iPhone 13 pro lens flare

Bobolinho wrote:

It’s much, much, much worse for iPhones on the most recent camera systems. It’s a massive design flaw that Apple won’t admit.

NO, its not a design flaw at all. But when you figure out how to design cameras which don't capture lens flare, be prepared to become extremely wealthy. I'll be first in line to buy your wonder camera. Yes I will.

Lens flare on Apple phones is worse than other phones. Fact. I always buy Apple but it’s embarrassing they haven’t sorted. Phone is unstable in some condition. People posting videos at concerts/at night/with any type of lights, you spot the iPhone ones a mile off. Just look for all the glowing specs. Awful

Ridiculous. People are complaining just as much about the new Google Pixel 6 phones and they have complained about Samsung phones for the last several generations as well. There are no higher-end phones which in the right conditions don't capture lens flare. NONE.

If you're not happy with the camera system on your iPhone, sell it or if within the return window return it and get something else you think better meets your needs.

Complaining here about something normal, expected and in many situations is unavoidable is a waste of time. Apple isn't here. They aren't reading these posts. You are just speaking with other users, none of whom can do anything for you except to explain lens flare is normal.

You don't need to end the discussion, but that's your prerogative.

I posted a photo above proving the issue is identical between the S21 Ultra and the 12 Pro Max.

It's certainly no worse on the 13 Pro Max.

A short read through this forum will show that it is normal and appears on smartphones from

Apple, Google, Samsung and Sony, digital video cameras from Panasonic and Sony, DSLRs from Canon and Nikon with similar lenses and even cinema digital cameras from ARRI, RED and Sony used with lenses from Canon, Cooke and Zeiss.

I’ve not idea about the veracity of that photo. Having owned both an S21U and 12PM I’m happy to confirm that the 12PM is largely unusable at night with any kind of light on.

Everyone get ready to have your photos of Christmas trees and lights ruined ! I’ll come back and do a side by side with my old 8Plus and let you all see.

The "pro iPhone" gurus on this subject will tell you that all cameras have lens flare and that You need to change you angle or you better read up more on photography and learn how to manipulate light better...when it's the overwhelming amount of posts that say the iPhone 13 by far is the worst they have seen. But it is true all cameras can get lens flare.

I also am disappointed with Lens Flare when I am in a high light ( sun/ moon) situations. The tips of angling are often useless and I find it difficult to understand why engineers don’t pay more attention to this flaw. To be told it’s “ “normal” is just an excuse. I can remove the flare from photos but not from videos or live feeds. I look forward to the day when Apple recognizes that This is resolved.

Because you simply can't.

Look at many commercial motion pictures - you can't even easily avoid it when spending millions of dollars on cinematography.

B&H Photo: Taming the Sun: Lens Flare, and How to Deal with It

This cannot be solved ASAP or any way. Read this thread to learn why this is normal. YOU, however, can angle the camera relative to bright lights and see the dots move and even be eliminated with careful camera placement.

davidech70 wrote:

I repeat, this is Not normal.

Flares could be normal in some lenses in certain conditions. As photographer I know.

But those reflections/mirroring of part of the images are Not flares

Sorry, but they ARE normal. And when you create a camera which is immune to them, you'll be richer beyond your dreams. I'll wait in line to buy such a system.

Flares are normal in certain condition of light. I know. Expecially with wide-angle lenses.

The strange things here are mirroring of part of images as a large street screen perfectly reproduced in the night sky.

In years of photos I have seen and sometimes voluntarily searched for the flares (they could be useful in some photos as light effects) , but never seen something like that. This is why I have thought about limits of this camera phone compared to other systems.

I’m not sure this is normal . I own 3 phones 13 pro max , x70 pro+ and pixel 6 pro . There were normal reflections when I captured the same pictures on other two phones . But on my iphone the number of reflections were so high .

i don’t know if it’s just my iphone having this issue . Some say this is reflection flare and some describe this is as reflection . @davidech70 is facing the same issue . Anyway I tried contacting apple care and they asked me to take the phone to their service centre . If it’s normal then they wanna try to sort the normal .

I can post the comparison pictures tomorrow.

I'm actually a professional photographer and doc maker who went to the Rhode Island School of Design.

I know my way around many, many different types of cameras and genres.

I've done newspaper front covers. I've done TV art documentaries. I've done art gallery shows. I've been very fortunate.

This is the worst flaring/ghosting I've ever seen - I genuinely thought people had been walking behind me with laser pointers when I reviewed the footage.

There is clearly some issue with the lens/coatings.

Yes I agree.

It is a phisical phenomenon due to the light crossing the lenses, nothing to say about this. As engineer I studied it a lot. There are a lot of comparison between iPhone camera and other smartphone or professional camera. Even those systems have flares, green dots etc, but they don’t have mirroring, images of the light sources clearly reproduced in the night sky, for example