iPhone 13 Camera is blurry

Catean wrote:

Still the same photos quality even after 15.1. I am starting to think we may have a hardware issue.

look at this picture that I took at breakfast this morning. No focus, no detail, nothing.

I pulled down the full resolution image from the post. It is a 12 MPixel jpeg, roughly 4000x3000 so it looks like it is probably a fair representation of the camera's capability. I took it into photo editing software for a closer look. With only a zoom in to about 400% (no enhancing the picture under review) the pepper grains around what would have been the top of the pile are sharp, and appear well focussed without compression defects when viewed (estimate) about 10x -15x life size. The depth of field is fairly shallow, as expected at close range with a f/1.x lens but this is down to physics, not a defect in the camera or image digitising.

Overall assessment of the photo: No Fault Demonstrated. If you can't see any detail in it I recommend trying to view on a different display.

lobsterghost1 wrote:

nuama wrote:

I have taken same DNG scene shot with 8 and 13 using Lightroom and 8 clearly shows better details.

13 is only better in low light, but in bright daylight 13 is garbage.

(oh and portrait is also a total disaster... 🙈)

Every single post you've made here bashes the cameras in your iPhone. If the camera is really that disappointing to you, I'd sell the phone and get something better suited to your expectations.

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with someone who thinks Adobe Lightroom is used for taking photos.

Good point.

So many in this photo thread are simply have no photographic expertise at all. None. Zip. Nadda.

They choose to believe cameras take bad pictures. It's people who take bad pictures. The camera is nothing more than the tool the person uses to take the picture. There's an old saying in photography which is just as true today as ever........"It's not the camera, it's the person behind the lens." Something people here simply don't understand.

I think the new cameras are perhaps too much for some here. They don't understand which camera to use for which subjects. They don't even try to adjust anything. They don't look at their screen to see exactly what the camera is capturing. If they did, they'd recognize they either are using the wrong camera or settings or they're too close or any number of issues the vast majority of photos posted here demonstrate. Instead, they get a less than Ansel Adams result and blame the camera. Many here would benefit from a single camera iPhone like they had in the iPhone 8 days. We've even seen some posts lamenting how they believe iPhone 8 took better photos. Of course it didn't. It was just way less complicated for them to take a picture with.

you do realise LR can take RAW shots on iPhones, to prove it's not the native camera JPEG conversion at fault? it's something at lower level that gives Camera app an overprocessed image.

3000 upvotes here, are these 3000 people wrong? 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

other sample photo https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSBeta/comments/qfzhe8/bug_ios_15_beta_4_iphone_13_pro_cam_is_doing_this/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Lol why be on support page and bash ppl

there has been many discussion on macrumors and other forums too. In some instances it does perform worse than prior models and seem much more over processing than before

sure many ppl may not be as “experienced “ as you but it’s also not first phone they have and with apple iPhone ease of use. They should be able to point and shoot like before and should not be noticeable difference than prior if not better

there is also that apple seem not use telephoto lens and rather digital zoom the main lens coz it thinks it is better

overall it does seem there are more issues from more ppl

its find to tell them to get it checked but to attack and bash and bring down others Why even come on here ? I’m sure there are better thing to do

dcdandan wrote:

sure many ppl may not be as “experienced “ as you but it’s also not first phone they have and with apple iPhone ease of use. They should be able to point and shoot like before and should not be noticeable difference than prior if not better

That's completely ridiculous, it's like saying a $5000 professional DSLR should be able to be used as a point and shoot.

As the cameras on the iPhone get better and more complex, the additional knowledge to take a good photo comes into play as has always been true.

there is also that apple seem not use telephoto lens and rather digital zoom the main lens coz it thinks it is better

This has been the case with every iPhone with multiple lenses; if the iPhone feels there is not enough light for a good photo with the optical lens it will do a digital zoom instead. I've begged and pleaded with Apple for an indicator showing whether the zoom is optical or digital (I suggested the magnification indicator should be a different color if it's optical than if it's digital) but it's clear they don't want to provide one for whatever reason.

What does that mean? It means, you as the photographer have to be cognizant of the limitations of your tools and adapt your photographic technique accordingly.

Clearly you DON'T understand Lightroom is a photo editing tool from Adobe. Lightroom doesn't take photos, because Lightroom isn't a camera. You so clearly have no clue what you're talking about. Your statement above that Lightroom can take raw shots on iPhone is 100% wrong. iPhone 13 Pro can take Raw shots. Anytime you take a Raw shot you MUST edit it to use the available data to its fullest potential. You can use a tool like Lightroom to do that.

No wonder you don't understand how to capture great pictures with iPhone.

dcdandan wrote:

Lol why be on support page and bash ppl

there has been many discussion on macrumors and other forums too. In some instances it does perform worse than prior models and seem much more over processing than before

Dogcow offered good responses to the sections I'm not addressing here.

I'm bashing no one. But when people make claims which are completely false, hearing the truth they took a photo not too well can be hard to accept.

I can show you many many many reviews which suggest the new cameras on iPhone 13 Pro are not only better than previous iPhones, they are the best Apple has ever introduced.

You can believe what you choose. Having had my phone now for weeks, I can tell you the cameras are exceptional. And yes, I am better informed on photography than some people. I've been into photography a long time. That just means I know more about how to take good pictures. Many here simply don't and all they can do to make themselves feel better is blame the cameras. In other words, not knowing how to best utilize the tools, is not an acceptable excuse for blaming the tools.

nuama wrote:

you do realise LR can take RAW shots on iPhones, to prove it's not the native camera JPEG conversion at fault? it's something at lower level that gives Camera app an overprocessed image.

If it works it's not an Adobe-supported configuration:

Adobe Help: Tethered camera support | Lightroom Classic

You're right. And I'm an Adobe Cloud account holder. So I downloaded LR to my iPhone and took two photos. One native iPhone 13 Pro Max. One using the camera add-in in LR. The native iPhone photo was more detailed and better balanced.

But I'll give you that you can take a photo using the Light Room App on iPhone. It's just a plugin that uses their algorithms to process a photograph as opposed to using the iPhone algorithm. I'm a big Adobe fan, but don't know why I need to take a photo using their algorithm, when the iPhone's processing is excellent as is.

When I use tools like Adobe, I use them to edit photos. Not take them.

Hi Lobsterghost and DogCow....

.... I love my latest mirrorless Sony cameras in the a7 range. I shoot raw photos with a great lens. Or take S-Cinetone or Slog-3 video. etc etc

BUT ... I have also been using the iPhone a lot because I just don't lug the camera's around with me, and I need to pick up spontaneous content with the mobile device. I upgraded from the 11PM to the 13PM only because of the promise of a better camera.... and right now... I am finding the 13PM is giving me **** horrible colours with overblown Smart HDR and all the other automatic superhuman neuron engine gumpf that is new Apple magic post processing of the images. This post processing is great for consumer photography, but for Lobsters, Ghosts, Dogs, Cows and ME... i just want to switch this gumpf OFFF!! Shooting in ProRaw doesn't totally switch it off either?!?! It looks like some HDR is off but other picture profile colour is still crap.

If I choose 'cool' it is better sometimes. But I want 'standard' to be less hot and I want 'cool' to be less cold. Trying to fix the photo in edit... **** frustrating.... Even then, check the colours with your eyes while shooting the scene. I think in lower light conditions it is most obvious. If it was subtle I wouldn't bother saying anything here. It is closer to "yuck",,, time to return the 13PM and downgrade my phone.

I have also been testing with Filmic Firstlight (as it allows you to turn off HDR), but the colours are still wrong, and I suspect it is a bug in their software actually. I have also been testing Adobe LR and it is better on the HDR but still ... the colours are off.

Taking good natural looking photos in lowish light of a sunrise is tricky for this auto camera stuff... it turns the oranges into reds on the 13PM. It's poo.

... I have read that there are potentially some 13's with broken stabilizers (very sensitive to harmonic motion when mounted to a motorbike for example).

... There is also the potential that there are some bad iphone cameras in production.

... I believe the ppl on this topic (!) and that there is genuinely something crappy going on.

Maybe it's just over post processing Apple consumer stuff that needs to be switchable.

I am hoping for an iOS update to give us the option to take off the Smart HDR... or more ... selectively turn off different aspects of the neural engine process.

Etc

I take photos use the Lightroom app. (LR has a camera app! Sorry to burst your bubble on that one.) It gives a little more control, and is looking a bit better than the Apple camera app. Still not good enough on the colours though.

Yeah, Proraw with 10x file size is great. Colours start ****, so then need to grade. I feel like I am wasting time on undoing what Apple puts in. This is also about workflow too.

The quick snaps need to look less supercharged in colour. Without downloading to computers.

I want the compressed shots to not have so many Apple decisions in the post processing. So I don't have to undo their grade. So it is more like the nicer and less intelligent colours in their older phones.

I would need to know more about how the photos were taken.

1x lens? 3x zoom? We're light conditions such that the 3x lens was used rather than digital zoom?

This is one reason its great Apple gives us the ability to shoot in RAW now.

Sorry to tell that is effect is applied also shooting in RAW when using native camera app.

not the case of digital zoom instead of 3x. Apple gives us the ability to check which lens was used to take the shoot (see image’s info).

test done outside on a sunny day too.

instead of focusing on a single device I suggest you to go to an Apple store with an iPhone 12 Pro (or another previous model) like a did and compare to notice this “oil paint effect”.

(It’s about a filter to reduce noise that is applied after the pic is taken. Not an hardware’s problem.

you can easily see it in my previous comment)

I am sure that People working at Apple would be happy to assist and help you.

Cheers