My camera lens on the iPhone is starting to get its AR all scratched up/off. Anyone else seeing the same?
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Is Your Antireflective Coating Scratched Up?
- Thread starter Bostonian1976
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88 people looked at this but no replies - thanks
Damn kids. In my day we had to wait DAYS to get responses to posts. And we walked up hill BOTH ways to school in SNOW! lol
No scratches on mine. But my lens is recessed. Is maybe yours not?
mine's slightly recessed but it was fine like a week ago - now all of a sudden it's all scratched up
mine's slightly recessed but it was fine like a week ago - now all of a sudden it's all scratched up
Thats odd. I wonder what did it. Did you try cleaning it with alcohol to make sure its not just some dirt thats dried on?
If it is indeed scratched all I can suggest is to take it to a jeweler. They may be able to polish it up and I don't think it would cost much at all.
Yes, my camera lens looked weird starting approx June 30. I figured they all did this? You have to have it at the right angle under light, to see it looks weird. I've been meaning to post about this too.
other than wearing some prana shorts with mesh pockets I've done nothing different - I really baby the phone.
The thing is - once this stuff gets all scratched, the pictures will come out crappy (ier).
The jeweler is a good thought but the polishing would only further remove the AR coating, I'm assuming. I wonder if I can get a new lens somehow...
My iPhone's camera lens coating is very scratched/splotchy/flaked off. I noticed a few small spots a week ago, and the removal has grown exponentially since then as more edge gets exposed and chipped away at. I looked at my girlfriend's phone and the coating is completely gone already. We both obsessively take care of our phones, I slightly more than she, always in cases, only coming out into the wild to feed at night.
I'm guessing that the dearth of replies may be due to the fact that for most people the coating has probably already completely gone away without them ever noticing it. I'm amazed at how quickly it deteriorated. I never lay it down on anything hard or rough. In future models I'd appreciate some better adhesion, to recess the camera more than a couple of microns, or to not bother with the coating at all. At this point I hope it just hurries up and flakes off completely so at least the appearance will be consistent again.
I'm guessing that the dearth of replies may be due to the fact that for most people the coating has probably already completely gone away without them ever noticing it. I'm amazed at how quickly it deteriorated. I never lay it down on anything hard or rough. In future models I'd appreciate some better adhesion, to recess the camera more than a couple of microns, or to not bother with the coating at all. At this point I hope it just hurries up and flakes off completely so at least the appearance will be consistent again.
Yeah I noticed mine started looking weird on July 1. ha-ha. I baby my phone too. I still have some of it left, actually it doesn't look much worst than it did July 1, which sucks cause like you say it makes it look rather weird. I know it's terrible to say, but I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for on mine but my lens just has what looks like oil on it a bit...rainbow-ish. No coating that i can discern either on or flaking off.
Yes, rainbowish, but if you wipe it, it probably isn't going to change. It's probably the same problem we have. It does look sorta like it's wet or something, but that isn't the issue.
Same problem - UV coating wearing off
Sadly, I think the same thing has happened to mine. I've been pretty conscious of keeping the lens clean until now there is an area that looks like a smudge and each time I try to clean it off, it just gets bigger. This is not a scratch either... and the image blooms everywhere there is a bright contrast or light source in the image. Pictures are hit and miss as to clarity now.
I compared side by side with a coworker by just turning on the camera app and aiming both iPhones at a bright light source from a window and you can plainly see the hazy white/blue blooming in my image. On the other iPhone whose lens coating looks perfectly intact the image is actually quite clear and sharp.
Sadly, I think the same thing has happened to mine. I've been pretty conscious of keeping the lens clean until now there is an area that looks like a smudge and each time I try to clean it off, it just gets bigger. This is not a scratch either... and the image blooms everywhere there is a bright contrast or light source in the image. Pictures are hit and miss as to clarity now.
I compared side by side with a coworker by just turning on the camera app and aiming both iPhones at a bright light source from a window and you can plainly see the hazy white/blue blooming in my image. On the other iPhone whose lens coating looks perfectly intact the image is actually quite clear and sharp.
Fixed! Well at least replaced...
The Apple genius sent my iPhone in for repair on Thursday and I received my new replacement iPhone Fedex Saturday delivery! Lens is perfect of course, pictures look wonderful again (as wonderful as 2MP can get).
Now the challenge is to get the new lens to stay 'perfect.'
The Apple genius sent my iPhone in for repair on Thursday and I received my new replacement iPhone Fedex Saturday delivery! Lens is perfect of course, pictures look wonderful again (as wonderful as 2MP can get).
Now the challenge is to get the new lens to stay 'perfect.'
I think some of the phones antireflective coating is more prone to wear off. I've had some loaner phones, where the coating looks absolutely fine. I think it does vary phone to phone.
I just took a look at mine and it had the look of an oil slick. (fingers?). I took my shirt to it and now it looks fine. No scratches here (yet).
Same problem here. As everyone else says, I also thought I had 'baby'd' my phone. I'm kind if embarrassed, I have $30K in photo gear but I ruin the iPhone camera in 2 months. :^\
Same symptom, looks like the anti-reflective coating has chipped off. So now I have -two- complaints with my phone. Crappy AT&T signal quality and blurry pictures. Of course, still beats my old RAZR hands down.....
I'd send it in, not sure I want a refurb, though. Someone else's filthy earwax on it? Scratches? Who knows. Mine still looks new, only MY ear has been on it.
Can anyone comment on the refurb quality?
Same symptom, looks like the anti-reflective coating has chipped off. So now I have -two- complaints with my phone. Crappy AT&T signal quality and blurry pictures. Of course, still beats my old RAZR hands down.....
I'd send it in, not sure I want a refurb, though. Someone else's filthy earwax on it? Scratches? Who knows. Mine still looks new, only MY ear has been on it.
Can anyone comment on the refurb quality?
Well, I finally got tired of looking at that scratchy, splotchy, slowly-deteriorating coating. I decided to just have done with it and remove it completely. I used acetone, methanol and isopropanol with a very fine-tipped swab to rub it off. At least now it's very smooth, clear and consistent. I sure wish it was smooth, clear and consistent but with an antireflective coating. Hopefully future iPhone generations will be different.
I don't know too many other people with iPhones, but I did check out the cameras of all the demo iPhones at my local Apple stores. Now those are hardly babied, but all of their cameras' coatings were completely or nearly gone.
I don't know too many other people with iPhones, but I did check out the cameras of all the demo iPhones at my local Apple stores. Now those are hardly babied, but all of their cameras' coatings were completely or nearly gone.