Camera - xperia s - focusing problems and poor images

[#1]

Firstly this phone is fantastic and I have already conmverted several friends from apple to sony.

Last night I though I would really test it out - went out with a few mates, each with different phones and every time the Nokia N8 took better pictures.

Honestly - my xperia took ages to focus and 5 out of 9 shots were very very poor. In direct comparision the N8 - once he had it set up, took photos faster and each one was in focus - non of this waiting while it figures out what its doing,.

In day light - mine wins no problem - in pubs and low light areas I found this phone to have major problems with focus, and tiime delay in pressing and actual capture of images --- dont get me wrong - I can take it out of my pocket - press the button and hey presto - a photo very very quick --but what is the point when its not in focus and then I have to try again, then again, by which time, my mates are laughing as they have unlocked their phone, aimed and took a good photo.

SONY -- please look into this --  is this my handset or systemic?

Looking at the response this is systemic - if this is a software issue then please sort it, if hardware - recall and replace.

For those of you with the problem - the best photos I can get are to disable face detection, scenes to OFF,,focus mode - have it on touch or infinity, metering centre. At least on these settings I get more than 1 out of 10 photos which I can use.

THIS IS STILL AN ISSUE!!! SONY PLEASE RESPOND!

Message was edited by: batman1056

[Xad]

I've kept the firmware updated, already on .75, and i've noticed no improvement in the camera. Focus is still slow and at times just gives up and takes an out of focus photo/video. Best way to test i think is to set it to video mode and go from close object to far away object and back and forth, the iPhone focuses very quickly and easily whereas the XPS still struggles the same as it did in .67. Starting to think it's because the actual lens/camera is lower quality even though the sensor is the same as the iPhone.

[#3]

Xad,

I found XS focuses very quickly if I use LGcamera to shoot video and the video quality is much sharper compared to stock app.

[Xad]

Just gave that a try, but in video rec mode it wouldn't refocus on objects that were at a different distance from the original object. Might be a bug with the latest version (6.3) as i saw some people mention it in the comments section of the google play site. Which version do you have?

The biggest problem with the XperiaS' focus is that it's so slow to kick in, as in sometimes you move from a far away object to a close up object and it just won't focus, you just have to wait and wait and wait and then it's as if the phone remembers it has a job to do, that being to refocus and then the refocussing kicks in. In photo mode you can't even be 100% sure it will kick in at the right time as it'll sometimes be out of focus and just take the photo anyway. This is in contrast to the iPhone4s that seems to constantly be ready to refocus on objects, even in photo mode.

The XPS needs a much better continuous auto focus mode in both video (important) and photo mode. It also needs to be faster. Maybe in the next version if they do fix it, include an option for "continuous auto focus" which is much more aggressive with focusing in that it keeps focussing on whatever object the phone is on (even in photo mode).

[#5]

Hi,

I am having a problem with my phone's camera. It clicks the photo but it does not show as clicked. A blank grey coloured screen is shown on the screen . It's annoying and wierd aswell. Please suggest me what I should do. I have already updated the software twice but it i s not working.

[arunprasadq]

Actually I had this problem too...Felt very bad in front of friends and was worried too...

Then I Found this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=slide.cameraZoom&hl=en

This App Is really good..Worth The money..

No focus problems...it does it fast too...Try it..You will be amazed...

[#7]

Also having severe problems with taking snapshots as well, blurry and hazy, there really should be a firmware update for this, it's not acceptable when it's this temperamental and the main reason for me buying the phone (over the Samsung Galaxy S2, which I wish I would have went for now) is for the 12 MP camera!

What can be done about this Sony, how are you going to fix this issue?

[Uliwooly]

were you using the shutter or the screen to snap the pictures? if you use the shutter did you press it half way then all the way (to focus then snap the picture)?

[luis_DR]

So, is it better to use the shutter key?

[Uliwooly]

it is, try it out

[luis_DR]

it's pretty much the same.