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

[Uliwooly]

Indeed criticism it's not rude behavior, personal attacks it is, as well as rude behavior towards anyone in this forum it's against the forum guidelines

if you check the Report Abuse not everything it's personal attacks it could be spam, it could be many things, do some research before posting, as of Sony moderators, they already replied on this and other threads, you won't get any further comments unless sony developers say something on the topic, that's the way this forum work, if there aren't any news they won't comment again on the threads. I'm free to post and say whatever I want as long as I follow the forum guidelines. my camera focus works great if yours doesn't take it to a sony repair center so they can check it as simple as that.

[Xad]

uliwooly wrote:
What is the function of this forum?
http://talk.sonymobile.com/message/218249
Johan
3,202 posts since 
Nov 12, 2010
Jun 14, 2012 11:20 PM (in response to ugurkaya)Re: What is the function of this forum?
The purpose of this forum is for users to help each other and for us to be able to help and also check feedback.
My job is to help users as far as I can and also to report issues further into the company.
As you can see you are expecting something else from this forum. 

Now you're being disingenuous and silly on purpose. No one is expecting the "Sony forum support" members to fix the problem, they've passed the problem on a while back and we've heard nothing since. What people are wanting is information on WHAT is going on? Is the problem being worked on? Will a fix come through? Do the developers even think it's a problem or do they think this is how it should be.

That's what people are wanting, updates. Not to be left in the dark which is what has happened since MARCH.

Previously you kept telling people to wait for ICS, that's here now and the problem still exists. Now you're telling people the Sony support members here can't do anything; sure they can, they've done the starting part already that being passing on the problem; the other part is what we'd really like: updates on what is going on if anything at all. Or maybe even re-send the problem to the developers and mention how every single review of the camera on this phone mentions the poor focussing and also mention that this thread has had over 130,000 views which means a lot of people are coming here for answers, just not always signing up and posting since they can read the LACK of answers quite easily.

[Uliwooly]

I've been quoted over and over, I'm famous, again, if Sony's moderators haven't posted anything is for a simple reason, there aren't any updates on this topic, it's pointless to keep nagging on the same thing over and over, perhaps you have a huge share of those 130,000 views, it doesn't mean that 130,000 different users saw that otherwise there'll be a lot more comments/posts on this.

Again with that "lack of answers" if you read the messages you just quoted, you can see that this forum it's for users to help each other out, so how anyone will get answers ? official answers are on the official Blog, perhaps you can try to contact Sony's developers

[Xad]

uliwooly wrote:
Indeed criticism it's not rude behavior, personal attacks it is, as well as rude behavior towards anyone in this forum it's against the forum guidelines
if you check the Report Abuse not everything it's personal attacks it could be spam, it could be many things, do some research before posting, as of Sony moderators, they already replied on this and other threads, you won't get any further comments unless sony developers say something on the topic, that's the way this forum work, if there aren't any news they won't comment again on the threads. I'm free to post and say whatever I want as long as I follow the forum guidelines. my camera focus works great if yours doesn't take it to a sony repair center so they can check it as simple as that.

Why would i take it to a Sony repair centre when it's clearly a software issue? You haven't experienced the issue because all the photos you've posted where of far away buildings. If you actually took photos of human beings in the evening, maybe you wouldn't be so giddy about the camera.

As for the abuse? Since i know for a fact it was not abuse, and you think it was, why don't you take the opinion of the people who are unbiased, the ones that clear the posts, check back on every post of mine that you've reported in this thread and you'll notice, they've all been let through, with no change. What does that tell you about your opinion when it comes to what you feel is a personal attack on you?

[Uliwooly]

how can you be certain that it's a software issue, if that's so then everyone should have the same problem. I've posted close up pictures, low light, bright light, w/ different light sourcess and still you said this or that, I did posted pictures or "human beings in the evening" and still you failed to comment on that.

perhaps creating another account and then like my own posts or post supporting my own posts w/ a different account is the way to go, isn't? I gave you a link so you can perhaps learn what a personal attack is, but I'm certain you haven't checked it, unless you read really really fast.

[Xad]

uliwooly wrote:
I've been quoted over and over, I'm famous, again, if Sony's moderators haven't posted anything is for a simple reason, there aren't any updates on this topic, it's pointless to keep nagging on the same thing over and over, perhaps you have a huge share of those 130,000 views, it doesn't mean that 130,000 different users saw that otherwise there'll be a lot more comments/posts on this. 
Again with that "lack of answers" if you read the messages you just quoted, you can see that this forum it's for users to help each other out, so how anyone will get answers ? official answers are on the official Blog, perhaps you can try to contact Sony's developers 

The reason why it looks to you that people are posting the same problem over and over is because people with the problem sign up to share that they too have the problem. You're acting like it's two or three people who are experiencing the problem. Many people have signed up just to report this specific problem, in this thread, and you've done the same thing which is to provide the same advice and act like the problem doesn't exist and it has something to do with the user.

Wait until evening under indoor lighting and record some video footage of people, shifting from one person to the another. See how well the focus works and how much of your recording comes out clear.

The camera focus problem is a massive problem, especially on a phone that specifically advertised the "fanastic camera" with "instant" features. The developers should have released a status update to let people know what is going on; they've been alerted to the problem by the support staff here. And if they believe it's a phone hardware issue and the phone needs to be replaced (which isn't the case since the OP changed it multiple times), then say so, at least we'll know they're not fixing the camera issue and we can get rid of this phone. Don't leave us in the dark.

[Uliwooly]

you are not counting the people who are not experiencing this issue, how often do you see people posting to say hey my phone it's fine, I don't have any issues?

I've done those videos and pictures and if you look on this and other threads you can find them. have you contacted sony to ask about the status of this "request/issue" ?

[Xad]

uliwooly wrote:
how can you be certain that it's a software issue, if that's so then everyone should have the same problem. I've posted close up pictures, low light, bright light, w/ different light sourcess and still you said this or that, I did posted pictures or "human beings in the evening" and still you failed to comment on that. 
perhaps creating another account and then like my own posts or post supporting my own posts w/ a different account is the way to go, isn't? I gave you a link so you can perhaps learn what a personal attack is, but I'm certain you haven't checked it, unless you read really really fast. 

No you didn't, the one photo where there were people they were random strangers far far away. If you want to replicate the issue, the easiest place is indoors in the evening, where indoor lighting is on, even really bright lights, record some video footage of people close up, move the camera from one person to the next, some close to you, some further away, then review the video and look at how much of the footage is in focus.

The OP himself changed his phone multiple times and the problem still exists. People from different countries all have the focus problem. .73 .75 .452 ICS update, throughout them all the problem still exists, yet with all that information you still want people to think it's a user error as opposed to poor software?

I told you your link means nothing as every post you've reported has been let through by the moderators yet you seem to want to believe you're still right about what is abuse and the moderators must be wrong.

You've made this thread about you when it's about the camera focus problem. You need to learn how not to be a part of every single thread on this forum.

[Uliwooly]

that's odd that you can't find the pictures, because I did posted pictures, low light, human beings and close by

again, you SHOULD take it to a sony repair center, there was another user who did and got a new phone because his phone did had a HARDWARE ISSUE he had the problem you discribed (focus issue)

[Xad]

uliwooly wrote:
you are not counting the people who are not experiencing this issue, how often do you see people posting to say hey my phone it's fine, I don't have any issues?
I've done those videos and pictures and if you look on this and other threads you can find them. have you contacted sony to ask about the status of this "request/issue" ? 

Actually do a search for reviews on the Sony Xperia S across the net, make you you add "camera" to your search and you'll notice a very high number of reviews point out the focus issue on the phone. Even the review they did on a TV a while back of the XperiaS, they mentioned how great of a phone it is...until they come to using the camera, where the focussing problem kicks in.

All i want is a definitive answer as to what is going on. WHETHER a fix is coming, whether they're working on it or whether they accept the camera as being close to perfect in which case let us know so i can get rid of the phone and get one where the camera works.

The only reason why i've still held on to the phone is because everything else works great, even the music player where i requested WMA audio support which you seemed to think was an attack on the phone for some reason, works great (minus the WMA), the problems start when you want to take photos and record video. I'd love to know that i can use the very useful "instant photo" button and the photo will come out clear and not out of focus, but being that even carefully manually selected settings result in out of focus photos and videos, there's not much chance of that button resulting in great "instant" photos.