Surface Pro 3 camera quality

Anonymous

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.

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Anonymous

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

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

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

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276 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-01-26T03:37:22+00:00

To keep the discussion on the same forum I'll add my experiences with my surface that I purchased a few days ago. So I am an owner of a collision store and readily use the I pad for checking in vehicles and obtaining customer info. I use an estimating program that allows me to download an app across the app play and Microsoft stores. This app allows you to gather necessary info about vehicles by scanning the vin numbers bar or qr code. As you can imagine this drastically improves the efficiency of my service writers as they are able to not only scan the vehicle but take necessary photos of the vehicle before sending over the server to there desktop where they could begin writing the estimate of repair. A few weeks ago I was on a tech call with my estimating software company and they made me aware of certain tablets that would be able to use the app not only to scan and photograph but to also write the estimate which got me excited because now you could write your estimate right at the car without having to carry a heavy laptop or sending info to your desktop and to write it there. The requirements were that the tablet run windows full 8 pro o.s. which many tablets are now using. On the estimating systems web site is a list of tablets they recommend I purchased the dell vue 11 and used it for a about a month I only paid 280 for the tablet it was a 2013 model and was pleased with what I could do with the estimating app but would soon realize that it wasn't fast enough sooooo being a NFL fan I noticed these surfaces all over the place and decided to purchase one for 1850 including the keyboard case and warranty my model is the i5 8g ram 256g harddrive version. To my surprise, (being an apple advocate just for its "just works" qualities) I was very impressed with the surfaces functionality speed and overall design. I am now looking to install quick books on my surface as well to in essence run my entire business from my surface...... But then we get to the topic of the camera which as explained is an essential part of my business (if I can't show the damage is there clearly I can't get paid for it) I immediately realized that checking in a car was no longer as seamless as the I pads had made it in the past. As coolmik89 explained in his barcode demo it is impossible to obtain a clear photo at close distances and an 1800 dollar machine with the inability to autofocus and take a clear picture at close range is trouble some to me. More so because I really feel that this machine is far superior then any apple product released in recent years. I am writing to seek some sort of resolution that would help otherwise I feel like I would be forced to return this item and continue doing work as I previously have done. The camera is an important aspect to a "tablet" I hope this is a software issue that could be patched and fixed. I see that these post have been made back in July so hopefully something has been done I am willing to even purchase a USB camera that I could activate as primary camera if that would help please let me know if anyone has found a resolution to this problem I have 30 days!
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Anonymous

2015-01-11T20:46:22+00:00

Hi

I couldn't believe my eyes... this camera is beyond terrible. Is Microsoft going to do something about it?

You cannot sell a tablet with a camera THAT bad.

Can someone from Microsoft reply? How are you going to fix this problem and when?

Regards,

Shaula
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Anonymous

2015-01-03T03:36:33+00:00

I had the same problem with the deposit feature on BoA.

I even had a check rejected by my bank and was charged $12.00 because my check was rejected.

Out of desperation I scanned the check on my laptop, which has a 22 inch monitor on it and took a picture of the check on the screen. I worked. But I like the lens in front of the camera work around better.

I just used my reading glasses or a magnify glass and the image is focused.
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