Help Galaxy Nexus Camera: How to disable autofocus?

[wakeupdreaming]

First time caller, long time listener.

I searched the other threads, and, as this is a pretty specific issue, I decided to post here. If this issue has already been addressed, please point me to it? Thanks!

I have read a lot of complaints about the lack of sharpness to the images collected by the stock Galaxy camera/app.

I too am having problems getting sharp images. I have done many experiments and assure you that this is not an issue caused by shake magnification due to the use of the digital zoom ( which is surely the cause of many of the difficulties that users are experiencing), but is directly link to the inability to override the decidedly annoying autofocus "feature" of the GNex.

I compose my picture. I use the manual focus to focus on the area/detail I am interested in, *without* using any digital zoom. The green box of sharpness indicates that I am the Golden Child. Yay! Right?

Wrong. As soon as I take my finger from the screen, the autofocus jumps in and tries to "help", unfocusing the image, making for a fuzzy, useless mess.

To this point, a few questions, and then one tip regarding improving perceived image quality with this phone in the Gallery app.

Question 1: Does this happen to others, where the autofocus immediately overrides the manual focus? Is my phone jacked up?

Question 2: I have searched though all of the settings to disable to auto-focus and have found nothing. Does anyone know how to disable this function?

Question 3: Are there any camera apps that will allow me actually use the camera as it is intended, or am I doomed to sell this amazing machine because the engineers who designed it have clearly never used or designed a working camera phone before?

Question 4: Also, with my old Fascinate, I was able to activate the "shutter" by continuously pressing on the desired focus area on the screen. This does not seem to be the case with my phone. Known issue, or is my phone not working properly?

Question 5: The "image stabilization" is either really, really poor, or is not working. How do I verify that the IS function is operating properly?

PROTIP: The only images that I have taken that had any sharpness to them were through the 2MP camera. On preview, the images looked great, but then when I went to look at them in the gallery, there was something wrong.

I have found that, for some unknown reason, the auto-screen brightness interferes with viewing the images properly in the Gallery app. By turning off the auto-brightness and cranking up the screen to 75% or more, I was able to see a lot more of the details that I initially saw in the camera preview, but vanished in the Gallery.


Thanks for any help!

 

[Mahou86]

I too am wondering how to disable auto focus. If I take a picture of a far away object, it is fine, bu when I am trying to snap something up close, the focus always goes crazy.

 

[Shiznik]

I'be had the exact same experience for over a month. I'm constantly bitching about how consistently poor the picture quality from the GN is. I tried several tricks to control the focus but nothing improved the overall lack of crispness and image quality. And I also noticed that the front camera was able to focus clearly without any fuss.

Finally I had a breakthrough this weekend when I took my girlfriend's GN and snapped the exact same photos. Turns out I wasn't doing anything wrong at all, the versions from her camera with the same light and settings are perfectly clear (much like the Nexus S) in comparison. So the verdict is a hardware issue. I'm returning mine this week. Probably won't get a response regarding the actual issue but at least I won't have to keep carrying the supplemental Canon point and shoot. It's not the greatest solution, but at least you can alleviate the ongoing frustration...

 

[wakeupdreaming]

Hey there Shiznik-

thanks for the input. I too went down to my local verizon store and compared the demo Nexus Prime versus mine... and mine clearly (or, rather, unclearly) has issues. I will be returning mine and hopefully will get a good one. When mine first shipped from verizon, the bubble wrap had all deflated. I wonder if it got messed up from banging around?

Anyway, in my quest to find a working camera app, i tried vignette, which didnt work very well for me. I also tried 360, but I hated the interface.

 

[skiflyer]

Was going through some pics from my old DroidX and the new Nexus and am now even more disappointed in the Nexus pictures.

I know lots of people manage to get good pictures, but I'm just a point and click guy and want it to "just work". I grant people that the instant shutter is pretty neat - if I had a tripod and was taking action shots and it didn't still take a few seconds to load the camera app anyway. But since 0 of those conditions tend to be true when I'm using my camera I say boo.

That said, I stumbled on this when downloading the chrome beta - anyone try it? Looks simple and like the only change is exactly what's needed to get read of the autofocus/shake on tap problem: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.moblynx.cameraicsplus

There's a free version, haven't checked to see if it has the same features but will play around with it later and report back.

 

[Crashumbc]

I haven't used it but 4.04 is supposed to include a new "camera app"

 

[atrain311]

I haven't used it but 4.04 is supposed to include a new "camera app"

Any word on when 4.0 is gonna happen? Thanks!

 

[Mahou86]

4.0.4 is money with the camera update. You just hold down the shoot button and it auto focuses, let go to shoot. Much much better pictures now, rather than the autofocus in 4.0.2.

 

[skiflyer]

So I gave the free version of the camera ICS a whirl. It does have the same feature set, just ad supported.

Haven't tinkered enough to feel comfortable saying it takes better pictures, but since it's free I say go try for yourself!

 

[wakeupdreaming]

... and it works like it should. w00t!

If you have trouble getting your camera to focus, I really do recommend trying another "phone" and comparing the images. At least in my case, there was really a huge difference.

Thanks to all for your replies!

 

[nrhtx]

I got the Sprint Galaxy Nexus LTE in April from Sprint and when I realized the pictures were coming out bad it was to late for me to return it. I was so mad. I got rid of my EVO 4G phone which had a better camera and crystal clear pictures. I tried so many camera apps and the focus problem is driving me crazy. I am stock with a fast cool phone no LTE yet and the camera totally sucks. I do have the latest version 4.0.4. I hope Google and Samsung will send a fix. I took it to Sprint and all they can say wait for another update. I am still waiting.

NRHTX

 

[nmbs]

I have the opposite problem with my phone, it does not focus. I use shot control to take pictures. It has a focus feature where you can auto focus or not. I can take great pictures with it even with my messed up camera. The interface is a little different but once you get used to it it's pretty good.