Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare

Channels that, for the most part, are not specifically oriented around photography, how lens flare is produced and why the growing complexity of very small glass lenses on devices like the iPhone (and Android small cameras) makes it more likely to occur.

I am an amateur photographer and I know how to add flare using my DSLR. Given same angle and composition, my iPhone has too much flare compare to my Huawei Mate 20 Pro (2018 phone). My canon has no flare. There is a reason for my DSLR price tag. But I don't see why my iphone 11 has way too much flare given the price tag.

Exactly. For a device marketed for professionals, the excessive amounts of flare compared to its competitors needs to be acknowledged by bigger media outlets. I don’t care if the sensor is more “complex”, my galaxy s8 has a 12 megapixel sensor of the same size makes this inexcusable. I’m too invested in this ecosystem to switch back to Android, and I frankly enjoy IOS more, so I’ll deal with it.

i’m having the same problems too, and I get serious light flare if taking pictures at night. It is horrible. And addition, If there’s anything to do with the sun, they’re serious players across the pictures. They should’ve used anti-reflective lenses, instead, the lenses are concave in picking up reflections and capturing lens flair

I bought this phone to take video footage. It's not possible to take video footage at night without ghosting. It's the worst iPhone i ever owned. And i started using iPhone from the iPhone 3G days !!!

https://youtu.be/_N0RUkXHPvI

https://youtu.be/ep0zlpRa438

“Professional” photographers can say whatever they like if they’re sponsored by Apple to say it. Regardless, it IS an issue, and IS affecting users who bought the phone. People like me are trying to see if there is a way to get around this defect by adding additional glass coverings to the lenses and even repairing their lenses. We enthusiasts care about the quality of products.

[Edited by Moderator]

They're not "issues," they are normal for complex lens designs and this is considered "minimal" lens flare for such lenses.

Again, photography site DXOMARK stated:

The Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max camera generally controls image artifacts very well, which is why the device achieves a high score in this category. When viewing images at full size, some ringing can be visible along high-contrast edges, but it’s usually not too intrusive. Our testers also found flare artifacts in a small number of our sample images, such as in the shot below, but the iPhone generally controls flare well.

(DXOMARK is not paid by Apple.)

If you have designed something better, please give Apple, Google or Samsung a call - I'm sure any of them would love to send you a big check for your massive advancement in optical design, especially to use it on an exclusive basis and beat the other two companies.

If you have an issue with it, I've already given you the solution, and that is to return or sell your phone and purchase something else, as you're never going to be happy with whichever member of the iPhone 11 family you own.

If you want to avoid it, stop taking photos in conditions guaranteed to induce lens flare with any complex lens design.

I think you misinterpreted what that review says. They say it generally controls flaring well, but they did find small flare artifacts in samples of photos. Admitting what we are pointing out through this discussion.

Yes - small flare artifacts.

Not flares that make the camera useless for its intended purpose or bad in any way, e.g.:

It's not possible to take video footage at night without ghosting

It most certainly is.

I didn't say there was zero flare; that is the case with any complex lens design.

I haven’t said the lens is unusable, because if you understand the issue, you can then avoid it. With my replacement lens and all the rest I’m doing to try and make it better, it is by design, but I think for the amount of money we’re spending, they could have stepped up from the original 11 and made the lens in the pro more capable in harsh conditions. The lenses are exactly the same in both models, and I think that wasn’t a good decision when you market the pro device for professional use. Hopefully in next years model we see a refinement that can help, or they can release an update that can use their a13 to determine flare artifacts and remove them in post. I’ve read similar issues with the S10, but I never noticed it with my Note 10 which I returned because I disliked Android being fragmented.

I get the frustration, and I know you didn't say it was unusable, but other posters have, and that's what I was providing information to counter.

The "Pro" name is just that, a model identifier like the MacBook Pro or Mac Pro - it denotes a level of features, not that the features are necessarily suitable for say professional photographers.

Regardless, you are correct, it is the same lens used across the iPhone 11 family.

Personally, I hope Apple does not try to correct for flare in software, as such approaches inevitably get it wrong and we will end up with areas of darkened or blurred photo when the processor misinterprets areas as flare.

Even the flare correction in Photoshop is far from perfect and often causes more damage than it repairs.

They are incredible cameras for a smart phone, perhaps the best ever.

So from that point of view, they are correct.

I also know of many professional photographers who use the iPhone for their work.

But "Pro" doesn't mean "usable in all situations without artifacts" - no camera or lens can meet that standard.

First photo looks like the camera has lots of smudges/dirt on top of flare

Second, that is probably the worst part I’ve seen, but your also pointing at the sun, and in that case, the dots are from the reflections in the water.

If you have the patients, get your lens repaired under warranty, but that won’t massively improve it, it slightly improved mine, but I’d say a lot of the issues are also from a dirty lens. I get my lens cover later I’ll let you know if the dots get blocked from this external glass layer

I have the same issue with the extreme camera reflection when recording videos or taking pictures. Christmas season is upon us and with this extreme camera reflections, it is impossible to take pictures in front of bright Christmas tree and Christmas lights. Pixel has the same issue and Google has acknowledge the issue and will be coming out a software update to help fix the camera flare/reflection issues. Apple needs to man up and knowledge this issue and come with a resolution like Google did your their customers.

Thanks, The lenses were cleaning and every reproduce this so many times. If I go down to town and take pictures in the evening, I get this 100% all the time. In addition, I went to Apple and they said to replace the lenses, but then they replace the phone and this phone is doing the same thing as the first one. If I go down to town and take pictures in the evening, I get this 100% all the time. In addition, I went to Apple and they said to replace the lenses, but then they replace the phone and this phone is doing the same thing as the first one. It seems like, if there’s any lighting at night the flared happen on all lenses, as long as I’m pulling in the camera away from any light source, I get decent pictures. That was just a test from this new replacement phone, I was just re-producing some of the conditions. Is there any software or anything that may reduce this. I have other pictures that I haven’t pointed out the sun and I get the flair, these are just examples.

Is there a software that we can use to prevent the night shots, the city is beautiful and I’m trying to capture the beauty without having so much distortion on the images.