Google has eventually confirmed the camera-lens-flare issue with its Pixel flagship phone, after several users reported an unexpected halo lens flare in photos captured under bright sunlight. The company has, however, proposed a mathematical fix for the problem through an upcoming Over-The-Air (OTA) update.
Although the lens flare seems to be a common issue with smartphone cameras, it is deemed that the Google Pixel camera is more vulnerable than others. The issue is reportedly more profound when taking still photos at a close range with a visible bright-light source illuminating the scene.
Perturbed Pixel users have posted tons of such photos depicting the halo effect in the corners of every captured frame via dedicated Reddit threads (Reddit 1 and Reddit 2). Check out a few of those snapshots taken in the real world scenarios, which are posted here.
Meanwhile, a member of the Google Product forums has clarified in his recent forum post that it is not a sign of hardware issue with the phone. It is ascertained that all similar smartphone cameras will experience the lens flare in specific lighting conditions.
On the upside, Google has acknowledged the Pixel camera issue and offered a software fix involving a modified algorithm that will isolate the cause of the effect mathematically and then filter it from photos. Furthermore, the Pixel maker has also confirmed that the fix will only work with HDR+ feature enabled on the device.
If you are still not convinced, check out Jeff Springer's video on YouTube explaining Google Pixel's camera problems in real world situations:
