1. CrackBerry Question's Avatar
    I am really shocked and fed up with the camera on my passport.

    It can't focus!!!! I can see it trying to focus, it goes past the 'focused' image, and settles on a blurry one. It's absolutely shocking because it renders the camera useless. I spent hundreds on this phone and right now I'm pretty p'd off.

    I've actually Googled this before - people suggested turn off the auto face finder.... hasn't made a difference.

    Seriously, hasn't anyone else noticed how shockingly bad this problem is? I pretty much want my money back right now.
    06-15-16 03:09 PM
  2. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Try holding the on screen shutter button down until focus is achieved, then let go to take the picture.

    What OS are you on? Possible if there is a newer leak it might help, or just reloading the OS might help.

    But if you have Googled this issue, you will see that you aren't alone... For some the fix was under warranty repair or replacement.
    BigAl_BB9900 likes this.
    06-15-16 03:31 PM
  3. anon(1852343)'s Avatar
    Guess I am lucky as I never experienced this problem you speak of. Could be defective or perhaps you need to try the latest autoloader

    Blackberry Passport Running 10.3.2.2813
    06-15-16 03:33 PM
  4. tinochiko's Avatar
    Why is the Passport camera so BAD?-img_20160615_220956.png

    Posted via CB10
    06-15-16 04:15 PM
  5. brookie229's Avatar
    I am really shocked and fed up with the camera on my passport.

    It can't focus!!!! I can see it trying to focus, it goes past the 'focused' image, and settles on a blurry one. It's absolutely shocking because it renders the camera useless. I spent hundreds on this phone and right now I'm pretty p'd off.

    I've actually Googled this before - people suggested turn off the auto face finder.... hasn't made a difference.

    Seriously, hasn't anyone else noticed how shockingly bad this problem is? I pretty much want my money back right now.
    Maybe your Passport has a defective camera. My wife's and my own Passport takes excellent photos. Maybe not iPhone or Sammy or even Priv quality, but I am more than happy and this thread will show you MANY great shots taken with the camera on this phone: http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...camera-961595/
    BigAl_BB9900 likes this.
    06-15-16 05:06 PM
  6. benmhall's Avatar
    Yeah, I wonder if it's your device. I get consistently better photos out of my Passport than out of an iPhone SE or a Sony Z3 Compact. Focus time took me a little adjustment but now I get noise-free, quality pics.

    Posted via CB10
    06-15-16 06:52 PM
  7. anon(4297019)'s Avatar
    Switch the camera settings from auto to action. Makes a world of difference and even the colours are more accurate


    Passport SQW 100-1 OS 10.3.2.2813 Winnipeg,MB
    06-15-16 09:23 PM
  8. acekrn's Avatar
    I found that a lot of issues I had with the camera was fixed after purchasing Camera++ from the BlackBerry App Store.

    Not saying it'll work, but it's worth a try for just a few dollars.

    Posted via CB10
    06-15-16 11:06 PM
  9. eclef's Avatar
    OP here - can't understand why I can ask a question as a guest, and then need to log in to ask follow up questions. Everything seems ridiculous to me this week.

    Firstly I should say, yes the camera is amazing, WHEN it works. When I'm lucky, holding the camera just the right distance from just the right subject, I can get an image that is better than any of my friend's camera phone pics. I have no doubt that the cameras are good, and mine is capable of taking good pics... but half the time it can't actually focus. I cant explain how frustrating it is to just need to take a quick picture and finding out it's impossible.

    - I am not buying anything extra to maybe make this work.
    - Changing from Auto to action hasn't helped.
    - Holding down the shutter and letting go when focused doesnt work - it just goes back to blurry, with the little padlock symbol. The phone will go round an endless 'trying to focus' loop and holding down the shutter just locks it onto a blurred image.

    Two examples of when this happens the most are - when I'm trying to take a photo of the TV screen from across the room - granted the moving images might cause SOME slight delay with the focusing, but everyone else I know is able to take pictures like that easily.
    Another really common example is if I want to take a picture of some text, say from a book, close up. It just endlessly goes round in a focusing loop until I'm forced to move my phone around all over the place and zoom in and out until the camera can deal with it.

    Also one more thing I've noticed. Why are some people happy to accept that certain problems are just, inherent to that version of the phone! Same with the uneven screen, heating up, keyboard light leaks, etc.... "Ive just accepted that this batch of BB has this problem..." what a load of rubbish!! Seriously.. hundreds of pounds on this phone... we should not settle for stupid faults, and especially not this camera one. I really love my Blackberry but I'm starting to realise why my next phone should be something else. BB has poor quality control and it looks like we just need to accept it.

    By the way, mine is a Silver Edition. And I actually have an even more recent version of the software as the one mentioned above - mine is 10.3.2.2836.

    So... I guess the answer is to just get over having an expensive faulty phone.
    06-17-16 01:54 AM
  10. erguduju's Avatar
    I am very much afraid that you do have a problem with your phone's camera. I own a passport silver and I have just tested the camera exactly as you described yours usage scenarios. It works like a charm.
    If the lens is not dirty or badly scratched and you have the latest official OS then either the camera is bad or you have a software problem and you should reinstall the OS.
    If I re-do the same tests in poor light I get sometimes focus hunting at close distances but most of the time focus is OK.
    06-17-16 03:21 AM
  11. siung6's Avatar
    Although BlackBerry Passport has difficulty in focusing on low light, moving object, and object to close to the phone (it tend to focus and then out of focus like you describe).
    I am pretty sure yours is a faulty one. On still object, it should focus where ever you want the to focus by tapping the screen area you want to focus. Unless of course you lock your auto focus by long press the screen and a padlock logo appear on focus square. One more thing.
    Before you claim for warranty or dump your phone, you might try os reload using BlackBerry link, just to make sure it's not your os that is faulty. Good luck

    Posted via CB10
    06-17-16 07:46 AM
  12. gbonduelle's Avatar
    I have the same problem, the lens is not focusing anymore. It is kind of locked mechanically, defective . When I tap with my finger on the lense, I can hear a small noise and it start focusing, and it I am lucky enough it will focus on what I need and I can take the photo. It will be stuck again after 5sec. I do not bother getting this repaired, I have an iphone as my second phone for pictures and the missing app...


    Posted via CB10
    06-17-16 11:10 AM
  13. David Tyler's Avatar
    Try holding the on screen shutter button down until focus is achieved, then let go to take the picture.
    This is something most people don't know, and it's not obvious. Certainly I didn't start doing that until I stumbled upon a forum post.
    06-17-16 11:16 AM
  14. BigAl_BB9900's Avatar
    Yep, this works for me.
    Try holding the on screen shutter button down until focus is achieved, then let go to take the picture.
    However... the auto-face-finder never works properly for me if there are more than two 'faces' - and for some reason the auto-face-finder always seems to think that my sister's fridge-note-whiteboard is a 'face' too (even though it doesn't remotely look like a 'face' to me, and is rectangular with sharp corners....).

    My Passport (original) can take pretty good pictures when it wants to, therefore I think the problem is all about the software, as opposed to the actual lens/hardware. After one of the big OS updates, the focus time did speed up significantly (but is still much slower than a friends iPhone 6+, note the quality of the pictures from both phones is pretty similar).
    06-17-16 11:19 AM
  15. David Tyler's Avatar
    ... but half the time it can't actually focus. I cant explain how frustrating it is to just need to take a quick picture and finding out it's impossible... - Holding down the shutter and letting go when focused doesnt work - it just goes back to blurry, with the little padlock symbol.
    "...little padlock symbol"..? I think you found your problem.
    06-17-16 11:24 AM
  16. cbvinh's Avatar
    Z30 experience here... the software seems to have problems with close-up objects, locking focus and then finally losing it. I end up having to move the Z30 away for focus to lock properly.

    As for Camera++, everyone keeps suggesting it as a fix. I bought it and found that its auto mode doesn't work as well as BlackBerry's camera app on two fronts: focusing in low light and exposure. However, you can manually control things if you have time to compose a shot, though that kind of defeats the purpose of a quick snap with a phone.
    06-17-16 02:17 PM
  17. barbwyr's Avatar
    Mine take good pics sometimes but horrid others but I know it's because of the lens cover. Using the belt clip from body glove leaves the lense exposed and at some point I must have leaned into it and it cracked the plastic cover. As a result light refracts across it so if the is a light source in front of my the pics are either hazy, blurry or incredibly cool looking with light rays across the pic...lol

    Passport Posted via CB10
    06-17-16 02:45 PM
  18. Maimone's Avatar
    I have taken a few pictures today to try out the camera. In my case the focus works normally, I am just not satisfied with the pictures quality. They actually look like they had been taken with a 5 megapixel camera, both close range and any other range really.

    I love the phone but I have to say that this is another disappointing aspect.

    Posted via CB10
    06-17-16 04:02 PM
  19. keliew's Avatar
    Close up is difficult, but not impossible.

    For close up, I tend to tap focus elsewhere close with better 'lighting' (brighter), and then tap again to what you want. It works for me.

    Close up for me is less than 5cm. Although I can't do anything less than 2-3cm, which I think most phones can't because of the lens..?

    BlackBerry Passport via CB10
    06-18-16 05:04 AM
  20. Zeddepher's Avatar
    Why is the Passport camera so BAD?-img_20160618_111218.png

    I have experimented with camera settings and the best camera behaviour with the above.

    ��� вℓα�квєяяу ραѕѕρσят ѕιℓνєя є∂ιтιση ���
    06-18-16 05:13 AM
  21. jet1's Avatar
    I agree with the others who say if you are patient the Passport SE IS capable of taking pretty impressive pictures ....you do need to hold it VERY still and wait for the red square to fix on the subject....it isn't a camera for taking a quick snap but it is capable.

    Posted via CB10
    BigAl_BB9900 likes this.
    06-18-16 10:47 AM
  22. anon(8050899)'s Avatar
    � Firstly I should say, yes the camera is amazing, WHEN it works. When I'm lucky, holding the camera just the right distance from just the right subject, I can get an image that is better than any of my friend's camera phone pics.
    This is an unacceptable behaviour of your camera. I would send the phone back and insist on replacement! With mine (BlackBerry Passport SE) everything works fine.

    Posted via CB10
    06-18-16 11:01 AM
  23. Deckard79's Avatar
    The Passport's focus speed is slow, and the BlackBerry camera app is pretty crude and doesn't help.

    If you have time to focus on the subject, the picture quality is otherwise very good.

    If you experience what I have written, unfortunately that's just the way the Passport is. If you have additional problems, you could have a defective unit.

    Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but that is just my two cents.

    Posted via CB10
    BigAl_BB9900 likes this.
    06-18-16 11:10 AM
  24. PeterC4's Avatar
    Once it gets in focus I find it exceptional.
    MaxxxBerry23 likes this.
    06-18-16 06:32 PM
  25. keliew's Avatar
    I just compared native Camera and Camera++. And indeed it's not an hardware issue, the Camera++ fairs much better in photo quality than the native.

    We should get updates...

    Other than that, it's gotta be a hardware issue.

    BlackBerry Passport via CB10
    06-18-16 10:23 PM
31 12

Similar Threads

  1. BlackBerry Passport WIFI Problems, any help?
    By CrackBerry Question in forum BlackBerry Passport
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 06-25-18, 10:29 AM
  2. No bbm in the BlackBerry world, whats happening???
    By shnnxn in forum BlackBerry 10 OS
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 07-14-16, 05:57 AM
  3. is a z10 a good upgrade from a 9900?
    By BB18244 in forum BlackBerry Z10
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 06-17-16, 12:28 AM
  4. How can I get rid of the Classic date theme?
    By CrackBerry Question in forum BlackBerry Classic
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 06-15-16, 04:13 PM
  5. Weird Problem-Home Screen is at restart
    By Khawaja Haroon ur Rashid in forum BlackBerry Leap
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 06-15-16, 01:47 PM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD