Adjusting / correcting document perspective when camera is not perpendicular to page (Also called KeyStone Effect)

3) Adjusting / correcting document angle of rotation in relation to the camera.

 

These are not simple and easy things to ask for. 

One of the best examples of this this is in an android app called CamCard .. it does the above, including OCR to capture business cards ... and it does it very well - but the app is 15 MB in size, and understandably so, considering what it has to do.

Unless Evernote shifts all the processing work to the cloud servers .... the mobile app might become very large?

 

So all things considered, would it not be easier for Evernote to partner with 3rd party app developers in some way?

Elect the best "Scanner" type apps - name them in Trunk and build a trigger in the software that automatically calls that app when "scanning" is needed.

 

Evernote is becoming (nay - is already) a "heavy weight", the defacto system for note taking and research and as such, Evernote is now more a platform, than a singular piece of software (i.e. Trunk) - the difficult to decision to "open up" with API's or to remain an efficient but closed system will always be there. This is the burden of all outstanding technical products. Apple chose one path, Google chose another - each have advantages and risks.

 

For me, I'm hunting for a scanner type app which I will use to achieve the above, and then use the share function on my phone to send it to Evernote - it is an extra step, but one reserved to occasions when I'm taking pictures of documents phone my phone.

 

 

 

 

 

[Vance 38]

True, if Evernote can't get this right, then they should go that route.

[Vance 38]

OK, this is odd, and is both encouraging and frustrating.  I can now take Page Camera photos of individual sheets of paper (whether as a single page note or multiple) and all the processing is done just fine.  But it refuses to do the same for my Moleskine Evernote notebook.  It will take the picture fine, but won't do any of the processing.

 

Galaxy Nexus, latest beta of EN.

[LuisB 0]

I have the Nexus 4, and using it to 'scan' pages isn't perfect. I noticed if I get up really close to the page, and keeping to within the boundaries of the page scan box, the image comes out blurry. Not sure why, I k now my phone camera can focus in real close, so it should not be an issue.

 

Now, if I hold the camera further away to say where there is about 30% space around the boundary box, the image does come out sharper, but when I zoon in after to view the details of the page closer, the image is pixelated.

[Jonathan C. Watt 0]

Having the following issues with Page Camera and Molskine.

 

1. On my cellphone it recognizes the stickers and tags correctly. Tags don't show up in Evernote.

2. Page order changes when transferred to Evernote.

3. Camera takes a picture without pressing the click.

4. Camera app often quits without warning.

 

I'm using an HTC Merge.

Android. OS 2.3.4

 

Thanks.

Jonathan.

[chrisinthebus 0]

HTC Desire (with a reasonable camera). Horrible results, far too much contrast, Unusable.

Come on Evernote, must do better before going live.

I'm going back to Droid Scan Pro PDF (780kB) for mobile document scans.

[Joweirqt 0]

I had page camera working better on my android xoom tablet, better than on my iphone which turns on the flash by default. unfortunately today I'm just getting black boxes, no images at all. I wonder if any EN staff will reply to this thread...

[lizajane999 0]

Black image problem here, too! For me, when the Page Camera does make an image, it is in focus, the text recognition works and the sticker tagging works with my Moleskine notebook. But once the black images start happening, I have to reboot the phone and *maybe* it will start working again for a few images before they're all black again.

 

I have a VERY common phone, T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 running Android 4.1.2. I've turned off any other apps that sync my Evernote image folder, but this didn't help.  The Page Camera/Moleskine notebook system is not usable for me because of this issue.

 

I've had the CamScanner app for several years on two different phones and it does what Page Camera is supposed to do beautifully, so it is not an impossible task.

 

It's been almost a month since the last post in this thread, has this been fixed for anyone?

[Winger 5]

I have similar problem with multishot camera - it hangs after taking the first picture (screenshot attached) and either I need to kill the app with app manager or, in case the phone fails to respond totally, reset the phone. Regular camera works ok.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23847892/Screenshot_2013-06-23-11-17-37.jpg

 

I have HTC One X+ running Android 4.1.1.

 

[Gangun 29]

Problems here too (Galaxy S Advance):

the page camera works once or twice then freezes and I've to reboot to use any camera again.

[jdesouza 1]

Same problem here.  HTC One, running Android 4.1.2.  EN 5.1.3.  Makes the camera max at 2 megapixels, it can do better, and the contrast is terrible.

[malockin 14]

I've noticed the black image problem too. It doesn't seem to happen with all notes I take with page camera. It seems only to happen when the width of the page is much less than the wide of the window in the page camera.

 

There is workaround - use a white background. This is fine for now, but it has to be fixed in the app itself.

 

For example, if I try to take a picture of a receipt, I will most likely get a black image. But if I put that receipt on a white page so tha the whole background in page camera is white, then I get the image.

 

 

 

Phone: Galaxy Nexus

OS: 4.2.2 - not rooted, Google build.

Evernote: latest from Play Store (July 19^th, update)

[bljarv 3]

Dear friends at Evernote,

I'm very pleased with what you've done so far and I've become a premium user after about a year of using Evernote for free. This is now my main archive and school backpack. I also use it for work meetings, and lately, I've started using the page camera to scan receipts. I've also started using it for school documents (past exams, paper notes, etc.). I just wanted to give you a few compliments because I believe they're due. 

 

My complain: The page camera only works sporadically. When it does, it does a wonderful job. When it doesn't, it takes a picture but after it "processes it" (the loading / rotating circle indicator) it returns a completely BLACK picture. If I switch into regular camera mode within the app, it will work. I've noticed that if I quit the app, clear any note upload notifications, and close all running apps and clear the ram, the page camera works again. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S III. So I'm guessing there is some RAM issue. I hope that feedback helps and the problem gets solved soon!

 

-RJ

 

Thanks for the post. At least now I can kill all background tasks and see this feature do something besides capture a completely black square.

 

BTW, I'm using a stock Galaxy S4.

[David Eisner 14]

Same problem here: I frequently get all-black images with the page camera feature. I took two photos for a single note this morning -- first photo is black, the second is OK.

 

I hope you can get this working -- it's a nice feature.

 

Phone: Nexus S

Evernote Version: 5.2.3.1

Android Version: 4.1.2

[kennethmgreen 1]

I just took pictures using the Page Camera and also experienced the black image issue. I don't know if this additional info will help, but hopefully more specific data points will help Evernote devs pinpoint the problem.

 

I take meeting notes on a yellow legal pad. I take pictures of meeting notes using the Page Camera feature, creating a new multiple image note. I process two separate meetings successfully - both were two pages long. I then processed a meeting that had seven pages of notes. All seven pages appeared to capture and process correctly. I saved the note and went to Evernote on desktop (Windows) and image 1 of 7 was the black image. Nothing else was different - all seven images for this note were done using the same technique.

 

I have had the black image issue before, and also experienced multiple image notes getting processed out of order (ex: page 1, page 4, page 3, page 2). The 7-page note I processed was in order, with six images beautifully rendered, easily readable. Just page one was a solid black image.

 

The problem is that while creating this note, I had no indication that the first image was black. Everything looks fine until the note is saved. 

 

I'm using:

 

Evernote for Windows 5.0.2.1392 (269392) Public

Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1

 

Evernote for Android 5.4.1 (1054103-public-com.evernote)

Samsung Galaxy S4

[LittleLewy 0]

How do we bring this to the attention of Evernote?

 

No doubt they are aware, but the more of us that bug them about it the greater the likelihood they'll do something about it.

 

Bloody useless as it is. I want my Premium subscription back!

 

Like others, I feel ripped-off having spent good money on Moleskine notebooks when there is not apparent advantage.

[TampaKevin 8]

Doesn't work for me either.   Yet another "broken" feature by evernote.   Chrome add on doesn't grab gmail and page camera is useless in android 4.3 on a brand new moto x.   Evernote has gotten sloppy. 

[JeffreyC 66]

Thought I would take a minute and post a positive note. :-)

 

I use Page Camera frequently.  I have not had the "Black Image" problem I've seen a lot of posts about.  I have come to realize Page Camera can be a little testy. The thing that has helped the most / makes it work the best is to ensure you have a dark background behind whatever you are shooting.

 

i.e., I use it a lot for receipts.  So, like after a Starbucks purchase, I put my receipt on a dark colored table and shoot it.

 

I also leave my flash on all the time.  This really helps, accept for glossing items of course.

 

Hope the tips help.

 

For what it's worth, I'm using:

 

Samsung Galaxy Note II

Evernote for Android Version 5.4.2

Android 4.1.2

[David Eisner 14]

I meant to share this earlier: I opened a trouble ticket last month regarding this issue. After going back and forth a few times, sending screen captures and an error log, this is what I was told:

 

Jesus Mendivil (Evernote Support)

Oct 15 11:58 (PDT)

We apologize for the inconvenience, however it appears there is currently a bug causing this.
We appreciate you taking the time to send us this error. We have filed an internal bug report with the QA team lead. She will classify and fix the bugs in the order determined by the project Lead.
Unfortunately this is not something I can fix for you at this time.
Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience.
Thanks for making Evernote a better product,

So they're at least aware of the problem.

-David

[Xavier_ 132]

Hi all, 

 

We've updated the recognition library on the latest beta update. 

The performance of the camera should be improved considerably. 

It will be available for all soon. 

 

Thanks. 

[AAH 0]

I realize this is an Android post, but thought I would mention that my iPhone doc camera, which used to work wonderfully, no longer functions.  Its very slow to open the camera function and when it does open the application crashes right after I take a photo and the photo is lost.

[gkp 0]

I have a Samsung Note Tablet (GT-N5100) running 4.2.2. Just tried to take a photo and was advised: This device does not support the Evernote camera.

 

Huh?? My much older tablet was able to take pics, my S4 has no problem. Is there a work-around here (other than the obvious of taking a pic and importing into Evernote)?

[Tresy 0]

I am having the same problem on my iPhone 4S. Most of the time the camera does not launch. Sometimes it works but only after I reboot the iPhone. This is really really poor user experience.

[august05 0]

I see no posts to this issue for many months so I'm wondering whether the problem has been solved and I just haven't heard about it.  I have used Moleskine notebooks for years and thought the ability to use page camera in evernote to load them was a godsend.  But if I take any photos at all, my Samsung S4 freezes up, I have to restart it, and the image I was trying to capture is gone.  If I turn off "multishot," it will capture the image, but no ocr and no image optimization takes place.  The ocr is an important feature that made me purchase a premium membership.  So, any update on fixes for this problem?  

[JeffreyC 66]

I'm using the latest version of Evernote for Android on my Note 4.  Works a-ok for me.

[Electrique Panda 1]

I see no posts to this issue for many months so I'm wondering whether the problem has been solved and I just haven't heard about it.  I have used Moleskine notebooks for years and thought the ability to use page camera in evernote to load them was a godsend.  But if I take any photos at all, my Samsung S4 freezes up, I have to restart it, and the image I was trying to capture is gone.  If I turn off "multishot," it will capture the image, but no ocr and no image optimization takes place.  The ocr is an important feature that made me purchase a premium membership.  So, any update on fixes for this problem?

I had this exact problem with my S4. Just froze up.

I then tried to scan the doc I needed with my Note 10.1. Evernote did it but the flash light refused to turn off! Had to reboot...

But a day later the S4 decides that it will scan! (by 'scan' I mean the document setting)

[Rob van Vliet 43]

I have an HTC One M7. in the 5.x version the document camera issue seemed to be fixed, but it has re-occured in version 6. Document camera is completely useless...

[Gunnar M 0]

HTC One X scans are blurred. Used to work before. This really puts me off. I was happy very with Evernote before. Please solve it! You have know it for a long time now.

[Gunnar M 0]

Great! Releasing the "Scannable" on iOS makes me even more unhappy. Solve what you have first!

[SAbreu 3]

On 4/15/2013 at 0:37 PM, Xavier_ said:

Thanks for the feedback. 

We are facing the challenge of supporting a large variety of camera on Android, that capture with different balance of contrast, hue, resolution...

The team is continuously working on improving the performance so it gets more accurate. 

 

You may want to indicate what phone and version of Android you are using so we can include it in our tests. 

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and the new camera feature for evernote is not working on my phone either. Whether I am in picture mode or document mode it only take a picture and saves it in evernote. No processing takes place at all for documents or business cards. On the previous Evernote version all of these features were working great. I also likes the ability to choose which camera feature I wanted to use which is not on option on this version.

[Schenck 2]

Evernote Android App: 7.8.2 Android:6.0.1 Samsung Galax Note S5

Got a Moleskine Evernote Business Notebook with Stickers, etc. 

It just flat out will not work. The Android app camera takes terrible pictures of the page, even with a black background, and never seems to recognize it as having stickers to process. Sometimes it decides it's a photo, and what I get is a blurry photo. Sometimes it decides it's a document, and what I get is a nearly entirely white image. I'm thinking they just can't make the app properly use the camera. The app sometimes is able to realize it's a document and crop the image down to the page.

 

Also, when using post-it notes, it will only very rarely realize it's a post it note and apply the tags, reminders, etc. For the most part, regardless of distance from the note and lighting, it gives me either an out of focus photo, or a 'document' that is nearly entirely white. 

They've had these things for three years now and it still doesn't work. I can understand that Android apps don't pay as well as iPhone ones, but why even release the functionality to android if it doesn't work?

[Matt W. 174]

On 5/9/2016 at 3:03 PM, SAbreu said:

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and the new camera feature for evernote is not working on my phone either. Whether I am in picture mode or document mode it only take a picture and saves it in evernote. No processing takes place at all for documents or business cards. On the previous Evernote version all of these features were working great. I also likes the ability to choose which camera feature I wanted to use which is not on option on this version.

Hello @SAbreu,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the forums. It seems like you could be using the regular device camera instead of the one built into the Evernote application for Android. To correct this, please try the following:

1. Open Evernote on your Android device
2. Tap on the three dots in the top right corner
3. Select **Settings > Camera >**Check **"Activate multi-shot"**
4. Go back and activate the camera and see if you see these options

Please let me know if you have any further questions or if the problem persists. If it does persist, please include a screenshot of what you are seeing on your end.