Lumia 1020 Auto-Focus Quesion

[phillq23]

So I get very close to an object I want to take a picture of and it is blurry. I press the camera button down a little bit to start the auto-focus and it puts everything into focus perfectly. When I let go of the button, everything turns blurry again. I always thought once I got the picture in focus, when I let go of the button, it should stay at that focal point until I pick a new one. I am almost positive this is how my old point-and-shoots worked.

Is this what is supposed to happen or is the camera defective?

 

[AuraTigital]

Yes. Its is supposed to be like this.

 

[tgr42]

If you want to lock the focus on something, you can tap on it on the screen in the Pro Cam app.

 

[Chip O]

Make sure you are no closer than about 15 inches or the camera cannot maintain a focus lock.

Do not worry, you can reframe after you take the shot using the Pro Camera app and get VERY close, much closer than you can with any other phone.

 

[Jim Griesmer]

According to the specs, the Lumia 1020 should be able to auto-focus as close as 15 centimeters, not 15 inches. That said, I'm seeing the same problem as noted in this post. Typically, if my subject is between 15cm and 25cm away and I hold down the shutter half-way to focus, or touch the screen on a focus point, the focusing system temporarily focuses, but then immediately "pops back" out of focus.

SOMETIMES I can focus up to 15cm, but it's not consistent and so I've been finding it difficult to get macro shots in general with the phone. I realize that the zoomin capability of the "pro" image minimizes this problem, but I just keep running into it. Now I know others are too. Either there is a batch of defective phones and we both got one, OR this is normal behavior for all of them.

 

[tgr42]

I've observed the same behavior where it looks like it's focused, or just about focused, then it pops out of focus. This happens when you're near the boundary of the closest it can focus at. But that closest distance for me is about 3.5 to 4", or 9-10cm. I tested this with a tape measure while checking QR code scanning for someone the other day. Not sure what would account for the relatively substantial difference of 5cm between your results and mine.

Here's an example of a pic I just took about as close as I could get and still have it focus (don't have a tape measure at the moment but it seemed like about 4 inches or 10cm):

http://i.imgur.com/jJSCcyv.jpg

Could you get closer with an actual camera? Sure. But this seems plenty good to me, especially for a phone. Now I want to test this with my digital camera...

 

[phillq23]

I've observed the same behavior where it looks like it's focused, or just about focused, then it pops out of focus. This happens when you're near the boundary of the closest it can focus at. But that closest distance for me is about 3.5 to 4", or 9-10cm. I tested this with a tape measure while checking QR code scanning for someone the other day. Not sure what would account for the relatively substantial difference of 5cm between your results and mine.

Here's an example of a pic I just took about as close as I could get and still have it focus (don't have a tape measure at the moment but it seemed like about 4 inches or 10cm):

http://i.imgur.com/jJSCcyv.jpg

Could you get closer with an actual camera? Sure. But this seems plenty good to me, especially for a phone. Now I want to test this with my digital camera...

The problem for me is if I'm 2-3 inches away, it will start focusing and pop out on its own, which is expected. But if I'm 6-10 inches away, it will stay in focus only until I let go of the camera button. This does not seem right to me.

I tried the same pictures from the same distances with an iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 was able to get considerably closer and keep its focus.

I did start thinking, can this possibly have something to do with OIS?

 

[tgr42]

Ah yes, now I see what you're talking about. This seems like an intentional design decision rather than a hardware issue. When you half-hold the camera button, it only temporarily changes the focus. If you want to more permanently lock the focus, you need to use the Pro Cam app and tap the screen to indicate where you want the focus to be. There should be a circle that stays where you tapped to indicate that the focus is currently locked there. If you tap the circle, it disappears and the focus is unlocked. Are you sure it doesn't work this way for you when tapping the screen in the Pro Cam app?

 

[GloriousGlory]

For close shots I've been having to use manual focus because of what OP mentioned.

 

[drtek]

Scanning barcodes are a challenge.

 

[antiochian2010]

I think it's a PureView thing. 808 was exactly the same; something you have to work around

 

[Jim Griesmer]

I highly doubt this is a "PureView thing" and as gamo62 noted, this problem makes it difficult to scan bar codes -- something all smartphones should have no trouble with. In addition, I'm barely able to use my bank apps "e-deposit" feature because I have to get far away from the check and the in-app camera doesn't support manual focus or zooming.

This just looks like a bug to me that should be fixed.

 

[tgr42]

Do you have the same trouble scanning QR codes from the search built into the phone? (search button, eye icon) I've scanned a number of QR codes with that and it's been really easy every time. There is no challenge to it, nothing to work around, it just works. Takes less than 1 second from when I hit the eye icon to having the barcode recognized. I'm curious about what's different that's causing these problems.

 

[Gio Lopez]

Hi, a newbie here. Got my Lumia 1020 yesterday. Acquired it from someone who bought it in a Nokia Event in Melbourne. Still testing it but i have an issue with the camera, the auto focus is not locking in my subject in both regular distant shots and even in macro shots, thus my pictures are blurry and poor in details. Its all the same in Nokia Pro Cam and the Camera App and Nokia Smart Cam. Even the settings are all automatic. Is my unit defective or its software is not the final one? I have a Lumia 920 and after installing it with Pro Cam its auto focus easily locks in distant and macro shots.

 

[kevroc]

For close shots I've been having to use manual focus because of what OP mentioned.

Yes, this is interesting. With manual focus I can focus much closer where auto focus fails to lock. Never tried that much but definitely will for macro shots...

 

[MoviesHateUToo]

Scanning barcodes are a challenge.

I've noticed that if you capture the barcode at a sligth vertical angle its much easier for the 1020 to focus than if you look at it straight on.

 

[Ed Boland]

Yes, the 920 is capable of getting a lot closer for these "macro" shots but as stated, the 1020's zoom can easily compensate.