anomalous pixelization in iphone 5c image

praetorloos · Mar 9, 2016

hey there,

i recently took a picture of what appeared to be an ET craft hovering over a hospital in southern vermont. i was standing at the top of a hill separated from the hospital by a line of trees. when i went to examine the picture afterwards, the sky and trees were for the most part not invisible, and very few of the details of the hospital were discernible.

after increasing the exposure, i was able to reveal an anomalous network of "pixels" that seem to be artificial in nature. i have no explanation for them. there is an overlying shape of grey squares that reminds me of malevich's "black square."

can anyone help me to determine a device-related explanation for this image?

thanks!
praetor

APX7000 · Mar 9, 2016

What your seeing is digital noise because the CCD image sensor in our iPhones can only see color light waves. Black color or the absent of light waves cause artifacts and pixel noise like your seeing.

The iPhone does a great job at low light images, but there is a limit of the CCD sensor and physics comes into play.

For extreme low light photos, night vision camera needs to be used, but your stuck with black/green color.

praetorloos · Mar 11, 2016

APX7000 said:
What your seeing is digital noise because the CCD image sensor in our iPhones can only see color light waves. Black color or the absent of light waves cause artifacts and pixel noise like your seeing.

The iPhone does a great job at low light images, but there is a limit of the CCD sensor and physics comes into play.

For extreme low light photos, night vision camera needs to be used, but your stuck with black/green color.

I hear what you're saying, and was able to reproduce a somewhat similar effect last night, although in completely different conditions (rain, overhead fog). The digital noise was inherently chaotic, and distributed across the entire picture. I could not replicate the "color field" effect present in the original image.

For reference, here are two shots of the same location from tonight, taken under similar conditions at the same time. The facility is very well lit, and architectural features are easy to make out.