Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare

this is a screenshot of the reflections in the video I have recorded since it won’t let me upload a video. I’m not talking about the annoying purple dots I’m talking about reflections. It does this indoors too like I’m filming behind a window. I’ve recorded all over my work and almost all the places I’ve been I get same kind of reflection in the video.

So whats the solution on this issue? Ive had this phone for over a year now and ive been experiencing this issue ever since. I always thought that it was just bad lighting or a dirty lens.

I was just looking at all of my photos and I say that 25% of my photos have a really bad lens flare or ghosting or just a dot on them. And that doesn’t include the ones I cropped out.

so, how do we move forward with this? I saw someone on this thread saying that apple had their phone swapped, is that the case for everyone? Or is this thread only good for ranting how bad the lens are?

Problem is not just the lens flare and ghosting it’s the unflattering quality of the flare. Sometimes you want a flare for artistic vision. However, I don’t think anyone wants a greeen glob in their photos and video. Ever!

“With the wrong focus point and exposure I'm sure you can induce flare on the Olympus, just as modifying composure and exposure can eliminate flare from the iPhone.”

A camera is a tool. A tool to capture images. My Olympus does a good job of that. Choosing the “wrong” focus point in an image will not induce flare, neither will the wrong exposure. They are simply not related to flaring. And I’m not interested in trying to induce flare.

There are many types of flaring. My complaint is ghosting, spots along with remnants. Your suggestion that theses can be eliminated by modifying “composure” (I think you mean composition) means there are photos that you can not shoot. Composition is a primary principal of photography and to change it can turn a fantastic photo into a mundane one, or a completely inferior or useless one.

‘Have you ever tried to eliminate ghosting in a video?

Modifying exposure on the iPhone can eliminate flare on the iPhone? How does that work? Love to hear about that one.

There are other types of what I call more typical flare issues, some that can be addressed by shielding the lens surface, through the use of a lens hood or the old school use of a hand casting a shadow across the lens that work fine with some kinds of lens flare.

Yes, I have eliminated ghosting in a video before, by altering the composition.

Yes, it's not the same, but that's what photographers and videographers have to do all day, every day.

You wouldn't but your subject in front of a strong backlight and expect to have their face exposed properly without blowing out the background; you "couldn't shoot" that photo no matter how much you wanted to without a partial ND filter.

You are correct, composition of a photo is vital, but it's also true that you have to do the best you can with the equipment and conditions you have or, if you have a studio, you need to change the shot.

As far as exposure, often if strong lights aren't blown out, reflections may be so dim as to not be noticeable.

Please excuse the length of this reply.

I don’t shoot much video, but if you can eliminate ghosting in video you are far more skilled than I. I did a panning video on the beach which produced all sorts of flaring. I was not surprised by the common lens flare, but the green circle and remnants bounced around the screen once the setting sun appeared in the frame. As an aside, the image stabilization works surprisingly well when shooting video)

While there are many pictures in this thread, mine did not have a person in it that I wanted to have the face illuminated.

I have also posted 2 pictures in the thread taken on the same beach. The 12 Pro max shot had a green spot and remnants while a shot with my Olympus w/ 12-45 did not. My point is that Apple is selling the 12 touting its great cameras. They are under most circumstances but people are led to believe it will perform like a camera. As I’m sure you know phones have replaced point and shoot cameras, and the phone companies have marketed it as it’s equivalent.

I love shooting with my Olympus and use the phone’s cameras if I don’t have it. Apple is not a camera/lens company and it should not claim it is. They had to realize that people are going to shoot many many sunsets, along with night shots (which is a selling point for them) with bright light sources. The just need to admit the cameras can’t cleanly shoot those kinds of photos because of design limitations. (My 6+ never had this problem).

Clearly it’s not meeting the expectations of certain purchasers. The rest of them accept the limitations of the cameras, and frankly, assume all cameras exhibit the same problem. From a marketing stand point, I can see why they are saying that it is an expected result. This may sum it all up. They expect the result from the lens design, it’s just that it was not an expected result of certain purchasers.

Hi Bob. Thanks for your measured and helpful comments. You state the same things I've reported since December of 2019 when I discovered what I call "Floating Artifacts" when shooting with the iPhone 11 Pro. I cycled through 3 replacement phones only to discover they all performed the same way.

It's never been my intention to dis Apple or their otherwise remarkable smart phones, but in this forum this problem has been called "a behavior of all camera phones, and all cameras." Like you, my iPhone 6 Plus did not create these image destroying anomalies. I'm a Creative Director and a freelance photojournalist and in my 40 years of directing and creating images, ghosting and floating artifacts was never an issue. Yes, "Lens Flare" exists and can be mitigated to some degree – or used as an esthetic. But this is not lens flare.

It was my hope that the problem would have been acknowledged, addressed and eliminated with the release of the 12 Pro but as we all know now it was not. With a 39% share of the smartphone market Apple no doubt would prefer that negative reviews or experiences with their lauded iPhone didn't exist. As an ad agency owner I understand that. I still own a crazy and pricey amount of Apple products. Maybe we'll all be blessed in 2021 with the gifts of no Covid and no iPhone floating artifacts.

JimP_Solvang wrote:

I'm a Creative Director and a freelance photojournalist and in my 40 years of directing and creating images, ghosting and floating artifacts was never an issue. Yes, "Lens Flare" exists and can be mitigated to some degree – or used as an esthetic. But this is not lens flare.

It is lens flare, and if you don't like the fact that we call it that, perhaps a look at any photography magazine's site, digital camera review site or the sites of other manufacturers will convince you it's not just people like me grasping at terminology.

As a Creative Director, I doubt you had the time to handle photo duties yourself but rather you trusted in professional photographers and videographers who worked long and hard to avoid the very artifacts you claim weren't an issue.

Hi William,

I should have taken my own advice and steered away from this topic and this forum because it never seems to resolve anything or offer any hope to the growing number of Apple customers who have to live with compromised images and videos. I get your point(s) and realize you are working hard to address this issue, but you want to wrap it all up in a "Every imaging device does this" package.

When I posted many months ago that my iPhone 6 Plus did not produce these floating artifacts (call them ghosts or anomalies – but please stop calling them "Lens Flare") you told me that my 6+ did produce these artifacts. How in the world can you tell me what images "My" phone produced when it was never in your hands, the images it produced never on your screen?

Another thing that is somewhat audacious is your saying "As a Creative Director, I doubt you had the time to handle photo duties yourself...". You have taken a broad generalization. Yes, as a CD I was hiring professional photographers and cinematographers (image makers) and they were typically the one's clicking shutters and pushing buttons. But my agency was a small regional one where everyone was hands-on and I was fully involved in the "process & technology."

As I stated in the previous post there are ways to mitigate unwanted lens flare. The "pros" know this. And as I've also stated many times now I am a loyal Apple products user; not looking to argue or pretend to be an expert on this particular topic. I only re-engage on this because I get emails from Apple and Bob Needham's was one that resonated.

So for now I'm just going to say "Stay safe everyone, enjoy your devices, and spread a little cheer this holiday season."

JimP_Solvang wrote:

When I posted many months ago that my iPhone 6 Plus did not produce these floating artifacts (call them ghosts or anomalies – but please stop calling them "Lens Flare") you told me that my 6+ did produce these artifacts. How in the world can you tell me what images "My" phone produced when it was never in your hands, the images it produced never on your screen?

It is lens flare, no matter how much you want to jump up and down and say it's not. Photography magazines call it lens flare. Phone manufacturers call it lens flare. Lens manufacturers call it lens flare. If you want to call it "martian green globs," go right ahead, but it's still lens flare.

Perhaps you had a magical iPhone 6+ that didn't produce lens flare, but there are many threads on the Internet, including right here in Apple Discussions complaining about lens flare on the iPhone 6+ and photos that show the same basic artifacts as the photos here taken with the 12 family.

So, no, I don't know that your phone did, but if it didn't it was somehow made differently than every other iPhone 6+ produced.

Another thing that is somewhat audacious is your saying "As a Creative Director, I doubt you had the time to handle photo duties yourself...". You have taken a broad generalization. Yes, as a CD I was hiring professional photographers and cinematographers (image makers) and they were typically the one's clicking shutters and pushing buttons. But my agency was a small regional one where everyone was hands-on and I was fully involved in the "process & technology."

No slight intended; most CDs I've known over time haven't had the time to be hands-on, even if it was a small agency, that's why you hire pros to do that part of the job.

I get it if it's a one or two person-shop, but even then they usually farm photos and boilerplate graphic design tasks out rather than sit down with Illustrator and InDesign and crank out comps themselves.

So for now I'm just going to say "Stay safe everyone, enjoy your devices, and spread a little cheer this holiday season."

The same to you; may you and yours have a safe, happy and healthy holiday season and best wishes for a wonderful new year.

First: lens flare or not? It’s my understanding that ghosting is a type of lens flare. Referring to as ghosting is a more accurate description. It makes it clear what you are talking about. Sure an orange is a citrus fruit, but calling it an orange instead of a citrus fruit distinguishes it from other citrus fruits.

Second, my 6+ did not display ghosting, although it was susceptible to the generic lens flare. I could control it by shading the lens element. And no, my 6+ was not magical. The ghosting problem with the 12 pro max was very obvious when I traded in my 6+ for my 12, even when shooting at the same location with the same lighting (sunsets). With regards to discussion threads about flaring on the 6+, did they specify which type of flaring they were discussing, or were they just describing citrus fruits? :)

Yes, it was trivial to move my phone around to induce a ghost, but by changing the angle I was shooting at slightly, it was no longer an issue.

I used an 11 Pro Max image because the ghosting is no different between the two devices and I didn't shoot a sunset with my 12 Pro Max yet.

“You can consider it whatever you like; it is not a defect.”

A design that generates something which adversely affects the purpose of the design it is a design defect. If in executing the design the product is not produced as designed then that is a manufacturing defect.

I think Apple made some decisions in the design acknowledging there were limitations to what they could do with a camera in a phone, and being mindful that other measures may have added additional expenses they did not want to build into the price. Just a business decision.

It’s a phone not a camera dedicated to one purpose. Maybe some of us need to expect less from a phone camera. I know I was hoping that this was going to be a camera that could stand in for my Olympus when I didn’t have it. I think most purchasers could care less. Does it take pictures of food and selfies of me with my friends? Does it take photos of places I go? Can I post them instantly on social media? Then it’s all good. Quality is further down the list. ;-)

bobneedham wrote:

“You can consider it whatever you like; it is not a defect.”

A design that generates something which adversely affects the purpose of the design it is a design defect. If in executing the design the product is not produced as designed then that is a manufacturing defect.

Every design is a compromise between factors. Lens flare is a fact of life in premium smartphone cameras due to lens size and sensor size.

Failing huge advances in optics and physics, there's not much they could do to address what you call a defect.

I think Apple made some decisions in the design acknowledging there were limitations to what they could do with a camera in a phone, and being mindful that other measures may have added additional expenses they did not want to build into the price. Just a business decision.

Or the fact there is nothing that can be done about this, or flare wouldn't occur on the flagship smartphones from every vendor you can name.

Quality is further down the list. ;-)

I wouldn't say that; most every photographic web site and blog have declared that the iPhone 12 contains one of the best smartphone cameras currently available on the market.

Hello everyone,

i have a question, does anyone have this crazy light stripes in there camera?

the photo is taken by an iphone 11. I went to the apple store and they said to me it is because my camera is dirty/ the room is to dark or because i move to much if i make a photo, but when i make photo's with the iphone 11 from my cousin this doesn't happen.

they are now fixing the camera but they said if it happens again it is because of the thing i said here before. It is also like this when i make a picture of a lamp, or light source. But it doenst happen al the time, but most of the time.