According to Macworld, some users are experiencing very yellow photos from the new, high-res camera in their iPhone 4. This also makes shots taken with LED flash come across sick and greenly.
I used to write about digital cameras for a living, so excuse me if I try and explain what’s going on here. Light cast from different light sources are different colors, which we often internalize and automatically thing of as “white”. You can tell this the most obviously when under an old incandescent bulb, which makes a warm, yellowish glow. But it’s also true of fluorescent lights, the sun, in shade, under clouds, etc. They all have slightly different light color, which we automatically account for.
A camera has to try and handle these too, or else the images look wrong to us. Most cameras have the option to set it manually, or just let the machine handle it for itself — which is what the iPhone does. Obviously, for these people, the camera is reading the wrong white balance values for the shot. The yellow pall means it’s trying to over-correct for very blue light sources — it most likely thinks you’re shooting at twilight or in the shade.
Have any of our readers hit this issue?
Written By
It’s a phone and NOT a camera. Good lord, can we find one more thing wrong with this phone.
That has got to be the dumbest reposes I’ve ever read. “It’s a phone and NOT a camera.” If I want JUST a phone, I would of got a crappy flip phone and not a $300 iPhone that is supposed to do all the things it advertises. Since when is a smart phone “just a phone”?
response*
The dumbest, seriously?? People spent more then 300 on the phone before it even had a flash so that kinda debunks your theory that your $300 phone has to have a DSLR worthy camera. It is just a SMARTphone that conveniently has a really good camera (which I haven’t had one issue with). I have a very nice 12 megapixel digital camera to use if I’m concerned about having perfect pictures.
You ever think some people can’t afford a phone AND a good camera? I keep my phone with me at all times. I hardly ever have my real camera on me. The flash is worthless to me so that pont is invalid and not even what this article is talking about in the first place. I’m going back to my first statement which still stands true: ‘If I wanted JUST a phone, I would of got a crappy flip phone and not a $300 iPhone.”
Well Mikey that’s your opinion which you are entitled to. My point was when the iphone first came out it didn’t have a flash and people still double that price. For me the phone is worth the price with or without a camera, so the issue is irrelevant to me. THAT is my opinion which I’m also entitled to.
The worst argument ever, mainly after all of Steve’s keynotes, this is a camera too, not a pro camera, but a camera, and it has to work fine, or are we going to be conformist and accept thing don’t work as should.
yeah the white balance is a lil off, I used a gray card and the colors was right on, BUT I had to hold the card with in site on the camera, once I pulled the card, the colors went back to washed out, to a yellowish color
I’ve had all the iPhone and I have to say the the white balance of the iPhone 4 does suck… really bad. Everything is super yellow. If you fool around with taking a picture long enough on it you can sometimes get it to find “white” and work properly, but it’s a PIA.
It’s starting to become one thing after another with this phone. They must have really rushed this thing out.
I must be lucky – I’m not having significant WB issues with my i4.
WB is a super easy correction in an update, so I’m sure if it’s a wide spread problem it’ll get fixed. Until then, get iPhone PhotoShop – it’s a decent app and the price is right!
I have got to agree, this issue is more of a software issue not a hardware issue and easily fixed with a FW update.