Database Users

Galaxy S camera problems

Just as the thread title says, my camera is full of bugs, unable to change iso/exposure properly and hangs when I try to focus or take a picture. Had the same problem when using jf4 and jm2 as well as third party camera apps. Is this a software or hardware problem? And any solutions?

you are the very first person to complain about this.
just about every body else loves the camera, including me
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731846

AllGamer said:
you are the very first person to complain about this.
just about every body else loves the camera, including me
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731846
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I had problems testing the panorama shot, but I never complained, mostly because I don't take pictures and I was just testing it. Also, in the camera's defense, I was talking pictures in a room, where perhaps there was an issue due to corners while the shot is intended to be of landscape....any thoughts?

Not exactly complaining but I think that it could be a hardware problem as half of the time I press the camera app, the app starts shows a black screen and says 'camera failed' and force closes...

Qazz~; said:
Not exactly complaining but I think that it could be a hardware problem as half of the time I press the camera app, the app starts shows a black screen and says 'camera failed' and force closes...
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Is this lag ?

Not much lag, but like I said its real buggy, can't even focus.when I tap on an area the box shifts to wheretapped but it does not focus, the box will now get stuck there and the iso/exposure will not change then usually the camera will stop working

Qazz~ said:
Not exactly complaining but I think that it could be a hardware problem as half of the time I press the camera app, the app starts shows a black screen and says 'camera failed' and force closes...
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now, that is an actual problem.
did you try rebooting the phone?
if you can't take even a normal picture, you might have an defective camera

Taking a picture is a hit and miss affair, takes pics 2 out of 10 times i try, it should be a camera problem, going to send it in for warranty now. will report back when its fixed

Have you tried a hard reset to see if the problem goes away?
Whenever things start to go wierd, I alway 1)Soft reset 2)If it does not work do a hard reset 3)If still doesn't work, find out if everyone else with the same firmware has the problem 4) Finally, go to the shop for a replacement, it's likely then to be a hardware issue.

If you have 'fring' installed uninstall it and camera will stop failing

Just updated to JM2, I have fring installed, never had such problem even with stock...

Sorry my bad, fring was recently fixed for sgs
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Soft reset, hard reset, flashed firmware again. All did not work. Was sent in for repair a few hours ago, they said it would take 2-3 days, had jm2 on it though and where I live the latest firmware is jf4. Hope they don't bother about that. Hoping for the best

Update!
Just got phone back from Samsung after waiting for 4 torturous days, everything seems to be in working order now, the auto focus is still pretty slow though but other than that its great.
So after all it should have just been a hardware problem as the customer service lady told me that they changed the pcb of the camera

Qazz~ said:
Not exactly complaining but I think that it could be a hardware problem as half of the time I press the camera app, the app starts shows a black screen and says 'camera failed' and force closes...
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Click to collapse
I had the same problem get voodoo lag fix if you have any other lag fix un do them before running the voodoo it works rember after you do the lag fix it takes a long time to boot

here is the fix to camera problem!!!!!!!
I had the same problem get voodoo lag fix if you have any other lag fix un do them before running the voodoo it works rember after you do the lag fix it takes a long time to boot

HELP PLEASE.... I bought a new Galaxy S Captivate about 3 weeks ago and i think alrealy had the new Android 2.1 with the GPS Fixed. The Camera was working until a few days ago. Every time I start the Camera app, after just 2 or 3 seconds I am getting the Warning message "Camera Failed". I can only press okay and the Camera app closes. I tried many times and it is always the same.
I tried soft reset, and hard reset which errased all my data, and nothing. Today I decided to upgrade to the new Leaked version of the Froyo 2.2 to see if it would help. Nothing helped. I AM STUCK....
I called Samsung 3rd level support and they said that I should send my phone to them for them to REFLASH my phone. If that would not fix they would replace and send another phone to me.
My problem is that I am out of the USA (I am in Brazil now) for the next 3 months, so I would like to find a way to fi via software now.
Since Samsung said that the best way to fix this Camera problem is the FLASH the phone, and only SAMSUNG has this special flashing software, my question is:
1- DOES ANY ONE KNOWS WHER I COULD DOWNLOAD THIS SAMSUNG FLASHING SOFTWARE ? ANY WHAT WHERE I COULD GET THE ROM ORIGINAL CAPTIVATE 2.1 VERSION?
2- I only know this 2 ways to flash or upgrade my phone,
I897UCJF6-final-OCD-REV0.rar (for Android 2.1)
I897UCJI6-OCD-REV02-Low-designgears.exe (for Android 2.2 leaked version)
But I am not sure that this is the SAMSUNG FLASH version that they are talking about , is it?
Where can I find the real Samsung Flash software ? PLEASE HELP

Solved Thanks to Voodoo
Had practically the same problem, Camera failed yet it worked for Video and even in Panorama mode, I didn't install anything new other than some themes from the Market, I tried factory set, removing the battery ... nothing worked, so I disabled OCLF, uninstalled it, and installed Voodoo lag fix instead, that made the trick !! Don't understand why though , but anyways it's working now

twingerbread 3.3 - video camera
alovell83 said:
I had problems testing the panorama shot, but I never complained, mostly because I don't take pictures and I was just testing it. Also, in the camera's defense, I was talking pictures in a room, where perhaps there was an issue due to corners while the shot is intended to be of landscape....any thoughts?
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the camera is definitely broken. I'm running kernel 2.6.32.9, twingerbread 3.3 on sgh-i897; and the video option is no-fugu. force-close EVERY time I try to use it.

When i try to camera it says "camera failed".Soft reset, hard reset, flashed firmware again. All did not work

Camera Problems

Hey guys, none of my cameras are working. When i hit the camera button the camera app turns on but the screen is white. I've tried searching but everything comes up related to a discolored camera. Ive tried flashing many roms, fixing permissions, tapping on the camera. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Do you have an Evo 4g? You said you "hit the camera button" but the Evo doesn't have a hardware camera button.
If it's happening across multiple roms, including stock, it's probably a hardware problem.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

oxxomxxo said:
Hey guys, none of my cameras are working. When i hit the camera button the camera app turns on but the screen is white. I've tried searching but everything comes up related to a discolored camera. Ive tried flashing many roms, fixing permissions, tapping on the camera. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
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You haven't flashed a Froyo kernel on a Gingerbread ROM, have you? The issue you describe is a well-documented side-effect of doing just that. If not, I would flash back to stock and see if it works. If it does, then you know it's a software issue. If it doesn't, then I would agree with plainjane.

Did you ever get a working answer to this? I'm having the same problem. My camera won't open, it force closes before going anywhere beyond a black screen. The night before, it would at least open. The front facing camera worked but the rear facing camera seemed stuck on solarize (which I had no options to change). Seems like a software problem so I updated to the latest deck rom, updated hboot, pri, nv, wimax - now fully updated and still no fix. Tried installing miui apk and still same.
If I don't get this camera fixed, I'll have to unroot. Not looking forward to doing that but if it's between having root or camera, I'm going to pick the camera.
Hope someone can help before I have to go to such drastic measures.

midian42 said:
Did you ever get a working answer to this? I'm having the same problem. My camera won't open, it force closes before going anywhere beyond a black screen. The night before, it would at least open. The front facing camera worked but the rear facing camera seemed stuck on solarize (which I had no options to change). Seems like a software problem so I updated to the latest deck rom, updated hboot, pri, nv, wimax - now fully updated and still no fix. Tried installing miui apk and still same.
If I don't get this camera fixed, I'll have to unroot. Not looking forward to doing that but if it's between having root or camera, I'm going to pick the camera.
Hope someone can help before I have to go to such drastic measures.
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Click to collapse
Rooting won't break your camera.
I would flash back to a rooted stock ROM, and confirm whether camera works or not on it. If it does, then you know the issue is in fact software related (which it doesn't sound like it is). If it doesn't, then you have a hardware failure.

A corrupt sd cars gave me the same problem. Try re-formatting it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I took it to Best Buy and they told me it's a sensor issue. My phone gets replaced so it's all good.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I tried them all before deciding it must be a hardware issue and going to BB.

I know this is a few months late, but I recently had a similar problem. I would click the camera icon and the screen would just go black and then f/c on me. I was running ICS roms, so I flashed to Decks GB rom, Mik 3.1 rom and had the same problem. So I figured it was a hardware problem.
I decided to open up my evo and take a look inside and found the camera housing was not seated completely. Pushed it back down and it has been working for days now
I guess it probably jarred loose when I dropped it or bumped it or something.
Thought I would share, because it was very frustrating for me, so I figured it might be bothering someone else.

Galaxy S i9000 Camera Black-Out Issue - Help

Hey guys,
My dad has an i9000 Galaxy S and there seems to be a really weird issue with it. He was using the phone's camera and was capturing some pictures when suddenly the screen distorted and since then, the camera hasn't been working. All I can see is a black screen, the camera app opens up but I see nothing but black, buttons on stock ROM are un-touchable, whereas on ICS roms, we can fiddle with the buttons but they don't work. Even the front camera doesn't seem to be working. I have a HTC Sensation and am soon getting the Gnex so I have no idea about what happened with this phone.
Could you please help me out?
Thanks,
Arz

I'm having a similar problem. I've tried reflashing back to stock, wiping, resetting, etc, etc... but nothing seems to work.
Can't seem to find a solution here either. Anyone have any ideas? Might it simply be a hardware fault? Front camera seems to work fine (well as fine as that crappy camera can work)

The exact same thing happened to me.. Just try this:
take off the phone's back cover, and start the camera app.. Keep it on for a few minutes.. Does the area around the camera heat up?
It it does, accompanied by sudden battery drain perhaps, your phone's camera module is fried.. Has to be replaced.. I had to do the same..

I'm experimenting the same problem. did you guys resolve it?

ezeql said:
I'm experimenting the same problem. did you guys resolve it?
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Check my post before yours.. I've tried a lot.. Just check for the same symptoms in case its the same issue, else its another problem.. I had even tried a factory reset, reflashing the rom, etc.. But the cam was screwed..
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA

I'm experiencing also, but this is a new problem after I flashed CM 7.2RC. What you using?

Can u go thrgh the frst five pages of this thread... MIGHT help...

[Q] Anyone else having camera problems?

I was wondering if anyone else has run into this issue on the N10 as well or if I just got a fluke.
Front / Back camera worked for first 5 minutes out of the box. After going to a different application and trying to get back to camera, camera app fails to connect. Restart tablet, same problem. Force close gallery/camera app, wipe data/cache for the app and re-open. Same error, camera no longer displays at all.
Factory reset, camera works for a few minutes, try to open it again after leaving, crashes the same way. No third party apps can access camera either. Tried many factory resets, even with only gApps installed same camera prob.
Waiting for RMA now, but has anyone else run into this or something similar? :crying:

HS_Clutch said:
I was wondering if anyone else has run into this issue on the N10 as well or if I just got a fluke.
Front / Back camera worked for first 5 minutes out of the box. After going to a different application and trying to get back to camera, camera app fails to connect. Restart tablet, same problem. Force close gallery/camera app, wipe data/cache for the app and re-open. Same error, camera no longer displays at all.
Factory reset, camera works for a few minutes, try to open it again after leaving, crashes the same way. No third party apps can access camera either. Tried many factory resets, even with only gApps installed same camera prob.
Waiting for RMA now, but has anyone else run into this or something similar? :crying:
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I had this exact problem on my galaxy nexus. I finally pinned it down to an app that controlled the LED (like a flashlight, or torch app). I removed it and it worked fine after that.

Yup looks to be a 3rd party app since it works after factory reset. I would reset it again but choose not to have it reinstall the apps automatically. Then just do the process of elimination until you find the problomatic app. Worth a shot.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Thanks for the advice but I've factory reset multiple times and have only gApps installed, same thing happens :laugh:

I'm having the same problem, both front and back camera are not working properly. I'll try factory reset later this day.
Do you have the cameras working already?

I'm having the same issue too. Today's the first day with my Nexus 10, and right out of the box the Camera doesn't work. Never loaded even once.
Has anyone else had this issue and was able to fix it?

Same problem here! Do you think rooting and flashing CM might solve the issue?

Same here. It seems its only the stock camera tho. I installed 2 different cameras from Play Store & both those work perfect. Camera ICS+ & HDR+ both worked for me.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2

djd338 said:
Same here. It seems its only the stock camera tho. I installed 2 different cameras from Play Store & both those work perfect. Camera ICS+ & HDR+ both worked for me.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2
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I tried these apps but it's still not working for me. Hope it's not hardware related. It worked the first day I had my nexus.
EDIT: Installing CyanogenMod solved the issue =)
EDIT 2: Well it actually solved it for just a day or two, now it's back!

I'm also having this issue too it seems. Created a post about it here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2251337 and thought it was related to my rooting of the tablet since it worked okay before I tried that. Currently on 4.2.0 stock and OEM locked and the issues is still there, starting to think it's a hardware issue.

GabrialDestruir said:
I'm also having this issue too it seems. Created a post about it here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2251337 and thought it was related to my rooting of the tablet since it worked okay before I tried that. Currently on 4.2.0 stock and OEM locked and the issues is still there, starting to think it's a hardware issue.
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Definitely a hardware issue. I did an RMA with Google ...the new device they sent me has no issues.
Try that if your device is still under warranty! Google is pretty good at getting replacements sent to you within a week!

Turns out it wasn't a hardware issues, the problem I was having was apparently related to the sync of contacts which for some reason completely disabled the camera until such a time as the contacts were synced.

[Q] Switching to front facing camera produces error. 'Camera not connected'.

Helllllo everyone!
So I apologize for being one of those people who just come here to ask questions. Unfortunately life doesn't have room for me spending time playing with my Android devices anymore, so having it 'work' is more important to me.
I am on 4.3, ParanoidAndroid 3.96. I am not on the latest because it took some time to have the app TouchControl work (with my Franco kernel), and Secure Settings etc. that I chose to just stick with it because it worked really well for me.
The problem!
I recently noticed that if I tried to switch to the front facing camera, it'd hang. After that, I would not be able to use my torch/led, and going into the camera would tell me that "The camera is not connected" or something like that. I could only fix this by clearing all the data on my Gallery, and shutting down, and then turning on again. Reboot would not work.
If I did that, I could go into my camera and use the rear camera fine. Take pictures, record video, etc. Torch works as normal. It's just that once I attempt to go into the front camera, this problem happens.
It's weird because I didn't flash anything or change any settings when this happened. I DID install https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.mrogalski.saidit which wouldn't let me record a video while being used, but I since disabled/uninstalled it which solved that problem.
I have done a lot of googling on this problem, and noticed that I am not the only one who has this problem. For some people it seems like their phone is new, and some it just happens out of nowhere. For that reason I suspect it might be a hardware problem that can occur randomly, but it's weird that after triggering the problem, that my torch won't work anymore as well. Unless the torch is somehow tied to the camera/flash, and by triggering the problem when I try to access the front camera, it isn't able to 'call' the camera/flash anymore as a result?
I bought my Nexus 4 from Google in May 2013, so I believe I still have until May 2014 to RMA it, correct? Would I get another Nexus 4 at this point, or maybe I'd get a Nexus 5 instead?
Thanks in advance for any insight into my problem!

I know you would like to keep the rom you are on but to be on that rom you must have a custom recovery installed. So if I was you I would back you're rom up then flash something different to see if its hardware related or not . If so then return the phone.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

bladebuddy said:
I know you would like to keep the rom you are on but to be on that rom you must have a custom recovery installed. So if I was you I would back you're rom up then flash something different to see if its hardware related or not . If so then return the phone.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Thanks for the reply.
I tried installing the latest PA rom, but came up with an error. I had the rom I was on originally still, so I tried wiping and flashing it again. Finished flashing, went and opened the camera and it still happened. Looks like it's a hardware problem then!
I guess I'll go look up a guide to flashing back to stock now.