[Q] The Flashlight!

risogalo · Jan 16, 2014

Hey guys!

I have a problem with my Z1!
Everytime I take pictures in the dark, and the flash is enabled, there is a white area in my picture!!
I added pictures so that you can see what I mean!

Is it a hardware or a software problem!? I already talked to the Sony support but there was no solution!

Do you have the same problem??

Thanks for your help!

risogalo

Kirkymole · Jan 16, 2014

Do you have the white version by any chance?

I know a few people have mentioned the placement of the camera flash causes some flashback, causing the white marks you see in the pictures, my camera is useless in my case, total whiteout.

Riemen · Jan 16, 2014

Do you have a scrren protector sheet on the backside or a phone case? Try to remove both and check, if the Problem is gone.

I had this problem too, until I realized that it was caused by the protector sheet which scattered the flash light into the camera lens. I solved this by cutting the sheet area between camera and flash in shape of a V. Now the picture artefacts are gone.

Another cause for this effect can be light from the flash, reflected by your fingers. This can happen, even if the fingers are not in front of the lens itself, so you don't see them. I crippled a few photos that way, so now I take care not to touch the upper left corner of the phone while using the camera.

risogalo · Jan 16, 2014

Kirkymole said:
Do you have the white version by any chance?

I know a few people have mentioned the placement of the camera flash causes some flashback, causing the white marks you see in the pictures, my camera is useless in my case, total whiteout.

Yes, I have it by any chance when I take pictures in the dark! With the screen protector and without - with case and without!
And now, after 4.3 finally arrived for unbranded devices in Germany, I can slightly see an improvement of this problem!

But anyway its annoying!

But why does that happen? Will Sony send my a new phone when I send it to them? Or is this problem with every Xperia Z1??

risogalo · Jan 16, 2014

Riemen said:
Do you have a scrren protector sheet on the backside or a phone case? Try to remove both and check, if the Problem is gone.

I had this problem too, until I realized that it was caused by the protector sheet which scattered the flash light into the camera lens. I solved this by cutting the sheet area between camera and flash in shape of a V. Now the picture artefacts are gone.

Another cause for this effect can be light from the flash, reflected by your fingers. This can happen, even if the fingers are not in front of the lens itself, so you don't see them. I crippled a few photos that way, so now I take care not to touch the upper left corner of the phone while using the camera.

Like I already mentioned above - this problem occurs with screen protector/case & without!!
And after updating to 4.3 I could see slightly improvements!

These pictures where taken with the intention not reflecting the light from my fingers!!!

So you can see I already tried almost everything!!

risogalo · Jan 16, 2014

But also in general I expected a better performance of the camera!!

The HDR Mode can only be used with still objects!!??
Who came up with this s**t!?
With my mothers iPhone 4s I can take better HDR pictures!!

but anyway, is there any solution? Do you think Sony can solve this problem (by replacing my phone)?
Because I already talked to the Sony Support, and they said that I should update my phone or doing a reset!
So the support wasn't that problem-solving!

eclyptos · Jan 16, 2014

risogalo said:
but anyway, is there any solution? Do you think Sony can solve this problem (by replacing my phone)?
Because I already talked to the Sony Support, and they said that I should update my phone or doing a reset!
So the support wasn't that problem-solving!

It's not Hardware or Software related, can be with software improved but the main reason is the position of the flash, it's too close to the lens. @Kirkymole already said this. Some people do not take in consideration this issue because with some settings can be improved the quality of the pictures but I actually do not paid a lot of money to waste my time to set up my camera all the time to avoid the white marks on my pictures. Nobody can said I am wrong if I said this, if the flash will be far away from the lens we will get better pictures in low light.

Vengeance66 · Jan 16, 2014

Try with reduced Exposure. In Manual mode you can decrease the Exposure. I tried with decreased Exposure and the picture was way better.

One Twelve · Jan 17, 2014

risogalo said:
Hey guys!

I have a problem with my Z1!
Everytime I take pictures in the dark, and the flash is enabled, there is a white area in my picture!!
I added pictures so that you can see what I mean!

Is it a hardware or a software problem!? I already talked to the Sony support but there was no solution!

Do you have the same problem??

Thanks for your help!

risogalo

Can you use flickr or dropbox to upload the originals ?

risogalo · Jan 18, 2014

One Twelve said:
Can you use flickr or dropbox to upload the originals ?

I tried to send you a message cause im not able to post links yet! Did you received it?

One Twelve · Jan 18, 2014

risogalo said:
I tried to send you a message cause im not able to post links yet! Did you received it?

Yes here is the link if others want to see them.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0ualb3s8g3vbomz/OxYqmXwU3E

One Twelve · Jan 20, 2014

risogalo said:
Hey guys!

I have a problem with my Z1!
Everytime I take pictures in the dark, and the flash is enabled, there is a white area in my picture!!
I added pictures so that you can see what I mean!

Is it a hardware or a software problem!? I already talked to the Sony support but there was no solution!

Do you have the same problem??

Thanks for your help!

risogalo

See this thread on the sony board.

One of the posts intriuged me..

I've seen that before with

a protective case
an extra protecting film
fingers too close to the flash
dirty lens

I have been able to replicate this by taking a photo in poor light normally and then taking another one with my finger overlapping the phone near the flash/lens.

I can concur with the previous 2 posts that the issue is not with the phone but with the holding of the phone. I took pictures in low light and the flash reflected off my finger back onto the lens, even though my finger was not in front of the lens, I then took the same picture holding the phone by my finger nails and there was no interference. It just means that now i will have to hold the phone by the edges (slightly uncomfortable with the phone being so thin) Thanks for the input i couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was but discussing it here helped. It seems so trivial now but thanks guys.

can you confirm whether any of the above is relevant in your case ?

SleemLDJ · Jan 20, 2014

risogalo said:
Yes, I have it by any chance when I take pictures in the dark! With the screen protector and without - with case and without!
And now, after 4.3 finally arrived for unbranded devices in Germany, I can slightly see an improvement of this problem!

But anyway its annoying!

But why does that happen? Will Sony send my a new phone when I send it to them? Or is this problem with every Xperia Z1??

I have the white version and have this issue as well. I've been taking most of my pictures without flash anyway and they turn out great.

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

nikola1970 · Jan 20, 2014

Guys just clean lens and flash area well an you are all good! Just try it and report results please!

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

olokos · Jan 21, 2014

This actually never happened to me. Either on initial firmware nor 534 nor 290.

Wysłane z mojego C6903 przy użyciu Tapatalka

risogalo · Jan 21, 2014

One Twelve said:
See this thread on the sony board.

One of the posts intriuged me..

can you confirm whether any of the above is relevant in your case ?

So I tried everything out (again), and I came to the conclusion that the issue is caused by the reflection of my finger... but this time i held my phone like an idiot, and captured the photo with the physical button!
Nevertheless i can barely see a white area i think the problem is solved now...

Thank you for your help!!

risogalo · Jan 21, 2014

nikola1970 said:
Guys just clean lens and flash area well an you are all good! Just try it and report results please!

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

i'll try that too!

Thanks man!

eclyptos · Jan 21, 2014

olokos said:
This actually never happened to me. Either on initial firmware nor 534 nor 290.

Never happen to have white ghost in the pictures?

One Twelve · Jan 21, 2014

risogalo said:
Thank you for your help!!

No need to be embarassed, i've seen this same problem crop up a number of times, its good to have some understanding as to why it happens

olokos · Jan 23, 2014

eclyptos said:
Never happen to have white ghost in the pictures?

Nope. Never. I've done quite a lot photos already and never had this issue.

[Q] The Flashlight!

Member

Attachments

Senior Member

Senior Member

Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Recognized Developer

Member

Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Recognized Developer

Similar threads

Top Liked Posts