Foggy camera :(

[Bilalo]

I'm sure this has not been fixed but why do iphone cameras have a foggy look when taking pictures with flash at night mostly? I tried different angles and sometimes it works and sometimes not... I'm disgraced to say that the galaxy note 2 and s3 have a better flash photo... That foggy flash is FRUSTRATING!!! My brother got iphone 5 and if i'm not wrong he also reported this problem...

[John T]

Example pic?

[Merkie]

Originally Posted by Bilalo

I'm sure this has not been fixed but why do iphone cameras have a foggy look when taking pictures with flash at night mostly? I tried different angles and sometimes it works and sometimes not... I'm disgraced to say that the galaxy note 2 and s3 have a better flash photo... That foggy flash is FRUSTRATING!!! My brother got iphone 5 and if i'm not wrong he also reported this problem...

Make sure the glass covering the lens and flash is clean, and also make sure your fingers are away from the flash. The pictures taken by my iPhone 5 are very clear.

[stridemat]

If you really aren't happy with the quality then take some photos and book an appointment with an Apple Genius. If they agree they would swap right there.

[OlgaJ]

Make sure your case isn't causing the fogging. Take the phone out of the case and take a flash photo to compare. Also make sure that the back isn't covered by the plastic protecting sheet. When I first got my phone I thought it didn't cover the camera. It did but only showed when taking flash shots.

[Bilalo]

Originally Posted by Merkie

Make sure the glass covering the lens and flash is clean, and also make sure your fingers are away from the flash. The pictures taken by my iPhone 5 are very clear.

Originally Posted by stridemat

If you really aren't happy with the quality then take some photos and book an appointment with an Apple Genius. If they agree they would swap right there.

Originally Posted by OlgaJ

Make sure your case isn't causing the fogging. Take the phone out of the case and take a flash photo to compare. Also make sure that the back isn't covered by the plastic protecting sheet. When I first got my phone I thought it didn't cover the camera. It did but only showed when taking flash shots.

My iphone 4s does that, so does my parents ones and my cousins and more or less all the ones ive seen eo it... Ill post a pic tomorrow, no laptop at the moment and can't upload from phone -_- don't know if iphone 5 also does that with flash, ive an alternative called nightcam, to take pics at night but that is unreasonable...

[AFDoc]

Originally Posted by Bilalo

My iphone 4s does that, so does my parents ones and my cousins and more or less all the ones ive seen eo it... Ill post a pic tomorrow, no laptop at the moment and can't upload from phone -_- don't know if iphone 5 also does that with flash, ive an alternative called nightcam, to take pics at night but that is unreasonable...

I have no such issues but I have realistic expectations when using a phone with a camera on it. It depends on many factors... but distance to target is the biggest deal when shooting at night because....
Ummm it's a phone with a camera not a camera. It's flash is very limited. You want to take great night shots buy a camera. Problem solved. OR of course go with the other 2 phone choices you listed (seeing as you think thier night pictures are superior).... agian, problem solved.

[Baggio]

I found that when you take photos in landscape mode with the flash that if you rotate the phone so the flash is above the lens the photos come out a lot better than when the flash is below the lens.

[Givmeabrek]

Originally Posted by Baggio

I found that when you take photos in landscape mode with the flash that if you rotate the phone so the flash is above the lens the photos come out a lot better than when the flash is below the lens.

Probably because the flash is reflecting off of your hand or finger.

[Jordan921]

My iPhone 5 takes pics just fine with flash.

[Bilalo]

Originally Posted by John T

Example pic?

Originally Posted by Merkie

Make sure the glass covering the lens and flash is clean, and also make sure your fingers are away from the flash. The pictures taken by my iPhone 5 are very clear.

Originally Posted by stridemat

If you really aren't happy with the quality then take some photos and book an appointment with an Apple Genius. If they agree they would swap right there.

Originally Posted by OlgaJ

Make sure your case isn't causing the fogging. Take the phone out of the case and take a flash photo to compare. Also make sure that the back isn't covered by the plastic protecting sheet. When I first got my phone I thought it didn't cover the camera. It did but only showed when taking flash shots.

Originally Posted by AFDoc

I have no such issues but I have realistic expectations when using a phone with a camera on it. It depends on many factors... but distance to target is the biggest deal when shooting at night because....
Ummm it's a phone with a camera not a camera. It's flash is very limited. You want to take great night shots buy a camera. Problem solved. OR of course go with the other 2 phone choices you listed (seeing as you think thier night pictures are superior).... agian, problem solved.

Originally Posted by Baggio

I found that when you take photos in landscape mode with the flash that if you rotate the phone so the flash is above the lens the photos come out a lot better than when the flash is below the lens.

Originally Posted by Givmeabrek

Probably because the flash is reflecting off of your hand or finger.

These are the sample pics you were asking for, I couldnt really make the best ones as I erased quite good examples of fogginess, I realized around 80% of my Iphone 4s photos at night time or in clubs have foggy looks. You can have a small example here... The foggy one is with flash and the other isnt and dsnt necessarily have to be dark, even in a yellowish room like this, anything other than daylight this happens and even the picture quality decreses so when you zoom in pixels show even more than usual...

[lelisa13p]

Have you tried resetting your iPhone? (Hold Power & Home buttons simultaneously, letting go of both at the same time when the Apple appears on the black screen.)

If that didn't help, make a genius appointment. Those are bad. Pix from my old iP 3Gs look better than those.

[CrossX]

Have you tried to take your case off and shoot?

[John T]

The right hand pic is an typical example of the flash being reflected by a shiny surface, back into the camera lens.

[vastoholic]

That's exactly what I was going to say. My mom bought a knock off otter box case that was blue and every picture with flash had a blue "fog" just like that in the picture. When she finally got a real case, it went away. Something is reflecting the flash back into the lens.

[Bilalo]

Originally Posted by CrossX

Have you tried to take your case off and shoot?

Originally Posted by John T

The right hand pic is an typical example of the flash being reflected by a shiny surface, back into the camera lens.

Originally Posted by vastoholic

That's exactly what I was going to say. My mom bought a knock off otter box case that was blue and every picture with flash had a blue "fog" just like that in the picture. When she finally got a real case, it went away. Something is reflecting the flash back into the lens.

It also happens without the lense just less oftenly but still often always has been like this :/

[Brian Y]

Have you had the back of the phone replaced?

[Bilalo]

Originally Posted by bma

Have you had the back of the phone replaced?

No what do you mean replaced? How and where and how much?

[Brian Y]

As in have you changed the back glass (I take it from your post that you haven't).

I've seen this been caused by people forgetting to take the protective plastic off of the inside of the back cover when changing it.

[Bilalo]

Originally Posted by bma

As in have you changed the back glass (I take it from your post that you haven't).

I've seen this been caused by people forgetting to take the protective plastic off of the inside of the back cover when changing it.

Then this isn't my case because i never changed anything but again ive seen a lot of iphones, literally all of the 4s do this from all my friends phones in clubs and all that...

[Photogdave]

Its either the case or your finger or the camera.
I had this issue with my 4s.
One issue was the case i had was reflecting light back across the lens.
Take case off and try. It went away.
I bored the opening of my case and fixed it.

But before that i had an issue similar and it was camera. If you look closely into the lens under good light, I had what was an internal plastic gasket that had slid down and was kinda "half moon" at edge of lens
It was really close to covering the lens. It wasn't visible in images without flash, but it picked up flash when used and caused this.

They replaced the camera assembly quickly onsite and free. I looked at work order and it wasn't expensive even if i had to pay.

This is when i noticed case was some of culprit.
Compared to my iPhone 5 the lens is much more flare prone.
Side by side the 4s picks up lens flare from side/above lighting way more than the 5.
Many people have downed Apple. Saying their claims to lens improvement is mediocre.
I'm a professional photographer and i can tell you it is a HUGE improvement.
These new coatings and materials have made huge improvements in contrast, color saturation, and sharpness.

Wish I had a pic of the lens before they fixed it.
But there is literally a black foam gasket with a hole that goes around lens behind back glass that had come unstuck and slid out of place nearly covering lens.

Good luck