iPhone 13 Pro Disgusting Photos

Agreed, I upgraded to iPhone 13 from iPhone XS and I'm really disappointed with quality of photos. The overediting is too much!! I'm looking into returning my iPhone 13 and getting a new battery for the iPhone XS.

Omg I totally agree with the OP. I am coming from an iPhone X. The photos taken at nighttime with the X were poor, as they were dark and grainy. So, I had very high hopes for the iPhone 13 Pro, but selfies taken at nighttime are *hideous* - they make me look like I’ve got a skin condition! They’re overly bright and make everything look truly awful - just disgusting.

Separate issues with 13 Pro - the lower volume button does not work/is completely unresponsive, so I am taking it to an Apple Store tomorrow to have it looked at.

The above issues, coupled with the fact that Apple have removed the volume controls in Apple Maps (you can no longer adjust the voice navigation volume) have really made me disappointed with my purchase. I’ve been a loyal iPhone user since the 4S, but now I’m seriously considering switching to Samsung. I have never been so disappointed with an Apple product (oh wait - AirPods v1 and their extremely poor battery life!).

Agreed. I've returned my iPhone 13 Pro for the same reasons. Soft images, over-saturated colors, over-processed, aggressive de-noising. I always preferred iPhones because they had the best color science, now I just feel disappointed, if not angry.

Taken at the same exact time with a slightly different position since I’m not a robot that can perfectly recreate the same exact frame.

Its EXTREMELY clear there’s a software issue just off that picture no?

Still could be a hardware issue however- these are effects commonly placed onto low light photos. There’s a possibility of defective sensors or lenses and intensive editing to make up for the higher ISO’s (I’ve noticed this sensors dosent get much light). Another possible issue could be the phone uses way to high of a shutter speed and prefers to jack up ISO, this will cause noise filled poor quality images which of course automatic editing will try to fix.

It could be a corruption in HDR support as well! There is an obvious issue here that I assume is software but could be hardware.

Im glad you enjoy the camera app, however it does not capture realistic images. That’s objective, my example proves it.

The photos are terrible. I called for support. They said they were going to inspect the photos. In the meantime I thought it was just my camera so I swapped. But this new photo has the exact same problem. Going to get an older phone. Definitely not worth the money for better photos when they’re actually worse.

Hey! I hear you completely. and yet like with any new camera. You’ve got to experiment. After a lot of flubs, I find the 13 pro max camera AMAZING!

Now, I feel like it’s one of the better phone cams ever.

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.

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 !

Also glad to know I’m not alone. What is even more infuriating is to see the marketing campaign involving many “renowned” YouTubers that have been “testing” the phone with a “professional” focus and completely ignoring this issue ..

The world is definitely sold, it’s just discussing.

I came from an iPhone 6s and have never bought a new iPhone in my life, always refurbished devices. I was waiting for the iPhone 13 to come out to buy a second hand iPhone 11 Pro and got stupidly caught into this marketing trap.

The battery life though is soooo good though, that I find it super hard to return the phone despite the having spent such an insane amount of money on a crap camera system. The definition of 2010 Android over sharpened faky HDR look is so accurate and depressing. Hopefully Apple with be able to correct this via software.

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.

Just got iPhone 13 Pro Max this week and have been trying to figure out what the issue is too. It’ll look fine in the live viewfinder and as soon as I shoot it and it does the processing the whole picture is over exposed, terribly sharpened but at the same time skin tones are over-softened. I’ve practically turned off every special camera feature they marketed for this phone and still not getting the same quality images I’m getting from my 5 year old iPhone X. Disappointed; I hope they can fix this bug. Absolutely wild.

Nope this is not a solution. This has been confirmed multiple times on Reddit and other forums. Multiple permutations of settings have been tried many times to no avail.

Besides, there should be a simple setting such as “Disable Deep Fusion” that would be so much more obvious. But it is not present.

I talked to another mobile store (Apple were in denial) and they said it’s likely built into the chip and can’t be removed.

It’s not about “not liking” or a preferential judgement. The picture quality by anyone’s standards is absolutely below par for a 1K phone.

To be honest why should we as customers be chasing up these highly noticeable photo issues with Apple when we get ignored. These disgusting pictures from their AI, regardless of front and back camera should have been noticed in their field testing stage. They already ignored complaints from customers in the Apple store, trying to hide the problem by giving them replacement devices.

That's simply not true.

Multiple photo sites and blogs have praised the iPhone 13's cameras, and millions have no issues with the processing Apple does.

That doesn't discount your thoughts on them, but your assessment is not universal; for example, here are the current results from independent review site DXOMARK:

(Huawei is not allowed to sell their devices in the US.)