dark dot appears in all pictures - help!

[profsher]

I recently noticed a grey dot that appears in all pictures taken with the camera when taking a shot on a clear white background - attached. It's in pictures going back a few months, and also shows up when they are downloaded.  Insurance won't cover it, and only suggestion I got from Verizon was that maybe a total reset might help. I'm not willing to go thru that for a "maybe" --

Any one else have that?  They won't even give me a reduction on a new phone until my designated time in a few months. 

What to do???   Will I just have grey dots in all my vacation pictures now?  or pay more for a new phone??

[JerryF]

If your attached photo has a piece of paper as background the camera MIGHT be seeing something in the paper or even below (underneath) the paper that is NOT visible to you.  Cameras can do this; I have seen it before.  Also, I can see the number 18 (shown in reverse so a person might thing it's 81) as well as a big gray spot in your photo.

Another idea is to set the white Balance to AUTO if it isn't on Auto already.

I have also seen fingerprint smudges that look just like the larger gray spot in your photo.

Please let me know if this helped.

JerryF

[profsher]

Thanks Jerry, but I knew that one was taken on the reverse side of a calendar sheet.

I have attached an earlier one of sunset & clouds - nothing in that background and my fingers are not small enough to smudge the camera lens. The lens and screen are clean. I don't think the grey dot was in the photo when I took it (and others that are outdoor shots that still show the grey dot) but it is in all of them now - even when they are downloaded -- as these were. I would have noticed it in them when taken or reviewed.  It's in the same spot in all pictures.

The white balance has always been set to "auto"

Any other ideas?  Verizon or the insurance say it's nothing that is covered - just too bad for me.

Hey Verizon Customer Support that has answered others .... what do you think?

[JerryF]

Go to MENU>Settings>Applications>Manage Applications and at the top of the screen choose ALL.  Then go down the list and touch CAMERA.  Then touch Clear Cache, if it is highlighted,  and also Clear Data .  Go back and take a photo to see if that fixes your problem.

This is stretching it a bit but check these setups.  Un check the Auto Contrast setting and for the setting Adjust make sure those 3 items are at zero.  Sometimes to much contrast can make areas of a photo show up a little bit darker.

If that does not do it do the famous 10 minute battery pull.  This will NOT reset your phone but leave the battery out for 10-12 minutes then put it back in and restart your phone and hope!!!

Let me know...okay?  Was this the answer???

JerryF

[profsher]

Thanks for the reply, Just did both things and no change.  Still a grey spot in pictures! 

really unhappy with Verizon - neither insurance nor the company will do anything about it.

Sherri

[JerryF]

Sherri,

It may be the digital picture sensor in the camera that has somehow is failing and has acquired a bad spot or two.  This is a physical hardware failure of the Charge phone's camera, just like it is in any digital camera, so Verizon should replace your phone depending on how old it is.  This sensor is not software; it is hardware.

If the dark spot ALWAYS appears in the same spot in all photos than probably the sensor is failing.

JerryF

[profsher]

Thank you Jerry,

The add-on "insurance" I have paid for does not cover "hidden or latent defect, including equipment design defect, or any quality in the property that causes it to damage or destroy itself" -- so basically useless unless it is lost, stolen, or run over by a car or dropped in my pool. I realized this too late, and will not be paying for insurance in the future.

The phone is over a year old so I'm basically out of luck. 

I appreciate all your efforts to help.

Sherri

[JerryF]

Sherri,

To bad for you.  This has been my experience too where there always seems to be some clause that EXCLUDES a persons claim.

To me it seams that insurance only covers total destruction or loss of an item. 

JerryF

[profsher]

thanks for your help, albeit not anything that fixed the problem.