Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare

They replaced my camera a week or so ago on my iPhone from first batch of phones, didn't help(maybe they used a camera also from the first batch idk.). My brother's iPhone bought +- a month ago, works just fine(with some small normal/expected flares).

BTW: If you guys have inc. birthday or party with candles,lights, etc.., shoot videos & photos on your ****** old phone.

The more people report the issue, the more pressure on Apple to have a closer look... and perhaps propose a solution.

On top of the ghosting & flare issue, these lenses covers are very very fragile and many people have reported breakages... So a case protecting these is a must for this reason too !

Myself I may get some lenses covers made to the right specifications, get some frosted finish stickers on the glossy area, etc... all to avoid parasitic reflections which exacerbate the ghosting and flares. But for this to be viable I will need a case which covers the 3 lenses when not used so that the lenses covers anti-reflective coating does not get scratched as this is fragile and perhaps the reason why these lenses covers are not coated...

Because as a professional you know that issues that are common to all products of a format aren’t usually mentioned in reviews.

All flagship smartphones - iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Pixel 4 - produce these same artifacts.

We tested a Galaxy S10. Like I said, *every* phone I tested produces this reflection in this scenario, but it’s a matter of degree.

i didn’t scientifically measure the brightness of the reflection, but I would say the S10 flare was roughly 50 percent as strong as the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro.

I don't know what putting the light fixture dead center in the photo has to do with anything, but if your video is evidence to prove iPhone has an issue, in my humble opinion you have failed, as the video is quite good. In fact, you could have suggested the video was taken on a high end camera system and I would have believed you.

Edit: In the photo I posted, I could have easily taken the same photo with some of the flare people are posting here. I actually saw it clearly before taking the photo. But I changed the angle of the camera and eliminated the flare. So yes, I do think many of the artifacts people are posting here are user error, which with more care could be eliminated. It's not that hard to compose a good photo and when you look at your screen live before taking the photo, you have the opportunity to change the angle.

I upgraded my iPhone 4S with the iPhone 11 Pro so yes it was a welcome upgrade and in these years between these two models one can only note the significant improvements. That is great.

I do like the functionality which allows to zoom nearly seamlessly from 0.5 to 1.0 to 2.0 whilst maintaining the same colour tones. What I like less is that all of the zooming is made through digital zoom... Some optical zoom would be most welcome.

The flare and ghosting is not great though especially that it could have been avoided (significantly minimised) by design of the camera i.e. sensor & optics. The fact that the lens covers seem overly fragile and prone to shatter extremely easily is not so good either. Time will tell is these issues are statistically significant though.

Now, it seems Huawei is doing fantastic camera phones and DXO made them the best thus far. Even though I enjoy the Apple ecosystem, for sure I shall have a look at their next P40.

And I have had mirrorless cameras ever since Sony launched the NEX-5 in 2010. Got a NEX-6 in 2013, the A7R later the same year and the A7R2 at launch in 2015. I shall get the A7R4 when I next visit Singapore. I have never had either flare or ghosting with these but I only buy Zeiss glass...

Thanks for the post Danny. Your shot is a great example of what so many of us are experiencing with the 11 Pro camera system. Apple engineers are dug in with their position that "there are no lens flare / floating artifacts" problems.

I've wasted lots of time and money going through 4 iPhone 11 Pro's that produced the same sharp "Inverted and flipped" floaters when shooting stills and videos. Like many others I bought the 11 Pro by believing Apple's heavily-funded marketing campaigns tauting the phone's leading-edge imaging capabilities.

There exists now undeniable problems with the 11 Pro's camera system, global user experiences and unbelievably, continued denial from Apple that ANY problems exist. I find this shocking.

Please Apple, do the right thing.

Hi William K.

Thanks for your comments relating to my comments.

Unless you are the one of the engineers or one of the many Apple Customer Support reps I spoke to or received position statements from regarding my personal issues with the 4, iPhone 11 Pro's I handled and owned over my Lens Flare Odyssey since December 2019, you wouldn't know that yes, these Apple professionals are the ones who were tasked with the job of telling me there is nothing wrong, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing (artifacts included) that would suggest there are real concerns and issues with the iPhone 11 Pro's camera system, then you wouldn't know that this is Apple's position on the lens flare / floating artifacts problems as it relates personally to me.

When you suggest that I or other users modify our "technique" to avoid artifacts, are you saying never point your phone's camera towards or in the vicinity of a light source? And if you are an Apple representative (I would be thrilled if you are; at least that would be some consolation knowing that someone at Apple is addressing this issue), are you saying (on record) that "the only other solution is to return or sell your phone and purchase something else."?

I'm not looking for an argument or to pontificate on an online discussion board. What I am looking for is a solution – not a work-around – to this real, iPhone 11 Pro camera system problem.

William, you also state (with inside knowledge perhaps?) that "the artifacts that are produced are expected and normal for this device given the design tradeoffs that were made (and need to be made to produce any product.)". So you're saying that there were design trade-offs made with the 11 Pro. And you're saying that myself and others who purchased the 11 Pro "expected" these "normal" lens flare & floating artifacts issues. Well, I can't speak for the others, but I can assure you that had I expected these serious problems I simply would have waited for the next "improved" iPhone iteration or purchased a competitor's phone.

At the end of the day I hope we can all harness the energy expressed here to better this unfortunate situation. It may not be important to you William, or to many others and that's OK. I work with my cameras and smart phones in professional settings and my clients are looking to me for a quality product. Discovering these problems was the last thing I expected or needed.

Best, Jim

Leica is not the only company having their own high standard optical / camera proprietary technologies. We also have Carl Zeiss, Sony, Canon, Nikon, Olympus with Zuiko, etc... And you also have the spectacles glasses companies who have their own lenses materials and ranges of coatings... So the technology is known and available.

Given that Apple sells the most expensive smartphones by a wide margin, all specifications remaining the same, I believe that they should have either developed their own proprietary optical / camera technology or relied on a reputable third party’s which does not imply naming it anywhere.

I see no excuses... Now, when not affected by flare or ghosting the pictures are great.

I would be keen to get a range of lenses covers made with different anti-reflective coatings and test these but the issue would be the Apple guarantee & AppleCare+ as it could mean forfeiting these... which I am not prepared to do.

Apple pictures & videos are either heavily edited with specialised software used to erase both ghosting and flare, which would lead to mis-represented advertising, taken with other camera systems or made with aftermarket lenses added to the device, both of which would also be mis-representation...

I very much doubt that these pictures and videos are “direct sensor” or only edited on the iPhone 11 using the Apple OEM software.

Anyway, the colour science is excellent and when the “photo bomb” effects are not there, the pictures are nice.

Hi William. You are a master!

I do agree and stated in my first comments about the lens flare issues a couple of weeks ago (they were apparently removed/censored from the forum) that you will get lens flare with the best cameras and lenses. Over the years I've intentionally built these "artsy looks" into some of my work.

But what Lad72, myself and others are talking about and struggling with are artifacts like the flaring poltergeists that are sprinkled all over the nice lady standing in front of the Christmas tree. Now I know you're going to say just move the camera and at some point they will be out of frame. But gone is the moment, the truth. And why when we shot this type of scene before with the earlier phone(s) were the little gremlins missing?

Some smart folks participating in this community forum have discussed the possibility that the culprit might be the protective glass secured over the lenses. Just not the folks at Apple.

Whether it cuts it or nor, Apple isn't going to make a statement about this. They only comment on something which they believe is truly wrong and that's not very often. If you have used the feedback link, Apple will at least read your feedback. They won't from this forum, however. If you haven't used the feedback link, here it is --> https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Yes, I have seen your posts and I know you have said the phone can take really good pictures.

Apple is very careful about the wording of this issue.

Apple will say: The flare is an inherited issue of "ALL CAMERAS". (Meaning not iPhone's fault.)

And of course, they are aware of this.

And of course, they still ask you to take it to apple stores to do unnecessary diagnostics.

And of course, they are not going to give you a new iPhone (You seriously think a trillion dollar company would do that?).

I doubt Apple would ever release a “full technical report,” it’s just not what they do.

A few minutes with a web search tool will bring up lens flare photos taken with newer phones like the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Note 9, along with the Google Pixel 4. Reviews on photography web sites also mention the same.

I mentioned Leica - their lenses for a Huawei phone seem to mitigate the flare issue but as I also stated the effect on low light photography is unknown.

I agree that some guess work was passed on whilst the devil is in the details and these details are technical. Simple, basic but technical.

These severe flare & ghosting issues yield from design issues which may be the consequence of some deliberate decisions, negligence or lack of knowledge in optics...