Hi,
I took some low light footage on my iPhone 11 pro and it turns out useless because of how much lens flare is visible. It doesn't happen on other phones or digital cameras. The footage looks really bad. Here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kCu9v7_AGE
iPhone 11 Pro
I recommend contacting Apple support. I called right away after I noticed it, was on the phone for 10 minutes, was offered 4 different options;
I have a local Best Buy in town where I live, so I went in the next day and had them run through their procedures with diagnostic tools and checks, then proceed telling me I could either drive to an Apple store who had the part (2 hour drive) or wait a week for him to order the part. Week passed, got my phone in, took about an hour, presto, new camera setup, much better results.
If you can, definitely do #2 and get the new lens it is by far the best option. I wouldn't do #4 because you could get a refurbished one (which isn't acceptable for an investment like this to get a used item) that likely never had its lens replaced.
Best of Luck
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.
MiamiC70 wrote:
I consider it a defect in manufacturing by Apple
You can consider it whatever you like; it is not a defect.
MiamiC70 wrote:
I’ve had iPhone 1,3,4, 4s, 5, 6, 5+, 8+ and NONE of those did this. Only my iPhone 12 Pro Max. My Canon Gold line or L glass doesn’t do it? My GF just got a Pixel 4a 5g and it doesn’t do it...
I won't bother to post all of the flare photos taken with the 6, 8+, or Pixels of various types but suffice it to say they do, and a Google search will turn up all you want (in fact, there's a 6+ photo just three posts up from yours.)
OK, one Pixel 4a photo.
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.
I have this issue as well and its very disturbing. You can't remove the ghosting in editing even from still images. It's clearly not a feature but a hardware defect.
Here you can see how dramatic mine was.
Pixel 4 has the same issue... so I moved to the iPhone 11Pro...Oye, exact same issue!
Its hardware issue. Its got nothing to do with software update nor apple support.
I go in Friday to get the entire camera housing and lenses replaced at my BestBuy.
I guess so, wouldn’t want a blur part of the shot.
But, Apple themselves do market it as a “pro” camera
Return the phone...the camera is trash. Even the Pixel 4 has this issue. Don't these designers know to K.I.S.S.
It's sad to see the Apple zombies accept it. At least in the Pixel discussion groups they accept the fact that there's an issue.
look at the sky
ans the center of the picture here. Is this something fixable with software?
If you experience glow flare your lens is dirty, if you see dots, that is the camera
Glow
Clean
I’ve taken many night shots and never seen that on my 11 pro. All I can suggest is try wiping the lens off right before shooting
Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare
