iPhone 13 Camera is blurry

i’m so glad other people have found this! i’ve just gone from an IPHONE 8 to a 13 pro max and the camera is atrocious. i actually bout this phone for the camera capabilities from reviews and so far the images are pixelated and do not come out crisp at all.

So if the reviewers all love it, you have to ask what are you doing differently?

I've never seen a pixelated photo come out of the Camera app unless I was using digital zoom, which frankly one never should.

That was unnecessarily condescending.

Next time i’ll remember to spell out my exact process of taking photos so that you don’t have to assume what’s wrong.

’Thank you, oh dogcow, for clearing that up. I had been unknowingly taking all of my pictures at 10x zoom.’

This forum isn’t for you to “actually” everyone on the thread. If 30 pages of people are talking about their poor camera quality, Apple Inc doesn’t need you to reply to every single one explaining (see assuming) how they’re wrong.

And please do not tell me to report the problem to apple. I’ve already done so, awaiting further contact from apple support. I am still allowed to post my frustrations with the problem on a forum specifically about the problem.

I said the only time I ever saw pixelation was with digital zoom.

If you've already left feedback for Apple, there's nothing more you can do; this site doesn't exist for users to commiserate, that's what other web sites and social media are for.

I asked what you are doing differently in your photos if your results are not as good as others' have been. I didn't ask what you were doing wrong, I asked what you were doing that was different.

It's a valid question and isn't at all condescending.

Hi, when I try to use the wide-angle lens as a macro lens, The I focus refuses to stay in a little box and keeps shifting focus outside the box to the background and I’m wondering if there are plans to be a fix for this or if there’s something I’m doing wrong. I would love to have a little more control over what I am focusing on. Thanks for suggestions

If you're not doing this, tap your iPhopne screen on the area of focus and it should remain where you want to be. It would likely only move if you haven't tapped the item on your iPhone screen, so your phone doesn't know exactly what you're focusing on.

yes, I tap there but it does not hold. We’re talking iPhone 13 pro, wide angle lense using up close. If the image is a flower, and you tap where you want it to focus on, it just changes at will to another spot. Has a mind of its own.

I'm not happy with the photos out of the 13 pro either. I still have the 6s and to be honest, the photos on the 6s look more natural in general, I get like an oil painting effect on the 13, it's not nice at all on a phone like this. Is this a software problem that can be addressed ?

Not a problem of compression here. It s visible also in apple pro raw.

Zooming and cropping show the oil painting effect more.

You can go back (page 27) and find where this conversation started.

you will also find the original shot by MelaniePhotographer and compare.

I faced strong ai processing with iPhone13 pro, especially with telephoto and mid light conditions.

it s something that happens only in some condition obviously but I m trying to understand how to find some fix, like Halide app for example.

google “iPhone oil panting effect” and you can see what I m talking about.

cheers

I experienced this Oil Painting effect on iPhone 13 Pro display, shooting on iPhone Pro RAW, using iPhone 13 Pro native camera app.

I don't know your experience about contrast but in the 13 pro shot, highlights are obviously burned out compared to 11 pro shot :D

By the way i m talking about Oil painting effect, not better color contrast etc.

Dogcow-Moof wrote:

Regardless, as always, no one here can do anything about it, and Apple Engineering does not read these forums.

I don't agree. Other users here are sharing knowledge and helping each other. Be positive! :))

No complaints here but sharing knowledge to send better feedback to Apple and find solutions, workarounds between us.

cheers

I’ve the same issue with my iPhone 13Promax. Haven’t changed anything in camera settings, i have tried every tip/trick available, it still hasn’t fixed the issue! The front camera pictures are blurry, over processed, looks like a oil painting. I am so frustrated!!!!! Apple, FIX IT!!!

@Dogcow-Moof, it has nothing to do with expectations. First thing I noticed on my wife's new 13 Pro Max is how the photos look like they have some sort of filter on every image, in comparison to her Xs Max. I have and use higher-end DSLR and mirrorless ILC gear, and even w/o processing the images are sharper and clearer. But even compared to my Galaxy Note 9 the images are not as sharp & clear. Apple most certainly did munge something with how the photos are being processed. Glad I found this thread as it confirms my suspicions that something is awry with this new phone. We'll be visiting an Apple store, but my guess is it's going to take an update from Apple.

Mark

Dogcow-Moof wrote:

Remember, when the light level is too low, the 3x zoom does not use the 3x optical zoom, it is simply a digital zoom of the image from the 1x wide angle lens.

That's exactly the point. You can also test or understand it by cover up the wide-angle camera in poor lighting conditions and with 3x zoom. Then you will see that the iPhone does not use the telephoto lens and the picture remains black.

I think that because the 3x telephoto lens of the iPhone 13 Pro is naturally not very bright, the photo quality is felt to be worse than, for example, with the iPhone 11 Pro or 12 Pro. Personally, i would prefer the 2x lens again.

I agree. i got my iPhone 13 pro and tested it for 2 weeks. the device was awesome, camera performed amazinlgy many times but in some condition comparing with iPhone previous model i found lack of detail and no chance to shoot without HDR.

Hope that will be improved soon with a future update.

Did you try shooting with 3rd party app like Halide? i found a workaround shooting in raw via the Lightroom for iOS' camera.

I really thought I was doing something wrong. Thank you guys for sharing…I upgraded from an iPhone 11 Pro Max to the 13 Pro Max and I must say I am immensely disappointed. I love taking pictures and right now I am discouraged from doing so because I have to do too much editing on just one photo before sharing….. The picture quality enhancement was what I was looking forward to with this new phone but….