Apple says purple fringing is normal for iPhone 5 camera

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Comments

  • Reply 61 of 94


    This is basically how the iPhone compact camera handles what would otherwise cause "lens flare" in a full SLR camera… 


     


    There are fewer lenses in the phone camera, and they are flatter and much closer together. What would show up as multiple rings (and if you look closely, multi-colored "flares") in a regular SLR lens, is reduced to a blurred violet color… but the cause and effect is no different.


     


    Ironically, it's actually the sign of a HIGHER quality lens and camera element… cheaper, lower quality phone cameras don't 'suffer' this effect, you just get what I call "light smears"… a blurry overexposed patch of over-lit area.


     


    And anyway, the "fringing", aka "blurred lens flare", is easily avoided. 


     


    It's going to happen. It's the nature of the machine. Just like, if you hit a wall with a car, it will dent. If you point a camera at certain angles to intense light, it will "flare"… come on. The complaints are spurious and disingenuous...

  • Reply 62 of 94

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DESuserIGN View Post


    If it's not a common occurrence, great. I don't see it as a problem.


    But what I see in the example image in the article is very unusual. I've never seen flaring like that from a headlight!


    If it routinely occurs in that kind of a lighting situation, it's a glaring (no pun . . . ) camera design fault.



     


    well, not really… I can recreate a similar kind of effect using my Canon DSLR… so I guess what we're saying here is that ALL camera designs are faulty? And some people are apparently angry that Apple hasn't 're-invented' THAT part of the camera (never mind that this camera takes nicer photos than a digital SLR I had only 5 years ago…!).

  • Reply 63 of 94

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    Here's a 5 page thread about purple fringing on the Leica M9. For those who are unaware, the Leica M9 retails for about 7 grand, and that's just for the body. image


     


    http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/195456-purple-fringe-problems-leica-m9-5.html





    Please stick to what you know, not allot.  Know the difference before posting crap.

  • Reply 64 of 94
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kermitos View Post


     


    My pleasure. Just curious did you even look at all the pictures from the test that I pasted? You seemed to just stick to the first pictures.



     


    Why, yes, I did. Did you?


     


    Every single picture was taken from a different position and/or with different lighting. 


     


    May I suggest that you try the camera yourself, rather than just parroting stuff you've read on the interweb?

  • Reply 65 of 94

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dcorban View Post


    Do you even own an iPhone 5? Have you experienced this problem yourself? Why are you so devoted to this issue if:


    1) It is not affecting you or,


    2) You don't even use this phone


     


    Just when I start feeling good about the Internet, I stumble back into these forums and read these threads.





    1) My daughter does and it is effecting her.  What people are failing to grasp here is that on the 3, 3G, 4 and 4S this was not a common issue.  People using these phones just like to snap pictures with little to know thought going into composition.  Prior to the 5, it was a no brainer, now this is not the case and it is frustrating to them and her. 

  • Reply 66 of 94
    copelandcopeland Posts: 298member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    ...Our engineering team just gave me this information and we recommend that you angle the camera away from the bright light source when taking pictures...


     


    He is just holding it wrong. image


     


    Sorry, had to be said! ;-)

  • Reply 67 of 94
    I experimented a little with this on my iPhone5, and I found a couple ways to reduce or eliminate the purple flare:

    1) Zoom in a bit (you can keep the bright object in the scene) the purple shows up at wider angle settings. You'll notice that in the iPhone4 vs iPhone5 comparison the iPhone4 is zoomed in more.

    2) Set the exposure to the bright object by touching the screen near the bright object.

    I doubt this is chromatic aberration... it seems more likely a combination of internal reflections and the particular sensor used.
  • Reply 68 of 94
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by irobot2004 View Post



    I experimented a little with this on my iPhone5, and I found a couple ways to reduce or eliminate the purple flare:



    1) Zoom in a bit (you can keep the bright object in the scene) the purple shows up at wider angle settings. You'll notice that in the iPhone4 vs iPhone5 comparison the iPhone4 is zoomed in more.



    2) Set the exposure to the bright object by touching the screen near the bright object.



    I doubt this is chromatic aberration... it seems more likely a combination of internal reflections and the particular sensor used.


     


    The iPhone has a fixed focal length lens. Zooming is just cropping.

  • Reply 69 of 94
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post



    Cue the outrage of people who think they *should* be able to take pictures of the sun, and how it's all a conspiracy, and that their Blackberry/Android device allowed them to take pictures of the sun, etc.


    ^this^


     


    I've shot photos for decades: bright light sources cause flare (that purple) the color may be unique but the phenomena isn't at all. One reason on my slr's I routinely leave a lens hood mounted.

  • Reply 70 of 94


    Also note that the iCloud cover is completely different, leaving one to wonder, just how many pictures did the photographer have to take before the sun was in the wrong position to create the flare.


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rayz View Post


     


    Interesting.


     



     


     


    I'm not a photography expert (which I'm sure you are), but when doing a test like this, shouldn't the pictures be taken in the same position and at roughly the same time of day?


     


    I only mention it because the crane in the background seems to be in a completely different position.


  • Reply 71 of 94

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by muppetry View Post


     


    The iPhone has a fixed focal length lens. Zooming is just cropping.



    That's ok... by doing it in-camera you move the bright object closer to the optical axis, which seems to reduce the problem, and you can keep that object in (or near) the picture. Of course you may lose some other part of the scene of interest. Also obviously, the image will be up-sampled, so not quite as sharp... although probably not noticeable unless you zoom way in.

  • Reply 72 of 94
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by irobot2004 View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by muppetry View Post


     


    The iPhone has a fixed focal length lens. Zooming is just cropping.



    That's ok... by doing it in-camera you move the bright object closer to the optical axis, which seems to reduce the problem, and you can keep that object in (or near) the picture. Of course you may lose some other part of the scene of interest. Also obviously, the image will be up-sampled, so not quite as sharp... although probably not noticeable unless you zoom way in.



     


    I see what you mean. It will significantly degrade image quality though because you are shrinking the image size on the sensor. In most ways you would be better off just reframing the shot with the light source more towards the center of the frame.

  • Reply 73 of 94


    Yes, it will be interpolated... that's the "upsampling" comment I added with an edit, which you may not have seen before you replied. As you say, you may get better results by not zooming, and doing it after the fact in a program like Photoshop as you say, assuming you really want a certain composition. It's just quicker doing it in camera if you can get the composition you want. I haven't actually looked at any of the zoomed in images closeup on a computer, so can't speak to the quality of their interpolator, but on the iPhone screen it looked fie ;-)

  • Reply 74 of 94
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    irobot2004 wrote: »
    Yes, it will be interpolated... that's the "upsampling" comment I added with an edit, which you may not have seen before you replied. As you say, you may get better results by not zooming, and doing it after the fact in a program like Photoshop as you say, assuming you really want a certain composition. It's just quicker doing it in camera if you can get the composition you want. I haven't actually looked at any of the zoomed in images closeup on a computer, so can't speak to the quality of their interpolator, but on the iPhone screen it looked fie ;-)

    I didn't actually mean that you would get better results with post-processing (you might) - just that the uncropped image with the light source nearer the axis would be sharper. The main problem with such small cameras is not a lack of pixels, it's image sharpness at the sensor plane.
  • Reply 75 of 94
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    shompa wrote: »

    Otherwise: this is a flawed design. Steve would fire Tim on the spot. 

    No he wouldn't have.

    1. Tim is not a designer
    2. This change could have been Steve's idea. Tech design moves slow enough that even the iPhone 6 (in two years) could easily have elements designed by Steve. Or at least based on his ideas. Two years after that we might still see Steve bits in iPhones. iPads and computers during that time as well.
  • Reply 76 of 94
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    slurpy wrote: »
    'Everyone' you know with an iPhone 5 has this problem? Even when many (like me) have never experienced it once after a couple hundred photos?
    'Many of the Apple users you know' are returning the phones? Yeah, I call bullshit on that. Complete bullshit.

    Nope. It's totally true.

    Mind you he knows like ten people with an iPhone 5 so . . . .
  • Reply 77 of 94


    call it what you want. It's a bug and should have been caught and fixed before release.  Many of the millions of iPhone5 users do not have the technical skills or inclination to do a software fix [perhaps iPhoto could provide an appropriate filter]


     


    thats the second flaw after the map fiasco.


     


    I wonder if the product would have been released if Steve was still with us.

  • Reply 78 of 94


    It amazes me what people will do to smear a company. Even if this crap makes the mainstream news, I'm pretty sure Apple will still make bank and customers won't care. 


    As for that comparison with the SIII and the HTC One...it really didn't kill the iPhone 5. It just proved more that all cameras are prone to lens flare/haze. Some are purple and some are not. Some are more pronounced and some are less. Wow. Move on. Why can't we find something truly wrong with the iPhone 5? No, Maps doesn't count (and I haven't had any problems with it, but thats me). Find one glaringly huge problem with the iPhone 5. Scuffgate? All phones, no matter the price, are gonna get scratched and beat up. Get a case or just be careful. Came from the factory like that? I'm sure Apple will replace it if they haven't already. Move on. Fringgate? Really? This is the next best thing the Apple-haters can come up with? Purple lens flares and haze?


     


    Steve Jobs (from beyond): Don't point it at the sun or have a bright light source sitting just to the edge of your photos. No big deal.


     


    What's next, guys? People with small, child-like hands have problems using the iPhone 5 as suggested with one hand and sue Apple for false advertising? Grow up.

  • Reply 79 of 94
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    So which is the correct terminology: cameragate or lensgate?
  • Reply 80 of 94
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post



    So which is the correct terminology: cameragate or lensgate?


     


    How about idiotgate?

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