Possible reasons why the Nokia Lumia 920 photos may lack sharpness (with link and images example).

[SteveISU]

I agree. This will most likely be fixed with a software tweak. In the meantime, the pictures are still much better than my iPhone 4 and besides, its still just a camera phone. Lets keep our expectations realistic.

I believe I read somewhere that the camera's on our phones have become more widely used then point and shoots. Look at what you can do to a picture after the fact on most smartphones today. Edit it, filter it, crop it, save it to the cloud, ect. I'd almost go as far to say that the camera is about as equal if not more important to many as call quality (the actual phone portion).

 

[mpelti]

Yesterday i was in my mom's backyard, and a hawk dove in for a kill. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use my new phone, but unfortunately, all of the photos show the bird as nothing but a mass of brown with a bit of white, barely identifiable. I even got within about 20 feet of it for the last 2 I took. Today I was taking some pictures and found the same thing, the camera just can't seem to get the focus down on anything more than 10 feet away. The infuriating thing was I'd see the preview go to a well-focused view, and then pull back.

All my setting are default on the camera, except for turning the focus assist light off for daylight shots, and I used the shutter button.

Hawk https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!151&authkey=!ANPix4hIK2CG_v4

Trolley stop https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!162&authkey=!AGaf2KNQps7AjyE

this one shows better close focus/sharpness: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!163&authkey=!ABzCs5K70DpBQx0

but you can see how much better close-ups are:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!167&authkey=!AC56sn01v4-P78g
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!141&authkey=!APorQdO0iOHsh4A

while others just inexplicably are unfocused:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!174&authkey=!AOiSTi23n5ifgxo
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!170&authkey=!AK6_mikkO3kcoR4

This isn't my first rodeo, I'm sure I held the camera steady and the lens wasn't smudged, but possibly the fact that the phone was in my pocket and it was cold outside affected it.

 

[Jmaxim]

Re: Possible reasons why the Nokia Lumia 920

Note 2 top, Lumia 920 bottom.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note II

Does the Note 2 have a 16:9 option?

 

[jaqueh]

Yesterday i was in my mom's backyard, and a hawk dove in for a kill. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use my new phone, but unfortunately, all of the photos show the bird as nothing but a mass of brown with a bit of white, barely identifiable. I even got within about 20 feet of it for the last 2 I took. Today I was taking some pictures and found the same thing, the camera just can't seem to get the focus down on anything more than 10 feet away. The infuriating thing was I'd see the preview go to a well-focused view, and then pull back.

All my setting are default on the camera, except for turning the focus assist light off for daylight shots, and I used the shutter button.

Hawk https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!151&authkey=!ANPix4hIK2CG_v4

Trolley stop https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!162&authkey=!AGaf2KNQps7AjyE

this one shows better close focus/sharpness: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!163&authkey=!ABzCs5K70DpBQx0

but you can see how much better close-ups are:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!167&authkey=!AC56sn01v4-P78g
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!141&authkey=!APorQdO0iOHsh4A

while others just inexplicably are unfocused:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!174&authkey=!AOiSTi23n5ifgxo
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!170&authkey=!AK6_mikkO3kcoR4

This isn't my first rodeo, I'm sure I held the camera steady and the lens wasn't smudged, but possibly the fact that the phone was in my pocket and it was cold outside affected it.

yeah camera sucks on the 920 and naysayers need to get glasses

 

[SteveISU]

Re: Possible reasons why the Nokia Lumia 920

Does the Note 2 have a 16:9 option?

Not selectable, so whether or not it does I have no idea.

 

[doublesman3486]

Long story short, the kinks will be fixed with a software update, nokia have done this many times in the past.

 

[mpelti]

yeah camera sucks on the 920 and naysayers need to get glasses

I think it is something that can be fixed with a firmware tweak, as I can see the camera finding focus, but then losing it before the picture is taken.

Hopefully nokia and microsoft are both racing toward patches and upgrades.

 

[TK2011]

Yesterday i was in my mom's backyard, and a hawk dove in for a kill. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use my new phone, but unfortunately, all of the photos show the bird as nothing but a mass of brown with a bit of white, barely identifiable. I even got within about 20 feet of it for the last 2 I took. Today I was taking some pictures and found the same thing, the camera just can't seem to get the focus down on anything more than 10 feet away. The infuriating thing was I'd see the preview go to a well-focused view, and then pull back.

All my setting are default on the camera, except for turning the focus assist light off for daylight shots, and I used the shutter button.

Hawk https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!151&authkey=!ANPix4hIK2CG_v4

Trolley stop https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!162&authkey=!AGaf2KNQps7AjyE

this one shows better close focus/sharpness: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!163&authkey=!ABzCs5K70DpBQx0

but you can see how much better close-ups are:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!167&authkey=!AC56sn01v4-P78g
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!141&authkey=!APorQdO0iOHsh4A

while others just inexplicably are unfocused:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!174&authkey=!AOiSTi23n5ifgxo
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6C23DB46D93EBFC3!170&authkey=!AK6_mikkO3kcoR4

This isn't my first rodeo, I'm sure I held the camera steady and the lens wasn't smudged, but possibly the fact that the phone was in my pocket and it was cold outside affected it.

How do you focus? Do you just press the camera button real fast? If so, try half-press to give autofocus (AF) system some time before pressing down fully. Also, try the tap-to-focus method. (You can tap on the screen to select an area to focus on.) I almost always use the tap-to-focus method (so the camera knows exactly where to focus) and I never get that kind of fuzzy pictures. In any case, make sure the AF area has sufficient contrast to work with. Low contrast or very fine details (as opposed to, say, clear big lines) may confuse the AF system occasionally.

EDIT: I was able to confirm that you DO get fuzzy pictures if you press down the camera button too fast. People who get out-of-focus shots should definitely try the half-press-to-focus and the tap-to-focus method. Some cameras always perform AF even if you press down the button in one motion, some don't (for good reasons I won't get into here). Apparently, Lumia 920 falls into the latter case. My recommendation is to use the tap-to-focus method always. (You still need to keep your hands steady when shot is taken a second or two after the tap.)

 

[Shai Petel]

Why you are dead wrong and it is a software issue? 2 simple reasons.
1. Videos look sharp and amazing! no "softness" problem there at all, in fact videos look much better than photos on my Lumia 920.

2. Just for a millisecond, between the time you touch to take a photo to the time the photo is saved - you can see an amazing quality photo. Sharp, and beautiful. Then it is clear some photo processing is done on that RAW image and then you see the soft crappy image you end up with. The image processing produces better colors in your photo, but also loses all sharpness while doing that.

There is no doubt that this is a software issue and not hardware issue, same hardware would produce a soft image all the time and not just when you save it.

And to the other guy who wants an explanation why we are bothered with that while cancer was not cured yet - I suggest you give up all entertainment in your life and set an example for the world until cancer is cured. you can start by donating your laptop and disconnect your internet, we would really appreciate that gesture.

 

[flame l]

The photo that i want is when the camera focuses because the image looks sharp ,but after taking the shot it turns out blurry. Hopefully Nokia fix this.

 

[TK2011]

Why you are dead wrong and it is a software issue? 2 simple reasons.
1. Videos look sharp and amazing! no "softness" problem there at all, in fact videos look much better than photos on my Lumia 920.

2. Just for a millisecond, between the time you touch to take a photo to the time the photo is saved - you can see an amazing quality photo. Sharp, and beautiful. Then it is clear some photo processing is done on that RAW image and then you see the soft crappy image you end up with. The image processing produces better colors in your photo, but also loses all sharpness while doing that.

There is no doubt that this is a software issue and not hardware issue, same hardware would produce a soft image all the time and not just when you save it.

And to the other guy who wants an explanation why we are bothered with that while cancer was not cured yet - I suggest you give up all entertainment in your life and set an example for the world until cancer is cured. you can start by donating your laptop and disconnect your internet, we would really appreciate that gesture.

The photo that i want is when the camera focuses because the image looks sharp ,but after taking the shot it turns out blurry. Hopefully Nokia fix this.

It's not a bug. There's nothing to fix. You guys are misinterpreting the screen rendering. Here's the explanation I posted in another thread:

"Perception of additional sharpness in the viewfinder is due to the lack of image scaling. They use the nearest-sample algorithm in order to update the display fast in real time. That results in artificially sharper edges in the image displayed. For the final rendering, they apply the real scaling algorithm which cuts down on those sharp edges and what's why you perceive somewhat less sharpness. It has nothing to do with the actual sharpness of the image saved. "

In fact, you can get that kind of artificially sharpened look by displaying the saved image on your PC using some image viewer programs like FastStone that lets you to optionally turn off image scaling filter. If you do that, you get the same oversharpened look if you set the window size to what's on Lumia. You say you like that look and why don't they always do that? The reason is that, without proper scaling, you get moire artifacts and ISO noise become much more visible. If you don't believe me, just try it out. But this topic is probably over most people's head (even some experienced photo hobbists). Sigh.

 

[vlad0]

Re: Possible reasons why the Nokia Lumia 920

Does the Note 2 have a 16:9 option?

It doesn't have the hardware for it. As far as know, there are only 3 smartphones currently on sale which offer true 16:9 aspect ratio: Nokia N8, 808, and 920.

 

[wpbrand]

For those saying image gets blurred a bit after picture is taken on 920, my sony rx100's(arguably best compact camera available now) image doe not appear as sharp as seen on preview screen right before pressing the shutter. I don't think that's an issue at all. Any photo comparison should be done on a computer monitor.

 

[Varun Saini]

some people try to take landscape photos with close up mode and that blurs the picture too

 

[Saint Michael]

Just commenting to say this is an interesting read, and I'm tired of having to look for it, so now it will be in the hand participated" part of the app