Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare

It's funny that were even having this discussion. All of us have had iPhones before and I don't think I've ever had such a horrible experience with an iPhone as the iPhone Pro Max 11. It takes beautiful pictures if there's no light source in the background. If there's any natural or man-made lake source in the shooting area, the phone fails miserably. I don't care what excuse you make for a lands or a sensor, my iPhone X was 100 times better than this and handling the normal every day shots. The photos that I get now are in acceptable, and it has nothing to do with experience etc. I am not using the little light mode it's still having this issue. maybe a little testing should've been done prior to selecting the components they used. https://youtu.be/HAUb-gKR34A

I think its funny (actually sad) that when it came time to take Christmas Day photos in front of the tree, my new iPhone sat on the table like an ornament. A $600 phone that is incapable of taking a decent photo in front of a lit Christmas tree. Sorry...I’m not jumping through hoops to compose a photo.

Even if Apple could somehow come up with a hardware “fix” for this issue, I’m not really excited about someone cracking my new iPhone open to fix something that should not have been an issue from the beginning.

I don’t think people wanted a lens that could be more capable if it makes the average users photos worse. I’m not a professional, despite knowing my way around flaring from using this phone.

The iPhone 11 was given the award of the best phone camera of 2019 by MKBHD or Marques Brownlee, and he also did the blind camera comparison between 16 phones, where the iPhone lost round one, and Note 10 won overall. I think these tests are showing us what the average non pro user wants in their camera.

I think the cause of these flaring issues on the 11 series of iPhones is caused by reducing the camera “bump” from previous years and exposing the lens more without putting it further down into the device. The actual sensor and lens that they chose from Sony isn’t the issue with this phone, it’s Apples design. Unfortunately many people don’t realize Apple doesn’t make the camera sensors.

My lens doesn't exhibit that behavior. If I were you I wouldn't of accepted a refurbished phone, rather asked for it to be repaired or refunded. I've sat on the phone for 7 hours before with T-Mobile, it takes time to get things the way you want.

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.

I'm sure if I tried to get lens flare, I could. Again, being somewhat experienced in photography and having a higher end DSLR with expensive lenses, I'm pretty good at knowing how to avoid lens flare in my photos.

The new cameras on the new phones are more complicated than the old less capable cameras of previous iPhones. I think many here would greatly benefit from taking a basic photography class. I've seen some specifically for iPhone, which can be taken online for reasonable cost.

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.

KontiKonsumi wrote:

Has anyone able to get their iphones repaired or changed because of this manufacturing problem by Apple?

Not a manufacturing problem.

This is the phone; if you are annoyed by it, you can return it or sell it.

Just beware that other high end smartphones have the exact same issue with their cameras because it's an optics/physics issue.

I wouldn't do anything. I would call Apple town about the problem make a case and just wait for them to find a solution. The most horrible thing is that you have a brand new phone and I'm sure you don't want to trade it for a used one and I'm sure you don't want to crack it open to replace the lenses that don't make a difference.

If you're totally unhappy with it just bring it back to the place a purchase within 14 days and swap it for something else.

Don’t listen to the “I’m a professional photographer. You don’t know how to use your camera. It’s perfectly normal” spiel.

Something tells me that if Apple told their potential customers that they needed a night course in photography to use this camera, no one would’ve bothered with it unless you were a professional and frankly most users are not! It shouldn’t be that hard to take a photo.

It is possible the quality control in the manufacturing process may be at fault here. Not every iPhone 11 exhibits the behavior's described and presented to us. I recommend contacting Apple if you experience these issues yourself as that is the best course of action to ensure your device performs to Apple's standards

I’m going to wait and see if Apple support was truthful about a software update fixing this issue. I don’t see how that’s possible but I’m willing to wait and see what happens...beats having my new phone cracked open.

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.

Thanks! I had a battery replaced in my iPhone 6s that was part of a free replacement by Apple. Maybe the iPhone 11 will follow suit with a batch of lens that were manufactured incorrectly? I know there is no way that this is normal for an iPhone.

After making the observation that this was happening to a friend who also have an 11 pro, he started to notice it and now can’t stop seeing the spot and the mirroring. Many people wont notice and that’s what worries me.