iPhone 17 Pro Max Frustrated with Apple regarding iPhone Cameras

[UKTechGuy]

Hi all.

I’m new here, have been reading this forum for years but I decided to join finally today.

I’m really frustrated by the fact that Apple still hasn’t resolved the ghosting and awful reflections on the iPhone camera. For a phone that costs so much you would expect them to do quality control and not allow phones to be released with these flaws, which could be resolved.

It doesn’t seem much of an issue on other phones and quite a few android phones, so it seems like a apple issue.

This has been an issue since the 11 series, and I thought they would have had this fixed by the 13, 14 or certainly by the 15 series.

There were rumours last year that they would finally be fixed on the 16 Pro series but again it wasn’t, and then yesterday watching reviews it confirmed that it is still exactly the same for the 17 series as well.

What is the point in having good video if they are ruined by bad flares, ghosting and reflections? It just makes the videos look bad and unusable.

I really don’t know what phone to buy now, I was seriously considering a 16 Pro Max or 17 Pro Max but I don’t want my videos ruined.

I feel like I might have to buy an android, something like a S25 Ultra or something because these issues really annoy me and can’t be unseen.

What do you guys think about this?

 

[Diorama]

This has been an issue since the 11 series, and I thought they would have had this fixed by the 13, 14 or certainly by the 15 series.

It’s definitely been an issue since X - I have a recording of my step mum bringing a birthday cake into a dark room on most iPhones from 4s to 16PM - the X is the first video with obvious green ghost candles shadowing the cake.

 

[I7guy]

Ghosting is almost impossible to get rid of. But if Samsung has figured it out, you have your options.

 

[4sallypat]

Get a $10,000 mirrorless digital camera with very expensive lenses, hoods, filters, etc...

That's what a pro photographer / video business would use - not an iPhone...

 

[UKTechGuy]

Get a $10,000 mirrorless digital camera with very expensive lenses, hoods, filters, etc...

That's what a pro photographer / video business would use - not an iPhone...

I get your point, but that’s not the point.

If you’re paying over £1,000 for a phone then the phone manufacturer should at least try and resolve the problem because it’s primarily an iPhone problem.

Yes androids have some flare and things, but from my own experiences with lots of phones the iPhone is way worse for this issue.

It’s unacceptable to have loads of UFO’s bouncing all over the screen and following the movement of the camera whenever there’s a bright light.

Because as soon as an iPhone sees a bright light it literally craps itself!

I saw the same last night, several lights in a parking lot, my friends S25 Ultra didn’t have any reflections or floating green dots.

The iPhone however, had twelve very visible green dots bouncing around all over the place.

 

[4sallypat]

I get your point, but that’s not the point.

If you’re paying over £1,000 for a phone then the phone manufacturer should at least try and resolve the problem because it’s primarily an iPhone problem.

Yes androids have some flare and things, but from my own experiences with lots of phones the iPhone is way worse for this issue.

It’s unacceptable to have loads of UFO’s bouncing all over the screen and following the movement of the camera whenever there’s a bright light.

Because as soon as an iPhone sees a bright light it literally craps itself!

I saw the same last night, several lights in a parking lot, my friends S25 Ultra didn’t have any reflections or floating green dots.

The iPhone however, had twelve very visible green dots bouncing around all over the place.

Ah yes you are correct - my son's $2000 folding Samsung phone is amazing at photos - their lenses and sensors are way more intelligent.

I just don't use my iPhone for photo quality - it's just point and shoot camera for me, thus the Air I ordered suits me perfectly.

When I want action shots, portraits, etc I pull out my Canon DSLR w/ multiple lenses for the job....

 

[UKTechGuy]

So do we think that Apple will ever fix the lens reflection/ghosting issue? I’m not confident given that this a long standing problem that they could have fixed.

I think it’s embarrassing for a phone that costs so much to have such drastic camera issues when most other phones don’t have the issue.

I wanted to get a 17 pro max but I’m put off by it having the same issues as the 11 pro max I had all the way back then.

Anytime there’s a bright light the phone just reflects everything, sometimes lots of lights appear all over the screen floating like an army of UFO’s even cheaper phones and android or Samsung phones don’t have this issue.

I can spot an iPhone picture or video immediately due to this issue.

For example if there’s a video with loads of cars passing by the headlights reflect all over the sky it looks terrrible.

Why is it still an issue and why do they refuse to fix this?

It literally ruins photos and videos, how they can call it professional looking video with this issue I don’t know.

I feel that the iPhone would have a great camera if this was resolved.

 

[shady16]

So do we think that Apple will ever fix the lens reflection/ghosting issue? I’m not confident given that this a long standing problem that they could have fixed.

I think it’s embarrassing for a phone that costs so much to have such drastic camera issues when most other phones don’t have the issue.

I wanted to get a 17 pro max but I’m put off by it having the same issues as the 11 pro max I had all the way back then.

Anytime there’s a bright light the phone just reflects everything, sometimes lots of lights appear all over the screen floating like an army of UFO’s even cheaper phones and android or Samsung phones don’t have this issue.

I can spot an iPhone picture or video immediately due to this issue.

For example if there’s a video with loads of cars passing by the headlights reflect all over the sky it looks terrrible.

Why is it still an issue and why do they refuse to fix this?

It literally ruins photos and videos, how they can call it professional looking video with this issue I don’t know.

I feel that the iPhone would have a great camera if this was resolved.

well theres rumours that apple is going with samsung instead of sony for there sensors for the iPhone 18 pro series and adding variable aperture so you will be able to adjust the light getting into the sensors. so maybe with the 18 pro series but too soon to say confidently

 

[maerz001]

well theres rumours that apple is going with samsung instead of sony for there sensors for the iPhone 18 pro series and adding variable aperture so you will be able to adjust the light getting into the sensors. so maybe with the 18 pro series but too soon to say confidently

The spots come from lens flare aka reflection.
Higher quality lenses have anti reflection coatings. Not sure if apple is using any. But even if, they don’t work 100%.

I have the feeling that samsung does it in post processing. Like you can do with apples clean up tool.

 

[UKTechGuy]

The spots come from lens flare aka reflection.
Higher quality lenses have anti reflection coatings. Not sure if apple is using any. But even if, they don’t work 100%.

I have the feeling that samsung does it in post processing. Like you can do with apples clean up tool.

If that’s the case then Apple need to start using Apple Intelligence to sort this problem out if they can’t physically do it.

 

[Ctrlos]

Hi all.

I’m new here, have been reading this forum for years but I decided to join finally today.

I’m really frustrated by the fact that Apple still hasn’t resolved the ghosting and awful reflections on the iPhone camera. For a phone that costs so much you would expect them to do quality control and not allow phones to be released with these flaws, which could be resolved.

It doesn’t seem much of an issue on other phones and quite a few android phones, so it seems like a apple issue.

This has been an issue since the 11 series, and I thought they would have had this fixed by the 13, 14 or certainly by the 15 series.

There were rumours last year that they would finally be fixed on the 16 Pro series but again it wasn’t, and then yesterday watching reviews it confirmed that it is still exactly the same for the 17 series as well.

What is the point in having good video if they are ruined by bad flares, ghosting and reflections? It just makes the videos look bad and unusable.

I really don’t know what phone to buy now, I was seriously considering a 16 Pro Max or 17 Pro Max but I don’t want my videos ruined.

I feel like I might have to buy an android, something like a S25 Ultra or something because these issues really annoy me and can’t be unseen.

What do you guys think about this?

If I need to take professional images I will use professional equipment. The 'Pro' moniker on an iPhone is just branding. Those film-makers that use them still surround them with thousands of dollars worth of lighting and gimbal rigs. If your wedding photographer turned up with just an iPhone you'd ask for a refund. My expectations are the photos and videos are good enough for family memories and clogging social media. I can't say I've ever been disappointed with the results.

 

[Zensō]

The spots come from lens flare aka reflection.
Higher quality lenses have anti reflection coatings. Not sure if apple is using any. But even if, they don’t work 100%.

I have the feeling that samsung does it in post processing. Like you can do with apples clean up tool.

I agree. Lens flare is an issue even in multi-thousand dollar lenses for mirrorless and SLR systems. If Samsung has somehow magically solved this, it's undoubtedly being done in software. I have to wonder about the quality and consistency though. Too much automatic software retouching often has unintended consequences that are worse than the original issue.

 

[UKTechGuy]

Found out what method Samsung has been using since S22 Ultra.

Super Clear Glass & Lens

The Super Clear Lens on the rear camera tones down lens flare and fast-acting AI delivers near-instant intelligent processing. It helps provide clearer shooting without a reflection or glare, even in the dark.

 

[t0rqx]

Sad to say, but Apple nowadays keeps cost as low as possible but profit to the max. The only reason is because people keep buying them anyway cause the have been associating Apple with quality. Which they were in the past, but not so anymore.

In case you missed it. The biggest QC issue with the 17 Pro models is that it makes a static jitter noise when plugged into the USB-C cable while charging. This means that people record video while on a power supply record this coil whine like noise along with it.

Makes me wonder if they really recorded their promo keynote with an iPhone 17 Pro.

Software is not going to fix it.

 

[Wizec]

I remember noticing this for the first time with the iPhone 11 Pro. It may have been there with other phones as well, but it was pronounced enough with the 11 Pro that it really stood out to me.

 

[Macdctr]

I use my iPhones, no matter the version, as a point and shoot camera. If I’m going to take serious photography then I grab my Nikon D850 DSLR and a good lens, depending on the photography being taken, to do the job.

No cell phone camera will do a better job than a full on camera setup.

 

[ToddH]

Get a $10,000 mirrorless digital camera with very expensive lenses, hoods, filters, etc...

That's what a pro photographer / video business would use - not an iPhone...

That's true, except for tye $10k part. Many of the lower end Sony digital mirrorless cameras are great for video. But With so many professionals using iphones these days, they are just much easier to carry around and they don't attract much attention because in some areas, you'll be a target for theft depending on where you live. Even tye Apple events we watch are filmed on the iPhone.

The company BeastGrip sells rigs & lenses for the iPhone for content creators & videographers. I have a professional Sony camera, tge A7RV with high-end lenses, but I don't like carrying it around. Shooting with the iphone or mobile device, which in my case is the Samsung Galaxy S25 ultra it's so much more fun and easier to use than a bulky DSLR. My S25 Ultra has the flair issue also, but it's really difficult to see and you have to have a really bright light for it to show up. My 16 pro max ( which has the same cameras as previous IPhones and now with the 17 pro max) has horrible flaring because the optics most likely aren't multi-coated. With the iPhone, ghosting is present with window light and it is lame, apple should adopt better optics with multicotings Like the S25 ultra has. I don't shoot much video anyway, i'm more of a still photographer.

 

[maerz001]

Found out what method Samsung has been using since S22 Ultra.

Super Clear Glass & Lens

The Super Clear Lens on the rear camera tones down lens flare and fast-acting AI delivers near-instant intelligent processing. It helps provide clearer shooting without a reflection or glare, even in the dark.

Well the marketing team missed the point here. Its not unclear glas or lens which produces lens flare.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Get a $10,000 mirrorless digital camera with very expensive lenses, hoods, filters, etc...

That's what a pro photographer / video business would use - not an iPhone...

Even the light baffles inside on my $2800 Nikon lens can’t entirely avoid light reflections.

 

[UKTechGuy]

Even the light baffles inside on my $2800 Nikon lens can’t entirely avoid light reflections.

Maybe not, however, one of my friends posted pictures of some attractions at night the other day and all you can see all over the photos are green dots and signs that have been reflected into the sky, it looks pathetic and like a cheap camera. They were taken on a 17 pro.

 

[ToddH]

Maybe not, however, one of my friends posted pictures of some attractions at night the other day and all you can see all over the photos are green dots and signs that have been reflected into the sky, it looks pathetic and like a cheap camera. They were taken on a 17 pro.

Yeah feel the pain... I was experimenting with my Samsung S25 Ultra in a burger restaurant (Freddy's) as they have bright LED lights in the ceiling. The iphone 16 pro max I have was used in there to check the glare and ghosting / internal reflections. Three lights in the shot, three distracting reflections were seen in the photo adjacent from the light sources.

When I tested the Samsung S25 ultra, the same three lights were photographed. The Samsung S25 ultra doesn't have this issue to the extent of the iphone. I had to zoom in on the image and look for those ghosting reflections, I found one of them from one of the brighter lights, but I had to look for it. The iphone image showed all three easily in comparison. So I didn't bother upgrading to the 17 pro max because of this, no wide or ultra wide camera optical change. I'm moving to Samsung but keeping my iPhone 16 pro max.

 

[UKTechGuy]

iPhone camera could be so good! It has great video and great zoom transitions and a lot of other stuff but seriously Apple! Sort these ghosting and reflections out it’s been an issue for years! Very poor with there being no improvement either on this issue year after year!

 

[UKTechGuy]

This is why I don’t use iPhones anymore and can’t take their cameras seriously!

My Daughter took these a few days ago at an event and it’s ridiculous! Yes lens flare is a thing but this……..

Taken on an iPhone 16 Pro.