Camera won't focus unless I shake the phone.

[AC Question]

Hi, my phone has been working perfectly for a year and then yesterday it stopped focusing when I am trying to take a picture with the main camera (the selfie camera works fine still). Shaking the phone then focuses the camera. After searching the internet several people say that it is optical image stabilisation and I should turn it off but I can't find an option for that. I have turned off the phone, cleared the phone cache and data but the situation is still the same. Can anyone help?

 

[belodion]

All I can say is that the OIS on the Nokia Lumia 1020 cannot be turned off, and I expect it's the same on your phone, whatever it is.

 

[nahoku]

I think most phones only have OIS for video. Still, since both video and still photos use the same camera module, you might try turning off the video OIS... or turning it on... or on/off... or off/on... to see if it helps any. What you could do is "exercise" the camera module by shooting some video with the OIS on. It might loosen the module up somewhat so that when you're taking pictures, the lens behaves itself. Be sure to move the phone around while shooting video so the module will try to compensate and move.