iPhone 13 Camera is blurry

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.

It's your expectations that are wrong, not the phone.

If you go out and buy a "professional" $6000 DSLR and $6000 lens… you will have many of these same issues.

Note the front camera has an aperture of ƒ/2.2 compared to the back "1x" wide camera's ƒ/1.5, meaning it's less sensitive to light than the back camera is.

If you find these issues unacceptable and it's been fewer than 14 days, return your phone for a full refund.

I’m having the exact same issues since the beginning of this thread. When I take a picture a few seconds later it processes into a water colour type mess and when zoomed in it’s not sharp at all like some sort of aggressive filter has been applied to the image, the front facing camera is horrendous makes me look like I have a harsh skin condition with really bad over saturation it’s horrible! I did end up taking it to an Apple store after speaking to their support they said that the pictures should not be looking the way they are and that they can’t perform a camera repair or exchange the device under warranty as all the 13 Pro Max are on back order and out of stock. It also could be a software issue with HDR not working correctly as we have no option to toggle it off like we did in previous iPhones so it’s being forced all the time I really don’t understand why they took away this feature! I’m waiting for the next update as they have confirmed that the macro auto switching feature can be turned off so fingers crossed they tweak the camera and fix it. Really disappointed with this camera so far I’m getting better results in a 4 year old Samsung device.

I also was coming from the XS Max and was very disappointed. iOS 15.1 seems to stop the face painting and you can turn off automatic lens switching for Macro shots. This prevents accidentally getting a ultrawide crop instead of the quality main lens.

What we're saying, is that the iPhone 13 has significantly more noise and "loss of detail" because of the (again) aggressive AI post-processing. Than older generation iPhones. This should never be the case. Since everyone is expecting that the new iPhone they just purchased should be an upgrade.

Even if it's just marginally better. But when the photos are worse than a phone 3 generations back. That's a serious problem. Moreover, DSLRs are irrelevant on this topic.

> You have an issue with the processing, far more do not.

It's not just me... There are currently 184,000 search results on this topic alone. Here is another thread about this exact same issue on MacRumors that's 19 pages long:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/really-bad-photos-with-iphone-13-pro-max-merged.2315188/page-19

Here is a Reddit thread where 3,000+ users upvoted the post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/qftcj3/can_we_please_have_less_ai_in_iphone_13_pro/

Implying that this is not a widespread issue is just patently false. If we are being objective here.

> if you don’t like the processing shoot in RAW and process afterwards, which is effectively what Lightroom does.

Are you seriously suggesting, that everyone even people who are not tech savvy to shoot in RAW mode? The vast majority of the population don't even know what that is. 🤦‍♂️

At Apple Store and Genius Bar in Barcelona. Apple staff confirmed the strong difference in post processing, Oil paint effect and that now is not possible to shoot without HDR on using native camera app on iPhone 13 models.

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.

I am not talking about your abilities to take photos. I am talking about the same overprocessing iOS is doing when SmartHDR kicks in that causes the oil painting effect that is discussed in this thread. Look at cat’s ears edges, at cat’s mouth and nose lines, at wooden frame of the window.

I would be exteemely interested to see a similar shot done with SmartHDR turned off (which implies an older iPhone because iPhone 13 does not have the option to turn off the SmartHDR).

The effect is more pronounced/visible in scenes with high contrast lighting where the SmartHDR is triggered.

I agree that the cameras are best with bright light BUT it still shouldn't look like an oil painting when shooting at night. I think it's really the auto-HDR function and post-processing because when you change the key from a Live photo, it doesn't look as bad. A bit blurry (because duh it's basically a screenshot from a video), but still better than the over-processed, oil-painting effect on the photo.

>the pictures look like they were shot with an iPhone, few generations older

even few generations older take better shots (iphone 8 in my case)

>Also, the 13 seems to need a bit more of distance between the lens and the object. Has anyone experienced the same?

yes. sent it to repair. they said to expect camera replacement.

You are judging the device by what the Camera app gives you and are ignoring that you can get results that are much closer to what you want through the use of the ProRAW format and/or third-party camera apps.

If you prefer, it’s like the way most DSLRs have settings that allow you to use them as a point and shoot if you like, but the results will not be up to a professional’s standards despite being excellent for most.

DXOMark outlines these things. you need to check reviews and when they talk about details preservation. when processing is smoothing the picture we lose fine details.

In their reviews they have nice examples of this.

The score that you can see is an overall consideration based on many thing.

• e.g. in the cons they outlined : Limited level of details in long range zoom shots

You can check the camera analysis here.

Another aspect is that many reviewers are considering "noise" in digital photography a problem.

Many brands are aligned on this and create processing to remove it as much as possible, sometimes in a more aggressive way.

Personally I think that an organic noise would give better feeling thana strong smoothening process.

The perfect solution would be giving the possibility to shoot without this additional processing or HDR.

I thought that Pro would mean having control of all the features but i was wrong.

Let's see what 14 models will bring!

I agree that it seems the iPhone 13’s HDR doesn’t work so well in certain situations (like the low light scenarios you described). I also agree that HDR should be able to be disabled, like on earlier iPhone models.

However, just complaining about it here doesn’t do any good, as Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the forums. If you want them to know, you have to submit feedback if you haven’t already. It will be read, but you probably won’t receive a response - Product Feedback - Apple

In the meantime, try a third-party camera app and shoot in RAW like Dogcow-Moof suggested.

Fact is, if you go into edit the raw file in lightroom, the image loads with high sharpening values already set! Remove them and the ‘plastic wrap’ look disappears.

I had the same problem until I took off my camera lens cover! Now my photos are way better! 1st is with protective cover and 2nd is without!