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How to turn OFF 'Smart HDR' on iPhone 13 pro max camera?!

I just bought the new iPhone 13 pro max. I cannot figure out how to turn off the auto smart HDR on my camera. All of the photos I take look overly sharpened and unrealistic. There is no toggle in camera settings to turn off 'Smart HDR' like there used to be. PLEASE HELP!

iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 15

Posted on Oct 4, 2021 8:41 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 28, 2022 1:07 PM

as of January 2022, still an issue. I’ve spoken to apple support and provided feedback on more than

several occasions. I literally have stopped using the camera. it’s utterly useless when it does this weird oversharpened over contrasted, non reversible effect

90 replies

Dec 1, 2021 5:22 AM in response to RusInc

What Apple does has nothing to do with the quantity of replies received to this thread.

This is a user to user technical support forum and Apple is not here.

Griping and venting in this thread will accomplish absolutely nothing.

For anyone in this thread that actually wants a message to be read by someone at Apple, then you need to follow the feedback link below

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Nov 14, 2021 8:38 AM in response to kelseyleanne

Hi, I just came across this issue (I just got the phone). I'm actually very upset about this since I bought the phone for photography. I still don't get why they leave out this very important feature if the focus so much on photography. I love taking photos with my phone and this takes all the love I feel for it.


Bring it back!  🙏🏻🙏🏻!

Dec 10, 2021 6:46 AM in response to RusInc

No, they don't.


There are some threads with "Me Too" numbers in five digits, and they don't monitor those, either; for reference, in Q3 2021, Apple sold an estimated 49 million iPhones; if even 1% of users had an issue and posted here that would generate 490,000 "Me Too" clicks.


These forums are exclusively for discussions between Apple users, except for some Apple employees who answer quick questions and the moderators who monitor for violations of the Terms of Use.

Dec 19, 2021 3:54 AM in response to Cyc11

If you hate HDR, perhaps you shouldn't have purchased a phone for which HDR was a primary selling feature and differentiator.


There's nothing to "fix"; HDR is a feature, not a bug:


Smart HDR 4 now recognizes up to four different people in a scene and optimizes contrast, lighting, and even skin tones for each one. So everybody looks their best.

Phone 13 and iPhone 13 mini - Apple


Smart HDR 4 optimizes each part of the scene.

Harnessing the machine learning power of the Neural Engine, Smart HDR 4 now makes unique adjustments for multiple people in a scene. Our software and ISP automatically refine contrast, lighting, and skin tones for each person. So everyone always looks amazing.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max - Apple


Regardless, no one from Apple is reading your messages except to make sure you adhere to this site's Terms of Use.


Feel free to leave your comments for Apple here:


Feedback - Camera - Apple


Dec 9, 2021 10:23 PM in response to JulienF1337

One thing that bothers me waaaaaaaay more, on the other hand, is that you can’t turn off Dynamic Tone Mapping on third party camera apps, that ruined a LOT of my pro-oriented shots before I even figured out what was happening because :


  • it’s not clear that it even exists
  • ISO value doesn’t match reality at all when it’s too far off (when dtm kicks in)
  • you can deeply underexpose a scene without even knowing it, resulting in atrocious noise that’s here to stay


DTM is fine when you know about it, but the fact you can’t really lock exposure can interfere with artistic choices is a pain


if you want to see it for yourself, open a third party app like Filmic, turn false colors on, take a shot in a moderately lit environment, with auto exposure on, lock the exposure, turn the ISO way down: the scene darkens briefly then turns bright again (dtm kicks in), that’s not an acceptable behavior and it renders ISO meaningless.

take the same shot , which looks fine on a small screen, export it and cry.


[Edited by Moderator]

Dec 13, 2021 2:41 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

Yeah we all do it wrong. Look at this photo I took the first day on my new iPhone 13 pro


it was pretty good before I press that shoot button, I opened my library and like - what the ****, who messed up with all of those colours. And then I read about smart HDR )


I’m no doubt they will add this option in the future but how long should we wait.

P.S. i’ve filled that form to contact apple u have posted before. No reply ) but they mention that they will not reply on every message they receive

Dec 21, 2021 8:22 AM in response to RusInc

Life is too short to be continuously annoyed at things we can control.


If your car continuously breaks down and you can afford to replace it, why wouldn't you?


If the cameras on the phone do not work for your uses, why live with it rather than purchase something that won't annoy you?


Everyone has different tastes and different needs. For me, the 13 Pro Max means I no longer need to lug around my Nikon DSLR in many situations I used to to get incredible photos and the ability to take amazing photos I wouldn't be able to otherwise.



Others don't like the results.


You do you.

How to turn OFF 'Smart HDR' on iPhone 13 pro max camera?!

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