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iPhone 17 Pro Max Frustrated with Apple regarding iPhone Cameras
- Thread starter UKTechGuy
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jz0309
macrumors P6
as do my white Canon lenses 😉
iPhone (and other smartphone) cameras are actually amazing, compare that to the old film days ... you get instant results, you can re-shoot a "fixed scene" (like the examples shown in this thread) ...
They aren’t amazing at all though, any pictures of any lights cause chaos.
As soon as there’s lights or as soon as the sun goes down there’s ghosting, reflections and lens flare everywhere, and I’ve never known any other phone to be as bad as the iPhone.
It’s a very long time issue that needs sorting.
I took a picture with the 5x zoom lens indoors with my Daughters phone the other day and it looks beyond horrible, also those pics I posted the other day on the previous page were absolutely awful.
Also took these:
jz0309
macrumors P6
Understand the physical limitations, the tiny sensors and the room available for lenses, given all that, smartphones take amazing photos.
Understanding the constraints, focus on what you can do under those constraints, and continuous learning will get you better results than quite frankly bickering.
There are plenty threads of photos taken with iPhones and/or smartphones, I'm sure you'll find plenty low light, sun down, street light photos...
People shouldn’t make excuses for Apple.
I’ve seen it a lot where people say it’s normal and it should be like that.
If that was true then why do loads of other phones not have this issue?
It’s either a defect in the design or the lens aren’t coated properly, if the lens aren’t coated properly then Apple are cheaping out and aren’t spending money on coating them as they should be. It’s got to be one or the other, or cheap lens they are using.
It’s not acceptable at all to have a swarm of UFO’s flying around the screen whenever there’s lights around.
daneoni
macrumors G5
You'd be better served writing a feedback to Apple about the issues since they're the ones who can actually do something about it
I did that many times a few years ago and apparently a lot of other people gave feedback too, but here we are with the same issues from 2019 or earlier, they aren’t going to fix it because people will buy iPhones regardless, so they are making money and I don’t think they actually care enough about it.
jz0309
macrumors P6
If this bothers you that much, and you think that other smartphones do better - get the tool that works best for you, simple as that, problem solved, esp since Apple is “cheating out”.
Photography is an art, how many Hollywood directors and renowned photographers will need to use the iPhone in their movies and art exhibits before we stop blaming the tools?
Multi element smartphones are more prone to lens reflection/flare. It's a limitation that needs to be accounted for. You can create the same effect using DSLR with a filter on with that high of a dynamic range.
Things we could do if you don't want to use a phone camera you like more.....
-If your subject is a street light like above just move the reflection back over the lights.
-If its not the subject than take a photo like you would in the day (not backlit).
-If you want the lights in the photo then position the reflection where its difficult to see like on something white.
-Or do the opposite and position the reflections on the black sky and use any free photo editor (GiMP) to remove them in post.
-Or use a AI photo editor (might not be free) and remove them with a single tap (not a fan of AI but works very well)
-Or if your iPhone has wide angle lens set it to 0.9x and adjust the exposure if you need to, that way you don't have the reflection at all and their isn't a noticeable distortion.
Or just realize it's basically a point and shoot camera that produces results that far exceed the effort exerted. In my 60gb of iPhone pics I think I have 3-4 photos with a reflection in the lens but it's a memory not something I'm going to sell so you don't even notice it.
Multi element smartphones are more prone to lens reflection/flare. It's a limitation that needs to be accounted for. You can create the same effect using DSLR with a filter on with that high of a dynamic range.
Things we could do if you don't want to use a phone camera you like more.....
-If your subject is a street light like above just move the reflection back over the lights.
-If its not the subject than take a photo like you would in the day (not backlit).
-If you want the lights in the photo then position the reflection where its difficult to see like on something white.
-Or do the opposite and position the reflections on the black sky and use any free photo editor (GiMP) to remove them in post.
-Or use a AI photo editor (might not be free) and remove them with a single tap (not a fan of AI but works very well)
-Or if your iPhone has wide angle lens set it to 0.9x and adjust the exposure if you need to, that way you don't have the reflection at all and their isn't a noticeable distortion.
Or just realize it's basically a point and shoot camera that produces results that far exceed the effort exerted. In my 60gb of iPhone pics I think I have 3-4 photos with a reflection in the lens but it's a memory not something I'm going to sell so you don't even notice it.
MacCheetah3
macrumors 68030
I wouldn’t dare to make a claim lens flare/glare doesn’t exist. Nor will I pretend iPhone (or many smartphone) photo captures can easily have artifacts and/or noise. And I recall reading complaints about ghosting and other light reflection problems for years on this forum.
Even so, there seems to be some level of bias here.
I skimmed the recent Photo of the Day threads for some examples that should exhibit the same problem, even if not quite as obvious, because I genuinely believed I could be ignoring, overlooking the issue.
forums.macrumors.com
forums.macrumors.com
forums.macrumors.com
forums.macrumors.com
forums.macrumors.com
🤔
These green ghosts don’t appear very common.
Again, I’m not saying this situation doesn’t exist. I’m saying you’re looking for a problem that’s not much of an actual problem.
@cynics points out, how in those certain scenarios, it is correctable, even without post-processing. Basically, technique is crucial. And I say that as an amateur photography and videography enthusiast.
Even so, there seems to be some level of bias here.
I skimmed the recent Photo of the Day threads for some examples that should exhibit the same problem, even if not quite as obvious, because I genuinely believed I could be ignoring, overlooking the issue.
Photo of the Day | December 2025
forums.macrumors.com
Photo of the Day | December 2025
Went to London a couple of days ago. Oxford Street
forums.macrumors.com
Photo of the Day | December 2025
Buchanan St, Glasgow. about 6pm yesterday afternoon
forums.macrumors.com
Photo of the Day | November 2025
Inside one of the food halls at Winter Wonderland on Friday.
forums.macrumors.com
Photo of the Day | November 2025
First winter storm. Windy wintry mix followed by blowing (regular) snow.
forums.macrumors.com
🤔
These green ghosts don’t appear very common.
Again, I’m not saying this situation doesn’t exist. I’m saying you’re looking for a problem that’s not much of an actual problem.
@cynics points out, how in those certain scenarios, it is correctable, even without post-processing. Basically, technique is crucial. And I say that as an amateur photography and videography enthusiast.
I think it’s extremely common, it ruins a photo, for example a birthday cake with candles and the person ends up with green dots all over their face, or a Christmas tree and there’s lights all over the wall or sofa.
My Daughter took around 50 pictures at a winter wonderland event the other day and there was bad lens flare and ghosting in over 20 pictures.
For example this picture taken on her iPhone 16 pro:
Extremely viable reflections without even having to zoom in.
And the same picture taken on my S23 Ultra
Barely anything there, just the smallest bit, which you have to really zoom into to even see.
And the issue is yes you can angle it out to a certain degree sometimes on photos, but on videos you have no chance and it does ruin photos and videos.
Whenever there’s lights around and as soon as the sun goes down this flare is everywhere! I experienced it myself massively on several different iPhones and it hasn’t got any better on the 17 series either.
My Daughter took around 50 pictures at a winter wonderland event the other day and there was bad lens flare and ghosting in over 20 pictures.
For example this picture taken on her iPhone 16 pro:
Extremely viable reflections without even having to zoom in.
And the same picture taken on my S23 Ultra
Barely anything there, just the smallest bit, which you have to really zoom into to even see.
And the issue is yes you can angle it out to a certain degree sometimes on photos, but on videos you have no chance and it does ruin photos and videos.
Whenever there’s lights around and as soon as the sun goes down this flare is everywhere! I experienced it myself massively on several different iPhones and it hasn’t got any better on the 17 series either.
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ghostface147
macrumors 601
MacCheetah3
macrumors 68030
I decided to intentionally snap some light flooded scenes as some examples.
Sure, there’s a lot of flaring/glaring in some:
And some indeed featured the little green globs:
But most of these shots are knowingly not well composed.
Attachments
gigatoaster
macrumors 68000
I wouldn’t dare to make a claim lens flare/glare doesn’t exist. Nor will I pretend iPhone (or many smartphone) photo captures can easily have artifacts and/or noise. And I recall reading complaints about ghosting and other light reflection problems for years on this forum.
Even so, there seems to be some level of bias here.
I skimmed the recent Photo of the Day threads for some examples that should exhibit the same problem, even if not quite as obvious, because I genuinely believed I could be ignoring, overlooking the issue.
Photo of the Day | December 2025
Photo of the Day | December 2025
Went to London a couple of days ago. Oxford StreetPhoto of the Day | December 2025
Buchanan St, Glasgow. about 6pm yesterday afternoon
Photo of the Day | November 2025
Inside one of the food halls at Winter Wonderland on Friday.Photo of the Day | November 2025
First winter storm. Windy wintry mix followed by blowing (regular) snow.
🤔
These green ghosts don’t appear very common.
Again, I’m not saying this situation doesn’t exist. I’m saying you’re looking for a problem that’s not much of an actual problem.
@cynics points out, how in those certain scenarios, it is correctable, even without post-processing. Basically, technique is crucial. And I say that as an amateur photography and videography enthusiast.
I took the first picture listed (Cascais) on my iPhone 15 Pro. What is the problem on this photo? Just curious.
MacCheetah3
macrumors 68030
Nothing, and that’s my point. None of the examples on that list — sorry if it wasn’t clearly explained — have any signs of (green) light ghosting/glare/flare that I noticed despite being of bright light scenes (at night).
gigatoaster
macrumors 68000
It does it all the time with lights, taken today by my daughter on her iPhone 16 Pro.
Compared to this on the S23 Ultra:
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So the S23 Ultra figured out there was a window in between the camera and outside lights and cleaned that up? Not trying to sound sarcastic. But even if the algorithm on the S23 Ultra was smart enough to clean up the glare from the lights, there's no way it's figuring out the steering wheel and screen from the car aren't supposed to be in that photo and wiped them out. To me it looks like you're shooting through a window on the iPhone and with the window open on the S23U, which will obviously make a huge difference in that environment.
jz0309
macrumors P6
I noticed that exact same thing, OP is really trying hard to take photos that fit their agenda, so bizarre ...
The 17p's camera isn't perfect for sure. My biggest issue has been understanding how the different field of view effects things, especially in low light, as it seems to struggle, at times (not all the time), not knowing what to focus on. But knowing that, I'm just more intentional in how I take the shot, or making sure I tap where I want it to focus, and the photos turn out excellent.
The one situation I'm still struggling with, though, is groups of people in lower light. If there is any depth to the faces in the view, it doesn't seem to know to pull them all into focus, which is frustrating at times. Keep in mind, I'm not talking 2-3 people, I'm talking 8-10+. And if they're all at similar distances it does fine. But if it's something like a long table of people and I'm at one end, it simply won't put all the faces in focus. 🤷♂️
Just so people don’t say I’m biased, I’ve got my Daughters iPhone 16 Pro with me today, and I’m taking some pictures.
This is with her 16 Pro
And this is with my S23 Ultra
I’m not sure why some people say it’s not a common thing.
Whenever there’s a light, the people or video gets ruined on iPhone and it makes it unusable, especially on videos as you can’t edit it out.
This is with her 16 Pro
And this is with my S23 Ultra
I’m not sure why some people say it’s not a common thing.
Whenever there’s a light, the people or video gets ruined on iPhone and it makes it unusable, especially on videos as you can’t edit it out.
I agree, just that flare really is annoying! Otherwise yes it would win easily as it definitely looks better.
That’s the frustrating thing, if Apple finally sorted this out then the pics and videos would be great, just a shame that this kind of thing impacts the photo and video a lot.