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

[AntCW]

Hi Prometeo24

Hope what works for me works for you.  Will be great to hear how you get on. 

Im really enjoying my phone again now, fingers crossed it stays this way.

Ant

[Tilden]

I used to have the focusing problem tool. After inspiring by AntCW, I've trid a simplier (lasier) way.  I simplier cleared the data of the Camera app and restarted the phone.  Then I took 50 pics, close-up (macro) followed by landscape in sequence.  The camera can focus very quickly in nearly every single shot. Only 1-2 pics resulted in a red square.  Even though it resulted in a red square, it didn't hunt the focus for long.  I'll try to take more photos in different light conditions and report here my findings.

Thanks AntCW for your inspiring! 

[AntCW]

Hi Tilden

That's great to hear, no problem if i can help even one or two people with the focusing issue thats better than Sony are doing

Its a shame they never get back to us when all it takes is a few minutes to type a reply

Ant

[gempzchak]

for me it is completely resolved with the ICS app

[khatridharam]

Dear Tilden can you please explain how u did exactly in detail?

[khatridharam]

this link summarises what we are going through

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-phones/sony-xperia-s-vs-iphone-4s-camera-test-50007302/

  Only thing that i want to know is whether it is hardware problem or software related. Because if its hardware then i know that i should stop looking at this post as there will be no chance of improvement!!!

[jis87]

Well, let me start with saying that my previous phone was samsung galaxy 3 (not s3, but the very old i5800). When I bought Xperia S my only requirement was that it had a better camera than my old phone had. In that, the S really delivers.

So, after I had fun with my Xperia S, I came here and found this very same topic I'm writing on. Suddenly, the Xperia S had a rubbish camera. I was shocked, I thought that how on earth did Sony produce such an abysmal camera hardware on their flagship model. I tried everything I could to improve the image quality but I did not triumph.

After reading all the articles about Xperia S being worse on the camera front I felt truly decieved.

On to some more delightful topics then. My cousin's fiancé bought Samsung Galaxy S3. I felt that I had to test it thoroughly against my Xperia S.

Obviously, I needed to do some low light testing. After taking photos with my phone I honestly thought that none other phone could take such horrible photos. It was a whole different world taking photos with the S3. I mean, the whole interface was totally different and it had a lot more options and effects. I thought that S3 would easily surpass the xperia s in image quality but in truth, it really didn't. On a normal single picture mode and ISO Auto the S3 did produce pictures which were way more noisy than than the pitures taken with my phone. I had to choose a specific night shot to match the Xperia shots. Or lower the ISO value, that was an option too. Either way, I couldn't get the S3 to shoot better photos on low light conditions, no matter how hard I tried.

After testing, I must say that the camera in S3 is not any better than than the camera in Xperia S. At least in my opinion.

I had taken the Xperia S screens with the auto scene enabled.

On low light, there are still problems with focus and too large ISO on the auto scene. Biggest problem to me is the white balance on Auto scene/flash on. It makes skin tone to look orange. I always have change the mode to normal and choose the right WB when shootin real humans.

Just my thoughts, not hard facts. Thanks for reading.

[Tilden]

Settings > Apps > All > Camera > Clear Data

It is definitely a software problem.  It is because if I use Camera 360 to take pictures, XS focuses very quickly.  When I used the stock camera, it focused slowly and lots of hunting back and forth, and failed to focus correctly frequently.  After I've reset the Camera app data, it seems the performs is on par with Camera 360.

[Prometeo24]

Ok, I've done what Antcw and Tilden said, now I'll be testing my camera and bring news about it!

Here, some info in addition to AntCW:

Backup everything as it will erase all data on phone (sms, contacts,apps)

Update/Repair your phone via PCC or SUS

PCC (PC COMPANION) – Repair your software with this .First do the setup without connecting your mobile to pc.(only connect when you are asked to).

Do it as follow >> PCC > SUPPORT ZONE> SOFTWARE UPDATE> REPAIR SOFTWARE (written with blue)

PC Companion http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/tools/pc-companion/

SUS ( Sony Update Service)  ... download and install it on pc and follow the on-screen instructions

http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/tools/update-service/

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[Prometeo24]

AMAZING!!!

The Xperia S now focuses really faster and the quality is awesome!

So far, the camera works fine, what is more, the phone seems to act faster too,

I do recommend what ANTcw says,

Haven't tried it yet in poor light places but, so far so good