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Is your camera locking up (No pre-view picture)?

Is your camera locking up (No pre-view picture)?
When I select the camera icon, I see the camera menu in the lower part of the screen and I can even take pictures, however I see a black image instead of the pre-view photo on the screen. This issue goes away by soft resetting the phone; however it usually comes back after few days and the only way to see the pre-view image is by resetting the phone. The strange part is that the camera can actually take pictures but I cannot see the photo before taking it. Have you heard of this issue? The phone works just fine otherwise and I like it a lot.
Thanks,

z_zk_z said:
Is your camera locking up (No pre-view picture)?
When I select the camera icon, I see the camera menu in the lower part of the screen and I can even take pictures, however I see a black image instead of the pre-view photo on the screen. This issue goes away by soft resetting the phone; however it usually comes back after few days and the only way to see the pre-view image is by resetting the phone. The strange part is that the camera can actually take pictures but I cannot see the photo before taking it. Have you heard of this issue? The phone works just fine otherwise and I like it a lot.
Thanks,
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Are you running stock?
I can't speak for whatever potential issues might be caused by any of the custom roms in circulation, but on a stock phone, obviously it shouldn't be doing that.
I can't imagine what hardware issue would produce intermittent preview-ability that's temporarily remedied by a soft reset, yet still manages to capture the photo itself, but there's a first time for everything.
Sent from my Inspire using XDA Premium

My stock camera application (and Camera360) and camcorder applications both exhibit this behavior. A soft-reset of the device usually temporarily resolves the issue (i.e. allows me to use the camera for a short period of time). However, after my phone has been on for a while any app that uses the camera just locks up (eventually have to force close or soft-reset).
It is rather annoying. The only information I found seems to indicate that there may be an issue with the API within FroYo itself. Hopefully when we get the update to GingerBread the problem will resolve itself.
I also read something else about something to do with an LED widget that caused someone problems but I'm not using any LED widgets, so I'm not sure what that's referring to.
Hopefully there's a fix out there somewhere or we get the 2.3 update soonish.

ryguy25 said:
My stock camera application (and Camera360) and camcorder applications both exhibit this behavior. A soft-reset of the device usually temporarily resolves the issue (i.e. allows me to use the camera for a short period of time). However, after my phone has been on for a while any app that uses the camera just locks up (eventually have to force close or soft-reset).
It is rather annoying. The only information I found seems to indicate that there may be an issue with the API within FroYo itself. Hopefully when we get the update to GingerBread the problem will resolve itself.
I also read something else about something to do with an LED widget that caused someone problems but I'm not using any LED widgets, so I'm not sure what that's referring to.
Hopefully there's a fix out there somewhere or we get the 2.3 update soonish.
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Hmmm...
This is the first thread I've come across that brings up this problem.
My stock (rooted) phone, my mom's stock phone, and my dad's stock phone have never encountered an issue like this, but then again, maybe we were the three lucky ones...
EDIT:
That's not to say you guys are crazy... maybe we just haven't had the right combo of circumstances to expose the problem/bug on our phones.
Now that I think more about it, I did have an issue when I ran barcode scanner once, about a month ago. That of course uses the camera. As soon as it identified the barcode, and I pressed the 'search web' button, it just froze (image still visible), but the back key/screen input was unresponsive. The only thing that worked was the home button, which, instead of going to the home screen, displayed the screen you see when you are about to end a call with someone on your phone. Thing is, I hadn't made a single call that day. That screen was also unresponsive, but when I pushed the home button again, it finally got to the home screen.
I then went into manage apps in settings and FC'd barcode scanner and the dialer/phone, just in case. I even uninstalled barcode scanner because I thought it might have a phone-specific bug that I didn't want to deal with.
I don't know if there's any correlation between the yours/OP's issue, but it sounds like it's ****ed up in a similar way. FWIW.
Sent from my Inspire using XDA Premium

I think I managed to fix mine by wiping my dalvik cache. On the downside, my current drain used to be around 5 when my phone was in standby and now it is around 45. On the upside, I haven't had a problem with the camera or camcorder since then.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Mine ended up being a hardware issue. Phone was exchanged with at&t. Haven't had an issue with the camera since.
Just wanted to update for the OP.
Sent from my Inspire using XDA App

Stock Camera APK

Is anyone having problems with the camera app being blacked out when trying to use it? This latest time I experienced this I tried another camera app and it was also all black when I tried to use it, but previously I was able to use the other camera apk while the stock one didn't show anything /:
Just to clarify what I mean by blacked out is that it looks like someone is holding their finger over the lens when trying to take a picture.
Usually a reboot solves the proble, but that's kind of annoying plus my phone tends to resend messages after a reboot for some reason.

I have noticed that the camera doesn't work while media scanner is running. This has happened to me a few times.
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

Camera app won't start from home screen.

I'm having an issue (sometimes), when I tap on camera icon at home screen the camera app flashes for a moment and I'm back on home screen. I've tried many times tapping on the icon nonstop, it just quits instantly.
But when I start camera app from all programs list or lock screen, it always starts fine.
Anyone experienced this?
What could cause this?

i had the same problem the other day .. my camera app would not open! it just did exactly what you described .. i even closed all the recent apps to see if it was low memory.. it still didn't work.. but a simple restart of the phone cured it ... not really sure what happened but hasn't happened again yet knock on wood

Shuthefrontdoor said:
i had the same problem the other day .. my camera app would not open! it just did exactly what you described .. i even closed all the recent apps to see if it was low memory.. it still didn't work.. but a simple restart of the phone cured it ... not really sure what happened but hasn't happened again yet knock on wood
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Same thing happened to me and i also restarted my phone. Hasn't happened since.

I got it once, haven't had it again.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

its probably just android being android .. hahaha no but seriously .. prob just a memory glitch or something

Reboot usually cure most bugs for while, but with this particular one it's interesting, that camera would start if started from lock screen or all apps list after it wouldn't start from home screen. Once it started it then starts fine frome homescreen too.
Very strange.

So yea the camera been acting up a lot lately ... It has happened 3 more times since I last posted on this thread..I have to reboot for it to start working again ... Its soon annoying!!! I missed the moments I needed to capture a pic because of it!! Not sure what the culprit is

Just remove it from your dock and place back...that is alot easier than rebooting and should work fine.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

My girlfriend's camera app wouldn't start from the home screen or the app menu. I had to connect it to my computer and rename the DCIM folder and reboot the phone before it worked again.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

Upgraded to ruu 1.85 - still same problem.

Same issue here. I will try and open the camera app up and it immediately crashes. It doesn't even really open, it just flashes the camera buttons and goes back to the home screen. It has happened to me at least 10 times since I've purchased the phone.
Restart is the only thing that alleviates the issue. Any ideas? Let's keep this going because it is pretty annoying to have to restart the phone just to use the camera.

Neil1138 said:
Same issue here. I will try and open the camera app up and it immediately crashes. It doesn't even really open, it just flashes the camera buttons and goes back to the home screen. It has happened to me at least 10 times since I've purchased the phone.
Restart is the only thing that alleviates the issue. Any ideas? Let's keep this going because it is pretty annoying to have to restart the phone just to use the camera.
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But when this happens, have you tried any of these:
1) open app list (middle soft button) and then start the camera from home screen
2) start camera from app list
3) lock the phone with power button, and drag camera icon to the unlock circle.
For me either of the above fix the problem, never had to do reboot...

I posed this in a similar thread in the general section, here is a video of it happening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4hDD-hMiF0
Moving out of the dock had no effect, Instagram can still use the camera hardware, but the stock camera app cannot, i wonder if it has ties with the image sense chip and is on all the time and crashes due to something....
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

I'm also getting this problem. It only happened once in a while at first but has now gradually gotten worse and worse. Now I can't take any pictures with my One X. Even rebooting the phone doesn't fix it. It's funny that the Instagram camera still works perfectly fine though.
See my thread here...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1722627

Problems with Google Goggles and the N5 camera

I have tried Google Goggles with my Nexus 5.
If I want to take a picture (Barcode, QR-Code, etc.), camera screen changes between dark and bright again and again before I ever touch the screen to shoot or focus.
The resulting picture is always too dark to analyse.
If I open the stock Kitkat camera app simultanesously, the screen is black and all you can see is the blue button. When Goggles is closed, the app works normal.
I was able to try another Nexus 5. Same problem.
Can anyone confirm this (so hopefully Goggles app issue) or is this probably a hardware issue?

Exact same issue here.

Same here
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Ginu said:
I have tried Google Goggles with my Nexus 5.
If I want to take a picture (Barcode, QR-Code, etc.), camera screen changes between dark and bright again and again before I ever touch the screen to shoot or focus.
The resulting picture is always too dark to analyse.
If I open the stock Kitkat camera app simultanesously, the screen is black and all you can see is the blue button. When Goggles is closed, the app works normal.
I was able to try another Nexus 5. Same problem.
Can anyone confirm this (so hopefully Goggles app issue) or is this probably a hardware issue?
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Same Here!

Here too.

Me too.
- Tim

Related threads
looks like it is related to this
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=61873
and this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2514982
I am getting the same things

[Q] Help, significant lag after update to the latest google camera

Hi folks, it seems to be a rare issue but it is drving me crazy every time I use the camera.
I am on stock not rooted kitkat 4.4.2, the issue is only seen after update the google camera to the latest version with the new ui change.
Now every time I launch the camera app, the phone could hang up for 1 to 3 seconds without doing anything (low possibility). There is a guarantee (100%) that the phone will lag for more than 2 seconds when I take the first two photos in normal mode (the screen just freeze at the time when the photo swiping animation takes place after hit the capture button). Also, it is very often to see the similar lag when I browse the recent photos in the camera app.
I tried to reinstall the latest update; clear the app data + cache, but neither works for me. Now I just go back to the old camera, all the freezes/lags are gone!
Please can anyone suggest some possible solutions? I really like the new camera ui. Thanks!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

My new camera app is pretty buggy too actually, random freezes, etc...
I think it'll get better with time.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app