Buyers beware: camera lens quality may vary greatly between phones! Poor ZEISS quality control?

[PauloP]

I guess people buying the Lumia 930 should be aware that those units with soft edges after having focused on distant subjects may be faulty.

I have bought two of them recently. One of them is incredibly sharp, edge to edge, in every situation.

The other one can`t get the focus right. I am returning it.

I have uploaded only 4 images to my flickr account, but I am not allowed to post links just yet. The results are the same no matter which setting I pick. Same exposure, same ISO. All of them converted using Lightroom 5.7 with default settings as informed by the RAW file.

I had this issue before with an old 808 PureView. I wonder if ZEISS is outsourcing its manufacturing to companies that do not care that much to quality control these days... Very badly made indeed and surely not up to its reputation.

I hope I can help those who are not very satisfied with their cameras. It's not supposed to be soft. If it is, then you should return it in exchange for one that isn't.

BTW: what a difference shooting in RAW makes! I guess we can get really close to the old Nokia 808 PureView with the correct settings and resizing pics to 8 Mp. Only a mild noise reduction routine to get that lovely grain the reminds film.

 

[gpobernardo]

Hey, PauloP, Welcome to Windows Central.

This is very interesting, though we may need more details. I think you should be able to upload your photos directly in a response here using the Insert Image option, even if you've got only less than 10 posts so far.

Not sure what to say about the possibility of Zeiss outsourcing, but that would be like saying Bentley is outsourcing its engines. If your photos are always not clear, then it is definitely a lens defect. But if some photos come out clear, then it either may be smudge on the lens cover or a software/driver fault - both of which should be resolved by replacing the phone.

In my L1020, some of the photos don't appear to be "crisp", but I know that it was caused either by a finger print on the glass lens cover or a focusing error.

Have tried shooting in RAW but it didn't make much of a difference. The 38MP jpeg output is sufficient for most of my requirements.:wink:

 

[PauloP]

Thanks for the reply.

It's not smudge. It's a very specific defect. The best way to spot a bad lens is to take a landscapes. The focus should be uniform across the whole frame.

I exchange them for new ones and they are not bad.

I have a thread at Flickr about the issue. Here it is:

flickr com/groups/lumia1520/discuss/72157654957083312/

P.S.: I guess you haven't given the proper attention to RAW. It does make a remarkable difference. I've got some examples on my Flickr page. The control over sharpness, noise reduction and a considerable gain in terms of dynamic range really pay.