IPhone 12 Pro lens flare

Whether it is good I don't work for Apple or not is irrelevant, Apple, nor Samsung, nor Google, nor Huaweii nor any other manufacturer can defeat the laws of optical physics no matter what you think. It was absolutely no different with iPhone 11 last year and it likely won't be different with whatever next year's iPhone will be numbered.

Why are you posting these photos?

There have been more than enough examples posted to this thread, and yet the answer continues to be the same: it is lens flare and is normal for this phone and for all premium smartphones.

Again, if you don't want to listen to me, perhaps you'd prefer to hear it from Samsung.

Lens flare and artifacts have not been "solved" - you can generate them if you're careless or want to on lenses that cost five to six figures.

I consider Matsushita a pretty serious manufacturer, but look what happens on a Panasonic camcorder:

albert312 wrote:

I’m sure they’re adding the anti reflection coatings on new batches.

Apple isn't adding anything, sorry.

If you're unhappy with the phone, return it and buy something else, it doesn't bother me or anyone else here and is the entire point of a consumer economy - purchase what works best for you.

What's with the sarcasm, man?

You could NOT have taken this photo without any flares because this is the framing and angle I wanted.

You refuse to accept the reality of what is being shown here: the iPhone 12 is much, MUCH more susceptible to lens flare than ANY other smartphone. Stop blaming the photographers. It is absurd that we are supposed to find workarounds such as complete reframing a photo just to prevent these monstrous flares from occurring.

Or maybe, just maybe it's considered normal because every manufacturer considers it normal, as does the photography press.

It's not a matter of "liking" or "disliking."

If I take a 90 degree corner in a normal auto at 45 MPH it's going to slide sideways.

I don't like that, but it's not a defect of automotive technology.

I’m a QA tech for a large manufacturer., and to see a full on reflection of the ceiling light in the original photos is a defect. That’s not a flare, that’s a reflection. If was in apples QA department id reject it.

Point made is iPhones camera has significantly more flare than other flag phones. From what I understood about the originating post, it’s a concern and a hindrance. I also agree with the individual who started this post. Your so called flare is more of a reflection off the sensor hitting the back of the lens and then back into the sensor, and it’s ugly and should exist to this extent in such a high end device.

[Edited by Moderator]

Then maybe it is issue occurring only on some decives. I don't know. Will try to do some more low light shots tonight and will take my girlfriend's SE2 that also seems to be producing much less flares than my 12 pro. But as I said, from what I've tried so far changing the angle did not help at all so unfortunately the only way to avoid this for me right now is using the ultra-wide camera that does not produce so many flares.

By the way we are taking about photography here but in videos you can not just adjust the angles. There are several videos on YouTube comparing iphone 12 and other phones capturing the same video and while on iphone there are persistent green reflections, on different phones those reflections only occur few times when pointing the camera against lights under the wrong angle. This leads me again to the thought that the green reflections that I am observing on my camera are not regular flares that can by avoided by adjusting the angle but rather a issue that Apple should be addressing asap.

Main issue is that this's physical problem (missing of anti-glare coating or bad placement of lens elements). So I don't think there's any fix for it by software (unless Apple can do some magic). Feel really bad cause I like the Apple ProRAW capability...

I'm sorry, this is patently untrue. Google Pixel does not have nearly the flaring/ghosting that these iPhones currently have. I came from a Pixel, purchased the 12 Pro, and am astonished by the ghosting/mirroring here. I've been taking photos with both, in the same environments, for days, and it's absurd how much worse the pics look on the iPhone, pertaining to this, of course.

What's amazing is the lack of understanding over lens flare. The fact that Pixel, Samsung, Apple higher end phones ALL capture flare is not up for debate. What is amazing is how little people understand how much the angle of the camera in relation to the bright lights influences the capture of lens flares. The ONLY fair comparison, which no one has done here, because no one likely has the ability to do, is take a photo on all the high end phones, using tripods and ensuring the angle of the phones is exactly the same on all at the same time.

People are taking hand held photos, at differing angles as proof that iPhone is the worst at capturing lens flare. It's not. They others are just as capable of capturing the same amount of flares, but no one has yet done a valid, controlled, exact same angle comparison.

That's what is amazing.

To answer your Q: These results are normal regarding the composition you regarded. One can not be lazy in anything, if you want to make great photo’s you should at least find a good angle to take the shot regarding what is in your view finder/sreen. Many times just taking the effort to change the angle, take a step back or a step closer will improve so much. I never heard Vincent vann Gogh blaming his brushes, canvas or paint, hope you know what I am trying to say :)

LOL. Way to make an analogy. Van Gogh probably didn't use broken brush.

The iPhone 11 and 12 lens flare problem is real. blaming the users who paid big money for it.

That's not an issue with older iPhones. Definitely not for me. It only started with my 11 Pro Max and got much worse with the 12 Pro Max. Yes, we can try and adjust and be Van Gogh with a broken brush (although we shouldn't be bothered if the brush is that expensive), but try doing that with videos.

Where those more knowledgeable about photography are pretty jazzed phone cameras are now good enough to generate flare in a way similar to the way higher end cameras and lenses have for decades.

https://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/3831/using-abusing-lens-flare/