title: Using camera in Android without launching camera app
body: <p>I want an Activity which basically shows the view of the camera without opening the camera app.</p>
  
  <p>I'm wondering do I need to control drivers at a much lower level for this?</p>
  
  <p>Ideally I'd like if the camera view filled the screen with my own image covering it (like binoculars). As you probably guessed it is for a game I'm making. </p>
  
  <p>All the tutorials online seem to talk about opening the default camera app. </p>
  
  <p>Here's an image I found online which displays what I'm asking for:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/aqYd6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/aqYd6.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>If anyone knows any tutorials, links, books, forums, anything which deals with this specifically it would be very helpful.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks a lot.</p>