S25+ Poor Focus Performance and Manual Focus Lag

[Forsaken11]

Hello.

I'm having issues with this phone's focus. When I want to manually focus on a subject I tap on the subject and wait for the yellow square to show up but it doesn't. I sometimes have to tap 6-7 times to bring up the yellow square. Is this normal? It's been like this from the moment of unboxing the phone. I wonder if I have a faulty device, I didn't have this issue on my Samsung Galaxy S10+.  I really struggle to bring up the yellow square, this not showing up makes me think I am failing at manually focusing on my desired subject.

I'm also having issues with poor performance of the focus.

Below is a photo taken with S25+

Below is a photo taken with s10+

As you can see; the background in the photo s25+ took is quite blurry compared to s10+. 

[EvilMadness]

Nice dog. 😊

[Tom6068]

Try this; open Settings/Apps then scroll down to the camera app. Open that and go to the storage section and open that, then clear both the cache and the data, Clearing the data will make the camera open at default settings, so the need to enter in any preferences for setup will need to be done. See if that helps.

As an aside, the S10, IMO, had the best camera of any Samsung phone I have ever owned and doggo looks a little angry in the photo with the issue (coincidence?)

[Forsaken11]

I've already cleared cache and data. I've also tried resetting the camera settings. I still have the same issues. I've also cleaned the lenses.

I was extremely happy with my Samsung S10+'s camera and I've used it for 6 years so I've grown very used to it. I was expecting a massive jump in quality when switching to s25+, and there was some, but something as basic as focus being this poor was a major let down.

[Tom6068]

Ok, when saying the yellow square, like an auto-focus? If that, it is for when getting up close to an object and the background is still seen. It is aka the focus enhancer. The closer object that is in focus is when the enhancer auto-trips, it will come on to make the background pull into focus as well. But my experience with that is one has to be fairly close to the object for that to show up. It can be turned off when it appear on the screen (looks like a tulip) by touching it. It is sensitive though.

Anyway, it appears to be no fault of yours and needs to be addressed with Samsung customer service. 1 (800) 726-7864. Be sure to use the detail of how you have tried different mode in the camera without being able to get the intended (and should get) results. If you are in the window of return for refund (15 days or less form purchase) I would request that, but that is me. If not, they are obligated to make this right.

[Forsaken11]

I was talking about the little yellow square that pops up when you tap on a subject you want to manually focus on. Phone's distance doesn't seem to affect this. I can do it even when I'm far away from the subject but sometimes I have to tap 6-7 times for it to show up.  I tap it once, then it can show up, if I want to tap on another subject, the earlier square goes away. Then I tap again, sometimes it shows up sometimes it doesn't.

If I'm close to an object I can't get the background to be in focus which is what my topic is about. I've never seen this focus enhancer you are talking about. I tried to test it but I didn't notice anything like that.

[Tom6068]

OK, now I got ya. That is an area that is activated on the camera by touching the screen which will keep the focus on that particular point when moving the camera in/to a different area while the initial selected area is still in view. The focus enhancer looks like this when getting close up to an area or object (the tulip)... 

[Forsaken11]

I know what the yellow square is for. My issue is that I can't get it to show up every time I tap on the screen. I sometimes need to tap the screen 5-6 times for it to show up.

That tulip icon doesn't show up for me no matter how close I get to a subject. Maybe it's a feature for S25 Ultra only? Mine is the plus one.

 

 

[Tom6068]

No, that feature is on all three models. That feature has been around since the S21, IIRC. Do you have the camera assistant installed from the Galaxy Store?

[Forsaken11]

I have Camera Assistant installed. It doesn't have such a setting.

I really do think it's an Ultra exclusive feature. I only find that setting associated with Ultra models and there are many comments on Youtube videos saying people don't have it in their base or plus models.