Love the cameras. But horrible lens flares.
And it seems it’s defective:
One the right, above the window. Green flares from tube lights to the left.
In the middle of the picture:
On the TV screen:
Will try out during the day and post
I can't remember if I showed these two photos here in this thread or in another one on this topic.
Here's a picture I took with flare. I could easily see the flare on my iPhone 12 Pro Max screen before I took the photo, which you could have seen if you were holding my phone as well:
Is my phone defective? No, of course not.
Without moving my position at all, I moved the angle of the camera relative to the scene and took this photo seconds later. Notice anything different? The flares are gone.
This is so disappointing, I spent big money on 12 Pro max just for the camera and its low light night picture capability and this happens? completely ruined all my kids birthday pictures, anyone here saying oh it is a common problem for all cameras is nonsense. I have all other phones and SLRS they do have minor flare problems but none of them are this worse, especially when apple is touting that is low light genius. I have contacted apple for a replacement and see if this problems still exists, if it does, I will ask for a refund. stop saying that this is a common problem and you should bear with it crap!
I never knew these things exist until I accidentally looked at this discussion, however when I compare all phones I have access now they all have that green balls when taking pictures in dark and there are bright lights. , the iPhone 12 I own has most noticeable but also does take best pictures in dark, other phones older iPhones and mid range android phone does less noticeable green dots but worse pictures in dark by far. This one with the birthday looks bad, this is not acceptable for sure.
merethe99 wrote:
Kucharski, Can you please write a little about how they can be avoided?
Since you can see them in the display in real time when they occur, try to find an angle where they don't or where they appear in an area of the photo you know you will be cropping out.
I’m agree with everyone who has this problem, But I can't agree with those people who always try to explain this is normal because lenses and quality better or you should need take with different angle and try to avoid them , but 90% people ho bought Max they’re normal consumers and iPhone this is a Mobile device not a professional Camera with some difficult settings. Green dots Exist even on my old XR When you Taking a picture directly to the Sun ☀️ This is normal Everyone knew , but street lights or I can’t imagine When everyone will go on holidays after pandemic and start shooting attractions around the world at the night time , Then Everyone will see how terrible it is. And compare to Xr with normal light , street light or Attractions there’s no huge difference but gap between devices 3 Years. Maxis is a better in low light no comments but you getting so difficult to take a shot , yes you can play with this and get a cool picture but again with normal people in normal situations this is annoying, I think regular 12 will be a super alternative because Max is to to sensitive to light
No, but then I wasn't speaking to you. I was responding specifically to the gtx279, who made a comment directed at Night Mode. Anytime you angle these cameras at very bright lights, you stand the chance of getting flares, which as has been said over and over and over can be easily seen before you take the photo and can be virtually eliminated by angling the camera differently relative to the scene being photographed.
Nope, I'm not an Apple employee now or ever. I am someone who has spent years getting better skilled and educated in photography as a side passion. I have lots of money invested in cameras and lenses. You just can't expect more from these little lenses in a camera phone. Under the right conditions and with extra care when you frame a subject, these cameras are capable of amazing things, but the physics involved here isn't magic, nor can it avoid the things you and others seem to believe the Apple Wizards should be able to avoid.
I respectfully disagree with the computational processing assertion. I think it can be improved to significantly and noticeably reduce and even eliminate the problem, and it doesn't have to be an always-on feature for everyone unless the user chooses. Most of the green space ships, green rubber ducks / green flares that I see are transparent, consistently colored, and consistent angles from light sources. Even without angles, accelerometer, and light source factors, the green pixels are often enough of a factor to identify the problem area, and in cases of small points and diffusion areas, along with surrounding pixels, you can automatically calculate best color replacements. Sure, the huge flares become a problem, but I've noticed in all of my images and many of them here, these points are consistent and small and could be corrected even better than a person post editing. Mixing in more intense processing to include light source locations, camera pitches and other angles would indeed be intensive and shorten battery life, but again, it doesn't have to be always on, and it could be used to identify probable regions of artifacts, to reduce how much of the image to process and therefore speed the process in live preview. IF it were an option, I'd wager most consumers would have it always on given how pronounced these artifacts are. Pro-consumers could have the option to disable it and work their magic with angles and aesthetics.
I guess I'm thinking along these lines because I've recently been tinkering with machine learning code, which can easily identify objects in my scenes. Identifying these green flares should be trivial in comparison.
Ooooo! I just made a discovery, how to switch cameras that the phone is using, and the green flares do NOT occur on the Ultra Wide (0.5x) lens! So, green flares on two cameras, when you set 1x or 2.5, but the green flares do not happen on the 0.5x lens. Now I'm back to wondering if this is a defect. So frustrating. I need to put it down for a while.
Most of the photos posted here are of normal lens flare and can be duplicated with any modern smart phone with a high end camera.
Green stripes with no obvious intense light source sounds like a hardware issue with your camera, and you may want to discuss it with Apple Support directly:
Then I guess you should return yours too - problem solved.
Normal isn't "defective."
Lies. Other phones don't create these kinds of dots. No new inventions needed, just some better quality optics. Flares and dots are two different things.
I bashed the 12 pro max for the flares. And here is why I am not returning the phone:
No edits. Straight from the main camera:
Yes, it's a spectacular camera.
It's also true every photographic device has its issues and limitations that a photographer must work around.
You contact Apple support, post on discussions.Apple.com and hopefully if enough people complain Apple will devise a fix, or at least improve the next generation.
IPhone 12 Pro Max Lens flare
