Apple has finally responded publicly to customer complaints regarding the iPhone 5 camera issue. When the device launched last month users began reporting a flaring in the images and projected a general dissatisfaction with the pictures. More precisely, there was a purplish haze on some images taken with the device’s camera when bright light sources were in-frame.
Last week, Gizmodo brought us the news that one of its readers received an email from the Cupertino-based giant acknowledging the camera problem. In the email, the engineering team explained that this was ‘normal behavior’ and that the only solution at present would be to tilt the camera away from any bright light sources when taking pictures.
Now MacRumors points out that an official public response has appeared on the company’s support page detailing a solution. Apple says the purple or colored fringing is from out-of-scene bright light sources. The reason for this is given as follows; when taking images with small cameras, and when there is a light source at an angle, reflection off the internal surfaces of the camera module may cause stray light to be directed onto the sensor.
In addition to tilting the camera to change the angle at which light from a bright source enters the lens, another, more make-shift solution has been touched upon. Users can also opt to shield the lens with their hand in order to minimize this effect.
Speculation was rife that the flaring was caused, or at the least enhanced, by the new sapphire crystal lens cover added to the smartphone’s camera to make it more rugged. But, as expected, Apple has stayed as far away from that opinion as possible. So for now anyway, iPhone 5 users will just have to tough it out until someone puts an anti-flare project up on Kickstarter. Who wouldn’t go for something like that?