S23 Ultra Main Camera Low light focus issue

[Chappers87]

Is anyone else having the same issue? 

So I was playing around comparing my old S22 Ultra to the new S23 Ultra and found the camera to be improved in all ways except when it comes to trying to focus in very low light.

So when trying to take a picture of the night sky, with my house in the background, I found the S22 ultra seems to focus near instantly and I can get a good night mode picture of the stars, even the brick work on the house is on focus.

However with the S23 Ultra, the camera doesn't focus and just sits blurry, if I turned on a light in one of the upstairs windows then it gets enough light to focus and will take a detailed sharp photo. 

It seems like the laser autofocus on the S22 ultra works in pitch black and not on my S23.

[BN44 · Accepted solution]

I am having the same issue and am also using lens protectors. The ones made by Spigen to be precise.

So I'm not sure whether the issue is the protector over the actual cameras or the one over the laser focus but I might pop them off and see.

[BN44 · Accepted solution]

Yep, that fixed it. So I don't know if there's a software update that's going to resolve this but for now I'll have to use the phone without the lens protectors. I have also used them before without issues on other phones. Let's hope this is just an issue since the phone just came out.

[Chappers87]

That's really helpful to know, I had a suspicion it might be the lens protectors. Did you try it with the laser focus lens off first? And then the main lens?

[BN44]

It would have been more scientific to do so, but I didn't. I figured as there's no issue with focus in any other situation the laser probably wasn't the issue, but I didn't check them one at a time. I just took them all off and now it works. 

Let me know if you try just doing the laser. 👍

[Chappers87]

I'll give that a try and see what happens. Sure thing I'll let you know

[Chappers87]

Hello just to check what was the difference made and in what situation ?

[BN44]

Before removing the lens protectors I tried using the phone camera in a dimly lit room at home. I changed resolutions, camera modes (including night mode), and tried to force it to focus on objects and throughout it remained blurry.

After removing the lens protectors I went to the same spot and focus was spot on as I replicated the process.

[Chappers87]

Brilliant thank you for the info.. I'll try it tomorrow night and report back

[Chappers87 · Accepted solution]

So I can confirm that the lens cover for the Laser focus was causing the issue. As soon as I took it off it was focusing straight away in almost total dark. Seemed quicker than my old S22 Ultra and got a sharp focus on the light from under the door. I could replicate the issue by placing my finger over the laser autofocus sensor causing the focus to drop and it was hunting and blurry. Not saying it's all lens protectors just atm Spigen but I do have another brand one I'll try tomorrow to see if that works. (Just to clarify the laser focus lens was the only protector I took off)

[Chappers87 · Accepted solution]

So I got to check other lens protectors and I can confirm I bought a set of camera lens protectors from ESR, I then placed just the Laser Focus lens on and it worked identically to before with no cover on. It looks like the Spigen ones sit a little high and this was causing issues. The ESR lenses are thinner and sit closer to the actual lens glass.