[EyeB]

sound like the camera is auto adjusting the white balance

you sit it down, back down where camera is covered? So it is all black, phone turns up white balance to see if it can pick up more details, so when you lift it up where it gets light, the white balance washes everything out, just change white balance from auto to a set number?

edit: just tried to reproduce it, default camera on my TP2 doesn't do this when I set it down so no light is in camera, then I point it at light, it adjusts instantly