iPhone 13 Camera is blurry

I’m having the same problem. I took a photo of my son with the iPhone 11 Pro Max (where he is looking at me) and one with the iPhone 13 Pro Max (where he is in side profile). The quality is atrocious!!!

I’ve been dealing with the SAME thing. I was upgrading to an iPhone 11 Pro and got the iPhone 13 pro. The photos on the 13 Pro are somewhat out of focus and not nearly as sharp as on the iPhone 11 Pro. I took it to an apple store and all of the display models were the same. It’s sad because I love everything else about the 13 pro, but unfortunately will have to return it due to the camera issues.

Please don't say it has to do with my expectations. As a professional photographer, I know what I am talking about. The results of the iPhone 13 pro are lousy compared to an iPhone 11 Pro. If you have not compared the results yourself, you have no right to speak.

I m not caring about numbers of phones sold, number of people happy with a camera, numbers of comments, level point of users of this forum

I come from a culture where quality is more important than quantity.

if 1 single comment, product, person in the world stands out and have quality, i care for it.

I can also agree with you but when i described in detail this "issue" (always putting in quotation marks to outline that is a software post processing thing and that some user may prefer automatically remove wrinkles etc), the replies i got from user like you where about denying that this "effect" was even existing.

You can check this review https://www.dxomark.com/apple-iphone-13-pro-camera-review-outstanding-video/

and download hi res version of picture below for example. I m not posting to compare with Huawei P50 pro but only to show this effect i talked about. Also shots i took with iPhone previous models were not having this effect.

You can check hi res image on this review and see by yourself.

Still inviting other users to send their feedback here if they agree: Feedback - Camera - Apple

I’m having the same issues with my 13 pro max the front camera is horrendous like some sort of beauty filter on it and so blurry and not at all sharp, I’m also having issues with the main cameras pictures are coming out blurry and just won’t focus indoors at night time. I made the switch from android as these cameras looked great in all the online reviews but they are not at all pro quality so bad that any pictures I take are unusable, can this be fixed with an update?

Do you agree that this "Oil paint effect" is the blurry effect we are talking about in this thread?

I tried to send my feedback here. I hope that this could be improved soon.

Maybe if we all are sending consistent feedback will be helpful.

What do you think?

It's very digital and far from the grainy natural effect that iPhones used to have (and this was one of the reasons i always preferred Apple's devices since i always noticed this oil paint effect on cheaper mobile phones).

I also noticed that create problems with circular shapes and text (you can see it clearly on the wheel on the example below.

I also talked about this at a Barcelona's genius Bar and they confirmed that this effect look like a downgrade and really weird.

To simulate an exaggerated version of this effect You can try shooting at the maximum zoom available and quickly opening the picture.

After one second this "Oil paint effect" will appear.

In a Pro device it would be awesome at least being able to turn on and off this effects, HDR included.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/qftcj3/can_we_please_have_less_ai_in_iphone_13_pro/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

I also send feedback that is brightening faces when detected form the AI.

I have the exact same problem. The portrait photos on my iPhone 11 Pro were incredibly detailed and sharp. I switched to the 13 pro because of the camera but am very unsatisfied so far. The portrait photos are of abysmally poor quality. Also standard too far away.

Please Apple fix this. This is not possible for a $1000/euro device

Well if it's "clearly a software issue" then wait for Apple to fix it.

(Also, "golden hour" by definition means the light is lower than normal.)

Posting here will do absolutely nothing for you as Apple Engineering does not read these forums.

You may complain here if you so wish:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Note the front camera is substantially less sensitive to light than the main rear camera is:

• Front Camera: ƒ/2.2 aperture
• Telephoto: ƒ/2.8 aperture
• Wide: ƒ/1.5 aperture
• Ultra Wide: ƒ/1.8 aperture and 120° field of view

iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max - Technical Specifications - Apple

So in dark areas the phone has to do more processing to come up with a usable image.

If you believe it may be your device, have it checked:

• Contact - Official Apple Support
• Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

No, I don't speak for Apple, but minimum focus distance is a hardware limitation that can't be worked around in software.

The camera on mine is the best I've experienced to the point it often makes me wonder whether to leave my DSLR home, but you may have different expectations than I or your camera may indeed have an issue.

It never hurts to have it checked out diagnostically.

This discussion is about over processed effect (also described as: smearing, oil painting, water color, cartoon face) supposedly done by AI in software.

If you're affected by unclear close up shots, search for a different thread like this https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253274654?page=1 or this https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253270448?login=false&page=1

Causes for blurry shots of close objects could be:

• 13 and mini: the ultra wide camera does not have adjustable focus, while the wide camera cannot focus closer than 12cm because that's the physical optics of that lens. stay farther than 12cm but you could still be affected by the issue discussed in this topic (browse the discussion for samples and how to check if happens to your phone)

• 13 pro and pro max: they have different optics for UW that allow them to focus down to 2cm, BUT before iOS 15.2 the phone would switch back and forth between W and UW and pick the lens at its own discretion dictated by AI decisions. in 15.2 a macro manual switching control has been added. I've tested pros on showroom and they produce good closeup/macro shots.

Hi, I was noticing this too. Wondering if the auto-adjust for lens distortion is causing this? Just turned that off in settings, I think it looks crisper now, curious if anyone else sees a difference with that setting.

Turn Lens Correction off and on

On iPhone 12 models and later, the Lens Correction setting adjusts photos taken with the front camera or Ultra Wide camera for more natural-looking results.

Lens Correction is on by default. To turn off Lens Correction, go to Settings  > Camera, then turn off Lens Correction.

I’ve tried everything to fix this issue but these cameras are just rubbish my S21 ultra pics are way ahead than these new cameras on the 13

pro max, I have booked to see an apple specialist through their support. I sent them some sample pictures of how terrible these pictures come out even in good lighting there’s always a blur to them when you zoom in a little after the picture has been taken and they too agreed that they should not look like that. I’m even getting better results on my 4 year old Samsung handset, this is just shocking from Apple for the price I paid I feel like I have been sold a half baked product did they even test these cameras? Even just a normal landscape picture looks blurry, however up close I’m getting good results and portrait mode has much more detail than the standard setting on the camera. I’m starting to think that this auto switching feature they have enabled is causing the issues as it’s forced and now way of turning it off. I’m gonna see what Apple say next week if nothing is fixed then returning this handset and sticking with my S21 ultra which always gives excellent results in good light and in low light. It’s obviously an issue that needs a fix as many people have started posting and talking about it needs a fix but a bit screwed if it’s hardware related

This is a very dumb check, but I had a screen protector that was the full screen into the camera module and made my pictures blurry at times. When I removed it, photos were perfect. I now get screen protectors with the camera cutout. Hopefully it is not the camera module itself and I apologize if you have already tried this

As an A7 III user, you're used to RAW files that are 27 - 48 MB in size each, so the 13 PM's 27 MB is right in the same ballpark; there's a reason 13 PM HEIC files are only about 5 MB in size.

When I bring a RAW DNG file into my Mac I don't see any of the "supercharged" colors you reference; in fact only color temperature is set, all my color sliders are at zero.

For example, this is what I see in Photoshop Elements 2021's Camera Raw 13.0 when I open a quick photo I shot with my 13 PM:

Apps are for people who want "one click" solutions, no matter what Adobe says, whether it's Apple's Camera app or Lightroom Mobile.

If you want the best results you will have to grade and adjust every single photo you take; the same is true for anything from my Nikon D850. I would never dream of posting a JPEG directly processed by the camera; that's kind of the whole point of RAW.

For example, I regularly take photos that I upload to Facebook from my D850; it usually takes me a minimum of two to three minutes to examine, grade and process each one; why would I expect any less of DNG files from my 13 PM?

On the other hand, what comes straight out of Camera is good enough in most cases for just casual shots.

Feel free to complain to Apple here as most people love the defaults and Apple is trying to please them; the fact that we got RAW mode at all means Apple wants to keep photo pros happy, too but not at the cost of disappointing average users.

Feedback - Camera - Apple