This has been bugging me for ages. My FP1 camera has difficulties focusing on an object if it is close and the luminosity or contrast on the object are low. It tries focusing on the object, but it just clicks and “drops” back to the original focus (imagine a bad lid that you screw on a jar/bottle, until it “snaps” and goes back to the original position). It makes it really difficult to take photos most of the times I use the camera.
I noticed that there is a tiny bit of circle of dust (really faint) inside the camera cover, probably from previous condensation. I was going to open it and clean it, but I was wondering if others have had this issue before?
I am opening this topic as a linked topic to the one that was closed. The only answer that was given to me did not help, I cleaned thoroughly the lens and the camera glass (inside and outside), and the issue is exactly the same. I don’t see any mention of the “clicking” issue in the other linked topics.
I assume I need to replace the camera unit, if no one can confirm that they have their camera click when it “gives up” on focusing.
I can confirm the clicking is normal behavior and I guess difficulty focusing in dark surroundings is normal too.
Workaround: Don’t focus, just hit the shutter button. Photo will be as focused as you’d expect from a mediocre phone-camera in dark surroundings.
Or use Open Camera. It doesn’t have the annoying click and imo can focus better.
I disagree on the ability of OpenCamera to be able to focus better. I have the same behaviour as described above, regardless of the app I use.
I use OC all of the time, and my workaround in low light conditions is to access the camera settings (the dot icon), and switch focus settings. (Mostly, I switch to and fro between macro and normal autofocus. But I am often surprised that the macro mode fails on very short distance, and switching to normal autofocus does the trick…)
Thank you guys for the feedback. I won’t replace the camera then, and just accept that the camera is of very poor quality. However, I have the impression that it didn’t use to be this bad, when I got it. The clicking issue seems to have appeared fairly recently.
I agree that Open Camera does not help, the issue is the same for me. I do play around with the focus settings to see what works best, but I haven’t noticed much of a difference between settings.
My workaround is to focus (i.e. tap) on the part of the subject that shows the sharpest contrast (e.g. the edge of a shadow, or a very defined line between a bright zone and a darker one).
I’ve experienced this from the very beginning. My workaround: use Camera ZOOM Fx if the other apps fail. It seems to be able to focus better at documents etc.