I just got the iPhone 12 Pro Max and when I take photos, and then go to look at the photo, the phone appears to auto-enhance the photo. Is there a way to turn this off? It's making some of my photos (mainly with people in them) look terrible. It's over-exposing and over-saturating the photo and no amount of editing can make it look normal after that. It's extremely frustrating.
iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 14
I figured this out for my iPhone 11. It was automatically enhancing photos and seemed to be overexposing shots, sometimes with a message that said “preparing photo.” I had turned off the HDR setting in Camera settings, and that did not fix the problem. But then I noticed that in addition to Camera settings, there is also a tab for Photo settings. I looked in there, and there is a *second* HDR setting that was turned on. I turned that one off, and was able to take a photo without getting the ugly enhancement. Yay!
Yeah, the Moment camera works. I recommend just installing that. It’s an app that works with Moment lenses, but it also works without them. Just a better camera app that won’t treat you like a child.
I am now on a replacement of this phone I waited 3.5 months for, because Apple said it must be defective - since nothing will stop this issue from happening. Nothing in the link Apple provided, not turning off the nighttime exposure button. New phone does the same thing.
I found a fix that worked for my iPhone XS. Not sure if it is the same issue as being described here, but finally my photos aren't auto adjusting themselves to look grainy and high-contrast.
Under Settings > HDR, toggle "View Full HDR" off.
I posted earlier about turning the live mode off but didn’t do a great job on the details and also grabbed the wrong picture. With my iPhone 13- it’s having the live mode of that was causing the issues. You have to make sure the live mode is turned off. Also need to make sure it doesn’t automatically reset itself to on again.
Turning the Mirror Front Camera toggle ON resolved the issue for me (so far). Thank you
Just got 12 Pro Max and am experiencing this with the native camera app. I tried everything, so I’m just using Camera+ 2 now.
I’m coming from a pixel 3, and it has an option to turn off “face retouching” for selfies. As best as I can tell, this seems to be what is happening on my 12/the original issue described in this post. I submitted feedback (after talking to apple support), and I suggest (like others have) that everyone with this problem send in feedback as well.
apple.com/feedback
I also found that turning the flash to the ON position also seemed to leave my photos with no enhancements. Except the flash of course :)
Oh, crap. No, I didn’t fix it after all. It’s auto-sharpening. Will try using the Moment camera.
Is there any update on how to resolve this issue? The auto enhance and auto brightening of my photos is happening on my iPhone 12 Pro and it is very frustrating. I already turned off the automatic scene detection setting and it still happening to my photos.
The same happened with me. I bought an iPhone 12 Pro and the camera was doing the auto brightening thing on so many of my photos. I went to my cellular carrier and exchanged it for another brand new iPhone 12 Pro and the new phone did the exact same thing to the photos. This must just be how the cameras on the 12 generation of iphones work which is really annoying. I ended up returning the exchanged 12 Pro in the end.
In addition, these "suggestions" do nothing to fix the problem. You can adjust every available setting and it doesn't stop photos from being automatically and irreversibly over-exposed. The photos look wrong. And if you, Joseph S., can't fix this, then please take it to your boss, and have them take it to their boss, and make sure someone knows that people aren't happy with these ridiculous camera settings. If this isn't fixed, I won't be getting the next generation of iPhone.
OMG! This is driving me crazy! I turn off all settings one by one to see if any made a difference and it didn’t. Then I purposely took a selfie and used the exposure control to drastically underexposed the photo. When I opened the photo it looked like the one I took and a second layer bam, totally enhanced like I had applied a filter. I bought an iPhone 12 because of the camera, otherwise my iPhone 6sPlus was still working just fine and takes great photos. It appears the auto scene detection is just always on and the toggle doesn’t switch it off. Please fix soon.
Same issue! It’s so bad in daytime/natural lighting. It makes my pictures so grainy and the colors are either so saturated or washed out. It looks like paleness is painted on my face and basically morphs me into some sort of grainy ghostly-looking-creature. Lol My iPhone 7 took better natural lighting pictures than this iPhone. I got the iPhone 12 specifically for the purpose of having a better camera so I’m disappointed, especially considering how expensive this phone was. Posted pictures from my iPhone 12 vs 7 for some comparisons. (You can especially tell the clarity differences when paying attention to my hair detail)
Geninfinity wrote:
Apple are you listening????
No, they are not, because Apple does not read these forums except to monitor for adherence to the Terms of Use.
If you want to complain to Apple, leave feedback here:
iPhone 12 Pro Max Photo Auto Enhance
