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iPhone 13 Pro Disgusting Photos

Whenever I take pictures on my new phone, the photos always processes itself in photos after taking it and creates this ugly over-exposed and over-sharpened image. It looks so bad. Not to mention pictures in low light without night mode on is horrible. I am coming from an iPhone XR and it took way better photos. The photos on it looked natural and in low light they were noisy but on the iPhone 13 Pro, the low light pictures are not only noisy but extra blurry and brightened. I can’t even take a nice dark/slightly in the shade picture without my phone automatically brightening it up. Please fix this. When I take a picture with the phone close to my face, my whole face also turns orange. I have tested out every setting in Photos and Cameras and checked every camera article. I have even talked to Apple support about it and they know nothing. How is no one talking about this. It literally only doesn’t happen usually when you are in a really well lit room but when are we ever. Please help me fix this!! I really love this phone because of the screen and battery life compared to my old one but the camera is not it when it is supposed to be this phone’s selling point. I only have 7 days before I can’t return this phone anymore.

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Oct 13, 2021 3:34 PM

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Posted on Dec 27, 2021 3:01 PM

I have bought the iPhone13 pro basically ONLY for the 'pro' camera features and found myself with hooribly over processed, over sharpened, images.. with often orangy, plasticky skin tones.. Yes.. it's such a disapointment.

146 replies

Dec 12, 2021 8:27 PM in response to apple_fix_this

The iPhone 13 pro camera is SO BAD!!! I’m beyond frustrated. I turned on and off every single settings mode and nothing is helping. If a photo is even SLIGHTLY dark my phone edits it and it becomes SO overexposed and the images are disgustingly sharp. It’s so frustrating. I spent so much on this and got it for the camera. I’ve ready many different reviews about people having the same problem.

Nov 8, 2021 1:36 AM in response to apple_fix_this

Just the other day I compared a photo shoot in lowlight. the iPhone 13 pro is applying some really bad bad bad bad sharpening effects to the photos. iPhone X is waaay more natural compared to it. and it's ridicolous. in 13 pro, if the camera recognizes a person is a big deal. it goes with some 'adjustments' (that you can't absolutely deactivate because of smart hdr 4 ) in light and sharpening that are so no-natural. no sense.

Feb 11, 2022 5:52 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

It doesn't matter what other smartphones do, premium or otherwise. Apple should make things better, not just parrot the competition. I'm judging based on a couple of decades of using digital cameras and prior iPhone use. I understand the limitations of small-sensor cameras.


I look forward to computational photography, but it should make things visibly better, not worse. What you're doing is coming up with excuses, not actually showing anything.


I did a couple of comparisons. Here's the first one, with the back hair of my cat and the edge of a futon. I've cropped out (100% pixel view) sections from two photos (as is the norm for photography comparisons). You can see that one of them has more severe noise reduction than the other, to the point where the posterization and loss of detail is noticeable. Compare the stitches in the futon, where they are almost lost in one photo. Wood grain is more smoothed-out, although neither shows the full grain of the wood that a larger-sensor camera would have picked up; even so, one simply has a bit more detail than the other. In the cat hair, both have some blurring of detail, but near the top, only one has the hairs clearly defined, while the other fades them into more of a blur; the posterization is clearly visible. Finally, look at the hairs on the futon, on the cushion and wood - clearly defined in one and blended into the background on the other.


One is simply better, and it's not the native app. Sure, viewing on a small phone screen it doesn't matter, but then, why bother wasting CPU cycles on downgrading the image if it doesn't matter? Let's just admit that Apple has joined the "industry standard" of heavy-handed aggressive noise reduction, when they used to be superior.


Jan 4, 2022 5:30 PM in response to YennaC

It points out, as I've said, just because you are unhappy doesn't mean everyone is. I've said innumerable times this does not minimize the opinion of anyone that feels the quality is poor.


Again, there's absolutely zero anyone here can do about it, and complaining here accomplishes precisely nothing as well as Apple Engineering does not read these forums.


If you don't like it, complain here; comments posted at the links below are read by Apple Engineering and if enough people complain, changes may be made in a future software release or future phone:


Jan 1, 2022 9:01 AM in response to apple_fix_this

Omg it’s so good to read it’s not just me ! I have had my iPhone 13 pro max one day and want to throw it away ! The camera is horrendous ! How can apple allow this ! After spending find so much money on this stupid phone only to have the worse photos ever ! My iPhone 11 is definitely superior when it comes to the camera ! The photos were always crystal clear ! Even my IPhone 8 was better then this ! And now it’s like we have some kind of stupid android from 2010 ! What a disappointment! I want to sell it or take it back ! Shame on you Apple for allowing this and not fixing it already !

Nov 24, 2021 12:37 PM in response to terabite

I thought I was unlucky. Waited for a new compact camera this year then the pixel 6 pro came and it's too big so got an iPhone 13 pro but compared to even my pixel 5 the photos are not detailed and the contrast is way too high. The dark areas lose detail and the sky gets blown on sometimes.


Video seems good though but given the hype around the camera updates my expectations were higher. It's going back and I'll stick with the pixel 5 for now.

Dec 12, 2021 11:07 PM in response to apple_fix_this

Obviously this is an issue with Deep Fusion. Your old iPhone XR did not have Deep Fusion since it was introduced with the iPhone 11. Deep Fusion focuses on sharpening your picture and tries to reduce noise in medium to low light conditions.


When you snap a photo your phone has already snapped 8 photos beforehand, and then it snaps another one when you push the shutter button. It then combines the best parts of each photo and it takes about one second to proses the picture, which is the processing you are talking about.


I have experience myself with Deep Fusion destroying my picture, but it usually does an exceptional job. In other words, in most cases you should be happy it’s there. Unfortunately, there is no way to turn Deep Fusion of so there is not a whole lot you can do in this situation. But I hope this makes you better understand what is happening to your photos:)

Dec 26, 2021 7:38 PM in response to bela5

I know how to use the camera. Apple has incorporated post-production sharpening that one cannot turn off. I have worked with Level 2 support and they have no fixes for it because it is built into Apple’s system. It is a shame but Apple has created automatic post-production that is made for the lowest common denominator. Less sophisticated users will think it is just fine, I am sure. It is very much like the new screens with the yellow green tint. Apple doesn’t acknowledge it but if you put a 12 or 13, side by side, with an earlier model, looking at the same photos, the 12 and 13 photos have a yellow-green tint. it is the display. Very disappointing.

Jan 1, 2022 5:04 PM in response to apple_fix_this

Me too, I am angry I kept the phone past the refund timescale thinking that Apple would roll out a software update for this soon. It has been 4 months and nothing. I have tried all variations of settings, lens correction, wide angle, using raw etc... nothing DISABLES this annoying AI!


The camera is fine in good light conditions, but any picture or selfie indoors makes you look like you have a skin disease. Kinda feels like Apple only bothered to field test this deep fusion correction in sunny California weather. Of course people are fooled by the camera quality in reviews because they mostly choose nice well lit locations to snap! I just wanna be able to sit in an moderately lit office and not look like I developed Tuberculosis on my snaps. It is frustrating when you see a lovely pic on the camera screen, but as soon as you open the picture in your gallery it looks like absolute garbage mush. Why on earth are they forcing this extreme watercolour like correction anyway? Let customers edit their own pictures!


I'll give them another few months, then if no update I will sell it back because it's not the money for a 1k phone. I hate carrying two phones around (using an older one - dare I say Android on this forum) to avoid having my pictures ruined.


Customers have a right to be mad, for some people 1k is a lot of people's hard earned money to drop on a phone that claims to have an amazing camera. And yes the camera is amazing BEFORE this correction negates any camera hardware you actually paid for.

iPhone 13 Pro Disgusting Photos

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