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Apple Acknowledges iPhone 5 Camera Flaw
An anonymous reader writes "Many iPhone 5 users are complaining that its camera is adding a purple flare to their photos. Speculation is that it's caused by the new sapphire lens cover that Apple touted as 'thinner and more durable than standard glass with the ability to provide crystal clear images.' Apple's response to those who've complained? 'The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behavior for iPhone 5's camera.'"
Your colour perception is incorrectly calibrated!
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Somebody is finally channeling their inner Steve Jobs. "You're taking the pictures wrong!"
They are holding it wrong.
Apple's back, baby! I was worried for a moment with that "our map app sucks use someone else's till ours is better." But here is the perfect Apple response. Oh, don't like the purple flare in your pictures? Hey, bitch, that's what real life looks like. You should thank us for providing you with a way to see the world as it actually is. The only reason you don't see the purple flare normally is because you're a terrible person. Here at Apple we are very concerned with our customer. Noblesse oblige and all that.
Serves you right for buying a phone and expecting to take high-end digital-camera-quality images with it.
As a bit of an Apple-hater, I'd love to jump on the bandwagon here, but this is really just a quirk of a particular lens on a device NOT primarily designed to take photos. If a DSLR was doing this, then yeah. But an iPhone? Who cares?
Stop taking pictures with your phone, is the answer.
You're holding it wrong, you want to get lost, these pictures should be that colour, wifi connections should use your wireless bandwidth, battery life is supposed to be that poor if you use it (especially for facebook), those scratches are normal out of the case, this new connector is far better than the old one and adapters are the best you can get. best iPhone ever.
Waiting for an amusing sig.
why is people still buying Apple products, they are inferior, overpriced and in case of a problem, it will be probably your fault
Its a feature, not a bug. It's supposed to work like that...
The camera is capturing octarine glow! If you don't like it buy an inferior camera uncapable of this magnificent feat!
that returning a defective phone is also considered normal behaviour.
I've been an Apple fan of its peripheral devices for a few years now. I got in on the original Iphone and ever since then have bought quite a few of the products that Apple puts out. The problem in almost all of their launches is that they have initial problems, clean them up, and then things work out great for those who like their products. The only real part of the problem is that people want the next thing right now rather than waiting a month or so and figuring out if the device is everything they hoped it would be. Because of that, I don't really have a lot of sympathy for buyers until after the warming period has ended. I'll probably buy an Iphone 5 myself, but I'll buy it AFTER they've worked out the kinks, making it the phone I want rather than the phone that I MUST HAVE.
Sarbonn's blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/blog
... welcome our new purple-flaring overlords!
(sorry)
Wow,
We never did see this coming, They build a cheap phone(y) (what was it again, 180 dollar to build?), sell it for triple the price and as usual everyone camps out at the iChurch to buy it. Sorry but you deserve to be cheated! Only drawback is that apple gets so much money.
Now buy a paper map to point you at the iSun, the big purple customer experience in the sky, so high you think it is Steve looking out over you, his sheep. /rant mode off, sorry, bad hair day ^^
Message from god, Please logoff, rebooting the Universe
And the Apple Haters who need to feed from time to time...
Antennagate: Such a non-issue that they had to give every single person a case.
Every smartphone I've had in the last 8 years has done this
They bought the cases cheap and got some pr out of it
The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behavior for our flawed iPhone 5 camera design.
Say what you want about poor quality of hardware, software, and customer service, there can be no doubt that Apple's marketing department is the best on the planet. Apple marketing people have truly identified their market and successfully targeted them like no one else in history.
The GOP should have hired a bunch of Apple marketing people to run the Romney campaign- they've proven they can sell flawed products over and over.
They're not expecting that.
They're just - rightly so, in my opinion - expecting at least the quality of the iPhone 4s. See comparison:
http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iphone-haze-comparisonb.jpg
This has nothing to do with people expecting dSLR quality imagery using a cellphone. They're not even expecting point-and-shoot quality. They're expecting reasonable phone quality (for this day and age), and quite often not getting it.
As for taking pictures with your phone in general,I'm sure you can do the Jeopardy routine for "The camera you have with you."
It's not a purple tint, it's a rose tint. Giving a rose-tinted view of everything is absolutely standard for Apple, although they seem to be taking it a bit literally this time.
Oh no... it's the future.
Of course, these are all similar and yet very different pictures. The iPhone 5 picture is pointed much more directly towards the sun given the amount of the tree that is in the picture. The cloud cover also looks different meaning that the pictures were not even taken at the same time. This argument may be more believable if the pictures were same angle, same time of day, same everything. I'm guessing just about any digital camera will have a large amount of flare when looking directly into the sun.
Camera review site (known for not being slanted in their reviews) to the iPhone 5 for an initial review (longer one comparing to other phones will come later) and dedicated a whole page analyzing the flare issue. http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6867454450/quick-review-apple-iphone-5-camera Here's their analysis of the flare issue: "Really, our advice is not to worry. Just do what you should do anyway, and avoid putting bright lights near the edge of the frame when shooting." Their final conclusion on the 5's camera: "The iPhone 5 is a fine mobile device, with an excellent camera. In qualititative terms it's not the best camera out there, and nor is it the best camera on a smartphone (the Nokia 808 has that honor, for now) but it offers satisfying image quality, some neat functions like auto panorama and HDR mode, and - crucially - it is supremely easy to use. It isn't much better than the iPhone 4S, as far as its photographic performance is concerned, but it isn't any worse (notwithstanding a somewhat more noticeable propensity towards lens flare). When manufacturers employ pixel-binning to achieve higher ISO settings we don't normally celebrate the fact, but in the case of the iPhone 5, it gives you greater flexibility in poor light (i.e., you might actually get a picture now, where you just wouldn't with the iPhone 4S) and the drop in quality is unnoticeable when the images are used for sharing/web display."
Every smartphone you've had had design flaws that required that the company that made them give away cases?
Interesting, we'll instead of well. That's a new one I hadn't seen yet in the series of "their, they're, there", "its, it's", and so on.
Everyone knows that phones really suck at being cameras.
The iPhone5 is obviously best, because it sucks the most at taking photos.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
If Steve Jobs were alive, heads would roll...
Apple blamed the end user for the issue til they finally fessed up that it was their hardware/software? They did it with the whole antenna and grip of death that cause massive connection issues.
Show me a comparison photo where the iPhone 5 is similar to other phones. No, it's drastically worse.
I see an opening in the market for replacement back covers with a properly functioning lens cover !
Apple solved the antenna problem with a sleeve. I am sure this purple glare can be eliminated with a pair of colored glasses or contact lenses.
http://www.itproportal.com/2012/10/01/purple-flare-test-iphone-5-vs-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-vs-htc-one-s/
Bottom line: The latest and greatest iPhone 5 was clearly the worst offender of the bunch.
and instagram will make a filter that adds a purple flar to your images so the hipsters who are too poor for an iphone 5 can get in on the action.
Looking at the iPhone 4s, I assumed that the 5 would be as good or better. I had planned on upgrading from my EVO 4G, and was planning on giving Apple a chance. I just can't get past these issues; camera, battery, scratches, maps, etc,etc. What in the world? Hello Jelly Bean!
Wow. That's just funny. "You're holding it wrong". "All the other guys have the same problem". "It's only in very unusual conditions". Same BS we heard about the antenna. Apart from the fact that it was wrong. Sorry, this is quite bad, particularly considering you don't get the same issue with other cameras in the exact same situation. Tried. Tested. iPhone 5 fails.
In 1986, James Doohan demonstrated a slight purple flare when transporting live sea creatures into/out of transparent aluminum (sapphire) aquariums.
The only conclusion logically possible is that he's only had one smartphone in the past 8 years, and it was one of those flawed iPhones.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
http://www.itproportal.com/2012/10/01/purple-flare-test-iphone-5-vs-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-vs-htc-one-s/
It's far more often bright light sources near the edge, or just outside the edge, of view that causes these issues. And yes, it'll happen on any camera - even with $2000 lenses. It'll just happen a heck of a lot less often and be far less pronounced.
Every optical element shows some sort of dispersion. "Simply" to control when you have the space (like in objectives of real cameras, microscopes or binoculars) but not so easy when your optical element is a simple plate with parallel faces (like a protective glass cover) or a tiny lens. Combine a tiny lens with a tiny CCD and you're out of luck when you hit a difficult to control lighting situation. 8 MP on smartphone "cameras" with tiny optics and tiny CCD-chips is a waste of storage space anyway. You can't get the required optical resolution. Simple physics.
The one in the expensive Apple iProduct doesn't.
Camera review site (known for not being slanted in their reviews) to the iPhone 5 for an initial review (longer one comparing to other phones will come later) and dedicated a whole page analyzing the flare issue.
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6867454450/quick-review-apple-iphone-5-camera
Here's their analysis of the flare issue:
"Really, our advice is not to worry. Just do what you should do anyway, and avoid putting bright lights near the edge of the frame when shooting."
Their final conclusion on the 5's camera:
"The iPhone 5 is a fine mobile device, with an excellent camera. In qualititative terms it's not the best camera out there, and nor is it the best camera on a smartphone (the Nokia 808 has that honor, for now) but it offers satisfying image quality, some neat functions like auto panorama and HDR mode, and - crucially - it is supremely easy to use. It isn't much better than the iPhone 4S, as far as its photographic performance is concerned, but it isn't any worse (notwithstanding a somewhat more noticeable propensity towards lens flare). When manufacturers employ pixel-binning to achieve higher ISO settings we don't normally celebrate the fact, but in the case of the iPhone 5, it gives you greater flexibility in poor light (i.e., you might actually get a picture now, where you just wouldn't with the iPhone 4S) and the drop in quality is unnoticeable when the images are used for sharing/web display."
Thanks for posting this link. The DPreview camera review is what should have been posted than the usual Gizmodo anti-apple trolling to generate page views...
The purple flare is the aura of the great late Steve Jobs, who is adding his very presence to your humble pictures.
Be glad Apple is not charging extra for this feature.
The iPhone 5 is the Walmart greeter of smartphones. It doesn't see very well and gives terrible directions.
It is not a flaw with the iPhone camera but rather a limitation of the optics of the camera lens that causes chromatic aberration. This is a well-known phenomenon that is is most prevalent in high contrast situations with any camera (unless you spend $$$ for a high-end lens). Taking a picture with the sun high overhead against a dark background is an excellent way to highlight chromatic aberration. The advice from Apple Support is correct in that the user of camera should recompose their picture rather than stir up controversy with blog posts. You'll also note that the pictures on the link are similar but not framed quite identically, which exacerbates to chromatic aberration. And I won't even get into the ridiculous comparison of the fixed focal length iPhone cameras with a professional level Nikon D300.
For a more detailed description and how to avoid it (or fix it - perhaps with iPhoto which is likely installed on your iPhone)
http://www.tutorial9.net/tutorials/photography-tutorials/correcting-and-preventing-chromatic-aberration/
I am a rich iPhone 5 geared up VIP, my photos have a noble purple sapphire haze you pitiful /. geek.
Aluminium oxide (note IUPAC spelling!) has a very high refractive index (over 1.7) and moderate dispersion. Put an alumina window over a wide angle camera lens and I would expect interesting effects from high-angle bright light, because of that high index. So my guess it is a design feature rather than batch related.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I remember that, as a VAX/VMS Systems Manager in the 1980s, this was a fairly pervasive meme.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Apple is on the way down faster than I thought. Lots of profits for the pump-and-dump hedge funds.
If we're channelling sir TP, let me remind you that only wizards can see octarine. Perhaps that's it! Apple didn't employ any wizard testers.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
For being less than Apple compliant eye-wise.
All of this is really strategic positioning ahead of next summer's launch of the all-new iPhone 5S, where they'll start using a great new marketing campaign: "It just works!" It'll be time to turn the crank and ring the cash register again by then.
they fucked up. They deal with it the same way all these big companies do. Period.
Annoying? Hell yes. Different than any other company that I have ever dealt with? no.
Broken As Designed
Apple's arrogance knows no bounds.
Every smartphone allowed you to short circuit two antenna tuned to work at different frequencies? Oh, you bought Steve Jobs' bad excuse, and is confounding antennagate, the problem caused Apple insistence on letting designers engineer the antenna, with the problem of the human body being a good absorber for cell phone radiation, which is experienced by every phone. Man, that really was a low point for Jobs, talking about a completely unrelated issue, and hoping that people didn't caught on. It seems to have worked in some cases.
The only reason I would buy an iPhone is if I could run a nuclear power plant with it. My compost heap already makes the biological weapons, they're called "flies".
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Everyone run to cover, the Apple Defence Force has arrived and they have the reality distortion field set to full power!
... Part Deux.
At least now you won't have to use Photoshop to add it in afterwards.
Now all the Apple fans who decried that Tim Cook's Apple had gone soft and positively made the wrong decision after admitting failure concerning iOS 6 Maps can sleep better at night knowing he is just as big of a maniac, after all.
They've been doing that since the 1980s. Remember the Mac IIx motherboards? The failing Mac Plus and SE power supplies? Even back into the Apple // days, this behavior was fairly standard (remember the defective //c motherboards?).
However, it's not just Apple. Anywhere you have a bunch of people who are responsible for technology over time, you get an entrenched bureaucracy. Entrenched bureaucracies tend to respond to problems by blaming the user first.
Don't believe me? Go to a *BSD or Linux mailing list and bring up a problem that could be inherent to the OS. The first responses will always be user-blaming, and those people don't even get paid to do it.
So they've gone from invincible super hardware that's thoroughly tested and perfect to a piece of crap they basically didn't even test. Taking a couple photos under various typed of light sources would have revealed a problem like this on day 1 of testing.
I believe it's due to auto carrot.
Well, that'e being polite. Wide angle lenses are of course more prone to flare, and so part of the design expertise is minimising it. I do rather tend to suspect the alumina cover, though. A Leica owner once told me how he went to an agricultural show with a 28mm lens on his M6, and the guy on the Leitz stall (selling binoculars) told him he should not have a UV filter on his lens because "it can cause flare and distortion, and Leica wouldn't like people to see a picture affected like that and think it was the lens". The effect is due to internal reflection and would be worse with alumina because it has such a high refractive index.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
ooh look a single example. that PROVES everything.
or not: http://cdn.thenextweb.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/09/Screen-Shot-2012-09-26-at-11.57.03-AM.png
This is an artifact that occurs when a bright light is just off camera at a certain angle - happens with all phone cameras
and many point an shoots. so this really is a non-issue. Look at you example, look at the top of the tree - you can see
that the photos are from a different angle. a good test would be to have an entire series across a large range of angles
and see which one exhibits this to a greater degree. finding a single example where one works and one doesn't is just
a pageview generator.
"The unintended acceleration in the car provided is considered normal behavior for Toyota's automobiles," a Toyota executive said.
Jesus.
I'm sick of this. You know what? Point any fucking camera at a bright light source and you get a halo and/or lens flares. The iPhone 5's halo is purple because of the refractive index of the sapphire crystal. But you'll see a similar effect with any other camera.
As a physicist, I'm sick and tired of tech journalists writing "knowingly" about shit that they don't understand. Don't get me started about battery lives either - it's like the world somehow expects Apple to be immune to the laws of thermodynamics.
If you only use your phone to take drunken snapshots down the pub this won't bother you but quite a lot of folks care about the quality of their phone photo's. Instagram's 1 billion dollar success story was largely built on Iphone pictures. Up to now the Iphone camera has been rated as best in class but not any more it seems. Worst of all it doesn't sound like it will be easy to fix.
To our customers,
At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new sapphire lens camera last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make the camera better.
We launched an integrated camera initially with the first version of the iPhone. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with an even better camera including features such as a built-in flash and a sapphire lens. In order to do this, we had to create a new camera from the ground up.
There are already more than 5 million iPhones with the new camera, and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iPhone users with the new camera have already taken half a billion photos. The more our customers use the camera the more they will become accustomed to the new color balance. We greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.
While we can't really fix this, you can try alternatives by purchasing an additional camera from your local electronics store, Best Buy, Sony, Canon, Fuji, or use the front camera which doesn't have these issues.
Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.
Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO
You should take a look what people do to their pictures using Whatevergram.
I can't imagine they'll mind a little extra purple in their pictures.
Actually, it adds a little authentic hipster feeling to it..
Privacy is terrorism.
... will screw up their pictures anyway in the end. Hipsters will make the purple flare a new trend and a future Instagram update for Android will enable this. Anyone want to bet on that?
In the second pair of pictures on the right you can just see two bands of circular purple light.
I have a theory that this is down to Samsung. After losing their lawsuit in California so heavily they have clearly decided enough is enough and sabotaged production of components for Apple to include a filter for the camera that lets iFanboys actually see the reality distortion field allowing them to try and break out from the Matrix that controls their minds and makes them a fanboy.
Here are photo comparisons with the 4s that do show the 4s with purple fringing.
http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iphone-5-haze-on-the-4s.jpg [mshcdn.com]
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/09/26/the-iphone-5s-camera-suffering-purple-haze-flaw-not-fast/ [thenextweb.com]
Note that camera angle to light source is critical, to get the effect to show up on either phone. In your example comparison, if the photographer tried a bit more he could probably have found the angle to make the purple flare show on the 4S too.
This is a lot of fuss about nothing. But we're used to that with iPhone stories. No other phone gets this level of close examination for flaws. Not enough people care about other phones.
look at the branch hanging down from the tree on the right. In the left picture, it is above the top of the "hill", on the left picture it is above the tree, just to the left of the top of the "hill". This shift is perspective means that the cameraman on the left is standing further to the left, and turning the camera more toward the right, that is toward the sun. While I own a GS3, and find it far superior in almost every way to my old iphone, I have to say that this comparison is not fair. I'm not saying that there is not a problem with the lens, that kind of flare is most definitely a problem but, but if we are going to bitch and complain, lets at least back it up with fair examples. There are more than enough of them
The DPreview camera review is what should have been posted than the usual Gizmodo anti-apple trolling to generate page views...
And yet the unbiased and very informative post by sasparillascott still got some down mods. The anti-Apple hysteria has closed the minds of many to rational discussion of facts.
Haven't Apple make any test, before putting the iP5 on the shelves?
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Beginning of the end for Apple as a fashion statement.
Apple Acknowledges iPhone 5 Camera Flaw
Mike: Joe beats his wife! OMG!
Carl: Joe, why did you beat your wife?
Joe: I did not beat my wife.
Mike: Joe acknowledges beating his wife!
1. Change the firmware to detect and fix the purple flare.
Feasibility: 10, Speed: 10, Effectiveness: 9, Side effects: 6
2. Recall the unit to fix/replace the sapphire glass (not lens).
Feasibility: 4, Speed: 4, Effectiveness: 10, Side effects: 0
3. Ship (yet another) phone sleeve/case with the proper optics to tackle the flare.
Feasibility: 7, Speed 7, Effectiveness: 7, Side effects: 7
4. Do nothing. Yet implement a few more "camera special fx" to exploit the flare.
Feasibility: 4, Speed: 10, Effectiveness: 10, Side effects: 10
Your bets, please.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Software should be able to identify and detint purple flares. It should be a math problem.
If it were done when 'tis done, then t'were well it were done quickly... MacBeth
The iPhone is not for taking pictures! It is not for making phone calls. The correct usage of an iPhone is to grow a goatee, buy a black T-Shirt and a beret and twiddle it while standing in line at Starbucks! It is for impressing upon the others in line that you are, in fact, the hippest person in that line. This works pretty well until there are two or three of you all standing in that line. Fortunately everyone is aware of this problem and they're working on building enough Starbucks stores that every single iPhone owner can be standing in line in one and be guaranteed to be the ONLY iPhone owner in that store! You don't even have to like coffee, you can just stand there in line all day twiddling your iPhone! In this way, the economy will be repaired...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Compare the two pictures taken. With the 4 they had the sun edging right up next to the frame but not IN the frame. Then with the 5 they actually had a bit of the sun IN the frame. It's no wonder the 5 got a huge amount of lens flare. It's very difficult to include the sun in a picture and not get a nasty flare, especially on an edge like that. Compare the position of the grey sidewalk and the tree tops in the two pictures too... the shots were placed and zoomed differently. Complete loss of control on other variables in the comparison.
The important issue here has been the color of the flare - the 4's was more white and the 5's is more purple. But that "example" is completely misleading due to important other differences between the two shots. But I suppose that's just "sensational journalism" at work.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Given the number of photographers (and even *respected* camera review sites) who are coming forward saying that the 'purple fringe' issue actually *is* normal, and that there's only so much that can be done to mitigate it in the tiny cameras included in cell phones, who do you expect us to believe?
The experts, or someone who can't reliably frame a picture the same way to include the biggest light source in the solar system in the same way. Seriously, just take a look at where the *road* and the top of the tree are in those two pictures. The two photos have several degrees of difference, which will make all the difference in the world in producing an effect which is *highly* dependent upon the angle of incidence of the light source.
After seeing all those articles and images yesterday, I did my best to try and replicate this behaviour with my iPhone 5 and couldn't. No matter what light sources, no matter how bright, no matter whether they were fully or only partially in the shot, I couldn't get the purple haze to appear in my photos. What am I doing wrong?
Shut up and take it fanboi. It's not a fault, it's a feature.
I'm not surprised that there will be lens flare when having a bright source like the sun near the frame. This is why we have lens hoods. I wonder if we would have the same flare if we angled the phone away from the sun by a very little and use our hand as a sun shade?
I don't care if its Apple or Samsung. When you have a tiny lens flush with the camera body and almost no blockage of off axis light sources you are bound to have lens flare. The customer support letter giving advice to angle the camera away from a bright light source is good advice for any phone camera.
Another Gizmodo troll article.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
It's a lens flare. Your photo was ruined by you pointing your camera at a very bright light source. Any other camera would've also ruined your picture with a lens flare, just not a purple one. Ruined with purple or ruined without purple, your photo is still ruined because you suck at photography.
-- My hovercraft is full of eels.
Hi can only imagine how this is going to influence the next round of Apple vs Samsung's lawyers round
...
SL: your Honor, pictures taken with our SG3 are way crappier than what a picture would like like with an iPhone, therefore we did not infringe
AL: wrong ! the SG3 pictures totally put the iPhone 5 ones into shame, which prove they didn't have time to copy the iPhone 5 flare and had to resort to copy the superior older iPhone 4 design
SL:I disagree, the purple flare makes the pic stand appart in a way we couldn't dream of with our crappy products (but we have been working on a green flare technology since well before the purple flare was demoed so don't miss the SG4)
AL: Puh ! I can't tell appart my dog from my wife when I shoot them together with my iPhone5 and when I ask Apple Map to guide me to somewhere to print it, it leads me to the wrong *continent* I wish I had an SG3
SL: what ? you can ask your phone things ? the multitouch is so screwed on the SG2 I totally gave up on getting any meaningful output from my gestures and am actually *scared* about using voice, God do I miss my iPhone...
Listen, people can get a smart phone anywhere, okay? They come to Apple for the style and the attitude. Okay? That's what the purple flair's about. It's about fun.
I'll trust a scientific setup (lens NPP, as far as can be determined, in the exact same spot, fixed lighting setup, etc.) over the experts, how's that? :)
Has anybody done one yet?
If not, why would I take the words of experts who are right to say that 'flare happens' but say nothing over the nature or severity of said flare over crappy anecdotal evidence?
Somewhere in these comments is somebody pointing out DPreview's assessment suggesting it be an authority on the matter, and DPreview suggest that yes, the flare problem seems to be worse on iPhone 5, but overall the camera is pretty awesome and you should just try to avoid lighting situations that are prone to bring our flare.
And I agree, so far most photos I've seen come from an iPhone 5 do look great. But that doesn't mean people should just ignore the whole "the flare problem seems to be worse" part when that is the very thing being argued.
If the question is just "is the iPhone 5 camera bad?", the answer (from me), is "No". If the question is "is the iPhone 5 camera more prone to off-/edge lighting flare with pronounced chroma?", the answer appears to be "Yes". Not my answer, as I have no iPhone 5 and haven't seen that scientific setup yet :P
I guess the folks that defined dark as the new light (How many Microsoft engineers dues it take to change a light bulb? None: they just define dark as the new standard) are happy working at Apple now.
...we say hardware-enabled Instagram filter.
It was way out of character for Apple to apologize for the Maps issue. Saying that purple is normal is the Apple that I've come to expect.
They figured out how to embed Instagram into the hardware. Facebook is reported to be envious.
I'm not exactly sure why the complaints are happening... a huge chunk of users would just apply it with instagram anyways.
This just proves how powerful the iPhone 5 is and that it's the best phone on the market! What other phone is capable of photographing Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field as he looks down on us from Heaven? None!
First posting isn't trolling. It's...first posting.
And this is on
1) Canon Powershot A40
2) Olympus e300
3 Olympus e3
I can take photos with the sun IN FRAME (not just off frame as the picture showed) and not get flare anywhere near that bad.
I think either you're lying, you're incompetent at fitting your lens to the DSLR or you have a crap and expensive DSLR (which explains why you love the Apple iProducts). Because the iPhone 4GS doesn't show anywhere near that bad a flare and it isn't coloured either.
And it doesn't cost three grand for the lens alone.
Love, Steve
...for using their trademark "It's not a bug, it's a feature" problem-solving method.
"Call it a feature and charge more"
Because this sort of crap you don't even get in disposable crap cameras. Asking for a camera to take bloody photos of a quality their previous version took is NOT demanding it be "perfect in every way".
Aside from Apple bashing, does anybody know of any workarounds to date for this?
Another poster suggested covering the lens (which makes sense) or adjusting the camera so the bright light source isn't near the edge. Would a certain case around the phone potentially alleviate the situation? Any other recommendations?
The new iPhone5 Purple Haze edition. Perfect for all you Jimmy Hendrix fans out there.
You should all feel honored [wails on guitar]!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
What's that motto I keep hearing Apple fanboiz always say?...Oh, yeah:
Apple...It just works.
Stick-on UV camera filters anyone?
They'll probably run a new spin on it as the Limited Jimi Hendrix Edition, now includes Purple Haze at no cost.
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
Don't demonize your opponents. There's probably an order of magnitude more pro-Apple zealots, at least to judge by their sales numbers. He among us who has never been irrationally attached to an issue may throw the first stone.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
Real life is surrounded by a purple event horizon. If you can't see it outside of iPhone 5 photos, then your eyes are faulty.
Come on people! On Iphone 4S one had to use Instagram to make pictures look like that. Now the purple flare is there from the beggining.
"You can fix it in post."
Abode will be pleased to the increased demand for its product.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Purple is the color all apple owners view the world in, so apple simply made it easy for them to show it off.
My friend can reproduce the same issue on a iPhone4s running IOS6, can they explain that?
"(i.e., you might actually get a picture now, where you just wouldn't with the iPhone 4S"
And they just lost all credibility, as I have zero problems obtaining pictures in low-light with my pals 4S. Sure I get a lot of noise in the truly black areas, but I still get more than a usable picture.
That site is quite obviously getting paid to advertise the I5. Known for not being slanted? A 5 year old can see through this.
Remember, it's the SAME SENSOR as the 4S, just a different lens protector.
Quit drinking the kool-aid.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
One of his works was titled: "The Magic Goes Away".
I don't think there will be a happy sequel for a Jobs-less Apple.
If you paid attention to the claims, you'd see that his review is bullshit.
Same fucking sensor as the 4S yet the 4S can't get pictures in the dark? BULLSHIT. I've taken plenty of pics with the 4S at dark places. No issue at all getting clear pics from bands playing in dark bars, catching people in the act of being stupid in my porno shop's very dark arcade, etc.
Critical thinking is important. It's something the 7-digit UID crowd lacks.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
A camera on a cell phone is inherently a compromise. It needs a very small lens, and it can't be recessed much.
And to get a good picture you have to hold it right--the most common way of holding it wrong being to put your thumb in front of the lens.
Lens flares can arise with any camera, to the point that computer-generated video often includes simulated lens flares, because it makes the image seem more "realistic" to people who are accustomed to camera video.
The iPhone 5 camera has received a number of accolades for its improved performance, particularly in low light situations, and a lens that is less vulnerable to damage. Now we are hearing that it has a tendency to lens flares when there is a bright light source shining directly on the lens. Most of the photos I've seen that illustrate this artifact are ones that would be problematic with most point-and-shoot cameras, simply because the automatic exposure tends to be dominated by the bright light source, leaving the intended subject too dark. However, some modern cameras, including the ones in recent iPhones, have HDR capability, encouraging people to take shots that they would not even have attempted with cameras of just a few years ago. It's a bit early to tell whether the iPhone 5 is really more prone to lens flare artifacts than earlier models, but the same general advice applies to all cameras, and especially cell phone cameras:
For optimum results, take some care in how you hold the camera and how you frame your shot, particularly when there are bright light sources in the scene.
The flare is purple shading to white, the flare it should have is white throughout.
Your change would give the white sun flare a green tint shading to cyan.
Fail.
Yes, these exaggerated complaints arise every time Apple releases a new phone, and in the end, they never seem to have amounted to much. Remember iPhone4 "antennagate"? It received huge media coverage, but in the end it had minimal impact on the user experience, because overall the iPhone4 got good reception, and despite all the jokes about "holding it wrong," pretty much any cell phone will get better reception if you don't cover the antenna with your hand. Loosening up your grip a bit when in a marginal signal area turns out to be a pretty minor adjustment that most people make without even thinking about it.
So are the maps flap and the camera flap any different? Perhaps Apple's new Maps application isn't quite as reliable as the old Google version (although more recent tests that objectively compare the two versions find that they are not dramatically different in reliability for simple navigation). But Google navigation is still available through Google's mobile web site and there are numerous 3rd party alternatives, so while it is always news that an Apple product is not absolutely perfect, the impact on most users is very nearly zero--and Apple will probably improve it over time, now that they are getting feedback from millions of users.
So now we find that the iPhone 5 camera produces lens artifacts in circumstances where there is a bright light shining on the lens--a situation that is problematic for many cameras for multiple reasons. There have already been numerous reports that the overall performance of the camera is quite good, particularly in low light situations. So is the iPhone 5 really more vulnerable to such lens flare than other cell phone cameras (clearly other cameras do the same sort of thing in at least some circumstances)? Perhaps; we'll have to await objective tests to know for sure. But let's suppose that it is. Certainly the iPhone 5 can successfully take pictures in some circumstances when many phones--and even dedicated cameras--will fail, due to its good low-light performance and HDR capability. So is it really such a horrible problem if users have to be a little more careful in framing their picture when there is a bright light source in the scene?
I went to my local family dollar and bought one of their crappy $39.99 5 megapixel digital cameras and tested it, while it was a bit hard to get a lense flare due to the lens housing, I finally managed to get one and it was same color as the light source...
pretty sad a family dollar store no name 5mp camera whips apple's arse.
Steve jobs' Celestial Glass Palace wouldn't happen to be purple would it?
A few posts talking technical details of photography and lenses and 99.9% little asshats blithering in a hate fest.
Geek culture has become just one vast steaming turd. Everyone hates you.
Maybe it's my red-green color issues, but I can't even see a major difference between those images. Do people get the sun in frame a lot?
This is what gets people enraged in a hate fest these days, huh? Maybe the Presidential debate tonight can cover the Purple Haze Apocalypse. It's important.
And before the Wanker Brigade starts firing fanboy bombs, I still don't own a smartphone. I'm interested in the iPhone 5, but I never buy rev 1 of any hardware because, well, here ya go.
It's a different sensor. Perhaps factual knowledge is something the sub-7-digit UID crowd thinks it no longer needs?
I want some of that purple stuff!
From Tim Cook,
Dear valued Apple Customers. We are the leading brand of any consumer facing computing device available in the world, our stock price is proof of that. And with our innovative history of bringing the first of its kind technology to consumers we are happy to continue this service with the camera in the iPhone 5. With purple flares added automatically there's no need for camera apps such as instagram, as your photo is oddly colorized and obscured automatically.
Thank you for your continued yearly purchase of all our devices.
CEO, Tim Cook
Not only are the sensors not the same (as I indicated to you in my reply above), but the sensor is only part of the equation, particularly in low-light conditions. Post-processing of the limited and very noisy data gathered by the sensor in low-light conditions also has a huge effect on what you can get out of it. The processor in the iPhone 5 has improved algorithms. Most importantly, real-world reviews have noted improvements (not hugely dramatic ones for the most part).
And these people can NEVER be wrong. You know the type, when they make a mistake, they will come up with some really stupid reason on why it's okay.
Apple:
Your holding it wrong.
Purple flair is normal.
Seriously Apple? You care about your customers that much?
Talk about the abusive relationship. Apple in it's wife beaters and apple fanboys with their black eyes, coming back and back and back for more...
Be seeing you...
I still think they removed Google maps from the iPhone 5 so people would talk about that instead of looking for any hardware flaws that are a lot harder to fix.
If the problem is the sapphire cover, does taking a picture with the sun in the frame through a sheet of glass make the purple go away? (I don't have an iPhone 5 or I'd just try this myself)
And when my macbook battery exploded apple customer support told me that "it is by design"!
Did they correct the issue that makes women above the age of 15 appear to have a duck mouth in iphone photos?
'The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behavior for iPhone 5's camera.'"
This reminds me of Microsoft's Usenet response a long time ago to complaints about a flaw in their C library: "It's not a bug, it's a limitation." Or, as we took it at the time (and I still do to this day): "Doc, it hurts when I do this." "Well DON'T DO THAT!"
Purple is added on in the Royal models.
In recent news:
"Apple just announced the awarding by the PTO of the "iPurple" patent. Any picture taken that has the iPurple tint signature is proof that Apple has all exclusive rights to it."
I've had every iphone since the first one and this one is just horrible. I'm taking it back tomorrow and finally gonna try android. What should I get a Galaxy S III or a nexus?
If you paid attention to the claims, you'd see that his review is bullshit.
Same fucking sensor as the 4S yet the 4S can't get pictures in the dark? BULLSHIT. I've taken plenty of pics with the 4S at dark places. No issue at all getting clear pics from bands playing in dark bars, catching people in the act of being stupid in my porno shop's very dark arcade, etc.
Critical thinking is important. It's something the 7-digit UID crowd lacks.
Critical thinking is something you lack. You've chosen to ignore the possibility that your axiom (improved low light performance absolutely requires a new sensor) is flawed.
And, in fact, the iPhone 5's improved low light performance isn't even supposed to be provided by the sensor. When Apple did their dog and pony show, they explained that it's a function of a new image signal processor (ISP) block in the A6 SoC. They added the ability to average several pixels and shots together to create a composite image which is effectively much more sensitive to low light levels than a single shot would be. The low light mode essentially trades resolution for low light performance, and the software chooses whether to engage it based on lighting conditions.
Ahem...
http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/12/apple-details-iphone-5s-new-camera-8mp-same-as-iphone-4s-but/
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/09/iphone-5-vs-iphone-4s-camera-image-quality-comparison.html
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/
Every fucking link I find has Apple saying "Same camera sensor, just thinner."
Try again.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
popphoto doesn't know what it's talking about.
Ahem...
http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/12/apple-details-iphone-5s-new-camera-8mp-same-as-iphone-4s-but/ [engadget.com]
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/09/iphone-5-vs-iphone-4s-camera-image-quality-comparison.html [iphonehacks.com]
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/ [apple.com]
Every fucking link I find has Apple saying "Same camera sensor, just thinner."
Are you insinuating that Apple is lying about what is inside its phone?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Critical thinking is something you lack. If you pay attention to my posting, you'd have seen that I've addressed several things and firmly stated "It's not the camera sensor, it's the fucking software."
Try again when you can PAY ATTENTION.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Well, great story except this has happened with nearly every iPhone that's been released, and just about every digital camera out there but the best SLRs. You'd think people who consider themselves smart would realize that pointing the camera AT THE SUN might not get you the best photo.
"The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behavior for iPhone 5's camera."
You're shooting it wrong?
"Then why do Iphones hold a high price longer than any other?"
It seems there must be something good about the Iphone for a very long time.
I wonder if some sort of UV or IR filtering film could be overlaid (like, built into a case) and thus solve the problem.
Seems to me like they traded off no-purple-hazing for scratch-resistance. Given how scratched-to-hell the lens of my old iPhone4 is, it seems like it'd be an even trade for me. YMMV.
----
"I used to listen to Null Device before they sold out."
my iPhone 5 must be broken. no purple haze in any of the photos and videos I've taken so far. Need to get a replacement!
Purple fringes like this are not due to lens coatings or sapphire windows. Nor are they due to lens flare, flare being due to internal surface reflections, so it is wrong to call it a purple flare. Strictly speaking, it is a chromatic aberration, compounded with some coma effects.
The cause is simply infrared (IR) light being imaged by the image sensor. The lens is highly corrected to sharply focus visible light, but such corrections result in severe aberrations in focus for for any light outside the visible. These aberrations worsen with wider angles, that is, the farther out toward the edge.
Of course there is an IR blocking filter in the lens, but it is not perfect. A very small proportion of the IR does get through, but not enough to normally be imaged. However, when you have an severely bright highlight in the scene that is overexposed on the edge of the frame, the light itself will be "blown out" (pixels all white), but abberant unfocused IR rays will form a fringe. This fringe is purple because that is the false color that IR light yields in an RGB sensor. This fringe is not blocked by the IR filter because the highlight is far more intense (potentially by huge factors) than the exposure for the rest of the scene, so even 99.99 percent IR blocking filter lets through enough rays that when aberrated show up as a bright fringe.
Example from a Sony DSC-F828. Note the camera flash reflections from the shiny trophy at the edge of the frame have purple fringes, while the reflection off the glass near the center of the frame does not.
This problem only appears when you have a highly corrected lens, a high-resolution sensor, a high-speed-wide-angle lens, less-than-perfect IR filtering, and a scene of high spatial contrast at the edges. That's why it doesn't appear in most cameras, because few cameras are so high-performance in all of those areas at once.
Fixing the problem can be done by reducing the performance in one or more of those areas. Or you can design even better optics, but that is difficult to implement in a compact size like a phone requires, because it takes bigger bits of glass and more of them. You can also correct in firmware or software.
but not more Purple either
Its clear that after the passing of Steve Jobs, making products with bugs is the new normal for Apple also. Of course this is just like the rest of the world. Now, Apple fan boys must pray for salvation and Anti-apple guys must prey on this. OK
The antenna problem is a different subject, but goes to show Jobs history of putting out devices with known issues:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-15/apple-engineer-said-to-have-told-jobs-last-year-about-iphone-antenna-flaw.html
That's why people pick Apple apart, because they suck.
Apple will now go on to sue every manufacturer of cheap quality digital cameras, claiming that Apple owns the concept of crappy digital images. And they will win, too.