Standoff with samsung regarding camera blurry in 1x mode

[EddN]

Hi

My s21ultra exynos has the issue that has been mentioned on several forums by others where quite often when you open the camera it's blurry on the 1x zoom unless the phone is shook or tapped. Examples of other people's issues below

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-s21-series/s21-ultra-1x-camera-focus-blurry/td-p/3940793

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-s21-series/main-camera-very-blurry/td-p/4073483

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-s21-series/s21-ultra-camera-blurry/td-p/4495952

The camera worked fine until December 2021. I booked a doorstep repair and someone from wefix came out, plugged it into a diagnostics machine and said "no fault found, can't repair"

I then sent it to samsung direct and they also stated no fault found, returning it unrepaired.

I've reset the cache, camera data and obviously factory reset the phone several times due to the repair policy but no difference, the fault remains. 

Frustrated I contacted samsunguk via Instagram and they are basically saying "sorry, if our engineers say its not faulty, it's not faulty" and basically tough. They even had the cheek to suggest its user error and that for every photo you need to adjust the aspect ratio otherwise the photo may be blurry, this despite it being on the standard camera at 3:4 and it never having an issue until 9 months or so into ownership. I sent examples of the blurry pics in question aswell as links to the forums where others have had the same issue.

What's really galling is the multiple other examples of other people having the exact same issue, and it being fixed by samsung with a camera module replacement.

Does anyone have any thoughts about how I should proceed with this? The phone is under warranty and clearly has a fault with the camera that appears to be fairly common, but samsung are effectively saying "computer says no" and not willing to accept there is an issue and fix it.

It probably would have cost them less to just replace the camera module the first time then to pay for couriers to pick up the phone and return it it the second time round.

Any advice greatly appreciated 

[Mad_HTZ]

Same here. Photos in 0,5 or 5 are fine, but with 1x zoom appear blurry. I tried all option, restart, update, remove app settings....But nothing works. I tried with other apps but not way. Same problem. It appears the focus is not working.

1X1x Portrait Mode

[EWD]

Same issue here. Chatted with Samsung, they said call x number. Called x number, they said call best buy. Calling best buy was useless. This is a hardware issue for sure. Calling Asurion. This is ridiculous, especially for the price point.

[DanielJohn]

I'm having the exact same.

Focus upclose fine but any distance. No good. Fine in 0.5 but that's it and the quality isn't great in 0.5.

Samsung ultra s20 5G
8,12,2022

[DanielJohn]

Tapping the screen works. Wow. Nothing else did. Annoying if I have to do this all the time though let's see.

[Brick1235]

i have exactly Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and have the exact problem. This is a relatively new phone and i bought this phone because of the camera. We need a fix for this.

[icy_]

Just so that this topic has proper replies - that Samsung takes this seriously. All of a sudden, my Galaxy S21 Ultra started to have this problem as well. 1x zoom is ALWAYS BLURRY - this wasn't the case in the past, say for the longest time. I don't have an exact time when this started happening but it's very, very embarrassing, to say the least.

Same scene, same settings, 1x zoom will always end up in a blurry image whereas wide-angle or any other zoom level will be super sharp.

Some update, somewhere broke this camera. 

Samsung, please pay attention to this!

[KholaI]

Hey all.

When using the camera, we'd always advise tapping the screen to focus the camera before taking a picture. This ensures the image is in focus, regardless of the mode\zoom you're using.

If you continue to experience issues with the camera, send in an Error Report by heading into Samsung Members > Get help > Error reports. Please be sure to send this within 15 minutes of experiencing the issue, alongside attaching the error log. Once our engineers review this, our colleagues will be in touch.

[icy_]

Hi there - thank you for the reply. Please do understand that all these people complaining know very well how camera works, how Samsung works and how cellphone cameras work. Thinking that we haven't tried anything and everything and simply jumped to a public quorum to complain to silent walls is not how this thread came to be. I have been using Samsung devices since Note 1 - I am an amateur photographer, I know how this stuff works. 

What we are NOT saying is "this device takes blurry pictures." We are saying "all of a sudden, this device started taking blurry pictures on Zoom Level 1.0" this is very, very crucial. Device takes perfect pictures on ALL OTHER ZOOM LEVELS.

Tapping on the screen does nothing to correct focus - it only adjusts for ambient lighting. 

There are no errors to speak of, visibly. What you see on the screen in terms of view is never out of focus. It's the picture taken. So we know it's out of focus only after we take the picture - NOT during.

I am not sure how I can submit an error report while I'm looking at an image in gallery - I'm not even in Camera mode then.

Please, for crying out loud, take this seriously. Something happened to this device somewhere along the line. All my pictures were sharp as crystals and then something, some update maybe, and after that all Zoom 1.0 pictures are blurry. ALL OF THEM! Regardless of what trick I use. Reset camera settings, uncheck scene optimizer. NOTHING HELPS. And worse, sometimes something seems to help but then the pictures go back to being blurry again.

Videos are NOT affected by this. Only picture. And only Zoom Level 1.0 pictures. Scene optimizer doesn't work.

This is a perfect example of out of focus at 1x Zoom Level situation. Outside, perfect lighting conditions, subject 6 feet away. All blurry, nothing could fix this. One additional help: I could sense a blurry image because it'd take a bit longer to have the shutter click. As if things are just slow somewhere. But again, same conditions, change the zoom level and lightning fast response and super sharp image!

Here is another one - see that weird softness in the image? 

Here's another one

I literally stopped taking pictures at Zoom 1x because of this.

Last night, after posting here (again, this is my LAST RESORT, like everybody else here) for the umptieth time, I reset camera settings. There was a software update, surprisingly, so I installed that System Update 37. Right now all my Zoom Level 1.0 pictures seem to be in focus. 

I will let you know if things go out of focus again.1x3x0.6x10x

Thank you for responding to this thread. Again, if there's anything we can help Samsung to pinpoint the problem, I am pretty sure every single person here is more than willing and able to help diagnose and find a solution to this. We'll install experimental programs, sign up for Beta releases - whatever you want. 

Kindest regards
Jim O
From NY, with Love

[KholaI]

Hey Jim!

I completely understand what you're saying, but as I don't know what steps have been taken, it's only fair that I first provide the basic steps. As for the Error Reports, you can send one whether you receive an error message or not. The main purpose of the report is that it allows our engineers to look into the phone's software to check whether it is an issue with the hardware or software. 

So, I would definitely advise sending one in, as our engineers will be able to look into this further and provide you with the next steps.

[icy_]

Perfection!!! 🤣💗 I will do that.