iPhone 13 Camera is blurry

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.

I'm having this problem also just always blurry when you zoom in even after focusing which means the focus on the camera is not working as it should be. I also noticed in the camera settings that smart HDR toggle is missing therefore the phone is forcing HDR in certain situations which could be the cause of the focus and image blur issues. I don't understand why they took away this feature to manually control HDR! another thing I noticed with this camera is the lens auto switching when getting up close to a subject is awful its very annoying and just ruins any shot I'm trying to get with the standard lens again why would apple not allow us to simply turn the auto switching off as you are able to do it when recording videos. I think these two major issues are resulting in poor camera performance. when I'm up close to a subject the sharpness is great in good lighting but far away its just a blur any picture I take has no sharpness. night mode shots up close look great but again just a normal snap on the main lens just suffers so much. The front facing camera in low light is horrendous makes me look like I have a skin disease and doesn't focus and in good lighting again not sharp at all unless I have a bright light source shined on my face constantly. Apple really need to address this issue and offer a fix to customers as these phones are supposed to be pro and premium but the camera is bad from my experience so far it urgently needs a software update unless its not hardware of course. I'm seeing an Apple specialist at the store on Friday I will report back here with the results. You have to remember these handsets are mass produced so almost certain there will be some defects as several people are having these issues in the first week or so of release.

Dash was selected on both as I wanted to test the sharpness of the dash text up close again was perfectly locked in focus in the viewfinder therefore the focus is not working properly as reported by several people. You may not be having issues but other people are its obvious some handsets are suffering and this could be software or just down to poor build quality. I think its unfair to blame the user and their expectations when I have just given you a clear example of the focus working in a certain mode then not at all in another but the camera simply choosing it for you afterwards. all we are doing is tapping a screen to focus and when we have it the results this camera is producing are different. the normal shot should be as clear as the portrait shot and I think its down to Apple removing the Smart HDR toggle in camera settings which means the camera is forcing it in some situations especially for landscape pictures they all look blown out because of HDR.

Try filming video. I’m starting to notice there’s an issue with videos as well. Film a video where you are planning from left to right with objects in a wall. You’ll see the objects move really blurry. We tried it on the 12 and it’s smooth. I was on chat support with Apple and they said there is definitely an issue. They ran diagnostic test but didn’t find any issues so they set me up with a Genius Bar appointment today. Will post update

My iPhone 13 Pro Max is doing this too. I went to the Genius Bar today and they actually replaced my entire iPhone because the "Face ID" test failed. However, the new phone still has low/blurry front face camera quality in lower light settings. I notice it especially on FaceTime. It's like some of you mentioned, like a soft/beauty filter being applied but it's resulting in blurry quality. My iPhone X had better quality as well, IMO.

The Genius said I should test it out for a few days and if I notice it again, schedule another appointment. He also mentioned that it may be something with my backup settings messing with it? We'll see if it's better in the next few days but if not, I might have to go back.

Disabling Lens Correction did not work for me, by the way.

Nobody is talking about digital zoom. There is some sort of beauty filter that turns on and makes the quality look blurry/smudged on the front camera in lower lighting. It literally only clears up when I go outside in the bright sun. My 6s was more clear in the dark

These images are from my new iPhone 13 Pro (left), and my older iPhone 11 Pro (right).

Similar lighting situations, nearly identical settings. The wide camera focal length was the exact same.

The watercolor effect is horrendous. Absolutely appalling and disappointing. I want to keep my 11 but the 13 was a gift and I don’t have that option anymore.

I thought perhaps that it was just something to do with the camera app, and while it partially is… not entirely.

This is the same image. I took the left one with the camera app, and that was the resulting image. I ran it through Halide, and converted it to a JPEG in the app, and saved it. It spit out the right picture. There is quite a loss on the clarity. The left clearly has higher levels of saturation, contrast, and sharpness. The right looks kind of softened, kind of fuzzy. I prefer it because it is more natural, but it is nowhere near the crisp quality of my 11 Pro. My argument here in bringing this up is that, I am afraid that the cameras themselves are not good quality. That they do not have the clarity they should have. This is a problem. If it is simply software, and Apple adjusts it with new updates, maybe then I will be forgiving. But if this is a hardware issue, I think this justifies recalls and replacements.

Furthermore, I think the argument of, “well, just keep your 11 Pro” is lazy. I bought a new phone with the expectation of having improvements in all facets of its functionality. So far, I’ve met quite a few issues that are too significant, and should not be evident in an item put on the market and sold to consumers. I was promised a better quality camera, and instead I’m met with low quality that is being compensated by some post-shot adjustments that I cannot get rid of.

More evidence that this phone is a half-baked and released product is that it should be able to connect to Apple CarPlay with no issue. When I connect it via lightning cable, CarPlay will open and show the display, but once I try to use any apps or even play music it immediately crashes.

This simply reminds me of how the most recent Animal Crossing game on the Nintendo Switch was released half-baked as well. It lacked so many interesting features, and after a short period of time I had done everything there was to do. I had to wait for updates to experience anything more. $50 up front to be given a half complete game. Cyberpunk 2077 had a VERY similar, and significantly worse problems with its functionality. The game was rushed because the creators kept pushing the date back, and probably got anxious and instead of telling people to be patient and wait, they released it too soon. The game was basically unplayable because of its multitude of unavoidable bugs. Now that’s like $50-$60. This was about $1000+ good quality should be guaranteed for that price.

I hope Apple starts paying attention and starts listening. There are too many people here in this forum experiencing this problem, and I keep getting email notifications about more people experiencing it too.

You're right, outside in Daylight it can produce incredible photos but if you are indoors it gets crappy really fast - really - crappy. Also it seems to detect faces and draws a slight orange overlay to eyebrows and lips, I would like the ability to turn of face painting. And a switch to turn off the extreme face/person brightening sometimes pictures look like the person is photoshoped in from another image.

Sometimes the photos are a bit over-processed, but if you shoot in ProRAW it's not an issue.

If it's been 14 days or less, you can return your phone for a refund, or at the very least you could sell it used, buy a used iPhone 11 and walk away way ahead financially.

Either way, there is a path to happiness for you.

JulieBurr wrote:

Mine is also unusable. Literally the worst camera phone I’ve ever used.

If you think there is a problem you have 2 choices. Either:

Arrange a Genius Bar appointment to get the camera performance checked by Apple's techs

-or-

If you are within the 14 day return/refund period, reject the phone.

If it’s been 14 days or less since purchase, and you purchased it from Apple, you can return it for a full refund.

Otherwise, they are still in short enough supply that you could sell yours on eBay for a substantial amount and then purchase a phone that more closely meets your needs.

For what it’s worth, the 13 Pro Max’s cameras a way beyond anything the X was capable of, as the reviews state; it’s not just me.

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

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 am sorry that you are not able to see the “oil paint effect” that me and many other people are describing.

id really like to help you but not easy from here.

try to have a look on Reddit link posted on this thread if you want to understand what many users are experiencing.

I suggest you to post a comment in the Reddit thread and I m sure that people will help you understanding what we are talking about.

By the way if the kind of picture you take with iPhone are not showing this, I am happy for you.

Many people who are using iPhone 13 pro camera at 100% of its possibilities are facing this “issue”.

I already have my phone been checked at The Genius Bar.

thanks for sending me the link but they already confirmed that is a software effect to reduce noise that is present on all iPhone 13 pros .

I went to the Apple Store day before last, and I had them let me compare my phone to the floor models, and then again to the single 12 Pro they had. (they sold out of them bc they don’t show them anymore) When I took a picture of my shoe, using my phone it still did the post processing. I then took it using the 12 Pro, and for two seconds it looked better until it suddenly did not. The phone had been upgraded to iOS15.0 It is most definitely a software issue.