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[Q] Nexus 5 Camera Focus Problem - Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey, I have the Nexus 5 and I have few troubles with it lately.
Since I've updated my phone to 4.4.2 I'm having problems with focusing my camera, the phone doesn't recognize the correct focus most of the time and the result is pretty aweful images, (The camera wont focus even when i touch the screen. The focus image goes off but it only changes the brightness).
I'm pretty sure that the problem is not with the firmware because rarely, I load the camera application and it captures great again, but the next time I load it the problem returns.
When Google annouced that the next update (4.4.3) will include camera bug fix, I figured out that I'm not alone with this problem. But even after the update I still have this problem.
A few shots that I took to show the problem:
1.
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2.
3.
Build Version:
2.2.024 (1195242-30)
Model Number:
Nexus 5
Android Version:
4.4.3
Baseband Version:
M8974A-2.0.50.1.13
Kernel Version:
3.4.0-gd59db4e
[email protected] #1
Mon Mar 17 15:16:36 PDT 2014
Build Number:
KTU84M

I have this problem now as well. I didn't have it on 4.4.2 but now that I upgraded to 4.4.3 I have it. My rear camera is now literally useless. The front facing camera is golden though.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Anyone else having this problem? I've seen multiple posts on the Google product forum about this, and seems like it has affected many people.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

dude
Carbajal3009 said:
I have this problem now as well. I didn't have it on 4.4.2 but now that I upgraded to 4.4.3 I have it. My rear camera is now literally useless. The front facing camera is golden though.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this problem is persistent, someone has found a solution?

Mx WaR HaBiB said:
this problem is persistent, someone has found a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Negative. I've googled it many times. Haven't found a fix. Searches on xda as well. Seems like nobody here in the nexus 5 community has it. ?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Mx WaR HaBiB said:
this problem is persistent, someone has found a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Carbajal3009 said:
Negative. I've googled it many times. Haven't found a fix. Searches on xda as well. Seems like nobody here in the nexus 5 community has it. ?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have y'all tried re-installing the app/clearing app data?

vin4yak said:
Have y'all tried re-installing the app/clearing app data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup yup. Cleared data..cache and still no go. Deleted and installed jishunas camera as well and no go. Also tried deleting the camera app and just downloading the google camera app as well. Still blurry no matter what. ?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Carbajal3009 said:
Yup yup. Cleared data..cache and still no go. Deleted and installed jishunas camera as well and no go. Also tried deleting the camera app and just downloading the google camera app as well. Still blurry no matter what. ?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, you had previously used his mod?? I've seen people messing up the camera app whilst uninstalling his mod because of different libs. Not sure if it was a coincidence.
Are you stock+rooted? If so, I would flash the system.img and re-root and see if it fixes it?? (assuming that you've installed the camera app as a system app)

vin4yak said:
Oh, you had previously used his mod?? I've seen people messing up the camera app whilst uninstalling his mod because of different libs. Not sure if it was a coincidence.
Are you stock+rooted? If so, I would flash the system.img and re-root and see if it fixes it?? (assuming that you've installed the camera app as a system app)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I never uninstalled HIS mod. I uninstalled the stock camera that came with a rom I flashed
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Carbajal3009 said:
No I never uninstalled HIS mod. I uninstalled the stock camera that came with a rom I flashed
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstall the mod. Uninstall any camera apk. Dirty flash the custom rom which you're using and then install the google camera from playstore again and see if it works now?
If it's still not working, Factory reset the device and start from scratch. Still having a problem? Might be a hardware issue??

vin4yak said:
Uninstall the mod. Uninstall any camera apk. Dirty flash the custom rom which you're using and then install the google camera from playstore again and see if it works now?
If it's still not working, Factory reset the device and start from scratch. Still having a problem? Might be a hardware issue??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just loaded stock ROM and did factory reset and still no go. Camera still blurry. How would it be a hardware issue? I was running 4.4.2 and the camera was working perfectly until I upgraded to 4.4.3 then the camera started being blurry
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Carbajal3009 said:
Just loaded stock ROM and did factory reset and still no go. Camera still blurry. How would it be a hardware issue? I was running 4.4.2 and the camera was working perfectly until I upgraded to 4.4.3 then the camera started being blurry
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Final thing I could suggest you is flashing the 4.4.3 factory images to get back to complete stock. If this doesn't fix it, I'm not sure what to suggest you anymore regarding this issue. AFAIK, after flashing the factory images, you have covered all bases from the software perspective, so it could be a hardware issue.

Hey guys just wanted to say that im the last couple days the camera magically started to take good shots again. It might be because of some silent patch or something because I didn't update anything.
Thanks for the help

theitay said:
Hey guys just wanted to say that im the last couple days the camera magically started to take good shots again. It might be because of some silent patch or something because I didn't update anything.
Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
theres no "silent patch". if you uninstalled any other app, they could of been affecting it. or, it couldve just been very bad lighting that you were using before. or, sometimes just rebooting, once or several times, fixes issues.

simms22 said:
theres no "silent patch". if you uninstalled any other app, they could of been affecting it. or, it couldve just been very bad lighting that you were using before. or, sometimes just rebooting, once or several times, fixes issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None of above. In the past 3 months I rebooted many times, and factory reseted twice in order to fix this problem. I don't really know what changed but I'm just glad that it's working again

Temp fix (not good but works for now) & suggested permanent fix
First - I take no responsibility for you trying these things. You could break your phone completely or make the problem worse.
If you have the phone under warranty and can wait the weeks to get LG to fix your phone then that is your best option.
I used my phone for work and came from a CDMA phone so I don't have a replacement phone to use if I send my in.
Short summary: My wife and I got our phones at the same time. We have the same software, modem/radio, and yet my phone will not auto focus. Her phone camera works fine.
I've restored old camera app versions, restored roms, tried different kernels, and got back to pure stock. No software fix works.
Temp fix (works for me, and indicates a hardware issue - camera or sensor or loose connection). **This could damage your phone more, completely at your own risk if you try this.
I can reproduce this fix because I have to do this anytime I start the app from a cold or extended sleep state. If I open the camera app I only get blurry focus, it tried to auto focus but never gets clear.
-While the app is open, I gentle tap the top of the phone, on the side edge of the phone, near the camera against a sold (but often cloth covered service). The gentle/solid tap does something to the camera or a sensor because then the camera focuses fine for a while.
I believe this indicates a real hardware issue of some type. As I mentioned my phone and my wife phone have identical Rom, Radio/modem, etc.
Possible permanent fix (definitely a warranty void if anyone tries this) - replace the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vioySXQv5Gs
Has anyone has this auto focus issue and replaced the camera to fix it? I can't be without a phone for weeks to get it repaired by LG unless I find a temp GSM/LTE phone.
If someone takes the risk to try my tap method to temp fix the auto-focus on the camera please let me know if it works for you also.

junk0 said:
First - I take no responsibility for you trying these things. You could break your phone completely or make the problem worse.
If you have the phone under warranty and can wait the weeks to get LG to fix your phone then that is your best option.
I used my phone for work and came from a CDMA phone so I don't have a replacement phone to use if I send my in.
Short summary: My wife and I got our phones at the same time. We have the same software, modem/radio, and yet my phone will not auto focus. Her phone camera works fine.
I've restored old camera app versions, restored roms, tried different kernels, and got back to pure stock. No software fix works.
Temp fix (works for me, and indicates a hardware issue - camera or sensor or loose connection). **This could damage your phone more, completely at your own risk if you try this.
I can reproduce this fix because I have to do this anytime I start the app from a cold or extended sleep state. If I open the camera app I only get blurry focus, it tried to auto focus but never gets clear.
-While the app is open, I gentle tap the top of the phone, on the side edge of the phone, near the camera against a sold (but often cloth covered service). The gentle/solid tap does something to the camera or a sensor because then the camera focuses fine for a while.
I believe this indicates a real hardware issue of some type. As I mentioned my phone and my wife phone have identical Rom, Radio/modem, etc.
Possible permanent fix (definitely a warranty void if anyone tries this) - replace the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vioySXQv5Gs
Has anyone has this auto focus issue and replaced the camera to fix it? I can't be without a phone for weeks to get it repaired by LG unless I find a temp GSM/LTE phone.
If someone takes the risk to try my tap method to temp fix the auto-focus on the camera please let me know if it works for you also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive had this issue almost since ive gotten the phone last november.
request a replacement from google if you got it from google play. otherwise, manufacturer warranty may get you a replacement or repair.

The camera is the one area my old Galaxy S3 beats my Nexus 5, no contest. I've had focusing issues since I got it back in February. I've only used stock roms, and it has issues in other camera apps. There could be an object taking up 80% of the view, anywhere between a couple inches to a foot in front of it, and it will still focus on something further away.

Camera change
junk0 said:
First - I take no responsibility for you trying these things. You could break your phone completely or make the problem worse.
If you have the phone under warranty and can wait the weeks to get LG to fix your phone then that is your best option.
I used my phone for work and came from a CDMA phone so I don't have a replacement phone to use if I send my in.
Short summary: My wife and I got our phones at the same time. We have the same software, modem/radio, and yet my phone will not auto focus. Her phone camera works fine.
I've restored old camera app versions, restored roms, tried different kernels, and got back to pure stock. No software fix works.
Temp fix (works for me, and indicates a hardware issue - camera or sensor or loose connection). **This could damage your phone more, completely at your own risk if you try this.
I can reproduce this fix because I have to do this anytime I start the app from a cold or extended sleep state. If I open the camera app I only get blurry focus, it tried to auto focus but never gets clear.
-While the app is open, I gentle tap the top of the phone, on the side edge of the phone, near the camera against a sold (but often cloth covered service). The gentle/solid tap does something to the camera or a sensor because then the camera focuses fine for a while.
I believe this indicates a real hardware issue of some type. As I mentioned my phone and my wife phone have identical Rom, Radio/modem, etc.
Possible permanent fix (definitely a warranty void if anyone tries this) - replace the camera.
Has anyone has this auto focus issue and replaced the camera to fix it? I can't be without a phone for weeks to get it repaired by LG unless I find a temp GSM/LTE phone.
If someone takes the risk to try my tap method to temp fix the auto-focus on the camera please let me know if it works for you also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey
I change the camera and it was ok for a month or so. But now there are same focusing problems as before =(. So it might be bad hardware problems over at lg?

I have the same problem and plan to replace the camera using the method described in the video. However, is there any guarantee it will work? It would suck if the camera was not the problem, but instead some loose cable or sensor deeper inside. Any thoughts?

Related

My camera stopped working randomly, when i try and load the camera it looks like its jsut taking awhile to load, then i get a message saying activity camera (in application camera) is not responding. I'm not sure whats wrong, any ideas?

Which rom are u using on your phone?
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using xda premium

just got cyanogen mod 7

Is it a ROM Flash issue?
That is: have you tried re-flashing CM7?
When did you flash CM7 in relation to noticing your camera doesn't work?
Did it ever work since you flashed CM7 or did you just notice it?
Is it an application issue?
That is: have you tried a different camera from the market?
Have you tried installing the camera (included in CM7) again?
Is it a hardware issue?
That is: have you visually inspected the camera? Dropped the phone? Stepped on (or otherwise significantly compress) the phone?
SOME information other than "Hey yo, my camera no worky." would really help out.

Sorry for the lack of description, i think it might just be a hardware issue because i first noticed it stopped working randomly when i had Juicy rom on then i flashed a rom that didnt work and then finally got CM7 and it worked great but the camera issue is still affecting it. I have tried taking pictures on different camera apps and i still get that same error screen. I dont know what other info to provide, i think its just broke thanks for helping!

Happened to me once and kinda scared me a bit lol All I kept getting was a black screen no matter what camera app I used even factory reset didn't fix it. What worked for me was to go completely clean and flash the RUU gingerbread update from AT&T.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

i need to know if this a hardware issue or software. every 2 days or so my camera wont start . i close everything running and it just freezes up on me. i have nothing crazy installed jsut root, tibu, chase, android game, flashlight. thats it ! i will click the camera icon ill see the screen shake for a second and just go back to home screenl. also sometimes i click the multi task button and clear everything out when i press home it has to load all my widgets again.. this phone is werid...
i bought it online at radioshak for 50 bucks do you guys think i can get a new one in store or do they deal with online only

I had this happen to me twice in a week of use. I'm wondering if another app is not releasing the camera from it's use. I haven't been killing the camera app after use, so maybe it has an issue being open for long.
Other apps that use the camera I may have had open are Instagram, Facebook, Gallery.

zaisaroni said:
I had this happen to me twice in a week of use. I'm wondering if another app is not releasing the camera from it's use. I haven't been killing the camera app after use, so maybe it has an issue being open for long.
Other apps that use the camera I may have had open are Instagram, Facebook, Gallery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same. its either gallery or instagram, hmmm

i had this issue since i bought the phone. never figured it out. a couple of days ago, the camera just stopped working altogether. it won't start most of the time. when it does start, the image is dark and very distorted. i tried to upgrade from 1.73 to 1.85 and didnt solve the issue. i did a factory reset and it didn't solve the issue. so earlier today, i ended up just exchanging it with a new phone.

Happening to me as we speak!
Made a quick, nasally sounding video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4hDD-hMiF0
- Instagram is still able to use the camera.
- If I close them all in multitasking, it doesn't fix it.
- Force stopping Instagram and/or the Camera app doesn't solve it, I have to reboot the phone.
EDIT:
Fast boot is off on my device.

unsp0ken said:
i had this issue since i bought the phone. never figured it out. a couple of days ago, the camera just stopped working altogether. it won't start most of the time. when it does start, the image is dark and very distorted. i tried to upgrade from 1.73 to 1.85 and didnt solve the issue. i did a factory reset and it didn't solve the issue. so earlier today, i ended up just exchanging it with a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
damn so you think it is hardware related ? i bought the phone may 9th it arrived to my house , am i still under warrenty or what is radioshak 30 days hmm

Happens to mine too, about 4 times already. Have to restart the phone to get it to work again. Had the phone for about a month. If the update fixes this and other problems this phone will be perfect.

Crizthakidd said:
damn so you think it is hardware related ? i bought the phone may 9th it arrived to my house , am i still under warrenty or what is radioshak 30 days hmm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try a factory reset. If this doesn't solve the issue, I'd take it back. I've never had any such issues on 1.73, 1.82 or 1.85. I'm inclined to think its either a software issue (like an installed app interfering, as one reply suggested) that a factory reset may clear up, or its a hardware issue.

Crizthakidd said:
damn so you think it is hardware related ? i bought the phone may 9th it arrived to my house , am i still under warrenty or what is radioshak 30 days hmm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, i won't say that your problem was the same as mine but i think mine was definitely a hardware problem. i experienced the problem on 1.73 and 1.85, rooted and unrooted, locked and unlocked, and even after a factory reset. luckily the camera just complete crapped out before my 30-day was up so it was easy to justify the exchange at the at&t store.

zaisaroni said:
Made a quick, nasally sounding video....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Video exactly depicts what happens to me. I will try to open the camera app and it just flashes and kicks me out. I've tried all sorts of things to alleviate the problem but the only solution I've found is restarting the phone. Pretty annoying....
The display HOX at the AT&T store had the same issue. I'm assuming this is software related but who knows

this happened the first week I had the phone. When I updated it to 1.82 the issue went away so I'm assuming it was software
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

Did you ever find a solution to this?

redpoint73 said:
Try a factory reset. If this doesn't solve the issue, I'd take it back. I've never had any such issues on 1.73, 1.82 or 1.85. I'm inclined to think its either a software issue (like an installed app interfering, as one reply suggested) that a factory reset may clear up, or its a hardware issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if it was a software issue, factory reset is worth a try. However if its something that needs to be fixed in a future update (a bug) then going back to factory shouldn't help. And thats why the OP had another thread about how to update.
Crizthakidd, have you tried other camera apps from google play? I know you said you were going to. How did that go, if you did? Obviously if there's a software issue, even if factory reset doesn't fix it, xda can. That is, root, unlock, install a newer custom rom.

I had this problem on 1.72, and other apps were still ok using the camera. I made a quick video of it happening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4hDD-hMiF0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
***Ever since the 1.85 OTA it hasn't been happening so I would suggest HTC fixed it. ***
However I am rooted and doing mods so I am restarting more often to check my work.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

I'm on my 4th VZW SGS3 (stock ROM, not rooted) because of this camera problem, and it's happened again. When trying to take a photo with flash, the phone would apparently shut off. It can only be started after pulling the battery. On my previous VZW SGS3, I found that the problem occurred on a new phone after installing a 3rd party camera. A factory rest did not fix the problem.
Today I wanted to take a panoramic photo do installed a camera app made for that. Then I remembered the 3rd party camera issue I had before and discovered that it occurred again. I'm reluctant to have to return another phone, and hoping someone might know what's going on do I can fix this one. I was told by the insurance company that it's not a known issue (my first phone got a chipped screen, which seemed like a possible cause for the flash apparently causing a hardware failure), but that is weird since I can reproduce it so easily. Does anyone know what might be going on with this, and whether it can be fixed?
It's hard to believe that installing any 3rd party camera app on a non-rooted phone would permanently damage it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Paul108h said:
I'm on my 4th VZW SGS3 (stock ROM, not rooted) because of this camera problem, and it's happened again. When trying to take a photo with flash, the phone would apparently shut off. It can only be started after pulling the battery. On my previous VZW SGS3, I found that the problem occurred on a new phone after installing a 3rd party camera. A factory rest did not fix the problem.
Today I wanted to take a panoramic photo do installed a camera app made for that. Then I remembered the 3rd party camera issue I had before and discovered that it occurred again. I'm reluctant to have to return another phone, and hoping someone might know what's going on do I can fix this one. I was told by the insurance company that it's not a known issue (my first phone got a chipped screen, which seemed like a possible cause for the flash apparently causing a hardware failure), but that is weird since I can reproduce it so easily. Does anyone know what might be going on with this, and whether it can be fixed?
It's hard to believe that installing any 3rd party camera app on a non-rooted phone would permanently damage it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you are stock the only thing you can do is Odin stock factory image and see if it fixes it. Also the stock camera does panorama.

prdog1 said:
Since you are stock the only thing you can do is Odin stock factory image and see if it fixes it. Also the stock camera does panorama.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might try that. Thank you. I hadn't realized that this would be more complete than a factory reset via settings.
It seems strange that I've had this occur on four of these devices but couldn't find any mention online. Apparently this phone can't install third party camera apps without corrupting the camera flash function. I wonder if there is a way to fix that so any camera app can be run.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Hello
recently i took my nexus 5 to lg and they replaced my motherboard
now about almost a month later
all the sudden i get this error
"
unfortunately camera has stopped"
the only fix to this is to restart it,it works fine after that
this use to happen to me on stock
now i rooted it and am using DroidKang ROM
what shall i do guys ?

Try a non aosp based ROM like CyanogenMod they may have done things different try that if it doesn't work call lg again
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

@hollowback
Force Close camera and gallery... Clear camera and gallery cache/data and reboot...
Now see whether you get the error again after sometime?
Btw, when LG had replaced your motherboard, were you rooted? Did they check whether you had a unlocked bootloader or anything like that??
-Flowed from an IceCold Hammerhead!

This is actually a very common issue. As of now the best fix is a reboot. It's triggered by certain apps. Do you use snap chat?

I used to have that issue. If I remember correctly it would happen when you would sleep the phone while in snapchat.

hello friends
first
"when i gave it to him he just opened it then chagned the motherbaord
i dout he saw the root thing.
he said i have a fungus on the board he showed it to me i wonder how that happened he said
it could be sweat and then he changed it :/
its kinda hard i still dont understand i had this cover since almost the start i wonder how water could go in cause i took care of it
second
well yeh i did install snapchat recently
before it use to crash without snapchat
well as soon as i restart it works perfect
what shall i do guys ? is this normal or ?

Hi guys,
Ever since I updated to Lollipop especially after the recent update to 5.1.1, everything is screwed up.
The google camera doesn't work so I had to uninstall it to atleast get the phone's camera working. Flashlight turns off after a while.
I'm not receiving calls as those who call get the message that my phone is switched off even though my phone is in my hands SWITCHED ON.
What the hell should I do? Its pissing me off.

I just updated to LMY48B and the camera is laggy as hell -- pretty much unusable. I don;t know what to tell you except maybe try another camera app? I'm still looking for something myself. I use my camera constantly and this has made it worthless. Almost cause for rolling back to KitKat.

Those are uncommon issues. I suggest you to start from scratch by flashing the factory images.
Camera MX is a nice alternative app.

Primokorn said:
Those are uncommon issues. I suggest you to start from scratch by flashing the factory images.
Camera MX is a nice alternative app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My install was a clean factory image. No idea what the issue is.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk