What would cause an app to take a grainy picture when the camera works fine otherwise?

[Mister_Bill]

This is probably not the right place to post this as it's too specific (and the problem is not likely specific to the phone), but what would cause an app to take a poor quality grainy picture on my Incredible 2? It's a mobile banking app, I am using the mobile check deposit portion. The camera has no problem with normal pictures, and other mobile deposit apps work fine. The bank is going to report this to the company that developed the app for them but if I could get some ideas it would be helpful. It is NOT turning on the flash when needed, although when I tried another bank's app it did turn on the flash. However, the problem exists even in well lit areas where the flash is not needed. I tried resetting the camera settings, and uninstalling and reinstalling the app but nothing changes. I did have some crashes in this app but I assume that having uninstalled it and reinstalled it, any settings would have been wiped out.

 

[anon(94115)]

the app could conceivably be designed to take low res images (to meet the lowest possible standards)

 

[Mister_Bill]

the app could conceivably be designed to take low res images (to meet the lowest possible standards)

Thanks.. they claim that they have not seen this problem with other customers so I tend to doubt they are taking low res images.

I tried setting the resolution to 3m but there was no change. Clearly the app controls how the phone operates since with the Chase app, the flash goes off when needed and it does not with this one. I was going to post on the xda-developers site, but I could not find an obvious place and it seems like they do not want newbies posting there. While I have a technical background, I know next to nothing about programming Android apps. Is there a better place here that is not phone specific?

 

[anon(94115)]

I do not know if this will work, but try this. Download something like HDR camera from the market, disable the stock camera, then try and take a picture with the app. If it is still messed up, then it is the app. if it is fine, then it is the camera.

I could also suggest to you that you clear the cache and data from the app. maybe try an uninstall and reinstall. clear the data and cache from the camera.

I wouldnt know really where to post that at all except maybe you could find a forum for that particular app (longshot) or in the Inc2 Q&A forum on XDA. that would be your best bet, but it is still pretty long. Yes, they tend to be a bit abrasive over there just blow that stuff off and stay focused on an answer.

It is one of the things that makes AC great, we answer what we can without attitude or snobbery...

 

[Mister_Bill]

So thanks for the suggestion to use HDR. I tried that, and the bank app did not seem to like it, but it did look better before it hung/crashed. Anyway, I spoke to the guy at the bank who deals with mobile banking issues (he was out when I first had the problem). He suggested that I try touching the screen before taking the photo of the check to force it to focus. Apparently they were not doing this in the app . I tried that, and it seems to make it better, to the point or being readable. But it appears that they're shooting the photo in grayscale, so it still doesn't come out nearly as good as something like Chase, which shoots in color (and also utilizes the flash, if necessary). Hopefully he will get the developers to fix this bug and my problem will be resolved.

 

[anon(94115)]

Sometimes it is the little things...

I didnt even think of autofocus, I just assumed that the app supported it. glad it is a bit better

 

[Mister_Bill]

I was able to deposit a couple of checks successfully today. Bit of a pain to have to manually focus but at least it works.