iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera Blurry and Out of Focus

I went to the Apple Store and I think I have it figured out! In your camera settings, formats, you will automatically have High Efficiency selected under camera capture. Apparently it is using many different cameras at once and putting all of the images together to “get the best image” but it sucks. So check Most Compatible instead. It seems to be a lot clearer with that selection. Try it and tell me if you think it helps! We did a side by side comparison in the Apple Store using both settings and the latter came out better!

My experience so far

bought iPhone 15 pro max in January. Restored from iCloud back up. Took pics and noticed instantly that main camera photos are out of focus in good lighting. Selfie camera worse than a 200 dollar phone. Did full reset and started as new same story.

finally took it to Apple… Genius Bar folks acted as if this is first time they heard that complaint. They took a picture and said it doesn’t look bad. I picked up their demo camera and took same shot from both phones. Demo photo was vibrant n clear mine sucked from same angle. They admitted the difference and agreed to change the phone. New phone opened there only and set up as new quickly to take pics. Pictures taken from new phone way better than one I exchanged… but still not as bright as the demo phone though still much better than before and if this was the initial device wouldn’t have complained to be honest.

still it bugged me how demo was taking still better pics. They called another expert from inside who came and played with some white balance in advance settings of the phone which are on the phone and I saw for the first time….

after his tweaks main camera became almost similar to demo but selfie still remained lower to demo photo

he said demo phones have demo software which runs the display at highest brightness nits non stop which makes the picture look better. He said that can’t be achieved by user software. Kinda made sense

now the new device is taking much better pics than before but I’m still surprised Apple would make demos look better

this can be grounds for misleading advertisement. But this is thorough information

also they said cameras are made by two different vendors hence the difference in camera from first phone

The allegations that you were apparently told are nonsense.

The display has nothing to do with how bright a photo is; if you want your photos to look brighter, you can turn up your display brightness yourself, but that would give you a false impression of what your photo actually looks like.

The brightness setting on demonstration iPhones is no different than that on whichever iPhone you purchase; if you prefer the way the demo iPhones look you can set the brightness on your iPhone to the same level.

Further, there are not multiple manufacturers of the camera chip in iPhones; the iPhone 14 and 15 both use a camera sensor manufactured by a third party; you can read more by doing a simple Internet search.

Yes!! Like I tried to record the beginning of the Halloween movie and the video is so ugly with its grainy graphics and hazy output.

I replaced my device via apple.com just because we have a free 14 days return policy (I'm in Portugal, we don't have Apple Store here). Today I receive replacement and guess what? Same blurry photos but this time it comes with friend — scratch on display in a brand new device. What a frustrating experience. And moreover I don't see the refund button in my order maybe because it's already replacement device. Nice.

I switched from a 13 Pro to a 15 Pro and I also noticed right away that the quality of the photos is significantly worse.

With the 13 Pro, I had to work hard to take a bad photo, they were always sharp and colorful, especially in daylight.

With the 15 Pro, I have the feeling that the autofocus is always minimally off. For example, when I take a picture of my son, he is recognized as a subject (yellow frame), but the face/eyes are never 100% sharp, however, it looks like other areas in the photo are sharper.

Now it's not that you can't look at the pictures, but the quality has definitely gotten much worse, I notice it every time I compare the current 15 Pro photos to my old photos from the 13 Pro.

I really hope it's just a software problem and that enough people report it.

If you feel it is your phone, make an appointment to have it examined:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

My 15 Pro Max photos are sharp and clear but have always been, though optimizing focus and exposure always yields best results.

Always remember: Use optical zoom only, never use digital zoom unless you are aware of its limitations and are willing to accept those.

For the 15 Pro Max, the optical zoom levels are .5x, 1x and, in good light, 2x and 5x.

They are not at ALL fuzzy; if they are, one of three things has happened:

1) The wrong focus point was used/chosen

2) Digital zoom was used

3) You moved, causing motion blur

This isn't my opinion; virtually every photography blog and review site will tell you the same.

If you don't like the photos the iPhone 15 Pro Max takes or they are not suitable for your purposes, that's why there are other products on the market that may better suit your needs and desires.

But to call the photo the 15 PM

takes, that are regularly used for professional online and print work "fuzzy," is wildly incorrect.

Further, photos taken in ProRAW or especially RAW mode are absolutely incredible for such a relatively inexpensive device with such small lenses.

In the end, we could argue about this all day, and as always, if you think something is wrong with your particular device, make an appointment to have it examined:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Without knowing the precise issue you are seeing it's hard to say, but it's definitely not a case where all iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max devices take poor photos in any way.

If you have an Apple Store nearby, I would suggest you make an appointment to have your phone examined in person:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

You can then also take some photos with their demo iPhone 15 units in the store of the same objects under the same lighting conditions at the same zoom level and directly compare whether yours are worse, and, if they are, get a replacement.

Focus does take a non-zero amount of time, it's not instant to go from near to far.

If you are concerned, your local Apple Store will be happy to check its working properly.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

If you think your phone might be faulty, make an appointment and your local Apple Store Genius Bar will be happy to check it for you:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

You can also work with Apple Support directly:

Contact - Official Apple Support

Just wanted to share my captures. I’ve just upgraded from 12PM to 15PM. I have noticed the same “blurriness” annd “lack of detail” as others. sometimes the blur increases from the centre of the pictures to the outside.

However my more significant issue is the volume of noise in photos from the wide angle and main sensor. Thee biggest issue is the very poor quality shots using the ‘macro’ mode. The macro mode produces terrible quality and artifacts within the images across the entire captures. Almost alike to a very low resolution.

Below is a picture of the LEGO fox using the macro (wide angle). There is no crop here and was taking in daylight conditions. This quality isn’t acceptable.

Above is using the main sensor. I have cropped to show the lack of detail and “blur” on the edge of the postage label of the iPhone return box. Again not acceptable.

finally below again using the main sensor there is an apparent lack of detail, although not as clear as the previous pictures, the image has a general lack of clarity. Especially compared to my 12PM. A general lack in edge detail on any slight zoom.

apart from the camera issues I am very happy with the 15PM. A great device which I am looking forward to owning. Hopefully a software update can help this.

good luck to everyone else.

I have the same problem. I’m a photographer and it’s obvious that the front camera of iPhone 15 Pro is blurry and out of focus.

Does iPhone 15 or 15 Plus face the same issue?

There is not, that is clearly a crop of a portion of a digitally zoomed photo.

Note also this site has a size limit on photos so you cannot post photos in full resolution.