See a red light on your smartphone camera? Many people are worried when they first discover this “hidden” surprise, but don’t worry, your phone isn’t spying on you. This red light you see is a feature common to many cameras. Here we will explain what it is and why it’s there.
A simple explanation for red lights on cameras
This red light is an infrared light that helps phone cameras focus. It turns on when the camera detects low-lit environments and adjusts the cameras settings accordingly. Pro-tip: If you want to avoid the red glow use your phone’s flashlight during nighttime shots!
Red lights help with focusing
A camera’s lens needs a source of light to focus and produce an accurate image. The red light is used as a highly efficient and uniform form of illumination for the camera, and has no negative ramifications on the health or wellbeing of the phone’s owners or operators via radiation emission or other effects. Otherwise your camera would have trouble focusing in the dark.
Red lights help shoot in low-light conditions
Low light can be a popular way to portray suspense, but it also has an unfortunate consequence of producing fuzzy images with lower quality details than those taken in brighter conditions. To compensate for this, some phones come equip with a sensor which measures both the ambient and brightest glare before deciding on how best to adjust and calibrate what’s seen for any given photo setting choice. Heading into nightmode will often artificially produce more light just before snapping away, but if that doesn’t solve
