Front facing camera focus issue, post your build date/location, HW rev, FW version

Creating a dedicated thread to track this issue, since it seems clear it is a hardware problem. Someone mentioned Samsung incorrectly set the focus to infinity, which for a front-facing camera with f/1.7 lens is just absurd. The S6 was set to something more reasonable like 40cm. With more information from everyone, we can get a better idea of the scope and affected ranges. Please post if your front camera is blurry or not, model, build date/location, HW rev, and FW version. The first two can be found on the sticker on the box. The FW version can be found by entering *#34971539# into the dialer and picking cam FW check. So far, three FW versions seem to be out there, ending in xxLLxxCM, xxQLxxCM, and xxLLxxPM. There are reports all seem to have out of focus front facing cameras, but lately the xxLLxxPM seems to be sharper.

You can also enter *#12580*369# into the dialer to see the HW rev and "RF cal" date if you don't have your box sticker anymore. Not sure how to find out the location of manufacture though. In my case, the RF cal date was two weeks before the build date on the box sticker.

The latest update of AIDA64 also reports the focus modes for the cameras. It also appears that there are two distinct camera ID numbers, SLSI_5K4E6XX with only fixed focus mode and SLSI_S5K4E6_FIMC_IS with both fixed and infinity focus modes. The 4E6_FIMC_IS seems to be sharper and correlated to HW Rev MP 0.700 or later with FW version xxLLxxPM (with one report of a very early HW REV0.2 also having the same camera).

To try to normalize and quantify subjective "blurriness," please post a photo if you can, in good lighting with all beauty modes disabled/set to 0 such than any blurriness from noise reduction is reduced and any smoothing from beauty mode is eliminated. Photo should be taken at half to full arms length with clear separation between foreground subject and background. Both foreground and background subjects should have fine detail and high edge contrast.

Here's the compilation of replies so far, last updated 20160509:

sprog123: pretty blurry, S7 black G930T, build date March 4 (RF cal two weeks earlier, late Feb), Vietnam, HW REV0.6, FW version I05QLIA00CM, S5K4E6XX

LockeSGS: slightly blurry, S7 flat, no date supplied, Vietnam, no HW rev supplied, FW version ending in CM

dtroup64: pretty sharp, S7 flat, April 12, Korea, HW REV0.6, FW version - dialer code didn't work

madphone: pretty blurry, S7 Edge G935F, FW version I05QLIA00CM.

karvton: focus issue, S7 edge black G935F, RF Cal 20160310, HW Rev 0.801, FW version I05LLIA00CM
kartvon: exchanged for second unit which is now okay, S7 edge, RF Cal 20160308, HW Rev MP 0.801, FW version I05LLIA00CM

gnan10: too much blurry, G930F, RF Cal 20160305, Vietnam, HW Rev MP 0.700, FW versionI05LLIA00CM

welcomyou: pretty blurry, S7 flat, RF Cal 20160228, HW Rev MP 0.700, FW version I05LLIA00CM

dpki1: somewhat blurry on closeups, pretty sharp from half an arms distance and beyond, S7 black G930FD, RF Cal 20160304, India, HW Rev MP 0.700, FW version l05LLlA00PM, S5K4E6_FIMC_IS

kemby13: similar to dpki1 so fairly sharp at half arms length and beyond, S7 black G930F, RF Cal 20160207, Vietnam, HW Rev MP 0.700, FW version I05LLIA00PM, S5K4E6_FIMC_IS

devhux: blurry but sample picture taken in low lighting, S7 black G930W8, RF Cal 20160211, Vietnam, HW REV0.2, FW version I0LLIA00PM, S5K4E6_FIMC_IS

rishab_s: sample photo fairly blurry, G930F, RF Cal 20160311, India, HW Rev MP 0.700

konoplya (two phones): somewhat blurry, S7 flat, G930T, RF Cal 20160228, HW REV0.6, S5K4E6XX

el7145: no blurry focus, G935F, S5K4E6_FIMC_IS


Seen build locations: Korea, Vietnam, India
Seen HW revs: REV0.2, REV0.6, MP 0.700, MP 0.801
Seen FW versions: I05QLIA00CM, I05LLIA00CM, I0LLIA00PM
Seen camera IDs: S5K4E6XX, S5K4E6_FIMC_IS

Possible correlations: I0LLIA00PM with S5K4E6_FIMC_IS

kartvon said:

S7 edge black g935F I05LLIA00CM with focusing issue.

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Do you guys have the build date/location and HW rev?

I found out that if you type *#12580*369# into the dialer, you can get a version menu that shows the HW rev and "RF Cal" date. My RF cal date shows Feb 20, so about two weeks before the build date on the box sticker. Thanks in advance.

kartvon said:

My RF Cal says 03/10/2016 and MP Rev is MP 0.801

So this is hardware issue?if that so, i think i should this unit now and request a refund to get a new one. I bought this on amazon.

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It's quite likely a hardware issue since the front camera is a fixed focus fixed aperture lens. Apparently all indications are the focal distance is set to infinity (which is why the background appears sharp), rather than 30-40cm, which is the typical arms-length distance and what most other front facing cameras are set to. I don't get why everyone is keeping it so hush-hush, unless there are millions of affected units and a massive recall would be required...

Until we get more confirmation from people posting sharp focus at 30-40cm distance and their HW revs and build dates, I wouldn't be so sure your replacement would have the issue fixed... With them keeping quiet about it, no telling how many modules were affected and if they are silently trying to burn through their stock before making builds with fixed modules.

gnan10 said:

As per my observation. A software fix will do the job. Focusing is fine for background objects (unintended areas)
And details are also very good. While i am trying to take a casual selfie there are no details much. Now i have tried taking along with my hand (i just put my hand in front of my face) in this case my face got focused with good details and my hand went into out of focus. This must be treating background as forground and vice-versa. This is just my observation.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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I don't think these front facing camera modules have adjustable focal lengths. Your hand in front of your face will always be blurrier than your face because with the focal distance set to infinity, anything closer to the camera will appear blurrier. Relatively, your face seems more in focus than your hand since your hand is in front, but when I put my hand in front of part of my face, but also keep the background in the shot, you can clearly see that the focal point doesn't change and stays at infinity (ie. the background is extremely sharp, face is blurry, and hand is blurriest).

Thanks for posting your HW revs and build dates. It's pretty amazing to see that in the span of a couple of weeks, the HW rev has changed from 0.6 to 0.7 all the way to 0.8. I wonder what other changes they are making. Sounds like despite the more recent build dates and HW revs, front facing camera modules still have focus set to infinity. What's weird is dtroup64's front facing camera seemed pretty sharp. His build date is by far the latest, being mid-April, just last week. However, his HW rev was still 0.6 for some reason, and he claimed the dialer code didn't work to get the camera FW info. We need to see if more people who claim to have a good front facing camera will post their build date and info.

kartvon said:

any update to this issue?
As to what I can see here is that all the affected units are from international variant.
Maybe it has something to do with firmwares. Just my opinion.

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SD820 variants also have the issue, like mine. It's just that most of the participants in this forum are from those with international version. From other threads, the problem is very widespread across all models. What's weird is some people claiming their cameras don't have any focusing issue with build dates and HW rev same/very close to others with the issue. It would seem almost random at this point, which doesn't seem likely, unless the manufacturing tolerances for the front facing camera module are so bad that the difference between 40cm and infinite focal distance is within the tolerance...

I'd be curious for those that think their camera is focused properly if they can post some sample pics so we can judge. It should have a foreground element at about 40cm, maybe something with text or fine textures like hair, fabric, etc, and the background should also have significant detail to compare.