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iPhone 12 Pro Max camera issues

Has anyone got issues with your iPhone 12 Pro Max camera ? See below that I have on mine:


1) when making video on main 1x sensor and only at 4k 60fps, the screen is suffering from significant flickering. This is not happening on any other resolutions and frame rates. I have compared to my old Xs and Xr with same settings, same scenarios and this issue is not present at all. I have also tried changing shutter speed manually to 1/120 on Filmic Pro, as normally this would resolve the issue, however no matter how I set settings manually flickering is present at all settings, when recording 4k 60fps. I have tried resetting the phone, force restarting, with no luck. I am on 14.2. I even tried using every possible settings scenario on both display and camera settings and still not possible to eliminate the issue :(


2) Ultra wide lens 0.5x is suffering from lags, stuttering when on 4k 60fps. When you touch screen to get auto exposure square and focus point, lag and stuttering is heavily present. The moment exposure and focus point disappears all is back to normal. Again this is only happening when on 4k 60fps and in all lightning conditions. I have tried all above and absolutely all settings but no luck with getting this resolved.


it would be good to see if anyone has come across these issues and managed to fix anyhow. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Happy to share my OneDrive link, so you can see the videos with these issues.


Thanks guys.

Kris

iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 14

Posted on Nov 15, 2020 5:24 AM

Reply
142 replies

Nov 18, 2020 12:15 AM in response to kris_milczarek

Hi!


I recently bought the new iPhone 12 Pro Max.


I have noticed that when I shoot video's in the dark (with the lights on in the house), there is some kind of flickering visible in the video.


Apparently it is possible that due to very fast flickering of lights, slowmo video's make this kind of flickering visible when you can not see it with the naked eye.


I however have this problem with normal video's as well. I have compared it with the video's on my iPhone X and it is definitely worse in my iPhone 12 video's.


I noticed that this happens while recording video on HD (or 4K) at 60 FPS, if you switch to 30 FPS this doesn't happen.


Anyone else that has this problem?


Thanks!

Nov 16, 2020 3:56 PM in response to balazs8610

I have been doing intensive research and testing and come to an conclusion that it is the camera app and code/algorithm behind that is causing this issue. So in other words hoping this is software related.


I have downloaded myself paid app called ProCamera and was playing around with manual settings. When I set shutter speed to 1/100 the flickering has disappeared completely. To the point that my issue number 2) was also not present in ProCamera app for me.


it would be interesting to get other user’s thoughts and opinions about this.


Thanks!

Dec 9, 2020 2:48 AM in response to Mike211Uk

No, filming at 60 FPS will always result in flicker when filming under artificial light flickering at 50 Hz as in the UK and Europe.


Cinema digital camera company RED explains it nicely here:


https://www.red.com/red-101/flicker-free-video-tutorial


Ask Apple to add 25 and 50 FPS video modes here:


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


In the mean time, some third party video camera apps do support filming modes of 25 and 50 FPS which should eliminate the flicker for you.

Feb 24, 2021 2:30 PM in response to NikoGTA

Wether shooting videos in 1080 or 4K pls know that 60fps will work better only with bright and matured outdoor day lights. For indoor and low lights it is suggested to switch to 30 FPS for better result or Auto FPS 30&60 where camera automatically decides the FPS while understanding the lights, subject to shooting indoors or outdoors. Also there needs sufficient lights when shooting indoor especially in low light in order to get rid of flickering. Know that more light means less flickering and you can always play around with focous exposure. Having said that i still feel apple can do lot more better for low light videography. But at present these are the only possibly settings. My OS is up to date which is 14.4 at present.


Some basic tips for shooting videos in low light.


1) Add extra powerful focous lights or ring LED lights as per the requirement in order to achieve cleanest possible looking video


2) Always shoot in 30FPS and adjust focous exposure in your phone’s main camera app.


3) Always clear the ram and restart your phone before shooting any video.


4) Clean all the 3 lenses gently and nicely before shooting the video.


One can’t do anything more then these. Hoping that Apple resolves this serious issue in their next update and looking forward to much better shooting experience.


Happy user of iPhone 12 Pro Max. Happy Shooting Folks! :)


  • Harsh

Jan 28, 2021 11:10 AM in response to kris_milczarek

I am having the same issues with low light. It either shows up all black, pink and tiled looking like an Andy Warhol painting, or a combo of green/pink. Seems to happen in low light. Also makes some pictures flicker/bounce around. Ultimately can cause my phone to have to be shut down. This is very frustrating and hasn’t been fixed by any of the updates. This is my first major let down of an apple product considering I specifically waited for this phone because of the camera.

Nov 16, 2020 3:10 PM in response to kris_milczarek

Hi Kris,

Same (Nr. 1) issue here. But it’s interesting that I have this problem only in two rooms in the house while the lights are on. If I shoot video (4K 60 fps) in the dining room, the video flickers. If I do this in the bedroom, it doesn’t. Outdoor I have not experienced this kind of problem.

Is it possible that it has to do with the electrical network? Because the video otherwise looks good. In 30 fps there’s no problem at all.


Balázs

Nov 16, 2020 10:17 PM in response to kris_milczarek

Same here, lots of flickering issues when recording video on this Iphone 12 Pro.


I see to notice mine is affected by having the lights on or off. When electric lights are turned on, flickering in video goes crazy. Lights off and its OK.


This makes me think there it may be a PAL/NTSC issue? I cannot see an option anywhere to switch this.


I am posting this while on support-chat for this issue, haven't gotten anywhere yet.

Nov 16, 2020 10:40 PM in response to Godem

Quick update, I have submitted a 'ticket to engineering' via the support team to investigate further after providing them some example videos. This sounded like an unfamiliar bug to them. I would encourage other uses to get in touch for support/build awareness. I started simply with Live Chat.

iPhone 12 Pro Max camera issues

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