Front camera on new iPad Pro 13 M4 super grainy

iPads were never designed to be a primary photo system. Just look at the form factor. It’s about as convenient as a 4x5 view camera. 😀😀

But your comments are using it for conference calls etc. are dead on. I do see the issue in the two photos you posted. The size of the two photos tell the tale.

The old camera image is 12MP and 4.8MB in size. The new camera I’m is also 12MP, but 5.4MB in size and both are jpegs. So, why the difference?

There may be a slight framing difference, but the main difference is noise. The jpeg algorithm is dynamic. This means amount of compression varies with each image. The jpeg algorithm can’t tell the difference between noise and image detail. Images can’t be compressed as much if they have more noise (or more detail).

I’m sure future firmware updates will improve the look of the images But until then the solution is more light on the subject. Noise lives in the shadows in digital images. Reduce the shadows and you’ll reduce the noise. Open a window shade, turn on a light, buy a small compact LED light. But more light will always improve overall image quality, including noise, and improve your digital photography.

Another factor may be the aperture of the lens. The smaller the numerical f/# the more light enters the lens and thereby helps reduce noise. The front facing (selfie) camera is described as Ultra Wide and rear facing is a Wide angle. Generally, speaking ultra wide lenses typically are slower, let in less light. It’s just a physics thing.

I hope this helps a little.

Misd1 wrote:

I just bought an 11” m4 and both cameras are horribly grainy. Has there been any kind of fix for this? Should I try a replacement?

Whilst the front camera of your 2024 iPad Pro M4 has a higher pixel count than many other iPad models, the ultra-wide camera lens reduces the effective resolution.

The ultra wide front camera features Centre Stage, allowing the iPad to mimic pan and zoom in software; however, image quality of the digitally cropped picture will suffer. Disabling the Centre Stage feature simply provides an ultra-wide camera field - but will not improve the effective resolution of the camera.

Due to its very small aperture, the camera needs good light to operate effectively. Try improving the ambient lighting - ensuring that you are well illuminated. With good light, the image should improve with less picture noise/grain.

I can post a couple, but the easiest is a selfie, and that is the last thing I'm going to post here :) I went to Apple this afternoon for a Genius bar appointment and took the older iPad with me and the new 13" m4. The guy who helped me confirmed all of the settings were correct and ran some tests. When he took a selfie he literally said, "oh god I look terrible" and quickly deleted his selfie off of my iPad. He could see the grainy background and his grainy face. We tested out another m4 in the store and had very similar results. He then took a few minutes to surf around to see what other people were saying and could see what I was reporting (and what people were saying here.) They had nothing to offer me other than it is one of those 'frustrating Apple things' and I should go to feedback.apple.com and report it there. He said the engineers who monitor that site will also see the notes from my appointment.

I just did a test with Zoom on both iPads, and the quality was different but not as bad as the images taken with the front camera as still photos or videos. So, I think it has something to do with the way the front-facing camera processes photos and videos.

As it stands you can either wait to see what the response from Apple is, exchange your devices under the return/exchange policy while still being able to, or opt to return them and continue to use your previous devices (if you still have them). Hopefully if the issue isn’t hardware related Apple will be able to address it with a future iPadOS update but no one can say if that will occur quickly or if it would take time.

Whilst the front camera of your 2024 iPad Pro's 12MP front camera has a higher pixel count than many older iPad and Pro models, the ultra-wide camera lens reduces the effective resolution.

The ultra wide front camera features Centre Stage, allowing the iPad to mimic pan and zoom in software; however, image quality of the digitally cropped picture will suffer. Disabling the Centre Stage feature simply provides an ultra-wide camera field - but will not improve the effective resolution of the camera.

While a software update might be able to reduce image noise, a update fundamentally cannot improve the resolution of the camera itself.

Perhaps note that in addition to other models, the ultra wide 12MP front camera has featured on the fifth and sixth generation iPad Pro 12.9" - and now the iPads Pro M4.

There has been no fix yet unfortunately. Replacement will give you nothing as all of the pieces are the same. If you have doubts try ones in apple stores.

Based on the specs Apple released the front camera on both your new iPads and your previous 5th gen are the same with exception of the Smart HDR 4 on the M4 vs HDR 3 on the 5th gen. Which would lead me to believe it may be more of a software issue.

I would need to restore my previous iPad Pro to check and compare the cameras to my M4 (honestly can’t recall how well my previous front camera performed because I didn’t use it to take selfies {only do that on my iPhone Pro Max} and never had any issues reported to me about how FaceTime or other video chats appeared. I only checked the back camera and that was solely to see if there was any degradation with the Ulta Wide lens being removed).

That’s normal for small physical size sensors. iPhones and iPads have very small sensors and like every other small (miniature?) sensor device does poorly in low light.

The issue is purely physics. Noise can be made more visually pleasing in software, but it becomes a fine line between reducing noise and images looking plasticky like a Barbie Doll in low light.

The iPads main focus was never on the camera system. Trying to compare it to the cameras on the iPhones is not the way to go. It is a bit of an exaggeration to say it is unusable for video calls. Unless your camera is truly faulty of course but otherwise it is absolutely usable and it’s likely that the person you do a video call with wouldn’t claim the image is so bad that it is impossible to do the call. It’s also likely not worse than a video call they may take with someone using a non Apple tablet (not comparing high quality external cameras or even the iPhone….just true tablets). Again, this is assuming you don’t have something wrong with your camera that needs to be addressed versus just expecting the cameras to be just like your iPhone.

I went back to check the camera on my M2 iPad Pro as well as a 2nd gen iPad Pro 11-inch we still have (the front camera on it was just 7 megapixels so of course you would expect that one to look “bad” in comparison although for video calls it actually isn’t bad at all). The M2 and M4 honestly don’t look any different on video calls I just did according to the person viewing me on their end. Selfies have always been “bad” to me on the iPad but “bad” meaning I would never choose to use it over my iPhone unless I had to. Only exception seems to be in perfect natural lighting situations or optimal artificial lighting conditions. Not including apps that enhance the cameras that are usually paid apps or subscription based of course. But I digress.

Can you please share/post an image or two so we can see what you’re seeing? It’s almost impossible to diagnose photo/camera issues without seeing examples. 😀😀

When you FaceTime use a light and that’ll reduce the noise.

Previous comment states that Apple is aware and are working on a fix so it will be a waiting game. As far as why reviews not discussing it…many of the reviews available now were thrown together quickly which is always the case at launch (with some not being real reviews but repeating what others have said in their reviews). It’s possible that the issue doesn’t affect all devices. It’s also possible that many users haven’t noticed it yet because they don’t use that camera unless they have to participate in a video chat. I am one of those people. I didn’t check how it took pictures until this post because I may have taken 1-2 selfies on an iPad since 2018. I personally never found the iPad that great for selfies unless you are outside on a nice bright day or in the perfect lighting situation inside…but that’s a subjective opinion. I haven’t had any issues with the 2 FaceTime chats I have done so far and no one has told me that the video looks bad on their end of the chat. But the selfies are indeed grainy

Thanks, KaeBFly. I use my iPad for videoconferencing and immediately noticed the iPad Pro M4 camera was a big step down from the 6-year-old iPad Pro it replaced. I am doubtful of a fix. I suspect this is a “benefit” of Apple’s Centre Stage which uses an ultrawide lens on the front camera and then digitally zooms to the face. I have no interest in Centre Stage - I don’t bounce around the room when I’m on a call - I simply notice the quality is much worse than the 2018 iteration of the same device. :(

I think that the reviewers do not discuss this issue because they are using their iPads in the studio environment with good lightning or outside. The pictures come out really grainy in a normal lighting environment, I have noticed that pictures taken outside are much better, however not as good as I would want them to be.