Changing Cameras In The Camera App

[TheJason]

I was trying out the camera app on my Surface Pro, and it goes into the front-facing camera by default.  I wanted to change to the rear-facing camera, but I do not seem to have the "Change Camera"  button described in this post http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/support/hardware-and-drivers/surface-cameras-faq, so I can't switch to the rear-facing camera.

 

In the att photo, you can see the Camera Options, Timer and Video mode buttons, but no change camera.  Anybody have any ideas?

[TheJason]

Nobody has any idea about this?

[ikon]

All I can say is I have it on mine -- no idea why you don't. Call MS Surface Support.

[TheJason]

Ok, I've now looked into this more.  In Device Manager, under Imaging Devices, I noticed that there was a MS LifeCam Front, but no rear.  Also, that there is an "Unknown device".  Updating the driver automatically from the web didn't work, so I Googled Surface Pro drivers and there is a firmware and driver pack that has a LifeCam driver.  Trying to install it this way also wouldn't install.

 

So I spoke with MS support, and he suggested that I try resetting the UEFI Firmware settings and see if it works.  No change.  The next action would be to refresh/reset Windows 8.  I'm not going to do this right now, but am hoping that the 8.1 update may fix this.

 

However, and here's what I believe is actually wrong, he said that if that doesn't work, it's possible that it's a hardware problem. There have been a 'small' number of Surfaces where the rear camera isn't properly connected to the motherboard internally.  After the 8.1 update, if it still doesn't work, I'll have to get it repaired/replaced under warranty.