iPhone pictures do not seem to be high resolution- can I change settings?

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Level 1

12 points

iPhone pictures do not seem to be high resolution- can I change settings?

Hello.

I am at the beach. I have my iphone and my DSLR. When I am taking pictures with my iphone they do not seem to be high resolution. The tones do not gradually change and when the pictures enlarge (on my phone) they seem somewhat pixelated. When I email them 'actual size' they are around 600-800kb which seems small to me.

Is this normal or has a setting been changed on my phone? I have never used the iPhone for its camera but has always read great things about it. It seems like I must be doing something wrong.

Thanks in advance

Posted on Mar 4, 2014 5:23 AM

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Answer 1

hexonxonx

Level 4

2,477 points

Mar 4, 2014 5:27 AM in response to pensncrows

What iPhone model is this?

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Answer 2

Mar 4, 2014 5:28 AM in response to pensncrows

The only setting you can control is in the top center of the Camera window you see HDR OFF or HDR ON...just touch that to change to ON and see if that improves enough for you.

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Answer 3

pensncrows Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 4, 2014 5:31 AM in response to hexonxonx

Sorry. It is iPhone 5s. Fingerprint sensor.

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Answer 4

pensncrows Author

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Mar 4, 2014 5:33 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

I tried the HDR button. No luck. My friend is using his 4s and his pictures are 6mb whereas mine are 686kb.

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Answer 5

Mar 4, 2014 5:36 AM in response to pensncrows

You do not have controls over the resolution except HDR, High Dynamic Range, which turns off the flash and then combines three exposures into one picture to give a greater definition and color image...not a true high def picture but gives you more dynamic range in the pic.

Compared to a DSLR you cannot get the same image quality, even at 12 MPixels do to the very small sensor size. Even a DSLR with a DX sensor is going to be huge in comparison.

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Answer 6

pensncrows Author

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Mar 4, 2014 5:50 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

I agree about DSLR/iPhone comparison but something is set wrong on my iphone-it appears. My friend who has an older generation iphone has much higher file size resolution than I do. When we take the exact same picture and then email them to each other, my maximum file size is only equal to his 'medium' option.

It seems like somewhere I have something checked that is downsizing my photos.

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Answer 7

Mar 4, 2014 5:56 AM in response to pensncrows

That is confusing, I cannot find any camera controls in Settings or in the Camera app other than HDR...and my photos range from full image at 2.4 MB on down when sending by email. So my raw size is 2.4 MB for an iPhone 4 with iOS 7.0.6.

Have you tried a reboot by holding both the power and home buttons until the apple logo appears, ignore the red slider if that appears, to see if that resets things? Long shot but worth a try as it does not harm any data or content.

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Answer 8

pensncrows Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 4, 2014 6:04 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

That was a good attempt. I tried it and then took a HDR setting picture. Still only 700kb

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Answer 9

Mar 4, 2014 6:15 AM in response to pensncrows

The only other settings I can find are in Settings > Photos and Camera to turn the Grid on and off, and how HDR saves the image (the combined or both combined and base) in Photos.

You should definitely be having much larger image files with that iPhone.

Only thing I can think of is take it to an Apple store genius bar and see why it is taking such low content photos.

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Answer 10

pensncrows Author

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Mar 4, 2014 6:23 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

That's all I can think to do also. Unfortunately for now I am in the Dominican Republic.

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Answer 11

Mar 4, 2014 6:32 AM in response to pensncrows

With a DSLR at least you have an option to get good photos right now...not what you really want but the trip is not a waste.

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Answer 12

Mar 22, 2015 8:47 AM in response to pensncrows

Hi, did you ever get this sorted out? My iPhone 5 that used to take full sized photos, has the last three weeks been taking only small photos (100-300 kb), the same issue that you had. And I can't see any way to "fix" it. Thanks, Natasha

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Answer 13

pensncrows Author

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Mar 22, 2015 9:47 AM in response to natasha-ann

I did. It ends up that I had accidentally turned on a photo filter on the bottom of the screen. I didn't even realize that there were photo filters at the time. Once I turn the filter off I got my resolution back. Try that and see if it helps. Best wishes.

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Answer 14

Mar 22, 2015 9:58 AM in response to pensncrows

Thank you so much for the information. It's the same problem. I didn't realise it was on, not an obvious filter! And it's all fixed, working properly again. I never use the filters, and I certainly wouldn't now seeing what they do to the picture size. Thanks again 🙂

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Answer 15

pensncrows Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 22, 2015 10:16 AM in response to natasha-ann

My pleasure. Glad it was an easy fix.

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