[bumblebirra]

Hi, Has anyone managed to find a barcode scanning app that's able to work on a Nokia C7? I've tried a couple, but because the phone is fixed focus and unable to focus sharply enough at close range, it doesn't work.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[thetao]

I've considered buying either a C7 or 701, and the only workaround I've seen is to stand at the minimum focus distance and use the digital zoom.  (Which will likely look very silly to passers-by, hehe.)  Perhaps in the future, Nokia will not cut so many corners?

[blitzkid]

try this bar code scanner...
www.n8fanclub.com/2011/11/idigmobi-1002-bar-code-scanner-s3-anna.html?m=1
Hope it's the one you're looking for.

[bumblebirra]

Thanks for both the replies. I'll give this one a try tonight and report back.

[blitzkid]

Did you find that bar code scanner useful?

[bumblebirra]

Hi, sorry, haven't had a chance to try this yet. I was talking to a friend yesterday who owns an N8 and he kinda put me off by saying that it's impossible for the fixed focus cameras to be able to scan barcodes. Even if I try to take a photo of a barcode it's just a blur at any distance, so I cant see how an application using live video will be any different. I've tried several different apps now and it's the same thing. Thanks for trying to help though, but I think i'll just have to live without this capability for now.

[helga_engels]

Hi,

I have wasted a lot of time with the same problem.

The result is, you cannot use C7 or other phones without auto-focus as a barcode reader.

I am very disappointed because of paying a rather high price.

Function must be more important than weight !

[blitzkid]

Alright, guess we've to live with it, until we upgrade our mobiles with auto focus cam...

[donofworld]

EDoF units are only for symbian^3 phones....Lumia series phones will have auto focus cams only

[Srikanthsd]

Full focus cameras take better quality photos than auto focus camera as it focuses on all objects which are at minimum focus range. Video recording is better in full focus cameras than autofocus cameras. But for taking macro shots it is not good. But they are still able to capture legible images of newspapers, letters etc when shot is taken from some distance. You need to zoom or crop them to be able to read.

[bumblebirra]

Yes in many ways I quite like having a full-focus/fixed-focus camera on my phone. As long as whatever you are trying to capture is over a metre or so away, then it's never out of focus or trying to focus on the wrong object. The resulting image capture quality always amazes me. The quality of the image capturing CCD whatever you want to call it in mobile phones, is not as high as a dedicated digital camera, even on the N8 and the Carl Zeiss optics and auto focusing are almost like a gimmick. This was the case on my old N95-8GB anyway.

Come to think of it though, the front facing camera lens has been designed to allow a face to be quite near to it and look more focused than a face would be at the same distance if the the main rear camera were used. Could this allow barcodes to be read? I dont think the camera resolution would be that important for software to be capable of reading the patterns in a barcode.

[bumblebirra]

I just tried it. I was right, the front facing camera can be held right upto a barcode or some text and it's as focused as my auto-focusing N95 could ever get - which was very capable of reading barcodes. All we need now is some scanning software that can make use of the front facing camera.

[bumblebirra]

If anyone knows of barcode scanning software that can decode barcodes from a photograph taken, rather than "live" video, then the issue could be solved.

[blitzkid]

Great! We're one step closer to the solution and you've contributed well. Lets Hope to find a scanner that works with photos.

[jlrivero]

I arrived at this post searching a different but related problem...

For scanning codes, although the camera has fixed focus, first you must play with the settings for brightness and contrast. Besides, you have to keep a minimum distance from the code, since the camera has no "macro" adjust.

I had the same problem and I solved it this way. The programs I have used are "Upcode"  and "ShopSavy"

I have a C5-03, but the issue may be the same.

Hope this can help. Regards

[timkamat]

Your C5-03 has auto focus I guess. Anyhow what settings do you change? And was the program successful in decoding the bar code?

[erie]

iDigMobi barcode scanner:

http://store.ovi.com/content/208526

[erie]

Hi there,

Have you tried iDigMobi on your phone? If you do, what's your experience of using it?

[molecom]

Barcode scanning without autofocus is useless.

[torchaj]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArFivRjT2MM

The above video seems interesting, as the phone used is an E7 which is full focus...!!!