IOS 26.0.1 camera are blurry on iPhone 17 Pro Max and older iPhones.

I have shot professionally, understand depth of field, know how to set up focus test charts, and have done so. The problem is not depth of field which, as has been noted in this thread, is enormous given the small sensor size. The issue is that the lens of the main camera of the 17 Pro (Max in my case) is *very* soft as you approach the edges, and the images become "smudgy." The softness kicks in much closer to the center than is normal even for full size camera lenses. The text reproduction examples that have been posted here illustrate it quite well.

The softness of the main camera lens has been well documented, for example in the Lux review. This softness actually endows the landscape and travel photos showcased in that review with a dreamy quality, so if that's your use case you may be pleased with it. It approximates the rendering of a vintage lens. Portraits will also have a certain softness to them, which can often be desirable. However, clinical applications, like book scanning or business document processing, are going to suffer. The main camera of my 17 pro max is virtually useless for this; I get identical results to the flat page examples that have been posted above. Even photographing a restaurant dish is tricky, as the outer parts of the plate are rendered consistently soft.

There are a few workarounds that will result in acceptable quality for applications that require critical sharpness:

• Get close and use the ultra-wide-camera, which is sharp edge-to-edge, and which will produce more than acceptable images for business application or scanning purposes.
• Use the 2x setting. This will produce 12 MP images from a center crop of the main camera, which is the sharpest area. There may still be some softness at the edges of the image.
• Get far enough and use the 4x camera, which is slightly soft but not nearly as much as the main camera.

This is different from the example posted by @patrick_photography That one is a well-documented glitch with the iPhone's computational wizardry, also discussed in the (look for the photo with the caption "Processing makes curious mistakes at times").

That's where it's at. Presumably the computational issues will get solved at some point. The lens softness in the main camera will not go away, so you have to decide whether you can live with it or not.

Examples:

Main camera, full photo. Note the smudginess in the text closer to the edges.

100% crop of the above. Smudgy text:

100% crop of same photo taken with ultra-wide-camera. No smudginess:

[Edited by Moderator]

@PlsFixMyProblem

What you end up doing? Did you ever get any resolution to this or just just living with it?

I recently got a 17 pro max for xmas and noticed right away when taking pictures for market place listings. The only area in focus is the center and SO MUCH of the sides are blurry and smudged. Its like 30% of the photo on either side is out of focus! Its extremely noticeable on anything with text. My iPhone 11 that I replaced took cleaner up close pictures!.

I also reached out to apple support and was escalated all the way to a senior support rep who spent a great deal of time with me going over everything and also agreed that the pictures we took together "were off" and they sent the pictures to the engineering department with logs and other device info. We also took pictures using third party photo apps and it was the same result. Days later the engineering department replied to the senior support rep stating that the behavior I'm experiencing is expected from the 17 Pro Max's cameras. So yeah, basically same as what's said here in this thread. :(

This all is a bummer for me personally as my main use for a camera is for up close pictures of items to post on marketplaces. That's like 90% of all my camera usage. Things like Collectables, Comic books, ect. Things with LOTS of detail and package text. So the clearer the better. I also don't do enough to justify the cost to buy a whole separate camera setup just for that. I was kind of expecting the iPhone 17 pro max to be great for that or at least be as good as my iPhone 11. I'm extremely shocked and disappointed that's not the case at all. For my use case, it was an actual down grade from my base model iPhone 11. LOL..

The workarounds that @Mauricio Drelichman posted do help a bit though. I found that the 2X setting suggestion on things up close seems to work the best for me but that said it still isn't as clean as the center or what I was hoping for.. Anyways wanted to point out that @Mauricio Drelichman post is prolly the most helpful on this thread.

Anyways I also wanted to post some simple example photos of what my camera is doing. Showing how much of the camera focuses and how much area is blurring. Wondering if myn was worse then others?

iPhone 17 Pro Max Main Camera RAW 48mp Setting.

You can clearly see the focus area as the keys start to get blurry on the mid left and mid right sides of the photo. Its a pretty large amount on either side if you ask me. Its definitely not just the edge of the photo.

A better example is below with more text.

iPhone 17 Pro Max Main Camera RAW 48mp Setting.

The left and right 30% of the photo is very blurry and smudged. Its a shocking contrast when comparing how crisp the center text looks. That focal area seems so small to me. I'm def no expert but that's a crappy photo. lol.

Let’s look at what the Lux blog has to say about the 1X lens (24mm equivalent).

“What's beginning to get very old is its lack of close focusing. Its new sibling camera in iPhone Air focuses a whole 5 cm (that's basically 2 inches) closer, and it's very noticeable. For most users, arms-length photography is an extremely common use case: think objects you hold, a dish of food or an iced matcha, your pet; you probably take photos at this distance every day. And if you do, you'll have encountered your iPhone switching, at times rapidly, between the ultra wide 'macro' lens and the regular main camera — one of which produces nice natural bokeh and has far higher image quality. It's been several years of this now, and it's time to call it out as a serious user experience annoyance that I hope can be fixed in the future. This is, incidentally, one of the reasons why our app Halide does not auto-switch lenses.”

No criticism of sharpness or resolution of the lens, but rather its inability to focus close. Yes, older models 1X lenses focus closer and produce sharper images. This is the issue that started this thread. The use of the fusion camera for macro and near macro has anomalies. Your photographs are an example.

Nowhere in the article does the author criticize the 1X lens. In fact, this what is said about the 1X lens.

”I find the focal lengths ideal for day-to-day use and the main camera especially is sharp and responsive. Its image quality isn't getting old (yet).”

The main lens is the sharpest of the 3 and no one disputes that. Its issue is how close it focuses. This contributes to the fusion camera having to rely heavily on the ultra wide angle 0.5X lens.

Where are you getting that the main lens is soft? If it’s the smudgy images, I suspect you were too close and exceeded the minimum focus distance. How far were you from the subject?

Two further considerations:

1) When capturing 48 megapixel images, it is very likely that the sensor resolution is exceeding the resolving power of the lens. This happens with big fat DSLR lenses mounted on full-frame 50 MP camera bodies; no wonder it is an issue with puny phone lenses.

2) When shooting at 48 megapixel resolution, camera shake will be *extremely* noticeable. Again, we get this all the time when shooting on pro bodies, with the finest glass available. High resolution sensors are unforgiving is showing all the imperfections. Because of the physics of human hands trembling (essentially a random shake around a central point), camera shake is more noticeable along the edges than in the center of an image.

Actions you can take:

• If 48 megapixel resolution is not necessary, shoot 24 megapixel images. This will reduce visible smudging when viewed at 100% magnification.

• When shooting with the main camera at close range, try to increase available light in order to increase shutter speeds and minimize camera shake. I have had much better results scanning books / documents when under a floodlight, indicating that shutter speed matters.

I got the replacement device and can confirm my issue of blurry pictures has been resolved !!!

There must have been some issue with the hardware OIS or focusing mechanism.

I can also confirm what others have stated about soft edges. The image for me is now sharp in the center and does blurry out towards the edges of the frame in all directions vertical and horizontal which is probably done intentionally by the software processing and DOF. This to me is not a problem.

From past experience with real cameras mainly Panasonic Lumix, when i ran DOF chart tests in the past the in focus area was across the entire horizontal area at the specific distance of the frame. I don't recall softness towards outer edge of frame.

So if you recently purchased and want to go down the route i went, you will have to call apple and they will ship you a replacement and charge you 29 bucks for order processing fee, they will also place a hold on CC for the full amount and the hold should be released once you return the other device.

Hi hello - I'm from germany and sorry for my bad english.

Perhaps you could test for a photo from a booksite not with the normal Camera-App, instead with die Documentscanner. You found this tool under "files / three points top right / Document scanning"

This tool used other Camerasettigs and is ideal for Booksites and Documents. You'll need 2 or 3 attempts to get the alignment right, but then it should be fine, in my opinion.

Best regards from germany

Hi, the images originally presented had a DOF issue. Subsequently, different posters have lumped all their focus confusions, questions etc. in this same thread.

The 1X (24mm) lens does not focus as close as prior models. Your image with the info panel does not indicate you were in macro mode.

Here is a 1X lens shot from about 14” (pardon my messy studio).

This image is from about 5” and I switched on Macro Mode. Camera app switched automatically from 1X to 0.5X camera because 1X will not focus that close. The ultra wide 0.5X, like all ultra wide lenses is noticeably less sharp in the corners.

In regard to iPhone 16 Pro models, there is a rather lengthy (about 25 pages as I recall) discussion about the exact same issue last year.

If you’re still have focus issues after reviewing you macro mode settings, stable placement of camera etc. You may have a hardware issue that needs to be diagnosed via Apple Support.

hi, not sure if this is the case for you too, but somehow my exposure when taking photos was set to +1,3 without me ever doing anything. i clicked on the 6 small dots in the upper right corner when in the camera app, clicked on exposure and set it to 0,0 and the pictures are just as sharp as they should be

Blurry edges can be attributed to several potential causes.

Because the focus surface is curved, different parts of the frame sit at different distances from that surface, so some areas fall inside the DOF region while others fall outside, even though DOF formulas assume a flat plane. This is why a lens with strong field curvature may give sharp corners when you focus for the edges but soft center, or vice versa, at the same aperture where a flatter lens would look uniformly sharp.

DOF scales and hyperfocal marks can be unreliable with lenses that have significant field curvature, especially at wide apertures or with very wide‑angle designs. This is particularly pertinent to cellphone lenses.

Stopping down does not really reduce the curvature; it just increases DOF enough that the curved focus surface is “covered” by the thicker in‑focus region, so the effect becomes less visible. The vast majority of cellphones do not have the ability to stop down the aperture and therefore cannot increase DOF to compensate for curvature.

In practice, curvature is one reason two lenses with the same focal length and aperture can give very different edge and corner sharpness at a given focus setting, even though their theoretical DOF is the same.

Hi, we can debate the merits of computational photography or I can help you take sharp photos. I assume the latter.

Step one, only use the numbered settings for lens choices. No more pinch to zoom, no more spin the dial. You only use .5X, 1X, 4X, and possibly 8X. That’s it. Once you do that, the Depth of Field will be governed by Laws of Physics and not Apple Engineers.

Step Two, tap and hold on the object or part of screen containing your subject (point of focus) and wait for AE/AF lock symbol to appear near top of screen.

Step Three, gently press Camera button or shutter release button. More consistent and sharper images will be obtained if you use a good tripod.

Your hit rate should go up to about 90% or higher with a little practice.

Why don’t you post a few examples. Flicker now wants me to join and I’ve no intention of joining the site to view your photos. Just add them to the forum here.

Small sensors have greater apparent DOF because to achieve the same field of view for the scene, the small sensor must use focal lengths that are smaller (wider angle of view), or increase the distance to the subject (move camera further back) to achieve the same FOV.

If Google is telling you it’s sensor size it’s wrong. Small sensors do not inherently have more DOF.

But we’re getting away from the issue.

Here’s a crop of the image you linked to on Flickr.

That’s from the right edge of the photo. That sure looks like camera movement. If that image is your argument for a defective camera, please put your iPhone on a tripod and shoot it again.

Here’s what you want to do. Find the photo in Apple Photos app, tap the information button (letter I), take a screenshot. It’ll look like this.

The information we need to examine is circled in red.

Try using the scanning feature in Apple Notes app, Apple Files app or new Apple Preview app. Those apps are specifically designed to scan flat documents and correct geometry errors and enhance text etc. Something that camera and Apple Photos app is not designed to do.

Ok...Having the exact same issues as everyone else. So...I think it has something to do with the way they have redesigned the zoom options. This is why we can't hold the phone up close for images anymore. It is way too wide angle for what most of the general public use this camera for. This worked for me, or at least it's better. Go into your camera settings, scroll down to Fusion camera. Turn off the 28mm if it is on, or if both are off, turn on the 35mm and set it to default. Now when you open your camera and use it, it defaults to 1.5 35mm and the pictures, at least for me, are coming out nice and sharp and I can take closeups of documents, receipts or even objects in my hand with no out of focus spots. Try and it and see if it works for you!

:)

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Thank you for the correction. I noticed that too, the image you designate as iPhone 17 pro is 23% smaller than the one you say is iPhone 11 Pro. This goes to my comments that your experiment was inconsistent. JPEG is a dynamic compression algorithm which causes difference in files sizes based on different ISO settings and quality settings used for JPEG compression. The native camera Apple Camera app is not the best choice for doing these types of comparisons because the app lacks many pro features offered by third party apps. I rarely use the Apple app preferring Halide, Reeflex and Leica LUX for most of my images.