diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/CameraCapture.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/CameraCapture.svelte
index 501b623..c4d8f56 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/CameraCapture.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/CameraCapture.svelte
@@ -5,9 +5,29 @@
 	interface Props {
 		oncapture: (blob: Blob, type: 'photo' | 'video') => void;
 		onclose: () => void;
+		/// Fired once, when the live preview is actually on screen — not when the camera was
+		/// merely requested. The caller uses it to dismiss whatever launched the camera.
+		///
+		/// Gated on the preview rather than on `getUserMedia` resolving, because the two differ
+		/// exactly where it matters: if permission is denied, or the page is not a secure context,
+		/// this never fires and the caller's UI stays put behind the error panel — so "Schließen"
+		/// returns the guest to where they were instead of dropping them somewhere they never
+		/// asked to be.
+		onready?: () => void;
 	}
 
-	let { oncapture, onclose }: Props = $props();
+	let { oncapture, onclose, onready }: Props = $props();
+
+	/// `onready` is a one-shot. `startCamera` re-runs on every lens flip and photo/video switch,
+	/// and re-announcing "the camera is ready" mid-session would ask the caller to redo a
+	/// dismissal it has already done.
+	let announcedReady = false;
+
+	function handlePreviewLive() {
+		if (announcedReady) return;
+		announcedReady = true;
+		onready?.();
+	}
 
 	let videoEl: HTMLVideoElement = $state()!;
 	let canvasEl: HTMLCanvasElement = $state()!;
@@ -157,7 +177,14 @@
 	}
 </script>
 
-<div class="fixed inset-0 z-50 flex flex-col bg-black">
+<!-- z-[60], above the z-50 upload sheet that launches this. The sheet stays mounted for its
+     translate-y animation and is rendered AFTER this element, so at an equal z-index it painted
+     on top: the shutter button sat underneath the Galerie/Kamera panel and the only way to reach
+     it was the phone's back button. The sheet also dismisses itself once the preview is live
+     (see `onready`), but that is a behaviour; this is the guarantee — the capture controls are
+     reachable during the permission prompt and on the error panel too, when nothing has been
+     dismissed yet. -->
+<div class="fixed inset-0 z-[60] flex flex-col bg-black">
 	<!-- Camera preview -->
 	<div class="relative flex-1 overflow-hidden">
 		{#if error}
@@ -197,6 +224,7 @@
 				autoplay
 				playsinline
 				muted
+				onloadedmetadata={handlePreviewLive}
 				class="h-full w-full object-cover {facingMode === 'user' ? 'scale-x-[-1]' : ''}"
 			></video>
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/UploadSheet.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/UploadSheet.svelte
index 9b76e29..f230bd8 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/UploadSheet.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/UploadSheet.svelte
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 <script lang="ts">
+	import { untrack } from 'svelte';
 	import { goto } from '$app/navigation';
 	import { uploadSheetOpen, uploadBadgeCount } from '$lib/ui-store';
 	import { pendingFiles } from '$lib/pending-upload-store';
@@ -56,6 +57,16 @@
 		}
 	}
 
+	function restoreFocus() {
+		if (!returnFocus) return;
+		try {
+			returnFocus.focus({ preventScroll: true });
+		} catch {
+			/* element gone */
+		}
+		returnFocus = null;
+	}
+
 	$effect(() => {
 		if (open) {
 			returnFocus = (document.activeElement as HTMLElement | null) ?? null;
@@ -66,13 +77,14 @@
 			});
 			window.addEventListener('keydown', onKeyDown);
 			return () => window.removeEventListener('keydown', onKeyDown);
-		} else if (returnFocus) {
-			try {
-				returnFocus.focus({ preventScroll: true });
-			} catch {
-				/* element gone */
-			}
-			returnFocus = null;
+		} else if (untrack(() => showCamera)) {
+			// The camera closed the sheet from under us. Restoring focus now would put it on the
+			// FAB *behind* a full-screen overlay, where a Tab could then walk the page underneath;
+			// `handleCameraClose` does it once the overlay is gone. `untrack` because this branch
+			// must not resubscribe the effect to `showCamera` — that would re-run the open branch
+			// when the camera mounts and re-capture `returnFocus` as the sheet's own Kamera button.
+		} else {
+			restoreFocus();
 		}
 	});
 
@@ -116,14 +128,35 @@
 		await goto('/upload');
 	}
 
+	// The camera preview is up, so the sheet has done its job — dismiss it. Leaving it open put
+	// the Galerie/Kamera panel over the shutter button, and since it is `fixed` it could not be
+	// scrolled away: the only escape was the phone's back button.
+	//
+	// Deliberately driven by the camera's own ready signal rather than by the tap on "Kamera".
+	// Closing on the tap would dismiss the sheet before we know the camera will work at all, so a
+	// denied permission — or an insecure context, where `getUserMedia` does not exist — would
+	// leave the guest looking at an error panel with nothing behind it. This way the sheet is
+	// still there if the camera never opens, and `handleCameraClose` returns them to it.
+	function handleCameraReady() {
+		close();
+	}
+
 	function handleCameraClose() {
 		showCamera = false;
+		// `close()` normally restores focus to whatever opened the sheet, but when the camera
+		// dismissed it that element was behind a full-screen overlay and the restore was skipped.
+		// Do it now that the overlay is gone, so focus never ends up on <body>.
+		restoreFocus();
 	}
 </script>
 
 <!-- Camera (rendered outside sheet so it gets full viewport) -->
 {#if showCamera}
-	<CameraCapture oncapture={handleCapture} onclose={handleCameraClose} />
+	<CameraCapture
+		oncapture={handleCapture}
+		onclose={handleCameraClose}
+		onready={handleCameraReady}
+	/>
 {/if}
 
 <!-- Hidden file input -->