White circle around light sources

zeyad9 wrote:

I upgraded from an iPhone 11 and it didn’t have this flare at all

I know you want someone to tell you there's an issue with your phone, but you're not going to get the answer you're hoping for. iPhone 11, doesn't have a sensor nearly as capable of capturing as much light as an iPhone 15 Pro. You captured lens flare and that's that. Even my Nikon DSLR, with a more than $1000 lens on it, wouldn't fare much better. The more light which hits the sensor, the more the sensor will capture flare.

Absolutely normal. Your light source exceeds the dynamic range of the sensor. Flare would be exhibited by repeating >Ghost Images<. Two different phenomenon, but different causes.

This is an example of flare and includes Ghost Images (repeating patterns of the aperture).

This is the definition of flare.

>>Flare is non-image forming light. Reduces contrast and color saturation. Flare is caused by very bright subject areas and produces internal reflections in the lens. Stacking of filters can increase flare. Lens coatings by the Mfg. keeps flare to a minimum. The use of a suitable hood (not the stock hood) can also aid in reducing flare.<<

Please show the same scene with your iPhone 11. That’s an issue with dynamic range of the sensor. The human eye sees about 24 stops of visual light. The real world contains about 34 stops of visual light and the very best sensors (which are quite larger than iPhone sensors) are capable of maybe 15+ stops. Some additional stops of dynamic range can be interpolated via High Dynamic Range (HDR) computational photography. But can’t come anywhere near what your eye can see and interpolate.

Yes, that is lens flare and quite normal if you are taking a photo of a very bright light such as that.

That second photo exhibits both phenomena, flair (loss of contrast and color) and insufficient dynamic range. Notice how your original example retains color and contrast throughout the majority of the image. Your iPhone 15 Pro Max shows much less flare and improvement in dynamic range due to larger sensors and more advanced computational photography.

You're welcome.