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I'm going to be honest, I'm not a professional photographer, just a normal guy who likes to take pictures, and knows a bit about physics. I've been taking photos all my life with film as a young man, and digital as an adult, and I've seen lens flare come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and colors. This really doesn't look any different.

Specifically, I want to point out that these comparison photos that you are quite fond of posting are actually not two comparable photos. The photos were taken at significantly different angles in comparison to the sun. You can tell the angle by the location of the lens flare. The iPhone 5 photo has a clearly different angle towards the sun, as evidenced by the halo near the bottom of the frame. You can also see the difference in angle when you look at the rest of the photo as well, with the trees and background being significantly different.

No two photos will be exactly the same, for sure, but that's not really what I'm getting at. My point is that any camera could have this type of flare and distortion if you find the right angle and light source. It really is a matter of framing.

Oh you mean HE took those photos? That explains a lot. As you can see from the artistic merit of the shots, you're clearly dealing with an expert. So shut up, sit back down and listen to the photographic genius.
 
care to explain why iphone 4's camera and my cheap sony w300 don't produce that purple effect, while the iphone 5 and the expensive camera you claim to own suffer from that?

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Maybe I have to quote "Albert Einstein, Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former"

Dude!! Purple, pink, blue, yellow, white... what does it matter what colour?? Taking photos of a bright lights or photos of the sun without using the proper tool for it and the right time, is a BAD idea because it blows the hilights and it ruins the shot!! Do you really have to be genious to understand that?
 
Another photo taken with my 4s which, to go by some comments on here, I was an idiot to take as I was shooting directly into the sun. I've really never seen anything quite the same as the purple flare we are talking about here. I like taking pics with my phone so I really don't want my experience of a 5 to be worse than the 4s.
 

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sincerely,

-Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

By posting these photos you just admit you're either blind or stupid. How are those identical conditions? Take a look at the trees in the background and clouds (not mentioning a piece of the roof in the iP4 photo). You could make identical purple flare in iP4 if you just moved it 1 inch either side. The shooter was standing in a different spot shooting from a different angle. Are you too ignorant to see this?

As 840quadra mentioned here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15898496/

"Also, they are all clearly taken at different times (or possibly days) as evidenced by the position of the clouds."
 
I'm sorry, it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done before. It's all about the way you presented yourself. The way you replied reflected your character, which is despicable.

You could be the best photographer or w/e, which you obviously aren't, but apparently you don't know jack about this issue and you have your head buried so far up Apple's behind. I am sorry.

I provided a sample comparison between the 5 and the 4. Being the pro photographer you claim to be, you not only couldn't provide a solid explanation about the issue, you resorted to personal attacks about how the shots were taken. I am sorry, you deserve no respect.

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sincerely,

-Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

As someone has already pointed out, these two pictures were taken from different positions, and, judging by the positioning of the clouds, with some passage of time between shots.

Could you post a comparison taken from the same spot, at the same angle and roughly the same time of day?
 
The Iphone 5 is not a professional grade DSLR. And I can tell you, even with some Canon $2000 professional lens you will have the same problem. On my Canon 85mm L 1.2 the problem is actually worse. If you shoot against the sun, you might or might not get unwanted results. Live with it.
 
Another photo taken with my 4s which, to go by some comments on here, I was an idiot to take as I was shooting directly into the sun. I've really never seen anything quite the same as the purple flare we are talking about here. I like taking pics with my phone so I really don't want my experience of a 5 to be worse than the 4s.

That's a great photo. Shooting towards the sun does not always mean you will get lens flare. In fact, if you do get lens flare that way, it is a lot less likely to be that purple color during sunset. Sunsets are actually the best time to take pictures toward the sun, due to the natural refraction caused in the atmosphere at those angles (which also makes for pretty colors). In fact, there are already some great examples of sunsets taken with iPhone 5 on Flickr.

If you look for examples of this phenomenon, you will see that it is mainly caused by poor framing due to a very bright light source (including the sun) being just outside or at the very edge of the frame. This makes for a bad picture whether or not there is any lens flare.
 
That's a great photo. Shooting towards the sun does not always mean you will get lens flare. In fact, if you do get lens flare that way, it is a lot less likely to be that purple color during sunset. Sunsets are actually the best time to take pictures toward the sun, due to the natural refraction caused in the atmosphere at those angles (which also makes for pretty colors). In fact, there are already some great examples of sunsets taken with iPhone 5 on Flickr.

If you look for examples of this phenomenon, you will see that it is mainly caused by poor framing due to a very bright light source (including the sun) being just outside or at the very edge of the frame. This makes for a bad picture whether or not there is any lens flare.

Exactly.This is a very accurate explanation.
 
I just took a massive samsung on gizmodo.

These trolls will do anything they can to try and damage Apple but the people still want the phone.

Nice try, trolls.
The iPhone 5 is a smash hit. Suck it.
 
This is normal for any lens.

My $2000+ Nikon Lens Flares like that when a bright light source sneaks thru the front element.

Sheesh People!!!
 
Most sources and forum threads that covered the issue demonstrated far more significant differences; methinks MacRumors is trying to add pro-Apple spin, surprise surprise.

There is certainly no difference between the purple haze in the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 as you are alluding to here.

The amount of purple haze seen in the photos depends on the angle at which you are holding the phone and the intensity of the light source.
 
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It's the multi-coated coating of the lens (basically to reduce overall glare and have tons better scratch resistance).
 
I just took a massive samsung on gizmodo.

These trolls will do anything they can to try and damage Apple but the people still want the phone.

Nice try, trolls.
The iPhone 5 is a smash hit. Suck it.

I still think the Iphone 5 is the most boring update after the 4S, but it's a quality phone and doesn't deserve this criticism for something you will get on professional cameras too.
 
Hi Jedi, glad you like the pic. I've been going through my camera roll trying to find any shots that most closely replicate the circumstances that Apple say must be avoided. This is probably the closest (intense light source close to edge of frame), but again, I found flaring with my 4s to be predictable and generally neutral, without introducing unnatural colours into the shot (other than a prismatic rainbow effect). I hope this problem is being overblown but I'll keep watching with interest. It's not like I can even get my hands on a 5 at the moment anyway, my local store never has any stock!
 

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So Apple, when are you going to 'publicly respond' to complaints on lack of iMac refresh/news? It deserves more of your attention than this silly flare issue. :mad:
 
This happens on even the most expensive SLR lenses. It's why most of them come with a hood! This is normal!

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/lens-flare.htm

This link should be posted in the main article for those coming here thinking the iPhone is the first camera to experience lens flare, regardless of what color it is.

The complaining with the phone has really gotten to the point where it is ridiculous and I just laugh at it. Next we will hear about how 100% of users that go into basements 8 floors underground get no signal and it must be because of an antenna issue on the iPhone.
 
i like how all of a sudden everyone's either a 30yr pro photographer or has a pro DSLR with $2k lens..

4 vs 5, the lens flare turned purple for no reason, i guess this is normal, and the 4 just had a worse camera that didn't produce the purple flare. And yet all your 50 grand cameras produced the purple flare.

Pro tip: throw your pro dslr cameras away and grab a iphone 4!!

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sincerely,

-Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

Some of us on this forum actually are photographers. Case in point, I just got back from a 12 hour photo shoot for an upcoming fashion line taking photos of 60 different outfits for a look book.

To answer your question and inform you of the situation, you could assume that much like in the world of SLR lenses, some copies of glass come out better than others. Some lenses of the same kind are sharper, some softer, some produce more purple fringe, some less.

If you want a solid method of testing a camera's optics with the purple fringe to another camera, you'll need to do the following;

- Make sure you have the same object, background and foreground for both shots between the two cameras
- make sure to position them and point them at the exact same object
- make sure lighting conditions are EXACTLY the same
- make sure you switch to manual mode and use the same exposure settings; aperture, iso and shutter speed

Of course, because your on an iphone where choice is a distant dream, you wont be able to do a proper test because apple doesnt care to give consumers the choice to switch to full manual. That is of course assuming such an app doesnt exist for iPhones. (i dont use one, so i dont care to know much about the ios app store).

The other thing you'll need to remember is to have a lot of light behind the object your shooting at. Purple fringes *usually* come out strong inside churches against the stained glass. Tree branches work quite well too.

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So Apple, when are you going to 'publicly respond' to complaints on lack of iMac refresh/news? It deserves more of your attention than this silly flare issue. :mad:

More important than the imac is a refresh to the Mac Pro. I dont think apple gives a crap about pro users anymore though.
 
I don't think anyone is suggesting that lenses don't flare. They are however saying that the ugly purple lens flare seen in some example shots is particularly bad, and in my opinion unusual. I've been shooting with DSLR's for years now and none of my camera lenses have behaved like that (and I don't believe Nikon or Pentax would either).

More importantly, I've never seen flare like that in all the pics I've taken with my 3GS or 4S (although I see there is a 4S sample online which shows a similar purple flare so I'm wondering if if is an issue with some units only).

I'd like to find out more about this from people who are actually interested in the phenomenon, not just wade through the "you're an idiot", "troll" posts of people who leap to Apple's defence as if their own mother were being insulted!
 
I like how all the blind apple fanboys ignore the PURPLE part and just focus on Lens flare as if that is what people are complaining about.
 
This s going to happen with any lens this small. Personally, from my use so far, I think the camera is pretty fantastic, for something that's in my phone and readily available in a hurry.. If I want a better shot, I'll take my DSLR and filters with me... They've done a pretty good job in such a small space.
 
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