IPhone 12 Pro Max Lens flare

I would love to hold your phone and show you once and for all how to avoid the dots. You must not have watched the video I posted.

And yes, by all means contact Apple. They may even agree to replace your phone out of kindness. Only any replacement you phone you get will do the EXACT SAME THING.

I think the issue is you keep mentioning and showcasing 1-3 spots on a photo and claim it’s the same as others who have literally 20-30 clusters of dots. That’s not something that shows up on my 11 Pro Max, 12 Pro or Note 20 Ultra, it’s only showing up on this phone. Changing angles doesn’t fix this and any other tricks don’t either. If it was so common than why don’t I see clusters on previous iPhones or my Note? Nobody said flares don’t happen, but I’m very familiar with photography and a light flare and these large amounts are not typical with other phones or my DSLR.

Again, if you're so convinced your phone is defective, take it to Apple. No one here can help you. I've tried to explain how the angle of the camera can greatly reduce or in many situations eliminate the flares. You keep trying to say I'm wrong.

You're getting nowhere continuing to argue your point. I'm happy with my phone. I've learned how to use it to the best advantage I can.

You're not happy with your phone. Take it to Apple.

Just for you. I took these two photos moments ago. You say I don't show many flares. We put up lights on our deck this afternoon.

In both photos, I did not move my location. I DID move the camera angle relative to the lights. In the first photo, the green dots are easily seen before I took the photo. I took it anyway. In the second photo, I simply angled the camera differently and you can see the results.

Is my phone defective? Of course not. Do I understand how to minimize or eliminate the lens flares. Yes.

I would take the time to edit out the tip of the chair you see in the bottom of the frame, but this was just to show you how easy it was for me to get rid of the flares by simply angling the camera to remove them.

Learn how to use your camera system in your phone. You just might find out it's pretty terrific.

It makes sense adjusting the angle can get rid of any lens flares but that only applies to pictures, not videos if you are taking from your iPhone 12. So your claim on adjusting the camera is just pointless at that point. I agree on the workarounds but what would you do for videos. I would suggest go for cheapest phone like 12 mini and get yourself Nikon Z50. my 2 cents thanks

You have to apply photographic techniques to video too.

Do you think that when they film a movie or TV show they just point the camera and let the actors do their thing?

No, they meticulously plan each shot, check for light angles, and treat motion as a sequence of still photos. If the sun will be in a shot, they often wait for hours until it's in just the right position.

So it's not pointless; when shooting video you either accept flare may occur or you avoid shooting video in that direction.

It's not difficult if you care deeply about your end result.

jtcannonball wrote:

I think the issue is you keep mentioning and showcasing 1-3 spots on a photo and claim it’s the same as others who have literally 20-30 clusters of dots.

How's this?

Google Pixel 4.

I'm still just absolutely baffled that the people here trying to say it's 'normal' when on 4 years of shooting with my 6s Plus I haven't had these pronounced dots ruin a single shot, or even require me to reframe my shot. There's a massive difference between regular light flares that are expected as a normal part of shooting with all cameras and these dots that are so strong that they almost look like digital artefacts.

I haven't yet seen an example of a photo from another phone that looks as bad as the current iPhone does. Again, 4 years on my 6s plus and I've not had to reframe a shot once.

if anyone can show a photo from an android camera that has these pronounced green dots or something similar I'd like to see it. I think it's way more nuanced than 'PHySiCs!' and Apple has ignored a design flaw in their lens system that could do with some serious attention so that at least it performs as well as other cameras in the same class ie smartphones.

I'm using iPhone 12 pro . and same issue facing all over the images day and night . I never experienced like this before . Very very disappointed . I have tried register complaint this issue. Apple is not helping they are just saying all the phone having this issue . This happen not only a bright light condition its reflecting even LED lights and Night lights . How can we escalate this issue ?????

I use Apple's chat support option. Very quick and I was able to upload pictures. The issue was kicked up several levels to engineering and they want me to take a bunch of test shots, both with the camera and the screen shots.

Honestly, I hope you do find out your phone is defective. But sharing photos with Apple doesn't indicate any admission of fault with the cameras. Just like iPhone 11, loads of people shared photos with Apple Engineers. It wasn't then, nor is it now ad admission of fault. Optics are what optics are and Apple simply cannot bend the physics of optics.

I wish you luck in your endeavor though. Even if Apple replaces your phone however, the new phone will do the exact same thing.

Good for you. Perhaps you have an unusually rare malfunctioning phone. But it's more likely Apple is placating you, like they've done for many many others before you. Same situation with iPhone 11. People were encouraged to send sample photos to Apple engineering. They knew their phones were defective. It's possible a couple were. But for the vast majority, there was no defect. Apple was even kind enough to replace some phones for some people. But they came back soon after to say their replacement phone did the same exact things. Why? Because again, Apple cannot bend the physics of optics. I wish they could. It would be brilliant if they could. This thread wouldn't exist if they could. But alas, they cannot.

I'm sure you'll flame me for saying this. And that's OK. I get that your expectations aren't being met. It's just they can't be met in all honesty.

brecht163 wrote:

It’s exceptionally bright weather in the Alps and of 54 photos taken the last 2 days 16 have this flare (never seen it on my 4 year old se). I certainly hope not that Apple expect anyone to do a photography course.

Let's look at that statement for a moment.

If you bought a $5000 DSLR combo, and your photos had lots of flares in them, no one would think twice when you were instructed to take a photography class to get the most out of your camera.

Yet somehow this is ridiculous advice when applied to the very advanced camera in your iPhone.

To use another comparison, just because your iPhone can take videos, it doesn't make you a skilled cinematographer.

No matter how much you spend or what the equipment is, you have to learn how to make best use of your tools.

Yes. I can agree when the posters here say it's 'normal'. It appears it's just the poor design of the Apple camera module that means that 'normal' for the iPhone is worse than the 'normal' for other phones. Part of the problem is that as iPhone users we expect the iPhone camera to be the best, but unfortunately it has a serious design flaw. Some people seem to have received faulty devices with even worse light management than the 'normal' bad, but for the rest of us we're stuck with the new Apple 'normal'.

I'm so deep in the iOS system that migrating isn't an efficient option. I just have to wait it out. 😡