950 XL camera focus issue

[midnightfrolic]

I have a 950 XL Dual SIM USA variant. I immediately put a rugged case on it cause I'm OCD about my stuff. I usually use Fast Ring Insider build. I recently noticed something about the focus when using default camera app. It does not focus as well as it used to. When I tap an area to put focus in that area, it's still blurry. When it does end up focusing, it sometimes makes a tiny rattling noise randomly and the camera screen just cycles from focused and out of focus really really fast. You can here the lens and focus light going a dozen times a second. Which is what makes the tiny tat tat tat tat tat tat sound. Curious if anyone has had this issue. I'm not sure if this is common since I don't use the camera as much as I should be.

After a week of this, last night I used WDRT and wiped it going back to factory. Did not restore from back up. Fresh brand new as it comes. It does the exact same thing when using the camera app. Should I try to get it exchanged? Only had it a bit over 2 months. Never been dropped. Or is this just common? It does work half the time fairly ok. But not when I want custom focused area.


EDIT: I did all apps updates and upgraded to 10586.164. Still does it. Ughhh.

 

[vader42]

Have you tried manual focus? This will determine if the mechanism is broken, or just software.

You can get to manual focus either by dragging the camera icon (near the video icon) to the left, or clicking the right arrow thing at the top where the flash and hdr/rich icons are. Select the focus icon (the square icon) and move it up or down to change the focus. If nothing happens, you hardware is borked.

If manual works, then it must be something in software. You can also half press the camera button to focus but not take a photo.

Hope this helps

 

[midnightfrolic]

Have you tried manual focus? This will determine if the mechanism is broken, or just software.

You can get to manual focus either by dragging the camera icon (near the video icon) to the left, or clicking the right arrow thing at the top where the flash and hdr/rich icons are. Select the focus icon (the square icon) and move it up or down to change the focus. If nothing happens, you hardware is borked.

If manual works, then it must be something in software. You can also half press the camera button to focus but not take a photo.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply. I've been messing with it since and no luck. It only focuses when it wants to. I tried the manual focus. Does not manual focus either. Also tried the inifity one, no go. Made an appoint for my nearest MS Store (brick and mortar store). Hopefully they have some to exchange it out same day.

I'm pretty confident the camera assembly is broken. When I se it to infinity, it's out of focus. When I lightly tap the phone, the focus jerks with the camera being tapped.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Thanks for the reply. I've been messing with it since and no luck. It only focuses when it wants to. I tried the manual focus. Does not manual focus either. Also tried the inifity one, no go. Made an appoint for my nearest MS Store (brick and mortar store). Hopefully they have some to exchange it out same day.

I'm pretty confident the camera assembly is broken. When I se it to infinity, it's out of focus. When I lightly tap the phone, the focus jerks with the camera being tapped.

you did the right thing by going to a service centre, I believe it's still under warranty?

 

[Krystianpants]

Make sure the camera glass is cleaned with a microfiber cloth. I had a dirty glass that caused issues with focus. Not evident unless I looked in the right lighting. But keeping it clean usually gives great focus. It seems both the front glass and the back glass are easy to get dirty. The camera glass uses gorilla glass 4 as well.

 

[midnightfrolic]

Make sure the camera glass is cleaned with a microfiber cloth. I had a dirty glass that caused issues with focus. Not evident unless I looked in the right lighting. But keeping it clean usually gives great focus. It seems both the front glass and the back glass are easy to get dirty. The camera glass uses gorilla glass 4 as well.

Yep. Cleaned the lens like a maniac because I'm OCD. Still no go. I had it about 80 days. Should be under 1yr warranty.

 

[midnightfrolic]

Just got a replacement Lumia 950XL from brick and mortar store. Camera works great. Took them less than a minute to verify camera assembly was bad. Back in photo biz again.

They even let me purchase a protection plan. $99.99. With $49.99 deductable.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Just got a replacement Lumia 950XL from brick and mortar store. Camera works great. Took them less than a minute to verify camera assembly was bad. Back in photo biz again. ��

They even let me purchase a protection plan. $99.99. With $49.99 deductable.

that's good to know, hope you tested other things as well before going away with the new phone

 

[mikepalma]

Took mine in. The tech said so many 950xl's returned bc of terrible battery performance. No fix, just hope for Surface phone

 

[midnightfrolic]

Took mine in. The tech said so many 950xl's returned bc of terrible battery performance. No fix, just hope for Surface phone

I've never had battery issues. I understand its a powerful phone, so it drains battery. I get about days worth under normal usage. I also don't check it 200 tomes a day and send 5000 messages. The screen drains battery the most. Since I use GPS a lot, I have charging cables with me at all times. In all my cars, including work vehicles. Also car mounts.

If Surface Phone has top end specs i'll pick it up. I just find iOS and android to be boring. Stable, app rich, but boring.

 

[flitchtag]

I am heavy user who switched from iPhone 6 to 950xl. Disappointed is an understatement. The software is plain horrible. The camera has great specs but the software kills it. And in regards to the battery, it stinks. My usage is similar to when I had the iPhone, but the 950xl dies after four hours - I have exchanged 3 times and they all are bad. And the MS employee, who I now know, stated the same as above, tons of complaints about battery, and exchanges...too bad, bc after Oct 6 event, I was sold, but it turns out Panos and friends are full of it!

 

[mikepalma]

I initially only blamed the software W10M, bc the 950xl hardware is supposedly top notch. But I have tried official build, and all insider builds, and frankly they are all miserably poor, especially the camera app and battery life. Prob a combo problem of poor software and not comprehensively tested hardware...

 

[mark McWilliams]

I have a Lumia 950ds and I'm on .218 and I think the phone is great. The camera takes amazing pics the battery life is leveled out and is pretty good,I'm a pretty heavy user and get a day out of it from when I wake up till get home for work never had it die on me.im not sure why some people say the camera sucks I don't think I've ever seen another phone take better pics on a regular basis