Sunday 8 September 2013

Camera bug in Lumia 920 after Amber?

Amber, Bugs, Lumia, Lumia 920, Nokia, Nokia Amber Update, Windows Phone

I don't know if its just me but I'm pretty sure a bug is flying around my phone after the Amber update. Sure, it bought a ton of new features, especially to the imaging edge. I had good times with the Nokia Pro Cam and Smart Cam apps but its just very recently that I noticed this what-should-be-called a bug.

The Problem

In the simplest words -- your photo just doesn't look good after taking it like it did before after Amber. For more detail, here's what's causing this. You open the camera, take a photo and you know it previews the image you just took for 2 seconds or so and then slides back to the camera. Now, the image in the preview does look good and its the same thing that you planned to capture. Now, some of you must be wondering -- then what the hell is the problem? It's not the same image that you previewed you'd find in your Camera Roll.

Yes, that's the problem. The photo undoubtedly looks best in the preview and I'd be like 'Oh yeah, this is awesome!' and when you go back to Camera Roll to see the image, it looks terrible. Well, terrible because its not the same thing I wanted to.

So, what has changed? Well, as far as I know, I noticed the issue whilst taking some indoor photos and noticed that the images get a green tint and blurs inside Camera Roll when it's saved. I haven't yet took outdoor images in sunlight as I presume the problem is not clearly visible as I never noticed the problem before whilst taking outdoor images after Amber update. So, blurs and unwanted tints and colors started to ruin my good photos.

Screenshot vs. Original Comparison

At first, I thought it was my mind tricking me. So, to confirm, I took a screenshot of the preview and compared with the one in the Camera Roll. Just like I believed, the color tones changed, a green tint appeared and more blurs. I guess the blurs were there before Amber but I'm not pretty sure yet and since I don't possess a second Lumia 920, I can't confirm whether the problem was there before the update.

But I'm pretty sure it happened after the update as I couldn't notice such large variations in images. Now, for my proof. Here are some photos I took after Amber and the screenshots of the preview.

Image #1

The above image is the perfect example of my problem. As you can see, the screenshot of the preview has the right colours and sharpness that I wanted whereas when it got saved to the Camera Roll ( right ), it got a green tint and blurs which made the image pretty much terrible.

Image #2

The above image yet again shows a green tint for the original image in Camera Roll. Slight blurs are still noticeable though you won't get it in a quick glance. There were lots of light whilst taking this image.

Image #3

This last image doesn't have any bokeh in it unlike the rest but you can clearly see that there are still blurs in the original image. But that maybe obviously due to the re-sizing of the images I've did but the the tint is still slightly noticeable. But unlike the above two, you won't have any problem with this one.

Image #4

Yet another image showing off the stark differences after post-processing. The blurs and the tint are fairly noticeable. No more gimmicks -- this is a true bug. I've also found that the bug is more visible when you take a dark picture in a high ISO. The screenshot will give you nice colours but after the post-process, the image clearly goes green.

Image #5

This one is the best so far. I got this one from the first thread that raised this issue and the guy with the problem has the same problem that I have. It is clear from the above comparison that the first one definitely deserved to tbe original shot but the after the post-process mess, you get a rather dull picture with more blur and the green tint I mentioned.

Image #6

After all the various shots, I never thought about the situation with the front-facing camera even though its absurd (as its confirmed as a post-process bug) but I still took one today and its given right above you. Notice the dicoloration in the original. The left one looks good.

Image #7

This one is after the small update (which could supposedly fix the post-process bug). I got notified of the firmware update at the discussions page. After the update, undoubtedly, the problem still persists. However, I don't know if its just me but I think the intensity of the problem reduced. I get less tints even at dark conditions even though there is always a deviation from the previewed image. The one above was shot in dark and the right one looked perfect to me but that's how the original (left) appears.

Workarounds

First, I thought the problem was just with the Nokia Pro Camera app. In Pro Camera, once you take a photo and quickly tap the bubble above to view the last taken image, the quality rendered in the preview appears for 2 seconds and then it shows the original image where the quality is terrible IMO.

Then, I tested the default Camera app and found that the problem existed there too. The above pics are taken with the default Camera app.

So, what now?

There is a problem with the imaging and I'm damn sure of it. The clarity rendered is being affected by something after the photo gets taken -- probably due to some defects whilst storing the image. I googled a while to see if the problem happened to someone else and I was glad to find out a few who started to raise their voice at the popular forums but still, they weren't getting enough support.

For me, I'd post my problem ASAP at WPCentral, Microsoft Forums as well as at Nokia Support forums. I just hope the team responds fast to this problem as I don't want any artifacts in my original images. I want it back just like it was before.

If you have any suggestions, tips or if you're one like me, then do comment below. I'd be glad to hear what you have to say about this.

Update #1: So, I just posted my thread in WPCentral and I've started to receive some comments mentioning the same problem. But what interested me was that some were saying the problem was generally associated with the Amber update itself and not specifically for the Lumia 920. To join the thread, click here.

Update #2: I've just posted my token at the Nokia Discussions page. Now, I guess we'll have to wait for a reply from a correspondent. After some more research, I found that this problem is common and several people are already mentioning the problem but no feedback from any party. Anyways, check out the thread here.