Noob question about the camera

[BiznessMan]

Alright, I'm brand new here so go easy on me :p

I just got my Wizard used about two days ago. It's in good shape, except the camera is very very scratched (the plastic in front of the lens)

When I go to take a picture, it looks very blurry and fuzzy, even up close.

Is there any way I can remove or replace the plastic camera cover for a low cost?

[S.V.I]

see if the lens cover from your old phone works. also I believe it is glass.
also type in "speckle fix" in the search forum box. it works for some roms that does not already have that built in.

[BiznessMan]

thanks for the reply

Is there a way for me to pop the camera cover off and replace it?

It looks like someone took a nail file to it :(

[BiznessMan]

Here is a test picture I took with my Wizard. It's just a picture of my TV (obviously)

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6788/0image00003dv4.jpg

Is it supposed to look this bad?

[BiznessMan]

I'm sorry for bumping my topic over and over

I took off the back plastic camera lens and tried it

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2339/homemoviesle5.jpg

The quality is much improved than before. Is it safe to leave the clear lens cover off? If not, am I able to replace it?

[press35150]

i guess you can leave the cover off but i'd think you'd wanna cover it with a piece of tape or something when not in use so lint and stuff can't get in the hole

[S.V.I]

WOW what a difference. try finding another phone with a similar lens cover (there are plenty old phones in a trift store. if anything, I plan to use a motorola V3 and cut it the size that it needs to be and use E-6000 to glue it back in place.
Now that I have a faceplate that keeps the lens from getting rubbed out it might be worth it:)

[chrishutt]

I have just restored the lens of my HTC Wizard to a nearly new state using this method:

I took a cotton bud and secured it in the chuck of a cordless drill. Applied a little T-Cut (car scratch remover) to the lens and spent about 15-20 minutes whizzing the cotton bud round over the lens in different directions. I then wiped off the excess T-Cut and did the same thing with toothpaste, (the white stuff, not blue gel) which is an even gentler abrasive. Again I wiped this off afterwards. Finally I finished off with a clean, dry cotton bud.

I think the important thing is to go in as many different directions as possible across the lens. I had a hunch this might work as the same combination of T-Cut/toothpaste works well on CDs that skip but I was amazed at the clarity of the photos I can now take. Beforehand they really were as bad as the first photo.

Of course this doesn't alter the fact that HTC put the lens cover in a stupid place but I will try to keep my phone in a pocket on its own and not with tools or on the dashboard of my van.

Like I said, I hope this helps someone.