[Q] Is the autofocus supposed to work when taking still-pictures? - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Okay, I've had this phone for a couple of months now, and the one thing that keeps bugging me is the following:
Whenever I enable autofocus, it doesn't autofocus. I need to manually tap the screen to focus. I've been searching a bit on the net, and I can't find anyone having the similar problem when taking still-pictures.
If it actually is designed in a way that we actually need to tap the screen for the camera to focus, why would you call it AUTOfocus?
If the camera is supposed to autofocus by itself when taking still-pictures, what can I do to fix this problem?
Thanks.

Bump. [10 char]

you just misunderstand what means of AF. and it will still do AF even if you not tap the screen first, but will take the center for the focus point
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and every camera are similar in AF
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Your camera should focus automatically, if you are not getting the green box before after touching the shoot button, then there is some problem. You can try resetting your camera settings, and post back the result here.

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A

Okay, my bad. I have completely misunderstood the meaning of AF. After owning a HTC Desire with AF, which did continuous AF before taking the picture, I thought AF meant that the camera focused by itself before taking a picture or tapping the screen.

Related

Maybe figured out the freezing camera - need testers for workaround

Ok, I think I might have figured out under what conditions the camera is freezing.
When the camera is started in portrait mode, the first shot will freeze, at least on my camera. That means when you use the camera icon on the unlock screen, it will freeze.
I tried these different scenarios, followed by a reboot each time (not temp-rooted on any of these):
Device portrait, used camera icon to on lockscreen unlock - camera freezes first picture
Device landscape, used camera icon on lockscreen to unlock - 5 quick pictures in a row no problem
Device portrait, used camera button to start camera - camera freezes first picture
Device landscape, used camera button to start camera - 5 quick pictures in a row no problem
Note that even though the lockscreen doesn't have a landscape orientation, the sensor knows the difference and it seems to affect the camera.
I have no idea why the starting orientation would affect the camera, but being careful to put your phone sideways before starting it up seems to prevent the freezing.
Anyone else with freezing camera issues want to give this a shot and report back?
I too had the camera freeze problem, formatted the card and issue went away. Not sure if this will help you or not.
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I also have a random freeze in the camera, maybe once every few days.
I tried the steps as described above and the camera opened and shot good pictures every time....
Sorry i couldnt help
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Wow. I'm having this issue too. It's freezing pretty often over here.
Is this a software issue or a hardware issue? I'm willing to exchange it (again) if it's the latter.
are there any updates to the camera issue? mine does it if i dont hold it the right way or mess with the 2d/3d switch....sucks....cmon htc release an update fix for this

[Q] Slow Camera

Hi all.
Recently I've noticed that it takes about 5 (!) seconds from the minute I press the camera button till the shot is actually being taken.
Anyone noticed it?
Someone knows a solution?
Are there any better alternatives to the stock camera app?
Thanks!
Has to do with the focus. It needs to focus to get a nice and sharp picture.
prodygee said:
Has to do with the focus. It needs to focus to get a nice and sharp picture.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But also when I set the focus to macro or face detection it takes a lot of time
Ive had this issue also. The shutter time is horrible. I have an app called tasker which allows me to change the amount of time it takes for the camera to take the picture once i press the button.
Thanks, Will try that
Unfortunately, tasker is like 6bucks, but well worth it. It does WAY more than just fix the shutter lag. As far as i know, there isnt an app to fix just the lag on the cam. I havent found one anyways..
Take your phone outside when it's bright. Take a shot. The focus and capture should be near instantaneous. If not, then it's a hardware fault and you should have your phone replaced.
If it works, then the reason your cam was slow is due to insufficient lighting. You can't expect any camera to focus and capture instantly in low-light environments. Maxing out the ISO setting will help with the shutter speed but you'll end up with disgusting noisy pictures.
How does Tasker fix the shutter lag???
I use fast burst camera app. It can take 5 pics in quick burst or just single shots. Photos are taken the instant you hit the button
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macdaddyau said:
I use fast burst camera app. It can take 5 pics in quick burst or just single shots. Photos are taken the instant you hit the button
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Click to collapse
5 pics burst, the image size is disgustingly small from what I hear. But the single pic shot, is that full resolution?

[Q] manual focus

Is there a mod or an app to get manual focus? I could really use this when taking photos. Auto focus is good to an extent, but when I need something close I watch it go from a perfect focus to blurry and it's really annoying
I second this.
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You know we have a two-stage camera button, right? Half way down focuses, all the way down takes the picture. So just get up close to your subject, half press, and then adjust your length to match the depth of field you're looking for.
I don't know of any apps that can hold the aperture at a fixed place though.
Like I said in my first post, I do that and watch as it focuses beautifully on the subject but then blurs it back out. Try it. Use the keys on your keyboard to take test shots and toy with it, it's quite annoying
It does have touch to focus as well...
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You just touch on your screen where or what you want your camera to focus on. You notice the grid will move. Then snap the pic. You can also turn off auto focus in the settings. Im pretty sure there is no actual manual focus mode.
The op is right, the camera auto focus is stupid on close up.
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phatmanxxl said:
You just touch on your screen where or what you want your camera to focus on. You notice the grid will move. Then snap the pic. You can also turn off auto focus in the settings. Im pretty sure there is no actual manual focus mode.
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Click to collapse
Have you ever actual done those things when trying to take a photo close up? Because I have and guess what, it does the EXACT same thing as pressing the shutter button and without auto focus on, it still focuses
Yea agrees with op. Sometimes you get lucky but usually touch focus and half pressing the shutter button will focus then before it takes the picture it will lost its focus
sent from a double barreled shooter

Camera shutter lag: is that only me!?

Hi all, I've recently become tha proud father of a wonderful little lady D) and that's a crucial info to understand the fllowing question:
is that only me experiencing camera shutter lag?
I mean, I cannot ask my son to freeze when taking picture of her and now I see that there's about 1 or maybe 1.5 second lag when hitting the shutter button before the picture is taken. This leads to many blurry pictures! Annoying indeed!!!
Having bought the phone a month before my son was born, I didn't notice this problem at the beginning.
Is anyone else experiencing this problem? I could find any post dealing with it!
Thanks in advance
That's not lag, that's due to focus taking time to adjust. You have to hold the camera button first to lock the focus, the view pointer will turn green, then you need to press it again to take photo.
And turn on Anti-Shake option under Settings.
BTW- Congratulations for becoming dad. Post a photo of your little angel if you can.
Regards.
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ithehappy said:
That's not lag, that's due to focus taking time to adjust. You have to hold the shutter first to lock the focus, the focus box will turn green, then you need to press it again to take photo.
And turn on Anti-Shake option under Settings.
BTW- Congratulations for becoming dad. Post a photo of your little angel if you can.
Regards.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for your reply and even more for your congratulations!
MAybe I was not that clear, my fault, of course first of all I tap to focus and only when the box turns green I press the shutter button. Anyway, there's 1 second (sometimes a little more) before the picture is taken!
That is the lag I'm talking about.
Just to be crystal clear: I own an iPhone 4 and there's absolutely no lag when I press the shutter button, even if I don't get the focus first!
Now I get your point, but I think its normal. I think it also depends on the ISO settings, higher the ISO is faster the photo taking time and vice versa. Maybe when you have lag, you are shooting at night or low light conditions. Try to set the ISO at a higher level and see if the problem persists.
Regards.
ithehappy said:
Now I get your point, but I think its normal. I think it also depends on the ISO settings, higher the ISO is faster the photo taking time and vice versa. Maybe when you have lag, you are shooting at night or low light conditions. Try to set the ISO at a higher level and see if the problem persists.
Regards.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give it a try.
Anyway, it would be better to have such a setting automatically, without having to set everytime the camera manually!
Don't you think so?
Aratheba said:
Thanks, I'll give it a try.
Anyway, it would be better to have such a setting automatically, without having to set everytime the camera manually!
Don't you think so?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is an automatic setting, but it is set up to take the best quality picture, not the quickest. i would suggest changing it to sports mode on the scene settings.

Camera exposure

Hello everybody
I found exposure slider in camera setting has no effect on viewfinder and also on resulted media . Weather was still camera or video.
Any one confirm this or else?
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BAlfa said:
Hello everybody
I found exposure slider in camera setting has no effect on viewfinder and also on resulted media . Weather was still camera or video.
Any one confirm this or else?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exact same problem, from both front and back cameras. Same in third party camera apps, exposure controls simply do not function as expected, no change at all. HDR picture mode seems to work fine though.
Not a serious enough problem for me to RMA, but it is a small dent in the glory of the S3 for sure..
Sjaakbanaan said:
I have the exact same problem, from both front and back cameras. Same in third party camera apps, exposure controls simply do not function as expected, no change at all. HDR picture mode seems to work fine though.
Not a serious enough problem for me to RMA, but it is a small dent in the glory of the S3 for sure..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also had this issue and was deeply disappointed, because my optimus 2x made much better shots in low light because of the exposure compensation.
I found the solution today: I used the hidden camera menu *#34971539# and discovered that my camera was ZDFE02 and the phone firmware was ZDFE03. If your phone to cam button is greyed out, do this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=32721917
After copying the file to internal SD, restart, then update and restart. You get new cam firmware and now the exposure works.

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