Camera focus on Android Phones

Auto-focus is a very nice feature. It reliefs people from having to do focusing. However, it cannot solve all problems. For example, if you subject is near and at the side, the background is at  a distance, you are sure to get your subject blurred.

Problem with phone cameras is that there is no hardware control on the focus. One way to avoid out of focus is to set focus to infinity. There are phone cameras that comes with a spot focus. This feature allows you to touch the screen at the spot where you want to focus. This may work a bit. However, if you need to aim for a longer period of time, the focus automatically goes back to center focus. The chance of you getting a blurred picture is still there.

One way out of the situation is to use manual focus. First you focus on the subject using spot focus. You then move the camera to the correct angle and get the picture correctly.

The only problem with manual focus is that you have to focus for each picture. Also, if your phone camera comes with face detection, it will not work in manual focus mode.

There is a big issue if you use manual focus on small and close objects like small flowers growing on branches. Chances of you getting out of focus is very high even on manual focus. I have found a simple solution to it. First put your hand parallel to the object and focus on your hand instead of the object. You can then take the picture of the object (must be in manual focus mode).

It will be too bad if your object is a living thing which responds when your hand moves close to it. You can still estimate the distance between your camera and the object then turn to the side and put your hand at the same distance then focus. It may not be very accurate but the depth of field usually can covers the focusing quite well.