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iabm

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 25, 2017
79
13
Hi all,

move just got the above phone. The camera seems to be great but I’ve just noticed a small issue when using portrait mode using the camera. There seems to be a mark on the top left of a photo. See attached. I’ve not noticed it before and it doesn’t appear when using other modes. Does anyone have any ideas. I’ve wiped the lens to make sure nothing from my pocket has suck on it.
Thanks,
Ben
 

Attachments

  • 7812D837-6519-4F55-8B24-872DE41B8B2E.jpeg
    7812D837-6519-4F55-8B24-872DE41B8B2E.jpeg
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I’ve just tried the normal camera and the same mark appeared when zoomed in at 2x it seems to disappear then pop back when the camera has focused... hmm...

This is really annoying!
 
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If I understood you correctly in both tests you use the rear camera (not the selfie one). To me this seems like a spot on the lens itself. Most probably the spot is visible or not based on the focal point you are shooting with. This is why you see it sometimes, others not. If I am right, this is manufacturer mistake in the produced hardware and if I were you I would ask for replacement.
 
If I understood you correctly in both tests you use the rear camera (not the selfie one). To me this seems like a spot on the lens itself. Most probably the spot is visible or not based on the focal point you are shooting with. This is why you see it sometimes, others not. If I am right, this is manufacturer mistake in the produced hardware and if I were you I would ask for replacement.
Thanks for the reply! That’s right I’ve used the rear camera and not the selfie one. I thought I could maybe dust? It doesn’t do it on any other mode Other than the normal
Camera and portrait mode. I’ve tried other camera apps too and it doesn’t do it on there either... it just does it on the standard and portrait setting when zoomed in at x2 it does disappear when pressing different parts to focus.
 
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Thanks for the reply! That’s right I’ve used the rear camera and not the selfie one. I thought I could maybe dust? It doesn’t do it on any other mode Other than the normal
Camera and portrait mode. I’ve tried other camera apps too and it doesn’t do it on there either...

It is dust but dust between the lens and the sensor. You cannot remove it. It was introduced there when assembling the phone itself. Can you check the details of the photos that you took with the spot and without the spot? I want to see the F-stop. My assumption is that the spot will appear for certain F-stops.

I have mirrorless camera with exchangeable lenses. I have such spots when there is dust between the lens and the sensor and it usually depends on the F-stop. Luckily for me I can remove the lens and remove the dust. That cannot happen with phones unfortunately.

I have also seen such spot with second hand Sony phone that obviously had dust between the sensor and the lens. So yeah this is where I am going into this direction as weird as it sounds.
 
It is dust but dust between the lens and the sensor. You cannot remove it. It was introduced there when assembling the phone itself. Can you check the details of the photos that you took with the spot and without the spot? I want to see the F-stop. My assumption is that the spot will appear for certain F-stops.

I have mirrorless camera with exchangeable lenses. I have such spots when there is dust between the lens and the sensor and it usually depends on the F-stop. Luckily for me I can remove the lens and remove the dust. That cannot happen with phones unfortunately.

I have also seen such spot with second hand Sony phone that obviously had dust between the sensor and the lens. So yeah this is where I am going into this direction as weird as it sounds.
Thanks. The fstop on the portrait mode one where I first noticed it was f4.5 when using the normal camera setting it doesn’t appear until zoomed in at x2 but unsure how to find the f number for that one. If that helps?
I’ve tried using the Snapchat app and it doesn’t appear when using that and zooming in...
 
Thanks. The fstop on the portrait mode one where I first noticed it was f4.5 when using the normal camera setting it doesn’t appear until zoomed in at x2 but unsure how to find the f number for that one. If that helps?
I’ve tried using the Snapchat app and it doesn’t appear when using that and zooming in...

Unfortunately I am not sure either :(. I thought of something else. Unlike my camera the iPhone you have has two lenses. One was the regular one, what was the other one? Was it telephoto or something else? I don't remember. I am just trying to find out which one of the two lenses/sensors has dust.

Btw my camera increases the F stop when zooming. Also the spots appear with bigger F stops. So there might be that as well as factor for your phone. Nevertheless I just want to check where is the dust. Meaning in which lens of the two.
 
It appears when the second lens is used, the one for the portrait mode or zoom... not sure which it is. I’ll try compressed air maybe?
 
It appears when the second lens is used, the one for the portrait mode or zoom... not sure which it is. I’ll try compressed air maybe?

To be honest I am not sure that you can remove it :(. I would personally bring it back to the store. I do not know how you can remove dust from iPhone lenses/sensors and if I were you I would not risk making more damage to the phone.
 
To be honest I am not sure that you can remove it :(. I would personally bring it back to the store. I do not know how you can remove dust from iPhone lenses/sensors and if I were you I would not risk making more damage to the phone.
I'll see if a store can sort it. I'm confused as to how it's happened as it wasn't there earlier and aren't the phones meant to have IP ratings to stop dust getting in?
 
I'll see if a store can sort it. I'm confused as to how it's happened as it wasn't there earlier and aren't the phones meant to have IP ratings to stop dust getting in?

Yep, they should be and this is not something that should regularly happen with phones. This is why it is worth asking at the store. How long have you had the phone?
 
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