Surface Pro 3 camera quality

Anonymous
2014-06-23T00:43:23+00:00

i posted this as a question so that the Microsoft techs can have some visibility of this issue

Frankly, I am lividand disappointed at the quality in this product. at first I assumed it was a firmware issue and/or a hardware issue but after performing all of the steps the tech support people have instructedand having been instructed to go the store and exchange for new hardware, I get the same issue.

so this leads me to believe it may just be the quality of the cameras microsoftshipped out on all of the devices

now these were releasednot too long ago and maybe there is a firmware fix out there but until then I am going to share the photos I am able to capture with everyone here 

now I am a student and I bought the pro 3 to be able to take a picture of a document or whiteboard and be able to write on it in onenote. the picture above is of a small target, a barcode, but even taking pictures of a full sized paper with standard size text, it is still almost illegible!

to compare the photos with another device I brought out another moble device: my ipod. the quality of the camera on the device I use to listen to music should surely be about the same quality of camera in the $1600 ten times the size of an ipod device I just bought right? NOT EVEN CLOSE

the first super clear picture is not from the pro 3 but from my ipod WHICH ALSO has a 5 MP camera. as you can see you can easily define everything in t he picture not only to include the sticker underneath the barcode , but the number in that 2D barcode as well. very good job!

the next horrible picture is the BEST PICTURE I could get from the rear camera on the Surface Pro 3. as you can see this is horrible, you can see it’s a bar code, you cannot tell those are numbers underneath. you could guess but you wouldn’t be able to identify any single number

the last picture is the BEST PICTURE I could get from the front camera, which is strangely odd since it is markedly better than the rear camera, although still severely sub-par. you can at least identify some numbers and see that there is a sticker underneath the barcode.

So there you have it. this is the horrible picture quality we can expect from the surface pro 3's cameras and how it compares to equivalent-megapixel MP3 players

Microsoft, If you can address this with a firmware update to make the cameras auto-focus, I will be a happy customer;even half the quality of my ipod I can work with. but this? this is unacceptable.

Surface | Surface Pro | Sound and camera

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-12-08T09:51:06+00:00

On Sun, 7 Dec 2014 21:06:04 +0000, OAKNOVA wrote:

>>I am quite disappointed with the camera on the Surface Pro 3 and its inability to focus and take sharp pictures of documents. These days even the most rudimentary and basic phone or camera can take sharp images that can be save, printed. I have to now take a photo with my Samsung phone and then email it to my account and download it as a saved image. Microsoft learn from Apple and create flawless products the first time around. I think I have wasted my money on the Surface Pro 3. Any fixes out there or should I just sell this product?

there is no software fix for this. the camera is fixed focus. here's what I did

as a kludge

http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/2014/09/23/get-glasses-for-surface-pro-3-for-clear-documents-take-2/

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barb

Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

Please mark as answered if this answers your question

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-11-02T17:11:37+00:00

There is no zoom. It is a fixed focus camera.

Was this answer helpful?

4 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

276 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-07-22T03:41:43+00:00

    Hi.

    Very disappointed myself as well.

    I would like to point out another problem I ran into using the rear camera outside on a sunny day.the picture is all white!!! Even if I set the exposure to its darker setting, it is impossible to get a picture. The front camera on the other hand take ok pictures but it is too awkward and not usable.

    As a contractor, I find myself nope able to take pictures of documents to file or scan and also not able to take pictures of projects...!?

    Does anybody know if there is a way to get my money back, I bought my SP3 at best buy.

    Thank you

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-31T13:01:48+00:00

    Thank you so much for this post.  I have been using a Note 10.1 since spring semester of 2013 and I decided that I wanted a little more functionality of a computer since the word processing applications are prone to crashing on Android.

    I became interested in the Surface Pro 3.  The camera's quality and the batteries in the pen were the two major turnoffs for me.  I am always taking photos of documents to send to classmates, friends, or to save for my self.  Blurry photos for a device this expensive is just too much.  Yeah, I could take the photos with my cell phone, but that is an extra step that I didn't have to take when I had my Note 10.1; making moderately large pdfs was a dream.

    I got something that has less power but way more functionality for school.  Although it has the quality of a netbook, it still gets great battery life and I suspect that it will be great for me at school this fall.

    All of your posts saved me the aggravation of getting the Surface Pro 3 and returning it for a hideous camera; thanks.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-07-31T23:17:28+00:00

    I was hoping Microsoft would have commented on the camera issue by now. It's really a shame that a device this unique and with so many possibilities is missing the mark for so many because of the camera. I've stuck it out and will hope for the best that something can be done about the camera. In the mean time I'll have to continue using my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 along with the Onenote Android app to take photos.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments