Is anyone else experiencing a bright reflection when shooting towards a light source. On both the 1x and 2x I am getting a bright reflection that appears in the photo. (iPhone 12 pro was not listed in the device options below)
iPhone 11 Pro
I have contacted Apple and they are replacing my iPhone 12 Pro after I sent them sample photos of the ghosting/reflections in the images. A $300 point and shoot digital camera produces lens flare, as does a $10,000 professional DSLR kit--but neither will produce the ghosting/reflecting I and others are seeing with photos taken with these faulty Apple lenses. The problem Apple has with the iPhone lens is NOT lens flare, it's ghosting/reflecting.
I did a camera test with my iPhone X and I had nice lens flares--as was to be expected--but again I didn't see any ghosting/reflections like I am seeing with the 12 Pro. If the replacement phone has the same issue, I'm going to get a refund. There is nothing "Pro" about using a camera that doesn't work as advertised.
[Edited by Moderator]
Looks like internal lens reflection, but if you are bothered, have it examined.
Internal lens reflections - known and expected.
If you feel differently, have it examined.
In the iphone 11 pro thread, there are users who reported the problems were reaolved after Apple swapped out the camera module.
Hence the assumption is this is a problem of defective lens coating.
Snapseed is one such app. Just open a photo in Snapseed with flares, tap the Healing button, tap the dots and they're gone.
Again, completely normal any time you have intense pinpoints of light like that.
Here are similar photos taken with a brand new Google Pixel 5.
That is not normal lens flare and I would elevate this with Apple Support. I believe you have an issue with the sensor in the camera.
Completely normal for all premium smartphones and most digital phones.
You may not have seen it, but the effect is normal:
Then don't buy a modern digital camera; this is completely normal.
Here is a photo from a Google Pixel 5 for comparison.
This never happened on my Xs Max and is happening now on my 12 Pro. I spoke to Apple and T-Mobile. Apple was willing to replace the phone and T-Mobile told me that they had been receiving a few replacement requests because of the issue.
I hope Apple does something about it. It doesn’t seem like a normal issue and really messes up Night photos. The moon looks like a giant out-of-focus ball of light in my photos.
Again, it's 100% normal and expected.
If you feel different, feel free to approach whomever you purchased it from or Apple about a replacement.
The lens flares seen here are present on every modern smarrtphone.
For example:
Taken with an iPhone Xs.
As a professional photographer who apparently has never used smartphone cameras.
You will see the exact same flares on the iPhone 8, X, Xs and 11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max as well as your choice of Google Pixel and Samsung S20 models.
If you want to return your phone as defective, feel free.
Don't be shocked when the replacement does the exact same thing.
All of the iPhones have since at least the iPhone 6.
It's not a "quality control" issue, it's by design.
Some Android phones have tried to address this but coatings to reduce flare also reduce low light performance dramatically.
Try to get the same flares somewhere else. You will. Your phone is 99.9% not better than the last one. Especially considering everyone literally has this issue, and your replacement would still be in the first batch of launch phones. If you like the phone great, but I highly doubt the issue is magically gone.
ejewels1 wrote:
Exactly. Not everyone is a photographer (I'm a professional in the industry of marketing/creative/photog/videog) so I get that not everyone understands. Either way, I think I'll be eating restocking fees and returning the phone. It is true that my XS doesn't exhibit nearly as much lens issues but they are still there. I feel Apple needs to address it (on the 11 too) before I get a new phone. I can't even take city night shots or video without massive artifacts, green dots and glares. Otherwise, the sensor and software for the photos is top notch.
That's the problem; no one can address it, you just need to work around it as professional photographers must.
I mentioned previously, coatings severely hamper night performance, which ultimately customers find to be more important or technologies like "Night Mode" wouldn't be so popular.
Leica and Huawei were working on a solution but their coatings and lens designs introduce their own artifacts:
As an additional level of difficulty, lens coatings are nearly impossible to apply to something the diameter of a pencil eraser and only a few millimeters thick.
This is true, but don't forget that the average consumer isn't a photographer. I saw a post where people were taking photos of a bday party with the subject blowing out candles. Green reflections of the candles everywhere. Also, no matter how good you are at framing, try shooting a bunch of neon lights or fireworks. If there is room in the shot to move, then of course you can reframe. But many times if the entire shot has bright lights already in it... its hard to avoid. Its also why DSLR's have coated lenses and lens hoods.
IPhone 12 Pro lens flare
