I have an Australian model 256GB Samsung Note20 Ultra 5G. Since one of the major updates a few months ago, I have noticed a consistent focusing problem with the Main rear camera (the 108MP camera that is used in 1x to 4x zoom ranges).
The ultra wide camera (0.5x zoom) works perfect since it is a fixed focus camera system. The periscope telephoto (used at zoom ranges 5x to 50x) work perfectly as well. I only have issues with the main rear camera (108MP).
What basically happens is that the camera has issues focusing beyond about 0.30 metres. I am taking pictures in good lighting conditions. What appears to be happening is the focus motor seems to get stuck and it can't move to the focus distances beyond 0.30m. This results in photos that are taken of far away subjects to be very out of focus. I have tried various autofocus modes, various other settings in the camera app. I have also reset the camera app to defaults, deleted caches but it did not help.
The only remedy I could find was that if you shake the phone when the camera is having the focus issue, eventually if you shake it and then try to get it to focus towards infinity, it will work. However this is quite inconvenient if I have to shake (at least once, sometimes several times) and look very closely to make sure it is indeed in focus for subjects at infinity.
You can see what's really happening if you go to Pro Photo mode, and then go to manual focus. If you move the focus slowly from macro to infinity, the focus gets stuck in the middle of the screen. This consistently happens. You can also slide it all the way to macro, and then quickly slide to infinity, and most of the time it will focus to infinity, but if you focus slowly or at a medium pace it gets stuck and never gets close to infinity focus.
This focus issue also exists in video mode as well. I am wondering if this is a software bug that can be fixed with an future update, or it is a hardware fault of my camera.
Hi there, that's strange. Please try the following troubleshooting steps:
Reset your camera settings 1. Open the camera app > gear icon > reset settings.
Clearing the cache of your camera app. 2. Camera app > tap and hold > app info > storage > clear cache.
I suggest sending an error report via the Samsung Members app for this to be investigated. Error reports are sent to our team to identify any deviations in your device performance. Once analysed, our team will get back to you with a response to advise further steps.
To send an error report:
Samsung Members > Get help > Error reports > select issue category > describe issue and frequency > Tick ‘send system log data’ > Send in top right.
I have been cycling with my phone mounted on the handlebar....that may have caused issues with my camera module. I have read up online that people's phone cameras get broken this way (mainly the focus mechanism) so it may have been my fault.....
Hi @MarkyD and @sengineer, that's odd. In that case, I'd strongly suggest sending the error report through to our team with examples, and log data attached so that we may look into this further.
Error reports are best sent within 2-3 minutes of an issue occurring, so try take a photo beforehand to increase the likelihood of log data capturing the potential issue.
