Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare

Nope, this is not normal, it’s highly prone to flaring. If the is a light source or sun in the vicinity, you will see rainbows in the photo. Looks like it’s missing some coatings on the lens.

I have an iPhone XS, took a picture at the exact same spot, no flares.

Yeah, I haven’t compared with another iPhone 11 Pro.

I have used all iPhones from 4S to 11 and couple of DSLRS with different lenses and lens flares were something I always loved and difficult to get except for some difficult angles and lighting.

But with this new iPhone, I literately get flares like rainbows and got annoying to point where you can’t get images without lens flares. Unfortunately it doesn’t allow me to upload images due to size restrictions.

if this is by design, then it’s not good. And Apple should improve it.

Will check with Apple support.

Not surprising; you can't just design new optics that defy the laws of physics.

As has been stated before, all smartphone cameras suffer from this, as do multi-thousand dollar lenses for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

Then how does the compact camera in the following footage manage to achieve pretty much flare free results?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4LZM4y28Zc

I actually own that model of camera (the mark 3 rather than the 6 in the video) & have had similarly good results filming at night. And I've seen other footage from even more expensive mirrorless & DSLR cameras & they have little or no issues with flare under normal night time city conditions.

So I don't think it's the laws of physics that are to blame here. Maybe it's one of the unavoidable consequences of having to miniaturize an advanced camera + lens into the confines of a smartphone camera module, & also then protect it with a glass covering.

And I agree with you that all recent smartphones suffer from this to some extent (I've seen it in footage shot with competing phones while researching what phone to upgrade my old Samsung to) though it just seems too excessive in the iPhone 11 or 12 Pro camera. I'm pretty keen on the 12 Pro or 12 pro Max but that kind of excessive flaring will likely be a deal breaker for me.

Larger sensor, much larger lens, lenses that physically can be coated to reduce reflections, etc.

For example:

iPhone XS Sensor Size: 5.76mm x 4.29mm

Canon Mark 6 Sensor Size: 35.8mm x 23.9m

It is the laws of physics as it becomes a bigger issue as lenses are shrunk down in diameter and spacing, and as sensors are reduced in size as well.

Lens flare is just as much of an issue in smart phones from other vendors.

Samsung EU Community: Galaxy S20 Lens Flare

Came across a video that shows a current phone that handles flare/reflections well, directly compared to the new iPhone 12 that in my opinion doesn't. Granted it's not the 12 pro, but from the first video I posted a link to they seem pretty similar in terms of flare. It's from 9:16 to 10:59

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of2J1rEbKuc

It's a big difference and I personally find it pretty annoying and distracting. To the point where I wouldn't want to use the iPhone to film at night. I can understand that not everyone will find it as distracting and the reviewer didn't mention in the video (though in a reply to one of the comments mentioning the "heavy flaring" he did say "Yeah, all iPhones i ever tried do the same").

I'm not trying to hate on Apple or anything, just wish they would improve this issue, and Huawei shows it can be done!

Hoping that the 12 Pro Max will do better as I want it to be an option for me - the flexibility of Apple ProRAW is something I would love to have when shooting stills.

vv303 wrote:

I'm not trying to hate on Apple or anything, just wish they would improve this issue, and Huawei shows it can be done!

Hoping that the 12 Pro Max will do better as I want it to be an option for me - the flexibility of Apple ProRAW is something I would love to have when shooting stills.

Huawei also has other styles of lens flare, reduced low light performance and, let's not forget, cannot be legally purchased in the United States.

Hi vv303,

I received my 12 Pro Max and can confirm that it is still present.

I am also facing another camera issues with my new 12 Pro Max and just posted it on the forum. See below details. Sharing as this is happening also on 12 Pro lineup, confirmed with with brother in law who works in apple store.

1) when making video on main 1x sensor and only at 4k 60fps, the screen is suffering from significant flickering. This is not happening on any other resolutions and frame rates. I have compared to my old Xs and Xr with same settings, same scenarios and this issue is not present at all. I have also tried changing shutter speed manually to 1/120 on Filmic Pro, as normally this would resolve the issue, however no matter how I set settings manually flickering is present at all settings, when recording 4k 60fps. I have tried resetting the phone, force restarting, with no luck. I am on 14.2. I even tried using every possible settings scenario on both display and camera settings and still not possible to eliminate the issue :(

2) Ultra wide lens 0.5x is suffering from lags, stuttering when on 4k 60fps. When you touch screen to get auto exposure square and focus point, lag and stuttering is heavily present. The moment exposure and focus point disappears all is back to normal. Again this is only happening when on 4k 60fps and in all lightning conditions. I have tried all above and absolutely all settings but no luck with getting this resolved.

it would be good to see if anyone has come across these issues and managed to fix anyhow. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Happy to share my OneDrive link, so you can see the videos with these issues.

Thanks guys.

Kris

Thanks Chris for the first hand confirmation that significant flaring is still present on the 12 Pro Max. I've just watched a few comparison reviews and the 12 Pro Max seems identical to the 12 Pro & 11 Pro/Pro Max when it comes to flaring at night with bright lights in the frame - the Note 20 Ultra seems to perform noticeably better in this regard, with the Huawei flagships doing the best (Leica designs their lenses & they know a thing or two about minimizing flare). So like I've said before I definitely think this is something Apple can and should improve on.

I'm not sure what could be causing the video issues you're having, but considering the phone is brand new could just be bugs/compatibility issues that will be resolved in the near future with software updates.

Agree. It’s just so disappointing that these issues are not caught during Q&A. At the end of the day Pro models are not cheap and you do expect Pro quality when buying such device. I have reached also few of my friends and all of them have same issues I do experience on my new 12 Pro Max.

I just got this 12 pro max and the flares are ridiculous I only got this phone because it’s advertised as one of the best camera. My old s10+ doesn’t have this issue at all. Is there any kind of anti reflection film I can add or should I just return it and get a real smart phone like a S20. I feel like I’ve been had by apple. This is my first iPhone and I’m not impressed with the camera or video it takes due to the flares.

I truly wish that Apple would at very least acknowledge that yes, there are these less-than-desirable optic anomalies with their otherwise remarkable iPhone Pros and that yes, "we are working on it." I also wish that Apple would be professional, transparent and fair and not remove my seldomly posted comments about this "Floating Artifacts" concern. My only goal is to work towards a solution. Thanks.

Yes, your older phones did this too, as does the S20.

If you just got it, return it for a refund if it bothers you and go ahead and get the S20.

Then you will need to complain to Samsung when you experience the same problems.

No it doesn’t I brought it to work yesterday and filmed side by side and there is no reflections. Won’t let me post a video here. Why are u apple peeps so hateful and in denial. I was just asking for help because I’d like to keep this phone but if there is no fix and this is the apple lifestyle I’m outta here.

JimP_Solvang wrote:

As you may recall I tried that year ago and the issue (with my 11 Pro) was not addressed. But thank you William, I'll try again.

I do recall that, but once again Apple is limited by the state of the art in optics and physics, so even if the engineers are as annoyed as you are they are limited in what they could do to address it.