Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare

Lens flare is normal but flare like iPhone 11 is NOT. I almost never noticed my old iPhone flare. I took three pictures with my Android, iPhone 11 and Canon. iPhone has the most extreme and noticeable flare. But on Android and Canon, the flares are not noticeable at all. It is a design fault. They mess up the glass and coating (if any) for cost. It is shameful that the no tubers are reporting the issue. The PR of Apple has done a great job though. Freedom of speech, oh yeah.

Reviews of the camera don't seem to share your opinion that lens flare on the iPhone 11 series of phones is excessive.

For example, 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.

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.

That’s horrible, I had the same experience too. You have a brand new sound that you pay $1200 for and you can’t get it replaced, you go to the Apple store and ask for help to get a replace and they tell you that you have to leave your phone there and they will take it apart and replace the lenses. I will see used and I called apple and they sent me a refurbished replacement phone with the same problems. The issue was bad, how can we use these images, every image you take that has any sort of like sores will cause a light flare. I have four problems, one, serious light flare, 2 The inability to move large files from the phone to my computer, times out, 3

and annoying problem when you have both Wi-Fi and your phones Wi-Fi on, the connections drop, you have to disable one or the other, four, the battery life is not as good as the iPhone X. But that improved with my iPhone replacement. I suggest that you call Apple and ask if they replace it, they will give you a replacement phone they will not give you a new phone.

josé133 wrote:

I choose to buy the new Iphone 11 pro max . Im a photographer/videographer.. I need my total refund

Normally, if it's been less than 15 days since your purchase, you can get just that by returning your device.

However, because of the holidays:

Items purchased at the Apple Online Store that are received between November 15, 2019 and December 25, 2019, may be returned through January 8, 2020. Please note that all other terms and conditions provided in the Apple Online Store Sales and Refunds Policy are still applicable with respect to such items purchased. All purchases made after December 25, 2019, are subject to the Standard Return Policy.

Returns & Refunds - Shopping Help - Apple

Note it says online, but generally they extend their return policy to items purchased in physical Apple Stores as well.

Wow you’re lucky, you really got a great person to talk to. My manager was arrogant he says “ There are like that, it won’t do any good to exchange it, we’re not going to exchange it for you, this is the way Apple made them and this is the way it’s going to be, i’m even reluctant to change the lenses.”

in addition, he said maybe in the next model they would change it. But I think I would’ve just gone with the Samsung note 10 if I knew this is going to be like this.

I have the same problem too. Its a reflection/ghost image.

I just received my phone 2 days ago and testing it at night environment. Today I am sending my iphone 11 pro max back to the shop I buy from only to be tell by the salesperson its a normal thing. She also show me sample of the reflection condition by using her phone which is an android phone.

In all my lifetime, I never see any reflecting images/ghosting images when i take picture from phone camera.

Before using iphone 11 pro max I am using Galaxy Note 4(which I buy 5 years ago). Never before I encounter this reflecting/ghosting images using Galaxy Note 4. Only excessive flares which is understandable and I accepted as it is a normal thing.

Is reflection/ghosting image a normal thing and acceptable by either android and apple community? I feel it is unacceptable. In my opinion its the Iphone 11 pro max glass lens cover that is defective. Its supposed to be coated anti glare inside the glass like any other conventional csc/dslr camera to prevent mirorring which will result in reflecting/ghosting image. Apple should admit this is their design fault.

This one's easy to deal with, if you just take and point the reflection into the light source you can avoid that. Otherwise that's pretty good. I tried today and I have the same but this is what I got

Web sites specialising in photography don't write reviews out of broken phones. Have you tried one of broken ones? I guess you haven't. I tried mine(bought in September in AU) and my brothers(bought few weeks ago in EU) and brother's phone takes some beautiful night photos, but my phone takes s*it ones. Some lens flare is ok and is expected, but the ones where you have a whole building, tree or whatever ghosted over people faces is for sure not normal and expected.

William Kucharski wrote:

It's common throughout the industry, and once again is basically due to the constraints of current optics. If you do an Internet search you'll find flare complaints about the Samsung Galaxy 10 family and the just released Google Pixel 4 as well.

Yes, I saw that every single phone for sale in a Best Buy had at least the green reflection issue.

Which camera did you use? If you used the Ultra Wide lens, it would be a poor choice for this type of photo.

Here is a photo I took while in Maine a couple days ago and there is simply no lens flare of any kind using the standard lens.

I have not experienced ANY lens flare issues with my iPhone. But I'm a pretty experienced photographer and I would ONLY use the standard lens in low light. I would not use the Tele or Ultra Wide. EVER. Taking photos in low light of bright lights requires using the right camera AND ensuring the camera is held VERY still to avoid any unwanted artifacts like I'm seeing with many of the photos posted here in this thread.

My problem isn’t taking a photo of the tree, it’s having a subject in front of it. If someone is standing in front of the lit Christmas tree, they are covered in bluish specks. This is with the lens at 1x using either portrait or photo mode.

Also, counting the original iPhone 11 that I returned because of screen failure, I’ve seen the same results on three different iPhones. I can literally see the bluish glare on the screen when I’m composing the shot. Moving around the subject just moves around the glare. I didn’t stand on a higher elevation which may yield better results but that’s my point...I shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to take a photo with my phone.

Understandable. This issue is hardware however, therefore software couldn’t fix this. My phone looked no different on appearance after the repair, if that helps your concerns.

Best of luck to you, hope you can get it fixed so you can start enjoying what the camera is capable of.

Pouria81 wrote:

All I’m saying here is that these flares appear because the iPhone 11 has a more sensitive/capable sensor. Perhaps it’s also over exaggerated compared to other flagships since the camera holes are larger and maybe apple’s AI system treats it as a detail and tries to sharpen it.

FWIW, the same level of flare can easily be seen under the same conditions in the Samsung Galaxy 10+ and Google Pixel 4.