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
ProRAW has some processing done, but less than images from the Camera app.
Third party apps have access to RAW sensor data, but you must save the files as RAW DNG files and post-process them using additional software such as Lightroom on a Mac as you would need to with any camera's RAW files.
The "sharpness" missing from the RAW files are because it's a single photo, and ProRAW (and Camera) photos are actually computationally combined images of multiple photos taken at multiple exposures - the processing you dislike.
RAW photos are just a single shot so are much more sensitive to exposure and lighting.
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 :
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]
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
That isn't true.
ProRAW is available on the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max (the Apple documentation has not yet been updated.)
Likewise, Lightroom Mobile, Halide and Snapseed, among others, all have access to the camera sensor to create RAW DNG files on iPhone 13 family devices.
Apple's ProRAW is not an actual RAW. There IS processing baked in (sharpening can be zeroed out in Lightroom, for example). I agree, it's horrible. I wouldn't have bought the PM13 if I'd know, as I buy Apple's phones primarily for the opportunity to shoot DNGs.
FIX THIS APPLE.
Is this for real? WHY would they disable the option to turn this off? Argh.
Notice that the support article does not mention the iPhone 13. That option is not available in Settings > Camera in the iPhone 13, which is exactly the problem.
Same problem here. Ridiculous. It makes you look zombie like once the pic is taken. Too sharp, too processed. Looks like a Google pixel 3 image. There is no on/off option.
These options in the link you posted only work for iPhones up to the 12, not the 13, 13 Pro or 13 Pro Max thus the reason behind the original post. This is such a disappointment for an upgrade.
To have to use third party solutions or first take the pictures in RAW and then edit them to avoid bad results is so very far from the easy but qualitative way it used to be using Apple products.
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! 🙏🏻🙏🏻!
I HATE all the pictures that I took with my iPhone 13 pro max now. Colors are unrealistic and everything seems sharpened/darken. Horrible!!!!! Even my XS Max takes better pictures now. Please fix this!!!
they will do this only if this topic get a lot of replies. Its kinda shame that we can’t turn off this "feature" off. They probably think that they optimise it perfectly :) who said this to quality manager should quit his job. Thread on reddit also full of negative comments. Camera app is broken on iPhone 13 since the launch and its a shame that they can fix it easily but they want!
My iPhone 12 forces HDR on all photos as well, the only way I can see the genuine representation is in the live preview, which in most cases I much prefer and is obviously more faithful and accurate!! Why on Earth would there not be the option to turn this off and capture the most faithful representation of an image?!!
How to turn OFF 'Smart HDR' on iPhone 13 pro max camera?!
