Hazy / foggy / blurry camera pictures? Try this!

I looked into this problem as my wife started complaining about hazy pictures on her Trophy. Binged a few things and was soon on my way solving it.

First off: YMMV; this might or might not solve your picture problem. If you mess something up, realize that you did it yourself; I did not make you do it.

Problem: a lot of “haziness” or “cloudiness” in photos; I think this illustrates it quite well:



My diagnosis: tons of small scratches on the phone lens, when looked at through the magnifying glass.

What to do: polish the lens; yes, this might take off some sort of coating that is on there now but really – I don’t think it can be worse than it is now, so – I’m going in!

How to do it:

Tools used:

• A few Q-tips
  
• Some toothpaste. Note that I used the Tom’s baking soda toothpaste but I believe that anything would do. I would just NOT use a toothpaste that is obviously coarse, like some of Colgate pastes are (if you get that crunchy feeling when brushing, I think it is too coarse).
  
• A piece of masking tape over the speaker holes in the back of the phone as I don’t want toothpaste in there by mistake

Process:

• Wipe any grease off the lens as best as you can
  
• Squeeze a small dab of toothpaste on a small plate; put a small amount of water on another (just a few drops will do I think)
  
• Dip the end of the Q-tip into the toothpaste so there is just a little bit on it
  
• Apply the toothpaste to the lens in circular motion; use pressure, but not enough to drive the Q-tip through the phone. J
  
• Turn the Q-tip around and pick up any excess of paste
  
• Dip another Q-tip into a drop of water and wipe off the residue; if you are leaving water and it is running into the phone, you are using too much.
  
• Finally dry the lens with the dry end of second Q-tip

Check the result under magnifying glass/take a test photo. Repeat if necessary.

Result:



Yey! That'll help the 'ole Trophy serve me until a WP8 device is here! The minty fresh smell is just a bonus!

Sweet! Glad it is working!

Apparently, HTC made Trophy camera lens out of butter. Because - both of our phones are in Incipio SILICRYLIC cases (which gives extra space between lens and anything that would rub against it) and yet - they were both messed up. I carry my phone in a pocket, never with keys but still...