Latest iOS 15 beta automatically removes lens flare in photos

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone
Within certain limits, the Camera app in the new iOS 15 beta 4 is able to remove unwanted lens flare in photos.

Apple's iOS 15 beta 4 removes the lens flare around the sun in this image
Apple's iOS 15 beta 4 removes the lens flare around the sun in this image


Lens flare has always been an issue with smartphone photograph, but reportedly Apple has fixed -- or at least reduced -- the issue. Photographs taken in the Camera app on the latest iOS 15 beta 4 release show that a certain degree of lens flare is now automatically removed.

"So I've noticed something that I haven't seen reported elsewhere," said Redditor Doubleluckstur in a discussion thread. "[Whilst] out and about I took this photo and thought it was ruined/needing to be edited later due to the lens flare (as I've done numerous times in previous photos with the iPhone 12 Pro as it's so prone to lens flares)."

"However, I got home and noticed the lens flare has automatically gone in the original photo despite it being obviously there still in the Live Photo," the poster continued, "meaning the automatic post processing has gotten smart enough to remove lens flares now!"

Full before and after shot
Full before and after shot


The lens flare remains in the original Live Photo photograph, but exporting it to another, single-image format, shows the flare being removed. There are other alterations to the image, such as it being more zoomed in, which are consistent with how iOS exports Live Photos.

Further discussion in the Reddit thread shows that results are variable. It's reported that where the lens flare is especially prominent -- and perhaps intentionally so -- iOS 15 does not attempt to reduce it.

Users have found the new flare removal, or reduction, is working across devices from the iPhone 12 Pro to the iPhone XR.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    tedz98tedz98 Posts: 80member
    I don’t like the way the entire picture changes in an attempt to reduce lens flare. It’s like the picture was taken with a tinted lens. The entire picture is darker. In this sample pic the color of the grass has been changed . The sky is not as blue. Is there a setting to toggle this on and off?
    Xedllamaargonautdarkvadercharlesatlas
  • Reply 2 of 9
    gilwavegilwave Posts: 20member
    Don’t tell JJ Abrams
    llamaargonautTomPMRIdjames4242Hreb
  • Reply 3 of 9
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    tedz98 said:
    I don’t like the way the entire picture changes in an attempt to reduce lens flare. It’s like the picture was taken with a tinted lens. The entire picture is darker. In this sample pic the color of the grass has been changed . The sky is not as blue. Is there a setting to toggle this on and off?
    It's the dark photo that has the lens flare (the flare is on the left side of the image), and not the lighter one. The author seems to have misunderstood where the lens flare is.

    Perhaps the different color is because that's extracted from the live photo (video) part.
    edited August 2021 argonautnapoleon_phoneapartspheric
  • Reply 4 of 9
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,921member
    More than lens flare, I have issues with internal reflections in the lens/camera causing a teal dot on pictures. It'd be nice if that could be automatically removed.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,198member
    The “before” and “after” labels are reversed. The lens flare is the small, slightly greenish dot near the left edge of the full-sized “after [sic]” pic. (The flare was cropped out of the pic shown in the story header.)
    dewmejohnfrombeyondapplguy
  • Reply 6 of 9
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    The author needs to do this over again, correctly.
    applguy
  • Reply 7 of 9
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,556member
    MplsP said:
    More than lens flare, I have issues with internal reflections in the lens/camera causing a teal dot on pictures. It'd be nice if that could be automatically removed.
    AFAIK, that *is* lens flare, and that is *exactly* what is removed in the (mislabeled LEFT) image up above. 
    applguywatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 9
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,356member
    cpsro said:
    The “before” and “after” labels are reversed. The lens flare is the small, slightly greenish dot near the left edge of the full-sized “after [sic]” pic. (The flare was cropped out of the pic shown in the story header.)

    Thought I was missing something but thanks for confirming that I'm not crazy (at least when it comes to lens flare).

    Maybe it's just me, but I've always found that lens flare is pretty easy to get rid of, especially with the Inpainting tool in Affinity Photo. I'd rather keep the fixes constrained to a small area and not whack the entire image with a big filter. 
    darkvader
  • Reply 9 of 9
    bonobobbonobob Posts: 382member
    MplsP said:
    More than lens flare, I have issues with internal reflections in the lens/camera causing a teal dot on pictures. It'd be nice if that could be automatically removed.
    That is exactly what was removed from the (incorrectly captioned) pictures in the article.  It's lens flare.
    applguywatto_cobra
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