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back to article That horrendous iPhone empurplement - you're holding it wrong

ALL iPhones put a purple flare on photos they take, Apple has admitted, but only if they are held incorrectly. The tech giant has responded to complaints that snaps are marred by a thistle-tinted haze - but blamed incompetent fanbois rather than coughing to a hardware fault. Punters experiencing purple flares, hazes and spots …

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  1. Pen-y-gors

    Next iPhone accessory?

    specially shaped prosthetic hand to ensure you hold your iThing correctly - mustn't allow too much light in, mustn't press on the antenna etc...I can just see the fanbois queueing up outside the hospital to be the first to have one fitted.

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    1. Velv
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Next iPhone accessory?

      I'm just waiting for the Apple patent application for a unwanted light refraction prevention cover.

      Otherwise known as a lens hood. Which has been in existence since about two days after the lens was invented. Which if course Apple invented.

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      1. Marty
        Reply Icon

        Re: Next iPhone accessory?

        "I'm just waiting for the Apple patent application for a unwanted light refraction prevention cover."

        As it has been in existence for a very long time I think apple will even understand getting a patent on it will be a frivolous task...

        but what I have no doubt is that future iphones will have some sort of light reflection and anti-scattering technology built in, even if it is just smoother glass to reduce inhomogeneities on the lens and give it a stupid name they can trademark so they can advertise apple produces as the only product with iHood(r)(tm)(cu)(nt)

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        1. Richard 12 Silver badge
          Reply Icon
          Devil

          Re: Next iPhone accessory?

          You mean black paint, ribbed for (her) pleasure?

          That'll be in there already, Apple buy the whole lens assy and sensor from others.

          A built-in lens hood is highly unlikely - the geometry simply won't fit the aesthetic. A stick-on one would be trivial though.

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      2. Dick Pountain
        Reply Icon

        Re: Next iPhone accessory?

        There's no need to wait for Apple, go Blue Peter style. Cut an ordinary bog-roll tube in half and dip it in matte black stove paint. When dry attach to the lovely shiny aluminium back of your iPhone 5 with Locktite superglue. Sorted.

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      3. KjetilS
        Reply Icon

        Re: Next iPhone accessory?

        Seems like it's trivial to get a patent on something that has existed for ages as long as you append "on a mobile device".

        So, "light refraction prevention cover on a mobile device" would most likefly pass right through the USPTO

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  2. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Wise advice from my gran

    "Well dear, if it turns purple, you're holding it too tight"

    Though she was talking about babies - since iPhones hadn't been invented then.

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    1. Preacher
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Wise advice from my gran

      My Gran said the same thing, she wasn't taking about babies though.....

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    2. Shagbag
      Reply Icon

      Re: Wise advice from my gran

      She was talking about your bell-end.

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    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wise advice from my gran

      I'm quite concerned that your gran felt the need to say that (to you?).

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  3. dougal83
    Meh

    I'm quite surprised to find that out the best phone in the world isn't so in all respects.

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    1. Paul_Murphy
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Sorry

      I didn't know that Heineken made a mobile phone...

      ttfn

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      1. some vaguely opinionated bloke
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        Re: Sorry

        They don't, they're only capable of refreshing the phone parts that Carlsberg can't reach. Probably.

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      2. Matthew 25
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        Headmaster

        Re: Sorry

        Probably the best.. is Carlsberg (according to their ad).

        Heineken reaches the parts others cannot reach... sort of like Apple maps in reverse

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      3. Paul_Murphy
        Reply Icon

        Re: Sorry

        dang it - mixed my ads up...

        thanks for the corrections.

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  4. Nick 10

    if they made the body of the phone slightly thicker, then they could include some sort of hood around the camera lens to eliminate lens flare.

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    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      They could provide free rubber accessories for this.

      They've done it before...

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      1. lauri_hoefs
        Reply Icon
        Gimp

        Rubber accessories

        "They could provide free rubber accessories for this.

        They've done it before..."

        I was wondering if Apple had really handed out contraceptives to crazed fanbois and girls, but then realized you were probably speaking of different rubber accessories, of lens hoods and such.

        But contraceptives might be a solution long term solution too.

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        1. Sorry, "Sorry that handle is already taken" is already taken.
          Reply Icon
          Coat

          Re: Rubber accessories

          An iSheath for your iBone?

          Mine's the one with the prophylactics in the pocket.

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  5. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Stop

    I despair, I really do...

    Remember back in the day, when photographers - even snappers - actually knew something about the subject? Y'know, read the inside of the film box where it said 'stand with the sun behind you'?

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    1. Peter Storm
      Reply Icon

      Re: I despair, I really do...

      Judging by the phone snaps that I've seen from some people, a big splodge of purple would actually improve them no end.

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  6. Anonymous Custard
    Joke

    A nice little niche market money-earner perhaps?

    A training course and accompanying book entitled iPhone Holding for Dummies?

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  7. g e

    Apple won't need genuises soon

    Just a sign on the counter or a pre-recorded message saying

    "You're holding it wrong"

    Will suffice for all ailments... Lily The Pink would be proud.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm sure there used to be this thing called photography, and that it used to have an advanced technology called a Lens Hood.

    Unless Jobs was somehow cleverer on the old optics than the likes of Schneider and Zeiss, surely the i-cameras will inhabit the same universe as the rest of us, where pointing your camera at the sun gives natural lens flare.

    Get used to it perhaps? Or call it i-flare?

    or Apple Authentic Analogue Lens Flare? It's real and old-stylee and therefore "ANALOGUE". mmm,. smell the vinyl.

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    1. Malcolm Weir Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Nikon, who I tend to think know something about photography, or more relevantly lens design, can build devices that do not suffer from lens flare without a lot of effort.

      Optically, lens flare is a result of partial reflections of optical elements (both the internal and external surfaces). It can be minimized by good design and great coatings, and it has nothing to do with whether optical element is part of a lens in front of a digital sensor or a piece of photosensitive material (aka "film") or an organic photoreceptive organ (aka "eye").

      For grins, compare a pair of 1940s expensive binoculars with a contemporary pair. Even the Zeiss and Leica brands from back then don't stand up to the the average product of today.

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  9. Shady
    Joke

    It's not a fault...

    ... it's Instagram, implemented in hardware so it can't be switched off

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  10. adam payne

    Perhaps they should issue diagrams on how to hold the phone and how to take pictures.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      They will - in the patent application.

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  11. John Lilburne

    Gack

    I get flare with some shots using my panasonic shielding with one's hand don't work unless one has hands about 2 meters wide.

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Apple spin:

    Enjoy your new iPhone5 with patented hipster mode, that puts Instagram(tm) style purple spots and dodgy coloring all over your photos. *

    (* feature is not optional, sequence shortened, other better phones are available)

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  13. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    Siri you bloody idiot!

    I said to make it take pictures with flair.

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  14. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Having flares in your photo is typically a bad thing, worse than having flares in your wardrobe.

    Most SLR lenses will come with a lens hood to try to eliminate it, often combined with a polarizing filter.

    That's not to excuse the fact that iPhone is sensitive to flaring, but it is likely to be the result of the camera unit they are using, not the phone.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      You make me laugh - yes a SLR may come with a lens hood. Now if Canon / Nikon suggested you use that it's wholly acceptable yet if Apple suggest using your hands as an improvised lens hood that is completely wrong.

      They should just go and re-invent the laws of physics - lenses that cannot suffer from flare, batteries that never run out etc.

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    2. Psyx
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      "Having flares in your photo is typically a bad thing, worse than having flares in your wardrobe."

      The entire hipster culture seems to be about embracing the things that the possess that are shit,. and the lack of talent in areas and pretending it's cool and wonderful instead.

      qv: Shitty photos with lens-flare, crap sense in clothes, crap sense in music, inability to do more than pluck intermittently at a guitar, bikes with no brakes, NHS glasses, hair cut by spasming chimpanzees.

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  15. Paul E

    Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

    To me this has got very much the same ring to it as why the original holding it wrong reception problem did not come to light until after the phones release.

    The main reason being, I suspect, insufficient 'real world' testing.

    You can put your phone on a stand in a special chamber and be happy with the reception and you can take nice pictures on test patterns till the cows come home. But its only in the hands of real people just using the device that this sort of things come to light.

    Is this down to Apples near paranoia about stopping leaks that they are not able to do as much real world testing with their phones before the release that possibly other manufacturers?

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    1. Sean Timarco Baggaley
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

      Seriously? Do you weirdos genuinely believe that a device like this gets minimal testing and is cranked out the factory the moment the designer emails the plans to Foxconn?

      1: The "Antennagate" bollocks was bullshit of the highest order: EVERY bloody phone suffers signal attenuation to some degree if you cup it in your hands. If humans were entirely transparent to electromagnetic waves, (f)MRI scans would be of absolutely no bloody use whatsoever. You can replicate the exact same attenuation on any damned phone. As I own an iPhone 4 myself, I have plenty of first-hand evidence that there's absolutely nothing wrong with its reception. If anything, it's better than most phones at getting a signal in poor signal areas. (As I also live in the Italian countryside, poor signal areas aren't that uncommon either. Although networks that support 3G, let alone 4G, are still shockingly rare outside of cities.)

      2: Even amateur photographers know you're not supposed to point cameras at light sources, or even close to them if possible. Lens flare has existed since the invention of the fucking lens. It's normal. Christ knows what they teach kids in schools these days, but ten minutes on Google would have told these ignorant idiots what they were doing wrong.

      The customer is not always right, not matter how much they think they are. There is no such thing as "foolproof" technology; only "fool-resistant".

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      1. Paul E
        Reply Icon

        Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

        "1: The "Antennagate" bollocks was bullshit of the highest order: EVERY bloody phone suffers signal attenuation to some degree if you cup it in your hands"

        But SPECIFICALLY the way the antenna are on the outside of the iphone meant that holding it such that you fingers bridged the gap caused a drastic reduction in reception, hence the free bumpers to get round the issue. Yes all phones attenuate when you cup your hands around it but this was an instance where the design of the phone created a failure method that was found out immediately after the phone was released but which Apple were apparently unaware of from their testing. To me that gives the impression that they did not get enough people to test it before it was released.

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

          I'd live to know how many people genuinely suffered from antenna gate and felt the need to return their phones - bet it was much less than 1%. At least Apple offered to take back any phones from anyone 'unhappy' and ALSO offered a free bumper. Basically to get the attenuation you would have to grip the phone like some crazed ape - in the REAL world all phones will get affected like that.

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          1. Paul E
            Reply Icon

            Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

            "Basically to get the attenuation you would have to grip the phone like some crazed ape - in the REAL world all phones will get affected like that."

            Can you clarify how the typical grip of a phone differs between an normal ape and a crazed ape?

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          2. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

            "I'd live to know how many people genuinely suffered from antenna gate and felt the need to return their phones"

            Me too. I had my iPhone 4 from launch day right up until this Monday when my iPhone 5 arrived. I never had an antenna problem, even trying to replicate the problem I could barely make the signal drop, and I'm out in the sticks and barely getting 2 bars of signal. But when has reality ever bothered iPhone haters? And they say Apple fans are the ones living in a reality distortion field...

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            1. Anonymous Coward
              Reply Icon
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

              >I never had an antenna problem, even trying to replicate the problem I could barely make the signal drop

              Easy to say in a forum. I've never handled an iPhone4 which doesn't exhibit this issue - and IMO neither have Apple, that's why they radically changed the antenna design in later models and handed out rubber bands.

              >I could barely make the signal drop, and I'm out in the sticks and barely getting 2 bars of signal

              The number of bars displayed has very little to do with the signal strength or viability as it was nobbled to convince you there wasn't a problem. It worked too.

              >And they say Apple fans are the ones living in a reality distortion field...

              Problem with living in an RDF is you can't see it - at least until now thanks to iPhone5 camera - it's kind of a purple looking aura.

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      2. TheOtherHobbes
        Reply Icon

        Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

        "Even amateur photographers know you're not supposed to point cameras at light sources, or even close to them if possible."

        Only an idiot would suggest that pointing cameras at light sources is wrong.

        In fact it's a standard technique for special effects - silhouettes, halos, translucent backlighting, and others.

        Pros do it deliberately all the time.

        *Some* lens flare is normal and expected. *Too much* lens flare is a very bad thing.

        Oh, and you're talking bollocks about antennagate too. Do other phones lose their cellco connection completely if you hold them normally while making calls?

        No, they don't.

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        1. Toothpick
          Reply Icon
          Stop

          Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

          Oh, and you're talking bollocks about antennagate too. Do other phones lose their cellco connection completely if you hold them normally while making calls?

          No, they don't.

          O yes they do. My HTC desire did it regularly. That's why I got rid.

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          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

            Mine doesn''t. Reliable, which is why I still have it. Programmer friend bought a second-hand one, it doesn''t either.

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            1. Anonymous Coward
              Reply Icon
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

              HTC Desire (s) , I mean.

              Plus they have a non-metallic back cover, under which I presume the antenna lives somewhere, although the rest of the chassis seems to be sturdy cast metal.

              There were some bad system boards (temp sensor - rebooting) but they replaced those boards for free.

              Under EU regs you had up to 2 years from new to get that done. Maybe still possible anyway, I am sure they had big stocks of spare boards, which would be no use for anything else.

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      3. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

        In the real world

        foolproof == idiot-detecting

        ... but keep it under your hat.

        BTW: resistance is futile.

        Re: post icons

        In the pursuit of ever-more-meaningful icons, how long will it be before c'tards are provided the means to compose, using two or more icons from the meagre collection currently available, an animated GIF of a few seconds duration to go along with their posts? Xmas is coming, and we've been good!

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lack of 'Real World Testing'?

      I suspect Apple do extensive testing - but in any design there are trade-offs you have to make - technically it's probably the best camera in a phone of it's size / weight - yes the Nokia 808 has more pixels but it's basically a huge lens (making it almost twice as thick)

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  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just wonder if reduction in photo quality (or ease of getting good photo quality) is an unintended consequence of the mad rush to have "the thinnesy phone ever" etc. Seems obvious that if you reduce the thickness of the phone and assume that the basic lens/ccd assembly can't be made much smaller then the result is that there is less scope to recess the lens to protect it from flare from extraneous light sources.

    So its quite possible that the camera is inherently one of the best quality phone cameras (which I think is what a DP Review style test determines from series of stand photos in studio conditions to measure resolution etc) but at the same time is also much more difficult to use in practice.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      It's by no means 'difficult to use' or even 'more difficult to use' - but still some people just cannot take good pictures - thinks like lens flare are basically unavoidable on such a device and technologies like HDR allow people to rescue what would have been a dreadful picture into something decent.

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