Documents washed out/out of focus

[RevRichard62 3]

I have always had good success taking photos of documents in an Evernote note using a Samsung Galaxy 5.  Suddenly the document images are washed out and/or out of focus instead of sharp and clearly defined. In some cases the image is reversed, i.e. mirrrored.  Any ideas?  I'm attaching a file as an example.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Wadken1 2]

I'm having similar problems with the Page camera. The recent update now gives an image which appears to be highly over-exposed and out of focus. The results are unusable. I've checked this on my S3 running CM12 (lollipop 5.02), the S3 running OMNI lollipop 5.1, and S2 running Samsung's unmodified version of android 4.4.2 - all show the same behaviour.

 

Evernote on my Galxy Note 10.1 (1st gen) running CM12 causes a reboot but this is likely due to the rom rather than the app.

 

The current version of Evernote for Windows Mobile is working as it should giving clear images.

[gazumped 11,667]

Odd - my Galaxy S3 is working fine.  Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app,  and checking the camera settings?

[Wadken1 2]

Yes. Both of those things on all devices.

 

Changing the camera settings to have Evernote use the system camera does work i.e. it allows for a good quality image to be taken but it's just a work around and is not a substitute for Evernotes' internal Document and Business card scanning which had been working well before the last update. Better results can be had by using the free CamNote app which can automatically sync to Evernote.

[gazumped 11,667]

OK - not heard of Camnote before,  but I'll certainly have a look at it - but doesn't it seem like more of an Evernote competitor than an add-in?

 

and.

 

Using the "device camera" setting doesn't mean you lose the 'document/ business card/ etc' options.

[Wadken1 2]

OK - not heard of Camnote before,  but I'll certainly have a look at it - but doesn't it seem like more of an Evernote competitor than an add-in?

 

and.

 

Using the "device camera" setting doesn't mean you lose the 'document/ business card/ etc' options.

I'm afraid you are wrong there. I just tried it again to double check. When you set it to use the default camera mode that's all you get - straight forward images. the options for "Document", "Post-It" etc are simply presented.

[Theresa Pittappilly 37]

Sorry for the inconvenience folks! We have heard that there are some issues on select devices running certain OS's. We're investigating the issue. Thanks for the feedback. 

[RevRichard62 3]

I have found a workaround to this problem: if I take a photo of the document from the camera app (not Evernote), save the photo, and click share to Evernote, the document reproduces perfectly.  Thanks to those who offered suggestions, and to the Evernote folks who are working on a solution.

[RevRichard62 3]

Looks like the latest Evernote update for Android has fixed the problem. Thanks!

[Candid 167]

This maybe function correctly on my Samsung S3 phone, but it is still broken on my Samsung Note8 tablet. 

[stellar renegade 0]

Still not working for me. I have the latest update and my notes are still getting washed out.

[stellar renegade 0]

Still not working for me. I have the latest update and my notes are still getting washed out.

[Joe Loves Watercolors 2]

I agree with all... something's changed in Evernote.  

[I prefer taking pictures of my watercolors with Evernote, because in the document setting it automatically squares the photo, correcting for slight aberrations in camera angle.  Then I add the photograph to my watercolor notebook and describe the techniques I used to create it.  This serves as a photo journal.]  

But now, the photograph, while squared, becomes washed out.  If I revert to the photo mode I get an uncorrected photo which is not what I want.  Of course, I can always take the best picture I am able with the normal camera and bring it into Evernote, but the document option was really handy.  I hope Evernote can correct this soon.  By the way, this seems to be exacerbated when the lighting is strongest.

P.S., I tried to upload a 118 kb watercolor picture sample but I got an error message saying that I exceeded the 501 kb limit.

[Candid 167]

This is an old thread and at the time there were several on this problem. It has now been fixed for months in my world so your problem may be more specific to you: the specific android platform you are using, the fact you are shooting paintings instead of print documents, or something else. You might want to submit a personal request for assistance with a support ticket. 

[gazumped 11,667]

I think the experience from Scannable is being used to 'improve' the pictures of documents to make it easier to OCR them successfully.  Unfortunately those contrast / white balance settings aren't necessarily good for color artwork.  My Samsung Note 4 has one camera app option that automatically crops and de-skews pictures independently which I'd use to transfer photos to Evernote - other manufacturers and apps may have something similar.  Failing that though your only option is manually cropping later.  This isn't something that Evernote is likely to 'fix' since it's intended for best quality document copying - though I guess they might consider adding the autocrop to the main camera app at some stage...

[Matt W. 174]

On 1/12/2016 at 11:07 AM, Joe Loves Watercolors said:

I agree with all... something's changed in Evernote.  

[I prefer taking pictures of my watercolors with Evernote, because in the document setting it automatically squares the photo, correcting for slight aberrations in camera angle.  Then I add the photograph to my watercolor notebook and describe the techniques I used to create it.  This serves as a photo journal.]  

But now, the photograph, while squared, becomes washed out.  If I revert to the photo mode I get an uncorrected photo which is not what I want.  Of course, I can always take the best picture I am able with the normal camera and bring it into Evernote, but the document option was really handy.  I hope Evernote can correct this soon.  By the way, this seems to be exacerbated when the lighting is strongest.

P.S., I tried to upload a 118 kb watercolor picture sample but I got an error message saying that I exceeded the 501 kb limit.

Hi Joe,

Thank you for posting this. While the document scanner feature in Evernote crops and automatically adjusts some settings with the pictures, it is designed primarily for text documents as opposed to pictures. When using the document scanner on pictures it can wash out the colors as it is trying to optimize for text (white and black coloring to bring out the focus in the image). It is interesting though that you ran into a picture size limit. What version are you currently using of the Evernote application?

[Mike Vila 10]

Just spoke to Evernote and this problem has still NOT been fixed. They assured me they are working on it, but's in been almost a year now since it was reported. The scanning feature works great in IOS why not in an open source operating system like Android. The problem with taking a picture and sending to Evernote is that it sends it as an image so you have to crop it, instead of a smooth transition to transcribed document, but it is a workaround, thank you RevRichard69. I'm not feeling confident this will be fixed soon, I'm new to the Android world, anyone have a suggestion as alternative for Evernote, that works better with Android? I hate to jump ship as a Premium users for years, but this feature is important to me as I scan documents daily. I need something that scans the image and creates a word index to quickly find documents through keyword searches, like Evernote does so well.

[Matt W. 174]

Hey @Mike Vila,

Thank you for posting. We are currently working on the camera functions in the Evernote application for Android to give you a richer document scanning experience. Please provide the ticket number you were given by our support team and I will further look into this.

[RevRichard62 3]

Since posting the original issue I have not had any problems and have assumed the problem was fixed by Evernote. 

[Mike Vila 10]

The problem has definitely not been fixed yet. Here are two images of a receipt I took, one with Android and the other with IOS. I scan all my documents for business and this is a HUGE disappointment. I am now using Tiny Scanner to scan and send to Evernote, but it is quite an insult when Apple, with a smaller user base, get's the better app. Not to mention the IOS version has more features like zoom.

[Mike Vila 10]

Please go here and VOTE for this to be fixed:  

 

[Matt W. 174]

Hello @Mike Vila,

I appreciate the screenshot. I would definitely like to see what could be causing this and if it is device specific where this is happening. What was the ticket number provided to you when reporting this to us?

[Mike Vila 10]

Ticket# 1544474

[Matt W. 174]

Hello @Mike Vila,

I have gone ahead and viewed the ticket and I appreciate you getting back with me on the ticket number.

We are in the last part of the testing phase of the new update for Evernote on Android. The release will come shortly to add some capabilities in the camera department that I think will correct this for you, resulting in better scans for you and everyone that uses Evernote.

[Mike Vila 10]

Awesome Matt, thank you for following up!

[Tom S-J 0]

Hi
1. I have the same problem with blurred focus on my new Sony Xperia z5 Compact. It seems like Evernote defocuses right before the picture is taken. I.e. when I'm about to take a photo, it looks sharp and in focus on the screen, but when I press the camera-button, it defocuses. This happens on about 80% of pictures taken with Evernote. The camera focuses automatically or when I press a focus point on the screen, but then when I press the camera button, Evernote presumably tries to focus once more. 

The ordinary camera function takes sharp photos even if I don't hold the camera steady...

See attached photos for comparison..

 

2. Another thing: It would be practical to be able to Zoom in the preview before you approve it. Is there any way to do that? 

 

Best Regards

Tom 

[ori0n 1]

On 5/3/2016 at 4:55 AM, Tom S-J said:

Hi
1. I have the same problem with blurred focus on my new Sony Xperia z5 Compact. It seems like Evernote defocuses right before the picture is taken. I.e. when I'm about to take a photo, it looks sharp and in focus on the screen, but when I press the camera-button, it defocuses. This happens on about 80% of pictures taken with Evernote. The camera focuses automatically or when I press a focus point on the screen, but then when I press the camera button, Evernote presumably tries to focus once more. 

The ordinary camera function takes sharp photos even if I don't hold the camera steady...

See attached photos for comparison..

 

2. Another thing: It would be practical to be able to Zoom in the preview before you approve it. Is there any way to do that? 

 

Best Regards

Tom 

 

This is my issue as well.  It looks perfect right before I snap the picture.  This happens almost every time.  Samsung Galaxy S5.  I've had this problem for a while, but not sure exactly how long.

[Matt W. 174]

Hello @ori0n,

Thank you for posting. I would recommend reaching out to our support team by clicking the link found in my signature. With that, please provide a log file and we will further look into what could be causing this.

Thanks!