Bottleneck camera glass? Plastic used as camera protection instead of Gorilla Glass ?

Evil_enc · Sep 27, 2014

Hi all,

I hope some people here have connections to Sony and can maybe raise this question. I noticed that some users complain that the camera "glass" on the camera (so the small round piece of glass which protects the camera) is actual not glass but vulnerable plastic. The front side as well as the back side of the smartphone are protected by Gorilla Glass 3 but the small piece of the camera is neither Gorilla Glass 3 nor Saphir Glass (even better than Gorilla Glass 3).

Check out his post on a Russian forum:
http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2F4pda.ru%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D604884%26st%3D1240%23entry34505942&sandbox=1

This guy basically tested the 3 pieces of glass (front, back and camera) with a needle and noticed that the camera glass was damaged afterwards and the front and back were fine. Let's not talk about it if this guy is an a**hole because he damages a sample device. Btw I am NOT the guy.

You can expand this post and see three pictures. I attached one picture which I got from a German forum.

Is it really true that Sony took weak plastic glass to protect the camera? This would be a big problem since the glass will become blurred after some time due to very small scratches. So after 1 year the quality of pictures will definitely not be the same.

Does anyone have further information or can raise this question to a Sony contact? I am sure sending an email to Sony will not deliver satisfying results since the question is too detailed.

Many thanks in advance!

degraaff · Sep 27, 2014

Just tested this on the black part of the camera glass of my acro s and it also scratches relatively easy. Strange. You would think that for a piece of glass this small, they would at least use some good quality scratch-resistent glass.

mudnightoil · Sep 27, 2014

AFAIK lens / lens guard is glass on both Z3 & Z3C. The anti-relflective / polarising coating is not part of the lens, like a polariser lens ... it's just a coating.

Evil_enc · Sep 28, 2014

mudnightoil said:
AFAIK lens / lens guard is glass on both Z3 & Z3C. The anti-relflective / polarising coating is not part of the lens, like a polariser lens ... it's just a coating.

so it is actually glass but there is an anti reflective shield/foil/film above it?

If yes they should have put this under the glass... it will scratch easily. Would you suggest to protect it by a screen protector (a shield as well)?

Not very smart Sony!

Dsteppa · Sep 28, 2014

Evil_enc said:
so it is actually glass but there is an anti reflective shield/foil/film above it?

If yes they should have put this under the glass... it will scratch easily. Would you suggest to protect it by a screen protector (a shield as well)?

Not very smart Sony!

Screen protectors, do NOT protect the camera, because it could and probably will affect the quality of your pictures.
In my opinion there is really not much to worry about. Who ever had their lens glass scratched that bad that you could see it on pictures?

degraaff · Sep 28, 2014

Dsteppa said:
Screen protectors, do NOT protect the camera, because it could and probably will affect the quality of your pictures.
In my opinion there is really not much to worry about. Who ever had their lens glass scratched that bad that you could see it on pictures?

Seeing as the camera glass is perfectly level with the surrounding glass, and the surrounding glass is perfectly level with frame, it could pose a problem. If you put the phone down and it slides a little bit, the smallest of dust particles could create micro scratches.

Dsteppa · Sep 28, 2014

degraaff said:
Seeing as the camera glass is perfectly level with the surrounding glass, and the surrounding glass is perfectly level with frame, it could pose a problem. If you put the phone down and it slides a little bit, the smallest of dust particles could create micro scratches.

Picture of my Xperia Z that I have since February 2013

Taken with a macro lens, most of the dust that you see, you can barely see with your eyes.

Evil_enc · Oct 12, 2014

Any news on that? Does anyone has further information from Sony forums or did a scratch test?

degraaff · Oct 12, 2014

Evil_enc said:
Any news on that? Does anyone has further information from Sony forums or did a scratch test?

I'm not going to attempt it with mine

sygys · Nov 21, 2014

Evil_enc said:
Hi all,

I hope some people here have connections to Sony and can maybe raise this question. I noticed that some users complain that the camera "glass" on the camera (so the small round piece of glass which protects the camera) is actual not glass but vulnerable plastic. The front side as well as the back side of the smartphone are protected by Gorilla Glass 3 but the small piece of the camera is neither Gorilla Glass 3 nor Saphir Glass (even better than Gorilla Glass 3).

Check out his post on a Russian forum:
http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2F4pda.ru%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D604884%26st%3D1240%23entry34505942&sandbox=1

This guy basically tested the 3 pieces of glass (front, back and camera) with a needle and noticed that the camera glass was damaged afterwards and the front and back were fine. Let's not talk about it if this guy is an a**hole because he damages a sample device. Btw I am NOT the guy.

You can expand this post and see three pictures. I attached one picture which I got from a German forum.

Is it really true that Sony took weak plastic glass to protect the camera? This would be a big problem since the glass will become blurred after some time due to very small scratches. So after 1 year the quality of pictures will definitely not be the same.

Does anyone have further information or can raise this question to a Sony contact? I am sure sending an email to Sony will not deliver satisfying results since the question is too detailed.

Many thanks in advance!

The Z3 does not use gorilla glass.... these brands and types use it http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/en/products-with-gorilla
Sony hasn't got gorilla glass on any of its products according to corning.

Camera glass should have been saffier glass if you ask me.

E66666666 · Nov 21, 2014

The Z3 Compact indeed has lousy camera glass quality. I don't think it's glass, it's plastic, as you will be able to deform it using only your nail and pressing it. Here's my sample. I was having another problem with the camera, as you can see the big spots, it's the glue letting go or something. As for the little scratches, they're real and you can see them with the naked eye. They're from day-to-day use for two-three weeks, just putting it on my desk and trying to swipe messages while it's laying on my desk or table, like I'm used to with the Galaxy Nexus.

I'm really sad Sony still cheaped out on this. Why didn't they just use Dragontrail X on both sides and sapphire glass? It's certainly in their budget seeing these pretty high prices, so there's no reason not to do this.

pipspeak · Nov 22, 2014

sygys said:
The Z3 does not use gorilla glass.... these brands and types use it http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/en/products-with-gorilla
Sony hasn't got gorilla glass on any of its products according to corning.

Camera glass should have been saffier glass if you ask me.

Corning does not list all the companies that use its glass. Apple, for example, is not listed but it uses Gorilla Glass. I believe Sony uses GG on at least one side of the Z3, but not sure about the Z3c.

As for the camera lens... it's probably the coating being scratched. All lenses, big and small, have coatings to minimize flare and other issues. If I took a needle to some of my Canon L lenses I bet I'd see a scratch in the coating, too.

sygys · Dec 10, 2014

RainbowSwag said:
The Z3 Compact indeed has lousy camera glass quality. I don't think it's glass, it's plastic, as you will be able to deform it using only your nail and pressing it. Here's my sample. I was having another problem with the camera, as you can see the big spots, it's the glue letting go or something. As for the little scratches, they're real and you can see them with the naked eye. They're from day-to-day use for two-three weeks, just putting it on my desk and trying to swipe messages while it's laying on my desk or table, like I'm used to with the Galaxy Nexus.

I'm really sad Sony still cheaped out on this. Why didn't they just use Dragontrail X on both sides and sapphire glass? It's certainly in their budget seeing these pretty high prices, so there's no reason not to do this.

It looks more like yours still has protection foil on it cant you remove it? BTW glass used on the front is dragontrail. the back has no scratch resistant glass and scratches very easily. b

degraaff · Dec 10, 2014

sygys said:
It looks more like yours still has protection foil on it cant you remove it? BTW glass used on the front is dragontrail. the back has no scratch resistant glass and scratches very easily. b

There is no separate removable protection foil on the camera glass afaik.

Fidyyuan · Dec 11, 2014

What I've done to get around this issue is purchase an HTC M8 camera lens protector kit because it's almost a perfect fit (a tad smaller) but covers the area in front of the actual lens. The image degradation is barely noticeable so I'm pretty happy with it.

degraaff · Dec 14, 2014

I noticed a rough spot on the camera glass on mine, when I lightly rubbed my nail over it, I couldn't really see anything but under my microscope I saw this.
It's not very promising as I've only had this phone for two months and a half, while my two-year old Xperia Acro S barely has a mark on its camera glass. I never treated this Z3C any worse than my old Acro S. I'm even treating this much more carefully than my Acro S.
So it does look like the camera glass on the Z3C is absolute rubbish material.
I'm not yet noticing any blurred or washed out spots in the pictures, but I do start to notice light streaks around bright light sources.

Woza72 · Dec 15, 2014

So does the camera lense have like a removable film/protector? It looks like on my z3 compact that their are like air bubbles around the edges.
I'm so tempted to pick at it with a needle to see if it comes off!

AM Radio · Dec 15, 2014

degraaff said:
I noticed a rough spot on the camera glass on mine, when I lightly rubbed my nail over it, I couldn't really see anything but under my microscope I saw this.

curious about the rest of the glass on the back. is it similarly marked up with scratches? if so, then: gorilla glass my ass!

degraaff · Dec 15, 2014

Woza72 said:
So does the camera lense have like a removable film/protector? It looks like on my z3 compact that their are like air bubbles around the edges.
I'm so tempted to pick at it with a needle to see if it comes off!

The outer layer is probably the polarization filter, I would not try to pick it off...

---------- Post added at 10:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 AM ----------

AM Radio said:
curious about the rest of the glass on the back. is it similarly marked up with scratches? if so, then: gorilla glass my ass!

The rest of the back has a bunch of micro scratches, nowhere near as dense nor as deep as the ones on the camera though.
The front is still completely free of scratches.

simone.rolando.1998 · Dec 15, 2014

deep scratch on the camera

Hello there! I bought this phone last wednesday and by yesterday evening I started to notice light streaks when the camera was looking to bright light sources. I thought that it might been dirty. I cleaned it and it still there. Looking to the camera glass with a bright light I noticed a deep scratch on it. Considering that it has less than a week, do you think that the seller or Sony itself will give me a replacement? And, if it has to be payed, is there anyone who payed for that? Thanks a lot

Bottleneck camera glass? Plastic used as camera protection instead of Gorilla Glass ?

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