Why AVCaptureSession output a wrong orientation?

Take a look at the header AVCaptureSession.h. There is a definition for an enum called AVCaptureVideoOrientation that defines various video orientations. On the AVCaptureConnection object there is a property called videoOrientation that is a AVCaptureVideoOrientation. You should be able to set this to change the orientation of the video. You probably want AVCaptureVideoOrientationLandscapeRight or AVCaptureVideoOrientationLandscapeLeft.

You can find the AVCaptureConnections for the session by looking at the outputs for the session. The outputs have a connections property that is an array of connections for that output.

Y'all are making this difficult.

In the DidOutputSampleBuffer, simply change the orientation before you grab the image. It's mono, but you have

    public class OutputRecorder : AVCaptureVideoDataOutputSampleBufferDelegate {    
        public override void DidOutputSampleBuffer (AVCaptureOutput captureOutput, CMSampleBuffer sampleBuffer, AVCaptureConnection connection)
        {
            try {
                connection.videoOrientation = AVCaptureVideoOrientation.LandscapeLeft;

in objC it's this method

- ( void ) captureOutput: ( AVCaptureOutput * ) captureOutput
   didOutputSampleBuffer: ( CMSampleBufferRef ) sampleBuffer
      fromConnection: ( AVCaptureConnection * ) connection

I made a simple one-line modification to the imageFromSampleBuffer to correct the orientation problem (see my comment in the code under "I modified ..."). Hope it helps someone because I spent too much time on this.

// Create a UIImage from sample buffer data
- (UIImage *) imageFromSampleBuffer:(CMSampleBufferRef) sampleBuffer  {
    // Get a CMSampleBuffer's Core Video image buffer for the media data
    CVImageBufferRef imageBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer); 
    // Lock the base address of the pixel buffer
    CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(imageBuffer, 0); 

    // Get the number of bytes per row for the pixel buffer
    void *baseAddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(imageBuffer); 

    // Get the number of bytes per row for the pixel buffer
    size_t bytesPerRow = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(imageBuffer); 
    // Get the pixel buffer width and height
    size_t width = CVPixelBufferGetWidth(imageBuffer); 
    size_t height = CVPixelBufferGetHeight(imageBuffer); 

    // Create a device-dependent RGB color space
    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB(); 

    // Create a bitmap graphics context with the sample buffer data
    CGContextRef context1 = CGBitmapContextCreate(baseAddress, width, height, 8, 
                                                 bytesPerRow, colorSpace, kCGBitmapByteOrder32Little | kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedFirst);

    // Create a Quartz image from the pixel data in the bitmap graphics context
    CGImageRef quartzImage = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(context1); 
    // Unlock the pixel buffer
    CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(imageBuffer,0);

    // Free up the context and color space
    CGContextRelease(context1); 
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);

    // Create an image object from the Quartz image
    //I modified this line: [UIImage imageWithCGImage:quartzImage]; to the following to correct the orientation:
    UIImage *image =  [UIImage imageWithCGImage:quartzImage scale:1.0 orientation:UIImageOrientationRight]; 

    // Release the Quartz image
    CGImageRelease(quartzImage);

    return (image);
}

Here is a right sequence:

AVCaptureVideoDataOutput *videoCaptureOutput = [[AVCaptureVideoDataOutput alloc] init];

if([self.captureSession canAddOutput:self.videoCaptureOutput]){
    [self.captureSession addOutput:self.videoCaptureOutput];
}else{
    NSLog(@"cantAddOutput");
}

// set portrait orientation
AVCaptureConnection *conn = [self.videoCaptureOutput connectionWithMediaType:AVMediaTypeVideo];
[conn setVideoOrientation:AVCaptureVideoOrientationPortrait];

For instance:

AVCaptureConnection *captureConnection = <a capture connection>;
if ([captureConnection isVideoOrientationSupported]) {
    captureConnection.videoOrientation = AVCaptureVideoOrientationPortrait;
}

The default appears to be AVCaptureVideoOrientationLandscapeRight.

See also QA1744: Setting the orientation of video with AV Foundation.