[HTC EVO 3D] poor_red_neck:
One thing that has always pissed me off was the HORRIBLE vertical offset on my 3D pictures and videos taken. I knew it wasn't the screen, as 3D movies, downloaded clips, youtube clips, and pics downloaded look WONDERFUL.

For a while I thought it was a software issue, as I know the phone does do some post processing. HTC does offer the option to change the 3D offset for the HORIZONTAL alignment, but not the vertical. Reason? It shouldn't be there to begin with!

I've searched the web high and low for a solution, but other than post image processing I never found anybody who fixed it, and shared how they did it. I've had my phone since release so there's no way I can exchange it.

So. What's the problem? Poor quality control. With my phone (and I suspect many others) the two cameras were not aligned properly (if at all).

WARNING: If you are not a comfortable taking things apart and putting them back together... STOP and don't even attempt it. It's not hard to do, but these phones are VERY FRAGILE. Obvious disclaimer is I'm not responsible for your damaged phone. I'm not responsible for ruining your phone. I'm not responsible for anything. I am providing information. Whether you want to act on it is up to you!

What you'll need:

Evo 3D Phone (duh)

#00 or #000 phillips driver

T5 Torx Driver

Tweezers (something to carefully pry up the ribbon cable clamps and remove the cables)

Stereo Photo Maker (or other 3D image viewer)

Time and Patience

First and foremost take a 3D picture of a photo frame or something square on a blank wall. You just need some type of horizontal reference to compare the two images. You'll need to take the same photo many times so try and pick a spot easy to remember so the photos are close to the same. Try to stand atleast 6ft way so that any offset is more easily seen. Don't take a pic close up as it will be less noticeable for what we're doing.

Download the pic to your computer, and open Stereo Photo Maker. Note this program does not install, it is a self executable. Open the last 3D image you just took.

The standard view shows two images next to each other. For me mine was so off, that I could easily see the left image was way too high. Take a sheet of paper or ruler and compare, as you'll need to know which camera is high, and which is low.

Now press this button to over lap the images. Use your keyboard's arrow keys to manually align the images to see how bad the offset it. One arrow press should be a 4 pixel jump.

As you can see, mine were WWWAAAAYYY off. 72 pixels of vertical mis-alignment.

Now the fun part. Take your phone apart! I'm not going to bother telling you how. There's plenty of youtube videos on line that do a better job than I could have. Find a video that explains how to change the LCD. Thankfully we don't have to mess with removing the digitizer or LCD so don't go that far! That's not a fun job. I also recommend pulling the vibrator motor out of the holder instead of messing with the plug. That plug is a real PITA and very fragile. The motor is wrapped in rubber and is just a press fit into the phone.

When you get to the point where you have the back separated and the main board exposed, go ahead and un-do all the ribbon cables. I left the RF cable and two ribbon cables on the back in-tact. If this is your first time taking a phone apart, don't. Take them off. They are very fragile, and even a stress crack will wreak havoc on your phone and cause something to not work.

Mainboard with ribbon cables and vibrator motor removed

Carefully remove the heat insulation/EMF shield from the back. Be sure to hold the metal covers over the ICs. The adhesive is quite strong so just go slowly. Some recommend heat to aid in this but I advise against it. Very easy to melt something or over do it and it's not needed. You just need to go slowly.

Peel back the insulation

Now once you have it peeled back (don't remove it completely) turn the main board over and remove the two phillips screws holding the cameras assembly on.

The issue is the cameras not looking in the same direction. In my case the left was looking up and the right facing down. What I did to remedy the situation is carefully hold the two camera bodies and twist them slightly so they are both looking straight ahead. You can't go completely off of the cameras appearing to be in alignment as I'm sure there's some adjustment done within the aluminum case. The only thing you can do is trial and error. For me it took 6 times. May take you one, may take 10 or more. The key is don't over do it and try to get it right all at once. Take your time and work slowly.

Here you can see the camera module. They are connected together by an aluminum bar. This bar is what we'll be twisting to re-align the cameras.

Twist the cameras in the direction needed

It's hard to describe how much force it took to twist it. It's cast aluminum so it did take a fair amount of force but not much. I'd equate it to the amount of force necessary to break a wodden #2 pencil. Maybe a bit more. Using both hands, pinch the two cameras one in each hand, and twist. You won't be able to feel the metal moving, and will barely be noticeable by eye. Just twist it a while, put it back together, snap the pic again and compare using the Stereo Photo Maker app.

If you can't get it perfect don't worry about it. 5 pixels or less will be barely noticable. I got mine within 3 pixels and I'm leaving it.

You can see my progression. I started with 72, then got to 48, then 28, then 20, then 16, then finally 0.

Finally close to 0 pixels offset!

When done, it should look very close to a regular ol' image with no offset.

Congrats!!! Now your phone will take much better 3D pics. Most noticeable was increased video performance. Not only that, but the eye-strain for decently taken 3D images is virtually gone. Vertical offset will cause eye strain much more than a slight horizontal offset which can be fixed within the stock gallery app. The pics didn't look all that bad unless I took one very close up but videos were horrible. I can say now they are MUCH better. Still not as good as a GoPro 3D setup but its better none-the-less.

All in all it took about 45 minutes to get it right. Wasn't that difficult to do.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Good luck!

XDA/Google Search Keywords: evo, 3d, fix, camera, vertical, alignment, offset, bad, pictures, video, eye, strain