Note 4 Distance Focus

[Sean Curtiss]

Hi All,

Maybe someone can help me. I got my wife's old Note 4 and gave her a new Note 5. I still have her old Galaxy S5 with me. My main problem is taking pictures with my Note 4. Close-up shots are great but I can't manage to take long distance shots that are crisp and clear. Just to clarify things up:

1. There's no case.

2. There's no protective film covering the camera lens

3. The camera has factory settings.

4. There are no damaged parts (it didn't fell on the ground, etc.)

So I did a comparison shot using S5 and Note 4. The S5 has the same characteristics described above. What I did was point and click. No tapping on the screen to get a proper focus. Metering Mode was set to Center-Weighted. The result was a crisp and clear shot, with no blurry edges.

The same thing was done with Note 4. I tried all metering modes and the "best" result I got was with the Matrix mode. Without tapping the screen to get a proper focus everything comes out blurry. Tapping the center screen gives me a somewhat clear center but the edges are blurry. I took me almost 10 minutes just to get this image.

So what am I doing wrong?
Cheers,

 

[nahoku]

The Note 4 lens look like it's off. If the lens is put together like most digital lenses, then the alignment is off on the lens itself. This is why it's really blurry on the right side. I've seen this with several Mobius cameras and other small video cameras, but these can be adjusted, somewhat. The lens on the Note 4 can't. You may need a new lens module. Unfortunately, big time repair job for such a small part. What you might do is shoot some video with image stabilization on so the lens will be shaken a little bit. Perhaps it'll vibrate and fix itself.

If the phone is under warranty, this is a defect that might be covered. Contact Samsung, or your carrier to see what they say.

 

[KahneFan]

My phone originally took good pics all the time. However, for a few months now I've noticed it a pain to try to get it to focus near or far for some reason. I'll clean the lens and sensors and sometimes that will help, but many times it simply will not give me a clear picture. Now that I think back, it (may) have happened after going to 5.1.1 - but I cannot confirm that.

 

[Sean Curtiss]

Hi All,

nahoku: I tried your suggestion but unfortunately it didn't work. The phone is at least 2 years old and I doubt the carrier or even the local Samsung store would know the answer. In fact, they know how to sell but when you ask specific questions they don't know the answers.

Cheers,

 

[Sean Curtiss]

Hi All,

Here is on more bit of information. The interesting thing is that when there's a closer object to the shot (the structure in the lower part) the background gets crisp and clear.

Cheers,

PS.: I can't post links to show what I want because I don't have 10 or more posts.

 

[Sean Curtiss]

So, if you can dearly use your imagination:

Taken with Note 4 (Matrix mode and one tap to focus). I just lowered the phone to capture more information and everything looks good with no blurry edges. It took 3 shots to get what I wanted.

Taken with S5 (Center-Weighted mode and no tap to focus). The same photo. It took only a shot to get what I wanted.

I'm beginning to think this is one of those unsolvable problems that you just have to live with it. The unfortunate thing is that when you take pictures you capture a specific moment in time and you may lose that by wasting precious time trying to focus on something.

Cheers,

 

[muzzy996]

The thing is, it's hard to evaluate your problem with the sample images you posted because 80% of it is sky which has no detail in it anyway. If it were me troubleshooting I'd photograph lens resolution targets taped to a wall or a brick wall that has lots of contrast/detail to see what's going on at different parts of the captured image shot at different distances. Be precise and have the target/wall perfectly perpendicular to the camera.

It would appear as though the second image in your original post has edge to edge sharpness issues that aren't uniform (the bottom right corner is blurry, everything else looks fine) which points towards a hardware issue. If it were the Note 4's camera in general then a couple things - 1) everyone would be complaining about edge sharpness and 2) you'd probably see it on all corners.

IMO if uneven edge to edge sharpness is a problem on your particular Note 4 and it's consistent and repeatable then it's definitely hardware and the only resolution is a new camera module, plain and simple.

 

[nahoku]

I really think it's the lens alignment. The camera is nothing more than a pinhole camera so the lens is just fixed on a plane. If the plane is off, the result is a shot like the second photo... blurry on one side. Here's a couple of mobius photos. They aren't exactly framed the same, but you can see how blurry the right side is. I had to shim the lens to correct it.


View attachment 216309
Blurry right side

View attachment 216310
Shimmed left side

I don't think the problem is "unsolvable", but rather just that the solution is very expensive and might not be worth it.

 

[muzzy996]

Agree that it's likely lens alignment too. As for your sample shots, I assume you mean the Mobius Action Camera which I would imagine has a larger camera assembly than the Note 4 does. Not sure if the assembly in the Note 4 is easily serviceable as opposed to being constructed as just a throw away part; the fact that it costs $20 on Amazon suggest its better to just throw away the old one and put in a new one. Problem is, to replace the module the display panel has to come off since there's cable routing issues associated with the camera's replacement. So yeah . . that's where the cost and risk comes in.

 

[nahoku]

Yes, it is the Mobius action cam. Great camera for the price. The lens is larger and easily accessible. What I meant by expensive is not so much the Note 4 lens itself, but the fact that most people are unwilling to do the repair themselves and will send it to a shop or Samsung. The phone has to be stripped in order to access the camera connector, which means the screen has to be removed. Not a small task and quite risky.

 

[silenteffectsllc]

I've been debating doing this since my lens was broken in a car accident. The camera still works but picture quality is degrading as stuff gets into the camera Phones getting old though, maybe it's time to give it a shot to give it a last good run.

 

[nahoku]

I've been debating doing this since my lens was broken in a car accident. The camera still works but picture quality is degrading as stuff gets into the camera Phones getting old though, maybe it's time to give it a shot to give it a last good run.

Are you talking about the outside glass being broken or the camera lens itself. The outside glass is easy to replace... the frame and glass are merely held on by double-sided tape. Here's a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcTczEUVAGM

Before putting the new glass on, just use compressed air to "gently" blow whatever junk is inside the lens area.

 

[Sean Curtiss]

Hi All,

Here is on more bit of information. The interesting thing is that when there's a closer object to the shot (the structure in the lower part) the background gets crisp and clear.

Taken with Samsung Note 4 (Matrix mode and one tap to focus). I just lowered the phone to capture more information and everything looks good with no blurry edges. It took 3 shots to get what I wanted.

​

Taken with Samsung S5 (Center-Weighted mode and no tap to focus). The same photo. It took only a shot to get what I wanted.

​

Cheers,

 

[Sean Curtiss]

I searched some forums to see if the fault was on me. When I didn't find a satisfying answer I came to the conclusion that maybe it was since these last images shows something more crisp and clear. A bit of blurriness here and there doesn't bother me. I don't expect any phone camera to take professional pictures. I just want to point and tap to and get a satisfying result in the end.

Cheers,