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Apple Publicly Responds to Complaints of Purple Lens Flare on iPhone 5 Photos

Saturday October 6, 2012 8:33 pm PDT by Eric Slivka

Soon after the release of the iPhone 5, some users began noticing a purple flare or halo showing up in photos taken with the device's camera pointed at or near bright light sources. The issue is certainly not unique to the iPhone 5, but it has caused concern for some users.

Photos with purple flare taken by iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 (Source: The Next Web)
Last week, Gizmodo reported that Apple had responded to address the issue, with Apple's support staff providing an emailed response to a user inquiring about the purple flare. According to Apple's engineers, the issue is indeed normal and users are advised to point their phones away from bright light sources when taking photos.

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. The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behavior for iPhone 5's camera.

Following that private email response regarding the issue, Apple has now posted a public support document recommending similar action to minimize the issue.

Most small cameras, including those in every generation of iPhone, may exhibit some form of flare at the edge of the frame when capturing an image with out-of-scene light sources. This can happen when a light source is positioned at an angle (usually just outside the field of view) so that it causes a reflection off the surfaces inside the camera module and onto the camera sensor. Moving the camera slightly to change the position at which the bright light is entering the lens, or shielding the lens with your hand, should minimize or eliminate the effect.

The iPhone 5 uses a similar camera to that found in the iPhone 4S, although Apple reduced the camera's thickness by 20% in order to fit into the thinner body of the iPhone 5. Apple did, however, add a several enhancements to the camera in the iPhone 5, moving to a sapphire lens cover, improved image signal processing and noise reduction, and a new dynamic low-light mode.

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Top Rated Comments

(View all)

yrsued

72 months ago

Really??

You get Lens Flare and Chromatic Aberrations when you point your camera at the sun??

DUH!!!

This happens with ANY camera!! I have made my living behind the lens for the past 27 years and this happens with every lens!!

Y

Rating: 268 Votes

taedouni

72 months ago

I love Apple but I think that they have a lot of ignorant fans. Lens flare is not a new thing. Does it really matter what color the flare is?

Rating: 115 Votes

XboxMySocks

72 months ago

Thank you for having sense.

Rating: 89 Votes

wordoflife

72 months ago

So basically... you're holding it the wrong way ;)

Rating: 81 Votes

McGilli

72 months ago

I had this issue going back to my Epson PhotoPC digital camera from 1997.

HOw anyone could ever think this is a new 'defect' is beyond me, unless it's your very first digital camera.

Rating: 68 Votes

econgeek

72 months ago

"It's not our fault"

I think its astounding that people are taking bad photos and blaming it on Apple.

Lens flare happens with every camera in the world. It is intrinsic to the physics of glass and light. It is intrinsic to photography.

People getting upset about this--like those idiots complaining about Apple maps-- just show me that people really *are* getting stupider as time goes on.

Rating: 56 Votes