Xperia E3 camera cannot set resolution or focus mode

[stechi1]

My main camera is producing low quality pictures. It will not allow me to select a different focus mode.  Whenever I change the resolution it is still the same.  The photo comes out around 1 or 2MB.

[Uliwooly]

the size of the picture its ok (1 or 2MB) with that said, change to manual mode 

[stechi1]

Yes, I'm already in Manual mode, have been all the time.   I can set the resolution on the menu but i doesn't seem to make any difference.

[Uliwooly]

Is the camera lens dirty or scratched or anything might be partially blocking the camera?

[stechi1]

Nothing blocking the camera. 

I noticed an icon looking like mountains and realised I was in a scene mode, even though I had selected manual mode and could see a picture of a wheel/dial with an M in it. I switched off the SCN mode and now I am able to select a focus mode, yay.  But it dowsn't give a better picture, either it is still focussing just off (how is that possible?) or it isn't using enough pixels.

I restarted the phone and afterwards it was just the same, but all the photos in the SD card disappeared.

I'm bginning to have second thoughts about this phone.

With my old Galaxy Ace I could take a photo of a sheet of A4 paper and zoom in and the quality was as though I was looking at the real thing, i.e. completely readable text or handwriting.  This is nowhere near that quality.

[Uliwooly]

It'll be wise to contact your local Xperia Care

http://support.sonymobile.com/global-en/contactUs/

[stechi1]

I have done some more experimenting this morning and it is actually better.  There is much more light today and I think it might have been struggling with maybe not enough light to focus.

Thanks for your help.