iPhone 12 not taking HDR Photos

I think it is working after upgraded to the latest IOS 14.4.

I had to turn off the SMART HDR first, then enable it for the HDR to show up in the Camera app on the top right corner.

Apparently Apple is told to tell us that HDR is just on, all the time. And we don’t need to see the ‘HDR’ badge (for iPhone 11 & 12). Funny, they think we should see the ‘HDR’ badge for videos shot in HDR though. Also interestingly, I have a photo inspection app, that tells me all the details & metadata about any given photo. Not a single photo taken from my iPhone 11 Pro Max, nor my 12 Pro Max has EVER taken an HDR photo, even though Apple is telling me it does. Also, 1. If it taking an HDR photo, how the heck am I supposed to know which are HDR & which aren’t? 2. Why do none of my iPhone 12 photos Look HDR? 3. Why do I have the option to turn HDR on or off, if the switch does nothing? 4. Why isn’t my EXIF inspection app showing supposed HDR photos from my iPhone 12 Pro Max.

my explanation is simple, to all these questions. Apple has made a mistake since iOS 13 and iOS 14 with the compatibility of iPhone 11 and newer iPhones. We no longer are able to take HDR photos.

this is a huge disappointment, and I’d rather they just FIX the problem, rather than feeding us lines like “it’s just always On unless you turn it ‘off’. They are insulting our intelligence, and don’t think we can spot an HDR photo.

It’s really disappointing. I finally got an answer from Apple. Apparently there is a glitch with iPhone 11 Pro & 12 Pro phones with iOS 13-14+ They say they now know about it, and are now working on I fix. I find it unbelievable that this has been a problem going on for over a year & almost a quarter. I can’t be the first to have experienced this and reported it, although the whole time I had my iPhone 11 Pro Max I didn’t pay it much mind. Anyway, yes, it’s very disappointing.

on another note, they have also taken away “capture outside the frame” feature starting on iOS 14 from iPhones 11 Pro and 12 Pro iPhones. This is also very sissy, as I could take 17MP+ photos from my 12MP cameras using that feature. I have complained a lot in their “feedback” portal, so I hope that makes a difference & they bring it back. Huge disappointment.

Tried this, dozens of times. It does nothing. They have admitted there is a known problem with iOS 13 & 14 with iPhones 11 & 12 and are SUPPOSEDLY working on it. After a year of not being able to take ANY HDR photos, I wonder exactly how big of a priority this is to them.

and for a phone that costs $1500, and the camera being one of the main features that warrants the high price, and my choice to pick iPhone, it’s very disappointing.

Apple no longer shows an HDR badge for HDR photos in the past few generations of iPhones, and with Smart HDR3 the HDR data is incorporated into the normal photo.

Apple explicitly does not denote HDR via any of the EXIF tags available to note such.

I believe that Auto HDR may still leave a badge, but per Dogcow, Smart HDR does not. The algorithms for both of those techniques are slightly different as well. With that said your first few points won't tell you anything. The easiest way to to validate whether you're taking HDR photos is to compare those photos on both an HDR panel and SDR panel. Also the scene being captured needs to have enough of a range for that to be seen. I took some pictures last night of the brilliant sunset on my iPhone 12 Pro on iOS 14.4 and reviewed those images and can confirm they were in HDR. You could really see the differences when comparing the fine points on an SDR display. I've looked at a lot of inspector type applications and they unfortunately don't tell you anything right now.

Yea I don’t know why they took away the HDR badge for photos but leave them for videos. I do know that with 14.4, HDR photos are being taken though, so at least that has been fixed. When I look at the same photos on my older IPAD, they look very different. I hope they give us a way back to help us find our HDR photos a lot easier.

1. There is no badge. 2. I have a third party app which reveals anything unusual, special or different (computational photography of any kind) is applied to the photos. They reveal every single photo I have that’s HDR (among other things, like panoramic, etc). 3. I have other 3rd part photo inspector apps which also reveal these things. 4. I can see the difference (particularly contrast) in HDR and non HDR photos. 5. I have an iPhone XS Max which takes HDR photos fine. I can take an HDR photo, and regular photo with it. I then take a photo with my iPhone 12 Pro. The photo looks identical to the XS Max cameras Non-HDR photo, and not like the XS Max’s HDR photo. Idk what else to say to convince anyone. But that’s 5 good reasons.

Are you all sure it is not working, rather than just not what you are expecting.

HDR on an iPhone is not (and never will be) intended to create those fake *** "HDR" images often overdone from multiple exposuers on a conventional camera.

It is simply intended to retain detail in highlights and shadows that can't be achived with a single exposure (see my examples above). It tries to create a realistic rendition that looks like what your eye sees.

It’s not just the icon. They aren’t taking HDR photos at all. Don’t believe me? Shoot a video clip with your iPhone 12 Pro Max. Then take a photo of the exact same image. Notice how much better the contrast of the HDR video looks. It’s not a label or icon that’s missing. The icon of label isn’t there, because it’s not taking a real HDR photo. I don’t care What Apple tells us. I know the difference.

and this has been a problem for well over a year. Looking back at my photos, the whole time I had my 11 Pro Max, not a single HDR photo. But every iPhone (I get the new flagship every year) back until about the 5S has HDR photos.

A company as big as Apple can’t fix such a major glitch in almost a year and a half? Inexcusably.

I have the SAME issue. They just can't resolve and I really dont know what to do anymore. I'm really frustrated...

What do you see if you shut off Smart HDR?

As I said, 1-3 aren't applicable as Apple does not note Smart HDR photos in the EXIF tags.