Iphone 11 Pro Extreme lens flare

Might be a stupid thing but these moment cases seem to cover grand part of the lens rings. Could they act as a hood and minimize lens flares?

https://www.shopmoment.com/shop/photo-case/iphone-11-pro-max-black

Document your issues, show them examples, be polite. I walked into my store did the above and walked out with a NEW (not refurb) phone within 10 minutes.

...unfortunately the new one doesn't seem to be a whole lot different, but that's besides the point

First time I called Apple support the Woman said I had several options. Send the phone in for repair and have a turn around time of 7-10 days, go- into a local apple store or certified repair shop, or pay the $99 for a new swap out.

I went to a local Apple Store and every single iPhone 11 on display has this exact problem. All you need is to find a bright LED spotlight in the shop and point the camera directly at it. Instagram and FB are full of ruined photos and videos in which this defect manifests itself.

Whoever in Apple was responsible for this camera should be fired immediately.

I just bought a Galaxy S10+ and no such issues whatsoever, so please don't start about the laws of physics.

That’s what I got prior to lens replacement, and prior to realizing how much dust the lens attracts. I can only guess on these first batch of iPhone lenses there is dust underneath the glass covering the lens.

In the blog post you posted, the photos that he took didn't challenge the lens, if you noticed, there's no real contrast in the light sources nor does the examples have any strong by sources or contrast in the back ground.

I noticed that most of my shots that I have learned flare have an extreme contrast in the lighting conditions that caused the lens to reflect.

In this series of photos, I couldn't avoid the Lens flare no matter what I did.

https://youtu.be/HAUb-gKR34A

In this video, I was able to push the lens flare off of the video by zooming in and turning my phone down word. If you note, I was showing a protester and when I got to the end of the video, I could not avoid it and it was a horrible reflection In this video, I was able to push the lens flare off of the video by zooming in and turning my phone down word. If you note, I was showing a protester and when I got to the end of the video, I could not avoid it and it was a horrible reflection

https://youtu.be/nydXvgB7TcE

Pjphilippe wrote:

Clearly if these lenses covers had been properly treated both sides with anti-reflective coating then the flare & ghosting would have been much better handled. After all we are only dealing with miniaturised cameras... what else ? And the anti reflective coating is pretty much standard on all cameras lenses these days... why dont we have it on these lenses covers ?

On lenses this size anti-reflective coating would reduce the light transmission of the lenses to the point they would be largely useless in anything but brightly lit conditions, and people want their phone cameras to work in even dim light without night mode.

I don’t think the anti-reflective coating is pretty much standard on “all camera lenses”, maybe you could say that for the professional dedicated cameras. From what I’ve seen on many other smartphones, many have the flare to about the same degree as the iPhone 11, especially the previous generations of iPhone and current flagships such as the pixel lineup and galaxy s10.

I’m not saying that having the anti-reflective coating wouldn’t be a nice touch (maybe) but it’s not something that was supposed to be on the iPhone 11 and Apple simply forgot. It’s way too repeated in the previous generations of iPhone and other current flagships that it can’t be called a “manufacturing defect”.

Now about the reflective back of the iPhone 11, one thing to note is that the iPhone 11 camera square is already frosted unlike its pro siblings and it still gets the same amount of flare. Now I have to say that I’m not sure about the camera rings contributing to the flare cause both models have it.

The anti-reflective coating may have been left out on recent iPhones and other models simply because the lenses covers are much larger than before and therefore much more exposed to scratching.

A coated lens from which the anti-reflective treatment was scratched, even slightly becomes a video or photographic disaster. These things are very fragile and therefore would require to be protected with a cap when not in use. This is the very reason why cameras, even cheap point & shoot, systematically have lens covers...

So it is easily feasible, certainly not forgotten by Apple, but the cap, which would be required, would be leading to some slight changes in how mobile phones are used... or rather tucked away in ones pocket or bag...

I would believe that it is the fact that the coating is so fragile, rather than the sapphire crystal lens itself, which led to the present situation.

Actually it's very possible to take most photos and videos without encountering this issue, and those same issues will be seen on virtually all high-end smartphones including those from Samsung and Google.

The bottom line is intense pinpoint light sources will cause flare that must be mitigated.

For one, your lights have shades and aren’t as bright. Second, you’ve put them dead center in the frame.

It is what it is —

https://vimeo.com/382442773/f242bf6846

The reflection / flaring is plainly visible in both the wide reveal, and the gimbal zoom shot.

For all I know, this shortcoming is a trade off for other improvements to the camera system. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to blame the issue on the user.

People are noticing on the iPhone 11 because it produces these aberrations more strongly than previous iPhones, and at least some competing Android phones.

That could be it. It could also be exaggerated by the increasingly wide apertures in these cameras — they’re letting in more light overall. That would certainly explain why the 6S demonstrated the smallest amount of reflection / flare. That could also explain why I don’t see it in the ultra wide, as it has the narrowest aperture.

Ah, yep ! The wide apertures can exacerbate the flare / ghosting phenomenon.

One question though:

Are the lenses covers treated with anti-reflective coating on both sides ? I am not sure as I cant see any reflected purple / bluish hue similar to camera glass, spectacles, etc...

You are not writing Apple, so Apple won't respond to you. Cognizant Apple employees don't participate here. This forum is user to user only.

If you are concerned about the camera on your iPhone, schedule an appointment at your Apple Store Genius Bar and you can also provide feedback via this link --> https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

There are issues of severe flare & ghosting as well as these phones lenses covers are extremely fragile and seem to shatter fairly often too...

If you need to submit the matter to Apple here you go:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

The more feedback, the more something may be done about it assuming the issue is or become statistically significant i.e. product defect, recall, etc...