Rear/main camera focus to infinity not work on LineageOS

[Jordi 72]

This is what I get, when doing something similar, everything is evenly blurred.

Note that the focus is correct for close-up objects.

[Longcat 34]

Hoping to balance the negativity in this thread, my F(x)tec Pro1 running LineageOS does not seem to have any camera issues regarding focus (see the attached sample I took today). Running LineageOS 18.1 (unofficial; 20210105), using a Google Camera version (though I forgot exactly which one).

[itchy355 23]

Yup, found the same issue, lineage 17 too. It tries to focus, actually hits the sweet spot for a fraction of a second - but then it focuses back a little. Annoying but good to hear it's software related.

[Jacob_S 128]

1 hour ago, itchy355 said:

Yup, found the same issue, lineage 17 too. It tries to focus, actually hits the sweet spot for a fraction of a second - but then it focuses back a little. Annoying but good to hear it's software related.

If you can manually focus for long distances (e.g. in Open Camera), which should be possible for you, as you seem to get a sharp image preview for a moment, then at least you are not hit by the bigger problem of not getting focus at all. Even though losing autofocus is also annoying, it is a different problem from what the original post is about. But as others described the same thing as you in here already, I guess it is now just a general thread for camera bugs in LineageOS ;)

[Chibz 2]

Was this problem solved in unofficial LineageOS 18.1?

[Rob. S. 1,634]

3 hours ago, Chibz said:

Was this problem solved in unofficial LineageOS 18.1?

I'm still not sure what kind of problem this actually is, as my device, just like the ones of a few others, doesn't seem to exhibit this problem at all. No problem auto-focusing to infinity, whether with the Lineage 17.1 default camera app or something like the 'Manual Cam' app I'm normally using (despite the word 'manual', everything's automatic there, too, until I switch it off).

[__fastcall 97]

Hey,

just flashed Lineage 18 and it's as bad as before. I can't make a real clear picture with the phone at all. The edges are all just blurred. I begin to wonder if it's a hardware issue. Auto Focus is barely doing anything useful and manually focusing (With OpenCamera) also never gets me a sharp photo.

Never tried the stock rom as everyone said not to bother with it.

I'm going to shoot the support a message. I've waited a year patiently in hopes of a solution. Maybe it helps to bring up awareness again.

Front camera works fine, it's just the back camera. Maybe the phone fell too hard on something and broke the camera?

I just want to make some pictures.. 😄

Attached a photo, this is basically the best I could get out of the phone today..

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by __fastcall

[VaZso 1,997]

27 minutes ago, __fastcall said:

Never tried the stock rom as everyone said not to bother with it.

If it is possible for you, I would try to temporarily install stock OS and test the camera there.
That would give a real answer if it is a hardware failure or not.

It was not clear for me if camera quality is generally good under LineageOS or not and if it isn't, GCam port helps or not...

[__fastcall 97]

3 minutes ago, VaZso said:

If it is possible for you, I would try to temporarily install stock OS and test the camera there.
That would give a real answer if it is a hardware failure or not.

It was not clear for me if camera quality is generally good under LineageOS or not and if it isn't, GCam port helps or not...

I really would rather not to as I don't want to lose my configuration/apps and do the whole setup again. Or is it possible to basically copy the whole harddisk and revert later on?

I had better results with these GCam ports, but I usually made photos outside. They seem to be much sharper. I was shocked to find out that close objects seem to be blurred completely..

[Rob. S. 1,634]

16 hours ago, __fastcall said:

Attached a photo, this is basically the best I could get out of the phone today..

Surely looks like a defective camera to me. There's no way a phone camera with its huge depth of field could render one corner halfway sharp (bottom right) while blurring the rest of the image if there wasn't something bent out of shape in it.

[claude0001 1,271]

21 hours ago, __fastcall said:

Attached a photo, this is basically the best I could get out of the phone today..

Looking at your picture, I notice that the lower right corner is actually sharp: that wall socket seems to be quite nicely in focus. The rest of the picture obviously isn't -- even though there are many objects at roughly the same distance from the lens than the wall socket.

Also the upper half of the shelf exhibits some very strange ("wavy") perspective distortion.

This looks like an optical problem. Like a misalignment between lens and sensor or so. Sadly, I do not think this can be corrected for in software. @Jacob_S posted similarly distorted pictures earlier in this thread. Maybe they have found out more about the problem by now ...

Edit: Just realised @Rob. S. have come to the same conclusion about your picture. I can only agree with them.

Edited April 5, 2021 by claude0001

[Jacob_S 128]

Unfortunately I cannot tell anything new. My phone has been at F(x)tec for about a month now and I expect it to still be there for a while.

[__fastcall 97]

I've messaged FxTec and they told me I have no warranty whatsoever because the phone fell a few times. Understandably so. Yet, the bad focus was already there after receiving the phone. I've thought it's just the common issue almost everyone had. So that still leaves me with some mixed feelings. Granted, the focus got worse over time.

Next time however, I will buy a phone that is less slippery.

They told me the repair will cost £79 GBP, including hardware and shipping. I'll try to get the hardware alone from them and repair it by myself as Ive expected it will take so long to repair.

Edited May 30, 2021 by __fastcall

[raymo 171]

Hello,
My phone felt and I have a big scratch in metal near the glass of the camera. Pictures are completly blurry.

It look like a misalignment, but It looks better when I press the glass and then I tap a little the phone near the camera objective, I suspect an internal problem with fixation maybe I can fix this, I will try by myself using this teardown.

https://github.com/gelraen/fxtec-pro1-teardown

It could be not so dramatic, I will give it a try and see what happens internally.

I will post results here as I find time to try this quietly.
 

[raymo 171]

Ok it works,

I have just pushed up the camera slice out (picture 62, page 20 in Service Manual V1.0)

What I see the camera objective was moving in all directions, I put it back with a small needle or so.

Using FV5 camera app (free) I put back objective in place until no blurry pictures.

Then I made a very thin washer who cover objective to stabilize it between transparent-plastic-glass cover (the term is "slice" in service manual, is this correct ?), and I take the slice back in place.

The result is (for now) very good, and it seems pictures are better because I had the focus problem in long distance, and it appears no more...good surprise.

I will try in next days, and we will see if it's a long-time solution. What is cool is that you don't need to disassemble all parts, just this tiny plastic-glass with a small blade and you should warm a little around with a torch (carefully and taking care of flash), it goes easily.

[Rob. S. 1,634]

Sounds good!

4 hours ago, raymo said:

I have just pushed up the camera slice out (picture 62, page 20 in Service Manual V1.0)

Where can I get that Service Manual?

[raymo 171]

...Can't find it anymore on this forum, but sure he's somewhere, so...😄

https://mon-partage.fr/f/hCdI248L/

(link to Pro1's Service Manual v1.0)

 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by raymo
*precision, and my bad english...

[raymo 171]

Then I play a little with camera, I think the tricks is good, but maybe not for stabiliser.

Anyway it makes good picture, but now you have to be very stable, so a picture taken with phone against a door or a table is perfect, but just with one hand, it's a little blurry...
This make sense as the objective is equiped with stabiliser, and has now more limits of movement.  

Also it could be that problem with long range focus comes from stabiliser...I will investiguate this.  

[raymo 171]

Hello,
Using gelraen teardown I disassemble my Pro1. I remove dust and (thanks to @DieBruine) screw down with loctite all what I see with abnormally operating clearance.
I play a little with cameras stabilizer, everything looks normal. (My phone felt 2,50 m a month ago, and I only had VERY blurry pictures).

I reassemble, and test. Oh, pictures look blurry (a little). Then I disassemble the cameras plastic-glass behind, play a little with cameras stabilizer, reassemble glass. (see attached picture from service manual)

Surprise ! This camera works perfect, I can now taking pictures with greatest zoom and infinite camera focus, pictures are perfect. Better as it was with the first trick (see my post above)

This could be a stabilizer problem, it's a quite sensitive mechanism, I've just tickle it a little and it works perfectly.
Now, we will see how long, I guess a little shock and it will be blurry again... (You don't have to be very patient, it comes quiclky with me.)

And note that I had a little blurry pictures with my first Pro1, like with the new one when he felt. I had same problem as in posts above, and no infinite focus was working.

I hope this could help someone, maybe a new idea comes in order to improve this.
 

[Jordi 72]

Congratulations @raymo for your findings. I suspect now that a hardware is the most probable cause of my camera problems (not focusing far objects).

Before I try to what you did, I would like to be sure I can replace it if I mess with it. Do we know which camera is installed, can we order it somewhere?

[raymo 171]

Well the camera is Sony IMX363,
but I don't think it's so easy replacing camera, as you can see in service manual, you have to disassemble the phone quite in complete (with de-soldering and other tricky things.

And I think it will be difficult finding a spare camera by Sony, or you should take it from an other phone.

In fact my advice is :
- remove the plastic-glass behind
-camera is a dual-lens rear shooter that combines a 12MP lens with a 5MP one. Try to move a little the 12MP (the big one, the small one doen't move), carefully.

For what I see, stabilizer is a very small mechanismus full of spring, and moving objective around a little suddenly make picture better.

-I used camera FV5 (free), in LOS the camera app is not so good, and FV5 takes in basic settings full-brightness on screen, wich make test easier.

 

Defect stabilizer, dust, I don't know what happens but with so little spring...it could be a mechanic problem.
I test it for two days, for now my camera is perfect.

[EskeRahn 5,399]

1 hour ago, raymo said:

For what I see, stabilizer is a very small mechanismus full of spring, and moving objective around a little suddenly make picture better.

As far as I know there are no OIS in the setup, so it must be the focus mechanism you are 'poking', so if it for some reason got stuck or had some dirt preventing its movement it does make sense that poking it might help it move freely again.

[auvo.salmi 135]

I tried this just out of curiosity. Removed the camera slice and tried poking the 12MP camera lens around, but unlike raymo, I didn't recognize any effect on camera autofocus or pic quality. Or, to be honest, the picture quality got a little bit better as soon as I removed the [old and scratched] camera slice, but turned back ugly when I installed it back. However, the camera's ability to autofocus didn't change.

[raymo 171]

hmm...... just an idea...

Did you try a little nervous shock with a piece of wood or something ? In my case it was a bit ...violent (not so hard, but really a schock, be very speed and precise) the first time I tryied it. I used a wood mallet on the aluminium's back cover, (no panic as my phone felt from 2,50m...)

If your picture is on the same 1 second after 3 or 4 shocks, then stopping this will be a great idea. If not in my opinion you have a chance : I tightened a few screen with loose along motherboard when re-assembling, that's why I asked me if this could finally not be the issue, since this I have no more camera issue. Disassembling, screwing and re-assembling, (it's not so difficult) should also be a safe option.

[EskeRahn 5,399]

6 hours ago, raymo said:

Disassembling, screwing and re-assembling, (it's not so difficult) should also be a safe option.

This sounds like a much better idea.

Hidding yourself in the head with a mallet to get rid of a headache is not recommended either,
though you might be lucky that it works...