Meta Quest 2 has been designed for the ultimate immersive virtual reality gaming. The smudges inside the lens of Meta Quest 2 have been a source of complaints online in recent times.
Yes, in most cases you may find your Oculus Quest 2 to be blurry or smudged. It happens due to its performance settings and some other external settings. These include IPD ranges, the position of the lens, texture size, adjusting lens spacing, fogging, etc. These issues are very common today and are very frustrating for headset owners.
Many people can detect their issues, but they do not know how to fix them. Some find it difficult to get passed and still have the same issues.
This article will explain why Oculus Quest 2 smudges the lens, as well as provide all the necessary tips and tricks.
Before getting details, you need to know some important things about…
How the Meta Quest 2 lenses are made and do they work?
The Oculus Quest 2 actually uses something called “Fresnel Lenses” or Hybrid Fresnel Lenses. They have huge magnification power but are also very thin and weightless.
Fresnel lenses work instead of being one massive magnification slab. It actually does steps of magnification and that’s why we actually see the rings inside the lens.
If you look at your Oculus Quest 2, you will see rings inside the lens. These are those steps of magnification that reduce the thickness and weight of the lens.
Now let’s break down all the reasons that are accountable for the smudges or blurred vision on Oculus Quest 2.
1. Position of The Lens
The Fresnel Lens leaves a very tiny sweet spot that is right in the middle of the lens. This sweet spot is responsible for the most accurate vision in the Oculus Quest 2. Due to the improper positioning of the pupil, your VR vision is unclear or smudgy.
How to fix this issue? Having that lined up perfectly with your child will fix this problem. So adjust the pupillary distance settings to match up with your eyes perfectly. If you pay attention to your Oculus Quest 2 headset, you will find the IPD settings.
In simple terms, Inter-Pupillary distance (IPD) is the distance between your pupils.
How to find your IPD?
If you are not sure about your IPD, the most accurate way to get the most accurate measurement is to visit an optometrist.
You can also estimate your IPD using a mirror and a millimeter ruler.
To do this, it will be better to have a friend by your side. But you can measure it by yourself by following these steps.
Step 1: Stand in front of a mirror and hold a millimeter ruler just above your eyes.
Step 2: Closing one eye, line the end of the ruler over your open eyes, and center on your pupil.
Step 3: Open your closed eyes and place your finger over the ruler in line with your pupil. And of course, do not move the ruler. Then read the millimeter measurement under your finger.
When it comes to the adjustment of the Oculus Quest 2 headset, another term is often used, which is Lens Spacing.
Lens spacing refers to the clearest spots on the two lenses inside your headset.
To achieve the highest image clarity, the lens spacing should line up with your IPD as much as possible. You can adjust the lens spacing on Oculus Quest 2 by gently shifting together or apart.
Meta Quest 2 headset offers the ability to accommodate IPDs between 56 and 70 mm for adults.
| IPD Range | Lens Spacing Setting |
| 61 mm or smaller | 1 (narrowest, 58 mm) |
| 61 mm to 66 mm | 2 (middle, 63mm) |
| 66mm or larger | 3 (widest, 68mm) |
2. Lenses Are Too Far Away
This part is related to the previous reason. The tricky part is that when you get the lens too close, your eyelashes will rub on the lens. Because of that, the lens becomes dirty and hazy.
Tips 1: To get rid of this issue, make sure that the lenses are far enough back that your eyelashes are not rubbing on the lens.
Tips 2: Sometimes people use spacers in the Oculus Quest 2 to protect the glasses. That also can create distance for some people’s eyes from the lens and make the sweet spot small.
As you know, the closer you look at the peephole or sweet spot, the larger view you can experience. If the lenses are far away from your eyes, you will only see a small fraction of clear vision.
Tip 3: You may also think of wearing glasses as a solution to this problem. Yes, you can but the tricky part is- if you wear glasses that create a bit of space between the lenses and your eyes. Finding the right balance to be close enough to the lenses with glasses is challenging.
Therefore, you should be able to get the glasses as close to the Quest 2 lenses as possible without scratching them. Besides, you make sure that you can comfortably view the sweet spot.
3. Dealing With Uncorrected Prescription
One of the most common causes of distorted vision while playing VR on Oculus Quest 2 is dealing with uncorrected prescriptions. If you have nearsightedness or farsightedness, make sure you are not dealing with the wrong prescription.
Oculus Quest 2 might be blurry if your prescription is not corrected.
Besides, you might have Astigmatism and not realize it. As you know Astigmatism can affect the way your eyes focus on things, especially during long periods of playtime. If so, make sure that you have an eye exam.
4. Dirty Lenses
After several times of use, the Oculus Quest 2 lenses may get dirty. Even your headset lenses may have some of the tiniest specks. Thus, when you are close to the lenses, specks or dirt can appear quite large and take up quite a bit of your view. This occurrence blurs up a portion of the Oculus Quest 2 lens.
What is the most effective way to clean dirty or speckled lenses?
All you have to do is – you can use a microfibre cloth to clean every inch of lenses. Remember that when you are wiping the lens, start from the center of the lens and do a circular motion. Do not push so hard. Otherwise, the headset’s lens may get scratched. That method will help the Oculus Quest 2 lens stay free from smudges.
Another way of cleaning dirty lenses is with a spray. But you have to make sure that the spray you are planning to use has approval for lenses. If you use an unapproved spray, some kind of chemical under the lenses may ruin or warp the lenses permanently.
5. Poor Text Resolution
In terms of text resolution, the Oculus Quest 2 headset itself has poor resolution. Not in all devices but in a few. In some cases, this is due to the technical support provided by the manufacturing company.
It is the resolution or size of the text that determines the clarity of the picture in the Oculus Quest 2. If the text resolution capability in your VR headset is poor, the pictures of the Oculus Quest 2 that you see through the lens become smudgy or blurry.
How to solve this issue?
There is a way to increase the text resolution in the device and that is by installing something called “Sidequest”. By installing Sidequest, you can increase the text resolution. Navigate to the “settings” and change the default resolution. It will make the text and the picture of the Oculus Quest 2 clearer and crispier. But do not make the text too long. You may experience performance issues and battery issues. A proper balance should be struck between improving the text and rendering the picture clear.
Are you still experiencing the smudges inside your headset’s lens?
Apart from these top five reasons, if you experience distorted vision during playtime, there are some other definite reasons. Like-
God Rays
You might notice these streaks of light in the lenses of Oculus Quest 2, these are called God Rays. These rays evolved from white text on the screen. This is the actual nature of the lenses. Because of that Rays, you can experience blurry vision or the prospect of your headset’s lens becoming smudged.
How to stop the God Rays?
Because of the limitations of the Oculus Quest 2 lenses, there is no way around replacing them. But I have noticed that if you turn on the “Night Display”, the blue block in the Oculus Quest 2, it does cut down on the God Rays. You cannot get rid of them completely but it seems to make them less noticeable.
Fogging
The main reason why your lenses might be fogging up is temperature change. If your device is kept somewhere cool for a while and put back on a warm face, that temperature difference causes the lenses to fog up.
How to stop fogging?
Tips 1: There are a few things that you might want to invest in for stopping fogging. You can get a different and better face shield for this issue. The VRCover Facial Interface shield is among the most popular shields. It will help you allow air in the Meta Quest 2 headset and reduce fogging in general and condensation as well.
When you find yourself in that situation, keep your Oculus Quest 2 device in a warm place. It can be heated up with your breath as long as it gets condensed on the surface. Then you just clean it with a clean microfiber cloth. It helps.
Some people place the device under a blanket or towel to heat it. Also, I have seen some people suggest using a blow dryer on medium heat for the lenses. This stupid thing scares me a lot.
Lens defect: Your device might be smudged or blurry due to a manufacturing defect in the Oculus Quest 2. Many people have reported it. It would cause blurry vision or areas of weird distortion when they were playing VR. This person them very annoying.
How will you know that your Quest 2 device has a lens defect?
Well, you will actually notice small areas or segments of the lenses that have chromatic aberration. Sometimes you may find weird hazy spots too.