I have a Sprint Note 4 bought from Best Buy last month in November. I had also thought it was the film around the rear facing camera causing blurry pictures, but it was actually a focusing issue. As others have mentioned, close up pictures are fine, but pictures taken 3-4 feet away start to become blurry and the the further away, the blurrier.
I do not have insurance on my phone with Sprint, but took it there anyway and the certified technician informed me that it is a focusing problem. He did a diagnostic test and the A/F feature failed. He assumed that meant auto focus. Sprint tech suggested that I call Samsung, explain my problem, and then they'll ask me to send in the phone. You get a one year warranty from Samsung.
What I did was call 1-888-987-4357, followed the prompts (keeping pressing 1, 0 did not automatically go to actual person). They're going to try to troubleshoot it with you over the phone but I told them, I have reset the camera settings to default, turned my phone on and off, reset my phone to factory settings and the problem still persists. I told them the rear facing camera does not work properly and my pictures still come out blurry.
They'll open a ticket number, email you a UPS shipping label, and you safely pack your phone and send it to them in Texas. It'll take 10 business days so you'll be without a phone, so I suggest having a back up phone to activate in the mean time. Make sure you keep the back cover, battery, stylus, and SD card if you inserted one. Also, you should reset the phone to factory settings as well since they'll be doing that anyway when you get your phone back.
I called and opened a ticket number on 12/15/14. Shipped my phone via UPS on 12/16/14. Samsung acknowledged receiving device on 12/18/14. As of today, 12/22/14, they emailed me saying:
"Please be advised that your Samsung service ticket [XXXXXXXXX] has been placed on a temporary hold due to an unavailable part.
As soon as the part becomes available, your device will be repaired and shipped promptly."
So it is an actual phone part issue. I was hoping they'll send my a new phone, but oh well.