Apple Confirms iPhone 5's Purple Aura Camera Issue

Tharic-Nar · 10-08-2012, 01:04 PM

Not long after Apple launched its latest iPhone, complaints started creeping up around the Web of a purple haze that would appear in certain photos, more often than not ruining it. In a message to one customer, AppleCare stated that it was considered to be normal behavior, and that the recommend course of action would be to point the camera away from light sources. Following-up, Apple has publicly released information stating the same.

You can read the rest of our post and discuss here.

DarkStarr · 10-08-2012, 03:43 PM

Bahahaha Apple denying things. Whats new? They claim its common to all small cameras but my Hercules has NEVER had a picture that looks like that.

MacMan · 10-11-2012, 06:05 PM

Just as many phones had the so-called "antenna gate" problem long before the iPhone, so does this purple haze problem exists for other Android phones as noted by Consumer Reports, and as their photos show:

http://news.consumerreports.org/elec...-iphone-5.html

RainMotorsports · 10-12-2012, 03:27 AM

That consumer reports post images seems more towards lens flares than purple haze anyways. I cant say I worry about what color a lens flare turns when one occurs. Nice to see they did include lens flaring from light sources in their testing though. Haven't even seen that in dSLR testing.

From what I can tell this has little to do with the purple fringing at high contrast borders that is common on some point and shoots especially those with superzoom lenses?

Rob Williams · 10-12-2012, 01:00 PM

"The Apple iPhone 5, which our Ratings reveal is a standout camera, is no more prone to purple hazing on photos shot into a bright light source than its predecessor or than several Android phones with fine cameras, according to special Consumer Reports tests."

*proceeds to show no examples of the effect on non-iPhones*

Consumer Reports is starting to become a bit of a joke. As Rain said, this isn't about lens flare... every single lens on the market can create lens flare depending on how the photo is taken (sometimes it's on purpose). The problem with the iPhone 5 is that it can add a purple aura. If it was just lens flare, it wouldn't be a problem. A deep purple aura on your photo actually stands out in the wrong way.

madmat · 10-12-2012, 03:20 PM

This photo was taken with a spanking new iPhone 5. The pic is being lit by the onboard flash. Notice the color of the wall, a nice deep lavender. Sadly, that wall is supposed to be white.

This one isn't as bad, the wall almost looks dove gray. Still, neither is tinted from lens flare as consumer reports claims.

Oddly enough, the guy that took those pics says that in the image the guitar, which is the main focus, actually has the proper hue to it where other cameras can't render that shade of green worth a damn.

Still, I'm seeing a slight problem with it turning white to lavender.

FWIW, here's a shot of a white wall taken from about 2' with my 5 or 6 year old Canon point and shoot:

Rob Williams · 10-12-2012, 04:03 PM

How well was the room lit when the picture was taken of the guitar? Because that hue doesn't seem to be the result of the same issue the iPhone 5 is experiencing, but just due to either how close the camera was to the object or the lighting. If the photog stood back a good distance and zoomed in, I'm wondering if the same purple tone would be seen.

Discoloration like that can happen even on DSLRs if lightning isn't good enough. It's easier to compensate for that when you have one hell of a low f-stop lens.

madmat · 10-12-2012, 04:11 PM

I have no clue as to how well that the room was lit, in my pic the room was only lit by ambient light coming in through the window with the shades closed. The camera I used is an 8.0MP Canon A590is. While the wall doesn't look terribly white it does look more correct than the iPhone 5 images.

10-08-2012, 01:04 PM	#1
Tharic-Nar Techgage Staff Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Posts: 1,151	Apple Confirms iPhone 5's Purple Aura Camera Issue Not long after Apple launched its latest iPhone, complaints started creeping up around the Web of a purple haze that would appear in certain photos, more often than not ruining it. In a message to one customer, AppleCare stated that it was considered to be normal behavior, and that the recommend course of action would be to point the camera away from light sources. Following-up, Apple has publicly released information stating the same. You can read the rest of our post and discuss here. __________________ PSU: Corsair 1000HX - Case: Thermaltake Xaser VI Full Tower - CPU: Intel Core i7 2600 @3.8GHz - Cooler: Thermaltake FRIO - Motherboard: ASUS P67 Sabertooth - Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic 1600 - GPU: 2x AMD Radeon HD 5870 - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB 6Gb/s - Audio: ASUS Xonar DX + Corsair HS1 USB Headset K/B: Corsair K90 - Mouse: Corsair M60 - Monitor: DELL U2410 - Speakers: Corsair SP2500 - Headset: Corsair HS1A - Mic: Blue Yeti USB Microphone - I need Fiber to fix my Irregular Bandwidth Syndrome -

10-08-2012, 03:43 PM	#2
DarkStarr Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 623	Bahahaha Apple denying things. Whats new? They claim its common to all small cameras but my Hercules has NEVER had a picture that looks like that. __________________ Intel Core i7 2700k (4.8 @ 100x48) Watercooled - 16GB Crucial Ballistix @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T 8GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T - Asus Sabertooth P67 - Asus Radeon 7970 Ref. (Non Ghz) Heatkiller 79xx Ni-Bl (Soon) @ 1050/1500 - 64Gb Crucial M4 SSD - 3x Hitachi 1Tb - Corsair TX950W Azza Genesis 9000B - 2x Samsung SyncMaster S27A550H - Vizio 32" LCD

10-11-2012, 06:05 PM	#3
MacMan Partition Master Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 432	Just as many phones had the so-called "antenna gate" problem long before the iPhone, so does this purple haze problem exists for other Android phones as noted by Consumer Reports, and as their photos show: http://news.consumerreports.org/elec...-iphone-5.html __________________ http://www.my2cents4theday.blogspot.com/ M a c OS X!

10-12-2012, 03:27 AM	#4
RainMotorsports Partition Master Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 349	That consumer reports post images seems more towards lens flares than purple haze anyways. I cant say I worry about what color a lens flare turns when one occurs. Nice to see they did include lens flaring from light sources in their testing though. Haven't even seen that in dSLR testing. From what I can tell this has little to do with the purple fringing at high contrast borders that is common on some point and shoots especially those with superzoom lenses? __________________ Desktop i5 2500K @ 4.5Ghz \| ASUS P8Z68-V PRO \| 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600 \| Seasonic X750 MSI GTX570 TF III @ 950/1900/2300 \| 2TB 5900 + 2X320GB 7200 RAID0 \| Zalman CNPS9900 MAX Laptop ASUS G50VT \| Core2Duo T9600 @ 3.3Ghz \| 9800M GS/GTS @ 650/1625/900 Phone Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch \| CyanogenMod 9 (Nightly 6/20) \| FF11 Kernel \| FF18 Modem

10-12-2012, 01:00 PM	#5
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	"The Apple iPhone 5, which our Ratings reveal is a standout camera, is no more prone to purple hazing on photos shot into a bright light source than its predecessor or than several Android phones with fine cameras, according to special Consumer Reports tests." proceeds to show no examples of the effect on non-iPhones Consumer Reports is starting to become a bit of a joke. As Rain said, this isn't about lens flare... every single lens on the market can create lens flare depending on how the photo is taken (sometimes it's on purpose). The problem with the iPhone 5 is that it can add a purple aura. If it was just lens flare, it wouldn't be a problem. A deep purple aura on your photo actually stands out in the wrong way. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-12-2012, 03:20 PM	#6
madmat Soup Nazi Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: No soup for you! Posts: 1,636	This photo was taken with a spanking new iPhone 5. The pic is being lit by the onboard flash. Notice the color of the wall, a nice deep lavender. Sadly, that wall is supposed to be white. This one isn't as bad, the wall almost looks dove gray. Still, neither is tinted from lens flare as consumer reports claims. Oddly enough, the guy that took those pics says that in the image the guitar, which is the main focus, actually has the proper hue to it where other cameras can't render that shade of green worth a damn. Still, I'm seeing a slight problem with it turning white to lavender. FWIW, here's a shot of a white wall taken from about 2' with my 5 or 6 year old Canon point and shoot: __________________ M4N82 Deluxe Phenom II 940 Black Edition quad core @ 3.5Ghz 2x1 gig OCZ PC26400 Platinum, 2x1gig GSkill PC26400 EVGA GTX260 Buncha drives, Some other stuff, Even more stuff, If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. --Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine Sign Me! Last edited by madmat; 10-12-2012 at 03:26 PM.

10-12-2012, 04:03 PM	#7
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	How well was the room lit when the picture was taken of the guitar? Because that hue doesn't seem to be the result of the same issue the iPhone 5 is experiencing, but just due to either how close the camera was to the object or the lighting. If the photog stood back a good distance and zoomed in, I'm wondering if the same purple tone would be seen. Discoloration like that can happen even on DSLRs if lightning isn't good enough. It's easier to compensate for that when you have one hell of a low f-stop lens. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-12-2012, 04:11 PM	#8
madmat Soup Nazi Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: No soup for you! Posts: 1,636	I have no clue as to how well that the room was lit, in my pic the room was only lit by ambient light coming in through the window with the shades closed. The camera I used is an 8.0MP Canon A590is. While the wall doesn't look terribly white it does look more correct than the iPhone 5 images. __________________ M4N82 Deluxe Phenom II 940 Black Edition quad core @ 3.5Ghz 2x1 gig OCZ PC26400 Platinum, 2x1gig GSkill PC26400 EVGA GTX260 Buncha drives, Some other stuff, Even more stuff, If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. --Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine Sign Me!