Camera APIs may use/report incorrect supported resolution on some Lumia devices (Known Issue)
The camera APIs on some Lumia devices return an unsupported resolution value and set this to the default value. This issue may also affect other manufacturer devices, but that is untested.
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Overview
In affected Lumia devices the camera APIs will return an unsupported resolution value ("1280x960") in the set of resolutions the front camera is expected to support. The incorrect value is also set as the default resolution, so that if a developer does not explicitly set the targeted resolution (or sets it to this unsupported value) the camera will freeze and will only recover if the phone is rebooted.
The issue is known to affect the Nokia Lumia devices which have a non-HD front camera: RM-824, RM-825, RM-826. It is caused by a bug in the camera's configuration.
Workaround
When using the front camera you must set the desired capture resolution explicitly, ensuring that you do not use the high resolution value returned by the API.
You can use DeviceExtendedProperties.GetValue("DeviceName") or DeviceStatus.DeviceName() (if targeting only WP8 devices) to query on which device the application is running, and if the returned string contains one of the RM codes mentioned above, clean-up the list of supported resolutions and set the capture resolution to the supported value of 640x480.
Solution
The issue affects only the specified devices and is expected to be fixed in a subsequent firmware update.
Hamishwillee - Is there a way to query on the firmware version too?
... ie when the fix is available, not every phone will update. Better then to check firmware version before setting the resolution to a low value.hamishwillee 00:51, 30 November 2012 (EET)
AlexSorokoletov - Is it really a bug
Because there is a point that preview resolution should have same ratio as recording.
Otherwise it will throw exception when setting preview resolution.AlexSorokoletov 11:53, 27 March 2013 (EET)
Hamishwillee - Yes it is
Yes. Its actually two real bugs - the system shouldn't return an unsupported resolution, and it should gracefully handle the case where the an unsupported resolution is specified instead of freezing.
Note - I don't really understand your comment about why this might not be, but even so, I'd see it as a separate issue.hamishwillee 02:10, 28 March 2013 (EET)