I believe that the large amount of blur is more than likely a glitch of sorts. I did notice when using a sight on a pistol (or any gun really) anything near the sight will become blurry and this was vaguely effected by lighting in the firing range (unsure if it would come into play in other situations)
For the beacon disappearing instantly, its a similar issue to the defibrillators, the range is shorter than in other games and requires some precision. When you're placing beacons try not to move your camera until it has appeared since moving it into an area where the beacon cant be placed will just destroy rather than adjusting its placement/not letting you place it