Camera unable to focus on sheet of paper

[dtzihe]

I'm trying to use my surface pro 3 to take a picture of notes on a sheet of paper, but it seems the camera is unable to focus and produce clear text? My phone and other tablets all do fine.

 

[jnjroach]

Microsoft choose to use a fixed focus camera on the SP3, it is hit and miss but I have used it to take a scan of a document and have most of it readable, but I prefer using the Office Lens app on Windows Phone much better....

 

[ctitanic]

Microsoft choose to use a fixed focus camera on the SP3, it is hit and miss but I have used it to take a scan of a document and have most of it readable, but I prefer using the Office Lens app on Windows Phone much better....

Thanks for pointing to Office Lens. It's really good!

 

[bkydcmpr]

why did microsoft decide to go low with the camera is beyond my imagination. at first I thought it could be the thin chassis, then I immediately realize there are thinner devices out there with more capable cameras. bad business decision.

 

[ctitanic]

Yeah, one of those things hard to understand.

 

[malberttoo]

Thanks Jeff for the tip on Office Lens!

 

[bkydcmpr]

the camera definitely is a problem, though nobody is talking about it anymore because the thermal problem weights much more. I hope we have a thread for sp4 wish list like the tabletpcreview forum. this is my message to microsoft:

dear microsoft, since the fixed focus camera in sp3 doesn't work as you described "forget about focus blah blah", please put a good auto focus camera in sp4, like nokia good, carl zeiss lens good.

 

[JoeNathan78]

wow, even the camera. This thing is falling way short of what I expected. Should have just got an SP2 back in January... Might end up going that route anyway. UGH!

I wonder if Microsoft will even acknowledge these problems. I hope they do, or else they'll risk losing lots of fans..

 

[dleuen]

While I am very impressed with the hardware, the camera is certainly one area Microsoft fell way short of expectations. That lame of a camera on a first-class device like the SP3 is inexcusable.

 

[GreyFox7]

While I am very impressed with the hardware, the camera is certainly one area Microsoft fell way short of expectations. That lame of a camera on a first-class device like the SP3 is inexcusable.

They probably did that so you would use your 20mp Lumia 1520 so as to not make you the subject of late night comedy about people using huge tablets to take photos.

 

[dleuen]

Ha, good point. I always think it looks ridiculous when I see people holding up their iPad to take pictures. But still there are legitimate uses such as what the OP mentioned where it would have been nice to have a decent camera, even though my phone is always right here with me.

 

[CustomSurfaceP2]

I use this and is light and small enough to fit in my thin latpop bag with my tablet. I scan all my artwork and documents with it. 900DPI is max resolution.
VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner (PDS ST415 WM)