BlackBerry® Storm™

[PBELKNAP]

Is there some trick to using the camera on the Storm?  Every time I go to take a picture, I press the button and the flash comes on, there's a delay, and then the picture gets taken.  Nine times out of ten, the flash is too much and the image is washed out.  The only way I've been able to take decent picures is outside without the flash...

The weird thing is the delay between the flash and the picture getting taken...

[sdgardne]

Hi there!

A few pieces of information, please...

1) Specific device model -- 9500 or 9530

2) Device OS level

3) Carrier

4) Memory Stats (from Options > Memory)

Let us know!

[PBELKNAP]

1) Specific device model -- 9530

2) Device OS level -- not sure where this is.  When I looked at "About" I saw v.4.7.0.148 -- is that what you're talking about?

3) Carrier -- Verizon Wireless

4) Memory Stats (from Options > Memory)

    Application Memory - 3.2 MB

    Device Memory - 871.2 MB

    Media Card - 7.3 GB

Hope this helps...PAM

[sdgardne]

Thanks for the quick response!

.148 is correct -- that's the current device OS from VZW.

Your AppMemory is very very low...that should be kept up at 15MB or more. To rectify, do this:

• Anytime random strange behaviors creep in, the first thing to do is a battery pop reboot. With power ON, remove the back cover and pull out the battery. Wait about a minute then replace the battery and cover. Power up and wait patiently through the long reboot -- ~5 minutes. See if things have returned to good operation. Like all computing devices, BB's suffer from memory leaks and such...with a hard reboot being the best cure.

Then check your AppMemory level. And watch how it goes during the day. If it is dropping badly, then do another batt-pull -- but also try to find out why. See this information:

• http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB15345
• http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB14320
• http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB14213

It is always important to properly close applications when you are done with them. Using the Back or the Red key will not do this -- those leave it to the app to decide what to do...and some will leave themselves resident in memory, consuming resources on your BB, slowing the overall performance. Rather, to close an app, press the BBKey and select "Close" or "Exit"...that will force the application to be closed, freeing up for your new use the resources it was consuming. Some apps will always remain running (typically -- BBMessenger, Browser, Homescreen, Phone, and Messages)...but, you should still close them properly - especially the Browser...if it is left on an active web page, it will not only consume extra resources but battery power as well.

You could also investigate an app called Quick Pull (the lite version is free via AppWorld) -- that can simulate a batt-pull on a regular schedule...I have mine reboot every night at 1130pm to keep my AppMemory the best it can be.

And lastly (and sadly) -- the camera remains a bit cluncky...sadly, that's just the way it is...but it is waaaay better than it was under prior OS levels. And we all hope that RIM continues to improve it in future OS releases.

Best!

[JSanders Resident Expert]

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PBELKNAP wrote:

Nine times out of ten, the flash is too much and the image is washed out.  The only way I've been able to take decent picures is outside without the flash...

The weird thing is the delay between the flash and the picture getting taken...

---

Do you have the Camera > Menu >Options set to automatica?

And for the delay, I agree with sdgarne... the delay is the device writing the picture to the memory. If your device is slowed down to too little memory space that can cause delay. 

But overall, yes, the camera is slow.

[BBGun]

Hey, how is it going? it seems you might know more than me on the camera issues most BB curve users have> Well, the problem I have is this.

Everytime I start my camera, regular camera not camcorder, see, like, stripes going up and down, can barely see what I'm shooting at?

How do I fix that? 

Secondly, everythime I start my camcorder, it shows a greenish screen, can barely see what I'm shooting at? I'm like, WTF is going on?

I CAN'T take pictures, nor can I record anything 'cause my camera doesn't work?

Is there anything,that I don't know, like a firmware or so to fix this problem?

Thx!!! 

[JSanders Resident Expert]

BBGun, odd, I've never seen that.

Look at Options > About, third line down beginning with a "v.4.xxx" . What is your OS?

An OS upgrade "might" fix that. It could be a hardware problem.

How old is your Storm?

[PBELKNAP]

Thanks so much for all the info!

I checked and verified that the only apps running are BBMessenger, Browser, Homescreen, Phone, and Messages.  The Camera Option is set to automatic for the flash.  I can't do a battery pull right now, but I'll try that later and see if I can free more memory.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

That is all good...

On the flash, I don't get the washed out images, but I do know that images taken outside in daylight are much much clearer and higher quality than those inside with the flash.

[PBELKNAP]

Well, I did the battery pull and got my memory up to 22.7 MB for the Application Memory.  I was able to take a pretty good picture that wasn't washed out, but I still got the bizarre delay.  Odd...