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

[boosengsiew]

Sony hasn't solve any of the camera problem yet!

The ICS done nothing for the camera~

Can Sony explain this to customer?

[luis_DR]

you should look for all my posts on this thread, 99% of them is about argues of the problem. that's the only reason why i came to this web site, looking for an answer to the issue. i 've been here every day cheking if they give us an answer.

[#4]

Any one with ICS who has notice any improvement with the camera??

[Uliwooly]

not at all

[Bearings]

My doubt is this...is this a camera that has a phone calling feature or is this a phone that happens to have a camera? Nokia puts a great deal of focus on thier camera in thier phone, that's how thry won the CES top inventor award. However, why is it that Nokia was knock out of their perge being the biggest phone maker in the world? I have a Sony camera, not a phone, and it does take some good pictures, but nothing compare to Cannon or Nikon. I think with the right perspective, it would put our expectation at the right level. Nevertheless, make us believe Sony, improve the software since ICS is now out of the way...

[Xad]

Bearings wrote:
My doubt is this...is this a camera that has a phone calling feature or is this a phone that happens to have a camera? Nokia puts a great deal of focus on thier camera in thier phone, that's how thry won the CES top inventor award. However, why is it that Nokia was knock out of their perge being the biggest phone maker in the world? I have a Sony camera, not a phone, and it does take some good pictures, but nothing compare to Cannon or Nikon. I think with the right perspective, it would put our expectation at the right level. Nevertheless, make us believe Sony, improve the software since ICS is now out of the way... 

Nobody's expecting stunning photo quality comparable to an SLR, what most people want, and would have thought was a basic requirement, is for the phone to actually be able to take photos in focus without struggling, that's the biggest problem.

If you're happy with your smart phone being a phone and using a separate camera, that's great, but Sony advertised this phone with many features, especially pointing out the camera, it's "amazing" 12mp quality, instant photo, dedicated button etc etc, which all means absolutely nothing if the photos you take end up being out of focus.

The quality of the photos can definitely be improved, i'd much rather take an 8mp photo with good quality rather than a rubbish photo with all kinds of issues at 20mp; but that is a minor issue when compared to the major issue that is the very real focus problem. (Add to that you can't even choose many different mp options as Sony only gave 2mp, 9 & 12).

Other phones, such as the iPhone4s (and no, i don't own any apple products but have used them), focus instantly and lock on without a struggle while the XperiaS struggles in various environments, is super slow and stops quite often and takes a while before it decides to start focusing again, and a lot of times fails to lock onto focus and decides to just take an out of focus photo. Even much older phones don't struggle as much.

If you want to replicate the problem, take some photos while on an evening out to a place like a restaurant and then count how many photos come out in focus. Use the "instant photo" option as well since Sony made sure to advertise that feature and see how well it captures your "instant" moment.

Nokia fell behind because it didn't stay up with the competition when smartphones burst onto the scene and now they're switching to the Windows system to try and catchup. Sony needs to learn from the mistakes as having a good camera that works on an expensive smartphone isn't a luxury any more but an expectation.

[#8]

Couldn't agree with you more Xad !! Sony is supposed to be the best because they make hardware for almos every other Smartphone companies... while other companies using Sony hardware can make better why can't Sony themselves?

[luis_DR]

Totally agree with Xad too! bcus how is it that sony makes the hardware and dont know how to make work right. but apple and samsung can do it. how is that possible?

[Bearings]

Xad, I understand your fustration. I concur with you that there indeed is an issue with the auto-focus but I do not think it is an issue with the camera. I believe it is a software issue. I read that Sony produced the iPhone camera module. So if iPhone can take great pictures at an instant, than it's definitely an Xperia software issue. I also read that Xperia S do take great pictures, almost as good as HTC One X (acording to a reviewer) and beats most of it's rivals. Hope that with ICS now being rolled out, more time can be put to resolve this focusing issue.

Alternatively, anyone here able to produce an app to correct this focusing issue?

:smileymischief:

[luis_DR]

you can get a better focus performance with FX Camera