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Never seen this effect. I‘m not a photographer, but when I compare my iPhones lens flare photos (I think it is?) with the ones shown, I don‘t have this effect.

I love the spikes of the sun

Ok, on the last one there is a funny effect and maybe I should clear my lense. No matter what, I do believe the iP13 is better in handling situations with bad light. For my personal use, the iP11pro is „pro“ as it was advertized.

Same or better quality with 24 megapixel sensor would have been great - sometimes, when you want to print a photo. But this would require a huge sensor, I guess.

Your first photo has a diffraction spike, while second photo has a lens flare. The first phenomena is caused by photons behaving like waves, which creates specific 'patterns' of light as those waves interact constructively in space. Those 'sun spikes' you get on the first picture, roughly symmetric in all directions, are the expected diffraction pattern of a clean, working-as-intended lens.

You can test the effect in the article's iPhone 11 quite easily. Take a finger, rub it on an oily area of your skin (tip of nose, cheekbones...) and then drag your finger across the lens frontal element on an iPhone camera, edge-to-edge, and on a single direction. If you swept your finger horizontally across the lens, you'll see vertical diffraction lines when pointing your camera to a high-power point-light source (like the sun, or a bright lightbulb far away). Those diffraction lines you see are not expected, and an unequivocal sign that your lens is dirty or scratched.

However, the effect on your second photo is just a regular lens flare caused by sun rays reflecting on the surface of one lens element, then bouncing back on the back-facing surface of another lens element, an then back into the sensor (there can be several reflections). It's a more macroscopic effect than diffraction, and doesn't mean your lens is dirty! You expect some amount of lens flares in all lenses, regardless of how clean they are. It's caused by the geometrical design of the lens, not by how clean it is. The only way to reduce the amount of lens flare is by adding a coating step on the manufacturing process of the lens, where lens elements are coated with very low-reflectivity materials, so there's no bouncing of light rays inside the lens and therefore no lens flare appears.
 
the reality is that even iphone 3's camera is good enough for most people. all these new features and manufacturing processes for new cameras are nothing more than gimmicks to sell a device which hasn't evolved in a long time.
 
My 11 pro always seems to look like the lens is dirty. Streaks of lens flare and light washing across the image. Holding my hand like a lens hood helps a lot. I thought it was me, but it seems like this could be an limitation of the lens setup.
Regardless of this, the 11 still has a great camera.
 
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The update says the lens on the 11 isn’t dirty or the like but the effect you see on the lights in the final image at night are a dead giveaway something is off. I’m surprised they didn’t catch this sooner. All you’d have to do is bring in another 11 for comparison and then swap them out and redo the test.
 
For someone with the money to upgrade and the desire to upgrade, it’s OK to upgrade.

The camera, especially on the standard Pro model, is reason enough to upgrade from any previous iPhone model.

The “telephoto” lens, which was telephoto in name only, is now a true short long lens on both the standard and Max versions.

There’s a (limited) macro mode. And improved low light mode.

The computing speed is improved, too.

On the fly, the camera will keep skin tones looking like skin tones, while pumping up (if desired) the overall color in a photo.
Aka in all, those are worthy additions that any fan of the iPhone as a camera would want to have.
 
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First thing in mind.
Why is the child censored on the thumbnail of video for the iPhone 13? 🤣 [/sarcasm]
(Friday jokes!)

Edit:
Never mind, the video thumbnail had been updated. 🤣
The first thing that came to my mind was, "How is it possible that the child is the same age in all the photos"? Hehe

Wish they had included the iPhone 12.
 
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I want to see these camera tests capture movement - kids playing soccer or in a hockey arena? Until they match my SLR they won’t capture my kids’ moments in action.
 
Not everyone cares that much about the iPhone camera. Some of us use real cameras for photography. So you're just pitching for Apple and that's not what we expect from you

Pitching for Apple? Really? That's quite an allegation. Who's pitching for Apple?

I've used a variety of so-called "real cameras," all the way from an Arca-Swiss 4x5 F Field to various (d)SLRs to various iPhones. Currently I use an iPhone 12 Pro exclusively; an outstanding "real camera," that allows me to make real photographs.
 
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So what happened to make it "a joke of a test?"
Please do read the sometimes lengthy explanations in this very thread, they explain the faults thoroughly. And as an iPhone 11 shooter I can also state that the iPhone 11 (or the iPhone 11 Pro, which has exactly the same UW and wide cameras) is WAY better than in this "test".
 
All anyone needs to do is go back and look at the initial reviews and photos when the iPhone 11 launched. There are threads buried on this site and many others that show great photos in different lighting conditions which basically rebuke this "review".

Dan and MacRumors in general haven't established any credibility for product reviews so I'm surprised many here spend any time debating the quality of any of their reviews. MacRumors is a great site that basically consolidates content created by others and monetizes it. Product reviews is something they expanded into but are not known for. I doubt many come here for reviews and this latest review reveals why you shouldn't.
 
All anyone needs to do is go back and look at the initial reviews and photos when the iPhone 11 launched. There are threads buried on this site and many others that show great photos in different lighting conditions which basically rebuke this "review".

Dan and MacRumors in general haven't established any credibility for product reviews so I'm surprised many here spend any time debating the quality of any of their reviews. MacRumors is a great site that basically consolidates content created by others and monetizes it. Product reviews is something they expanded into but are not known for. I doubt many come here for reviews and this latest review reveals why you shouldn't.

Makes you wonder why they even fooled with a camera review/comparison. Stick to the rumors.
 
And here's a photo I made with my 6+ around six or seven years ago in SF. The shafts of light were strong, but there is no flare. No doubt due to a much better lens housing design.


View attachment 1854308

I am not sure if you are being serious or not. If you are, then that photo would not cause a lens flare from any system. If you are just kidding around then you suckered me in :p
 
All anyone needs to do is go back and look at the initial reviews and photos when the iPhone 11 launched. There are threads buried on this site and many others that show great photos in different lighting conditions which basically rebuke this "review".

Dan and MacRumors in general haven't established any credibility for product reviews so I'm surprised many here spend any time debating the quality of any of their reviews. MacRumors is a great site that basically consolidates content created by others and monetizes it. Product reviews is something they expanded into but are not known for. I doubt many come here for reviews and this latest review reveals why you shouldn't.

Maybe it is a MFG issue where they come that way off the production line or a MFG issue that causes a problem over time. But I have personal experience from using my wife's phone vs my phone that shows the results that were shown in this article vs better shots that people are saying they get personally. I thought maybe it was just my photography hobby knowledge and intuition but now I am leaning towards some of the phones just having a true MFG issue.
 
I've had most iPhone models up to and including the iPhone 12 Pro Max, but the absolute best picture I have taken with any of them was this quick random snap in 2012 using an iPhone 5. No edits.
 

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