Apple explains the purple flare on the iPhone 5 camera

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If this has happened in your pictures, Apple explains why.



  • Sams0n1te

    And people have not seen this as much with previous versiona and with other phones because … Lazy

    • Sams0n1te

      Sapphire is not totally colorless. So you get tougher lens but you might ens up with more purple flare ? More honest guess…

  • http://www.thegraphicmac.com/ JimD

    I have yet to see anywhere that Apple “explains” the purple flare, they just tell you that it’s normal and you should re-frame your photo or hold your hand over the lens while taking the picture (stupid, considering how hard it would be to push the button with one hand).

    The real reason is the Sapphire lens, and they just don’t want to admit it. Yes, the backlighting can cause flares, but not like what people are seeing with the iPhone 5.

    That being said, since everyone apparently prides themselves on running their photos through filters in Instagram to make them look ugly, the flare issue can be seen as a feature, not a bug. ;)

    • Guest

      Pros use lens hoods to avoid this issue. It’s real and has nothing to do with the sapphire lens.

      • http://www.thegraphicmac.com/ JimD

        Yeah, they use them to reduce glare and lens flare. But that has nothing to do with the purple flare in the iPhone 5.

        I set up an iPhone 4, iPhone 5 and my DSLR on tripods right next to each other and took a photo at the same time pointed exactly the same. The iPhone 5 had a nasty purple flare/hue – the 4 and my DSLR had nothing.

      • http://www.thegraphicmac.com/ JimD

        Yeah, a lens hood prevents lens flare. The purple is what I’m talking about.

  • Techpm

    I can – and have – put my 4S in several situations where I get purple haze.

    I also get lens flare with my Nikon D80 with top of the range Nikkor lenses.

    However the point is I get purple haze in different conditions depending on the camera, i.e. where I get haze with the DSLR I don’t with the 4S and vice-versa.

    From my experience with a friend’s phone same happens with the iPhone 5, it reacts to light differently to the 4S so where you get haze on one doesn’t mean you should get on the other.

  • http://joshcenters.com/ Josh Centers

    I took five shots of the sun yesterday with my iPhone 5 to try and replicate this effect. A purple spot appeared in only one of the photos, and it’s the first time I’ve noticed it at all. Not too worried.