iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera Blurry and Out of Focus

We should not have to use any tricks or alternative apps to get decent photos. I don’t trust reviews because of the simple fact that I have not seen any 15 model working correctly. I tried some of people I know, same issues. I show them against my SE and they are shocked. It better freezes motion, has more detail. The 15 makes out of focus blurry edge face stuff with sometimes aggressive noise reduction making faces look like plastic aquarel paintings. Until I have a correctly working 15 in my hand I don’t believe any review or comment stating otherwise. I think i tested around 15 phones, base/pro/max. Always main camera at normal distance. Same result every time.

I know you mean well, but it sounds like a “you’re holding it wrong” explanation (for those who remember). There is no amount of words that will take away our frustration or make us accept the fact that against almost all older models, going back to even the 7, the results are garbage. If my 7 or SE can freeze the image better and have more detail then something is very wrong in either hardware, software or both. So far, nothing has proven me otherwise. New phone or software, nothing seem to have helped. I have scared away many people from buying any 15 model by just showing them the photo from any 15 vs my 12 or SE. They walked away surprised. You don’t need to be a photographer or knowledgable about photography. That’s not what we as iPhone users cares about. We expect an upgrade vs our 5yr old model. With just one quick shot, even my blind hamster can see it.

I am quite certain there is an autofocus issue that many are experiencing. Personally, I find the 15 Pro to be struggling with certain subjects (eg pets), it is constantly front focussing. When it gets it right the pics are excellent but there is no doubt in my mind that the autofocus performance is inferior to my old 13 Pro Max.

I just got the iPhone 15 pro, I had the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

I prefer the iPhone 11 Pro Max over the 15. I was kind of disappointed with the photo quality, then I started messing with the edits of the camera, pressing the f of the camera settings the image turned out amazing. 🤩 I think it’s going to be hard for me to let go of my iPhone 11 best phone I’ve ever owned in my opinion. It did me great. But I also am a content creator and video quality is definitely something I am looking for.

I’ve been saying the same thing. I’ve asked Dogcow-moof many times but I never got an answer. Why the selfie camera is so crap? Everyone is asking the same thing. Blurry, grey, and out of focus. Very bad experience.

I noticed one thing today on my friend’s iPhone 14 Pro Max. The photos appear vibrant (similar to actual scene) when shot but when you quickly go to photos and check it, it immediately decreases the color and vibrancy of the shot image. It takes about 1 second and it’s noticeable on iPhone 14 Pro Max but not on iPhone 15 Pro Max probably because of faster processor. But both the models are stripping off the saturation and iPhone 14 Pro Max reduces color more than iPhone 15 Pro Max. However the blurriness is more in iPhone 15 Pro Max. I did not shoot in RAW mode. It was HEIF at 12 MP. So both the models have their pros and cons.

I won't debate your results, I'll just say that my 15 Pro Max photos are the best I've ever seen from any phone camera I've ever seen.

They're razor sharp and exactly what I want to see and can replace what I see from my professional cameras about 90% of the time; the main thing they can't do (yet) is stop motion at low light because they can't shoot high speeds at ISOs of 8000+.

I always set a focus point and most often exposure, and use ProRAW or RAW mode via a third party utility like Halide or Lightroom if I don't like what the default processing is doing, though I most often even tap the magic wand to get a little more.

I get the same results that have thoroughly impressed third-party reviewers.

My iPhone 14 Pro Max got similar results, the iPhones preceding that were no comparison.

I took a "once in a lifetime" trip last summer, and only took my iPhone; there was no need for a bigger, heavier camera.

I am having the same issue. Apple, please fix this. Photos come out dark, grainy, and saturated in odd places. Super frustrating, makes me wish I had not gotten this phone. I’ve always loved my Apple products but this is frustrating.

I went into Apple Store and they were extremely rude and made me feel like I was making this up. It is extremely noticeable (especially in natural lighting). I’m happy I’m not the only one who is having this issue (makes me feel a little less crazy)

i’m very disappointed with the 15 Pro Max seriously I can’t record video in ultra wide lens and zooming between other lenses ⁉️

Please everyone just try to record video with ultra wide and make zoom and see the quality 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️ such a disaster please fix this

should be no problem switching between lenses while recording video‼️ and another problem is heating phone gets burning 🔥 while recording video in HDR for 3 minutes I tried to make rest to the entire device and it’s updated to the latest version of ios 🤷🏻‍♂️

I am facing the same issue with my brand new 15 pro max 512 GB, I have found a way that fixes it. Going into the settings > Camera > photo mode > change to 12 mp.

The selfies on the 12 mp setting look a 100 times better than with the 24 mp option turned on. Hope this helps some of you guys! And apple please fix it, this is laughable stuff from such an expensive device

Apple appears to have largely fixed the selfie camera and flash problems that processed into unusable images (but deletes posts that say how. Ridiculous). The results are still very grainy but it is much more “wYSIWYG” in coloration and lighting and you don’t see the processing take over and change it to worse. I think the sharpness is fixed. Seems so at first glance. I’m hesitant to get too excited yet but it does seem fixed on my iPhone 15 Pro.

Maheshmali wrote:

Why my comment got deleted? 😳

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No. I’ve tried everything. Different settings, inside, outside, light conditions - all basically a complete disaster. I can’t believe Apple didn’t see this in all their testing. Or maybe this is some units only? I don’t know but will soon give up and return the unit.

I visited store I show them my problem and they said that this is software bug wait for update ! But nothing happened with software update now I don’t understand what to do because I purchased this phone one month ago , in this condition they will give me replacement or return??

It’s not a diagnostic or setting issue unfortunately. I’ve gone through the same process. And erased all my data from the phone to see if there was a hardware issue. It isn’t. For some reason it is just how the camera is on the 14 & 15… I wish I would have known before buying as well. Hopefully they come up with a fix. :/