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iPhone 5 flash and shutter out-of-sync

I have recieved my new iPhone 5 today and have a problem with the camera. When taking photos in dark places, whether on Auto or On the flash will fire but the shutter lags and only opens when the flash turns off. All photos are subsequently dark.


Any others experiencing this or have a fix?

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 2:19 PM

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Posted on Sep 21, 2012 2:42 PM

Basic troubleshooting from the User's Guide is reset, restart, restore (first from backup then as new). Try each of these in order until the issue is resolved.

69 replies

Sep 26, 2012 2:03 PM in response to Steverd

erm, removing a cover plastic or otherwise would have no affect on the sync timing of the flash/shutter.

It may enable to camera lens to pic up images more clearly and even stop a glare effect from the flash but nothing more. Besides i dont have a cover on my iphone5 at all an still the issues remains.


The issue mentioned here is a clitch that causes the camera shutter to lag behind the firing of the flash.

When i got my iphone5 I restored my iphone4s backup from itunes and after reading other threads regarding various other issues it seems highly possible that restoring from an older handsets backup MAY be the cause of some of if not most of these issues.

I have now fully restored my iphone5 to factory settings an set it up as a new phone. Time will tell if the flash/shutter sync issue is gone or not.

Sep 26, 2012 6:47 PM in response to greymatt

Mine is doing this too and I have to reboot every time to resolve it. What'sinteresting is the flash actually makes the iPhone's light sensing adjust and darken the picture, then the flash goes off before the shutter snaps and the picture turns out darker than it would be had I not used the flash at all! You want to see really weird, take a flash pic of a cat. My cat's eyes seem to reflect the light a touch longer than everything else, so the pic ends up as a dark room with two floating eyeballs. I think it's the evil that stores the light a longerin her eyes btw, but that's another discussion lol.


Thank god the light adjustment seems to be much better on my iPhone 5, so that should hold me over. The only time I would ever use the flash would be in a really dark room. This should def be fixable with a software update. Maybe it has to do with how much ram the phone gives the camera app, which is why at a fresh boot, with no apps hogging ram, it works properly. At least for me that is....

Sep 27, 2012 2:41 PM in response to greymatt

this is happening with my iPhone 5 as well. i first discovered it yesterday (first time i tried to use the flash) and read about the reboot fix. i rebooted and that did fix it....

but it is out of sync again today. 😠

i really don't want to have to reset the phone on a daily basis!

has anyone had a permanent fix yet??

Sep 29, 2012 11:30 AM in response to wasted.d

4 days since i dfu restored and set up my phone as a new device, ive taken around 30 - 40 photos in various types of lighting with the flash set to Auto and On. So far all have come out as they should, no more dark pics and ive have not seen any shutter lag/delay at all. Im touching some wood as i type this just incase lol but it appears the full restore an setup new device has worked.

iPhone 5 flash and shutter out-of-sync

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