Q: iOS: How to use the camera to take a picture, without displaying the camera screen? I'm trying to pick up iOS development, so I'm still a noob. I managed to copy and paste the camera controller (copied from here) and get it working.
However, I'm trying to create a spy camera app, so I don't want the screen to look like a camera. I want to cover it in black. I tried setting the brightness to 0, but that just makes everything dim. Setting the background to black didn't work either since the camera view is in the foreground. Is there a way to instantiate the camera controller and have the camera hardware active and somehow edit the view that comes along with it so that it doesn't show?
#import "EMCameraController.h"

@interface EMCameraController ()
@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIImageView *camera;

@end

@implementation EMCameraController

@synthesize camera=_camera;
- (IBAction)showCamera:(id)sender {
    [self startCameraControllerFromViewController: self

                                    usingDelegate: self];

    NSLog(@"done!");
}



- (BOOL) startCameraControllerFromViewController: (UIViewController*) controller

                                   usingDelegate: (id <UIImagePickerControllerDelegate,

                                                   UINavigationControllerDelegate>) delegate {



    if (([UIImagePickerController isSourceTypeAvailable:

          UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera] == NO)

        || (delegate == nil)

        || (controller == nil))

        return NO;





    UIImagePickerController *cameraUI = [[UIImagePickerController alloc] init];

    cameraUI.sourceType = UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera;



    // Displays a control that allows the user to choose picture or

    // movie capture, if both are available:

    cameraUI.mediaTypes =

    [UIImagePickerController availableMediaTypesForSourceType:

     UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera];



    // Hides the controls for moving & scaling pictures, or for

    // trimming movies. To instead show the controls, use YES.

    cameraUI.allowsEditing = NO;



    cameraUI.delegate = delegate;



    [controller presentModalViewController: cameraUI animated: NO];

    cameraUI.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor]; //<-- doesn't work since camera view is in foreground
    [[UIScreen mainScreen] setBrightness:0.0];  //<-- not working the way I want it.

    return YES;

}


@end


A: You should use AVCapture* approach. It allows to take images directly from camera. Take a look, for example, at this sample https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/samplecode/SquareCam/Introduction/Intro.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS40011190-Intro-DontLinkElementID_2
