iPhone 13 Camera is blurry

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’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!!!

Here is a quick and easy reproductible test case I propose to everyone including those that keep replying "my phone is fine" to literally every comment here, denying the reality that affects us:

1. make your phone steady (tripod, rest on something etc - just make sure you can touch the screen without moving the phone). point towards a non-moving scene with lots of details such as newspaper or a colourful bed sheet with lots of drawings. a sitting person is also ok as long as manages to relax and not move the face/head and keep eye look in the same direction. Let it autofocus the same spot or make sure you repeat focusing the same exact spot.
2. connect the phone with cable to a Mac
3. reset all camera settings to defaults, so we exclude any difference in settings
4. open camera app
5. configure Assistive Touch to take a screenshot of the camera viewfinder (iphone-screenshot-without-button) then take a screenshot
6. take a regular picture
7. take a burst picture, then select and keep only one of them. I've had issues in the past on iphones with the exposure of the first 1-2 in the sequence, so choose one in the middle just in case.
8. import a photo using the mac

You will notice that:

1. the preview screenshot shows what the sensor sees. NO effect.
2. the image taken by the camera app SHOWS the smarthdr/deepfusion oilpainting/watercolor/cartoonface over processed effect
3. the burst image does NOT show the effect.
4. the image captured at the request of the Mac does NOT show the effect.
5. the burst, the screenshot and the Mac import shows a soft/blurry lens image (lack of details), but a natural image overall compared to the one taken by the Camera.

I am curious if ANYONE reproducing my simple above test case would obtain a camera image without the blamed effect !!!

My personal conclusion is this is not a mistake, and this is by forced choice: Apple *knew* the 13 models front camera hardware does lousy images (see the softness in **ALL** other images - the screenshot/viewfinder, the import from Mac, the burst), they observed something is wrong (my guess: camera components malfunction due to shortage of supply issues in Vietnam followed by a recall program, I wish/hope 🙏) and went to attempt to correct the resulting pixels in software. This is the only logical explanation I can think of. I had my camera replaced at Apple Authorised Service Provider for nothing: the replacement is identical.

Attaching my own results (100% lossless crops of relevant areas, these are NOT digital zooms) as well as link to full original files.

viewfinder

import from iPhone on mac

burst

camera

I noticed the issue when testing Halide app with the 3x lens on my 13 Pro and my wife’s 13 Max in my study room. The difference in image quality is day and night. But in other scenarios the stock app seems better most of the time.

I didn’t find out that Halide always automatically selected f2.8 while the stock Camera app always fixed at f1.5 (in this same room and lighting condition) until last night.

No, you cannot force use of the optical 3x lens, the scene has to be bright enough for the camera to tell it would result in a better image than the digitally zoomed wide lens.

I have asked for Apple to denote whether 3x is optical or digital before, they haven't implemented it.

This has been the case since the iPhone X.

If you want to ask for such a feature, leave feedback here:

Feedback - Camera - Apple

This is a screenshot from video when I zoomed. The sharpness is here. The processing in images is awful. This look perfect. This need to be addressed quickly. It destroys the images. Check the eyelashes and try to get tips with regular photo mode. You will never get it.

Digitally zooming in on a photo converted from HDR and lossy compressed then stored using more lossy compression on a web site doesn't exactly prove anything.

If anything the clarity of the background shows that the dogs suffered from motion blur and the phone did what it could to try to make an acceptable image from blurry picture data.

Your second photo of the dog is of a stationary dog - no motion blur.

A: You can open the image in a new tab, at full size, with 2 clicks in most browsers these days.

B: This isn't compressed all that bad. It still looks almost exactly the same.

C: The EXIF data shows this photo was taken at ISO 32 and it was a sunny day. There is no excuse for the motion blur either. My galaxy Note8 would capture crisp photos of the same dog running at full speed.

Stop trying to make excuses for a $1500 phone that takes pictures that aren't even as good as a flip-phone from 2000.

Hahahaha. If that is the kind of image "quality" you are after, that's great. Maybe it's you that Apple is now programming for.

I wouldn't expect images like that unless I applied at least 3 filters I never use in Photoshop and, in the first case, took the picture with the camera mounted on a paint shaker.

For me, the photos out of my iPhone 13 Pro Max rival the photos from my Nikon DSLR. And yes, I'm completely satisfied.

If those photos aren't good enough for you, then you should sell your iPhone and buy something else.

[Edited by Moderator]

Sounds like you got a good one! I HAD a good one (13 pro), and was very impressed...until I lost it. My replacement 13 pro will not focus sharply on anything when zoomed to a distance object like other posters have experienced. It is headed in for diagnostics/repair, but it sounds like focus is a common problem. Focus using macro is a known issue, but focus on a zoomed distance object is more rare. Do phones have to be returned within two weeks for refunds or will the problem being reported within two weeks qualify for refund (if the repair is not satisfactory?)

Anyway white balance and color saturation in iPhone 13 is too match unnatural.

I’d like suggest everyone who has an issue with camera send a report to support and maybe apple fix this trash in future ios update

Thank you so much this really helped now my camera looks way better , i Thought there was something wrong with my phone THANKKKK UUU

If it's been 14 days or less you can get a full refund.

I have no issues taking macro photos with mine.

Hello ~ Wow…that’s a wonderful picture!

~Katana-San~