Adam Kos The latest beta of the iOS 15 operating system, which should theoretically be available in a sharp version to the general public within two months, "improves" the processing of photos containing lens flare. But the question is whether this is a desired function or, on the contrary, one that could be forgiven by the update. The camera hardware in iPhones plays a significant role in the quality of the resulting photos, but another no less important factor is the software adjustments made by the ISP (Image Signal Processor). According to sample images on Reddit, it looks like the fourth beta version of iOS 15 will improve this processing in such lighting conditions, in which lens flare can appear in the photo.
According to the published photos, it seems that in a direct comparison of them, there is a noticeable artifact on one of them, which is already missing on the other. This cannot be achieved without additional hardware filters, so it must be a software processing included in the latest beta version of the system. At the same time, this is not a novelty that Apple would promote in any way with the launch of iOS 15. It is also interesting that glare is reduced with the Live Photos function turned on. Without it, they are still present on the source image.
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A point of view
When you go all over the internet, you will usually come across that this is an unwanted phenomenon that degrades image quality. But only in certain cases. Personally, I like these reflections, and I even look for them, or rather, if they are displayed in the scene preview, I try to enhance them even more so that they stand out. So if Apple was deliberately modifying them for me, I'd be quite disappointed. In addition, for fans of this phenomenon, the App Store has an incredible number of applications that apply artificial reflections to photos.
Examples of lens flare present in the photo:
But I probably don't have to hang my head completely. According to the comments, it seems that iOS 15 will reduce only those small reflections that could be harmful, and will leave the larger ones, that is, those that could theoretically be present on purpose. Beta testers found that glare reduction is present from the iPhone XS (XR), i.e. classically from iPhones with the A12 Bionic chip and later. So it won't be exclusive to iPhone 13. But it will probably be a system feature and you won't be able to control this behavior in the camera settings.
