iPhone 7 Plus Camera - Pictures are bad

I was also less than impressed when pinching to zoom in on photos taken on my 7 Plus. After thinking that it might just be me, and a bit of user error, I persevered. However, still not happy with the level of definition in my photos, tonight I Googled "iPhone 7 Plus photos poor image quality", and found my way to this thread. I read the suggestion that to switch the setting in "Photos & Camera" from "Optimize iPhone Storage" to "Download and Keep Originals" had resulted in an improvement. I was sceptical, but gave it a try. To my surprise, it actually seems to have worked for me, too. Now granted, this was not exactly laboratory conditions, but comparing a photo taken of the same scene immediately before and after changing that setting, there is a marked improvement in the definition. It's also worth noting that so far the improvement remains even with the setting switched back to "Optimize iPhone Storage". So it does appear that, at least in some cases, the issue being experienced is the result of a stupid software bug. From what I've read, it doesn't appear to resolve the issue for all, but I'd definitely recommend changing this setting, and taking a before and after photo, to see if it results in an improvement for you.

It definitely appears to be a compression problem (on the software side), most likely with how the jpg image is processed at the time of exposure. In low-light scenarios, digital camera's will automatically increase the ISO, which adds digital noise and introduces weird color shifts, and ugly grain. The higher the ISO number, the greater the digital noise. To help combat the noise problem, various compression techniques are applied across the field of various camera manufactures, which all seem to share at least part of a similar technique involving blur. I've always noticed this same blur style any iPhone is notorious for, and while it does help reduce the grain of a low-light image, (or high-iso image) it may not be any better of a substitute, visually speaking. I would try taking a few photos in an app that allows ISO control. A great app that comes to mind is Camera +. Take a few shots with your ISO at 100 or less, 32 being optimal, and see if the "water color" effect goes away any.

Another observation:

So far this looks like software problem to me. Because this watercolor effect is applied even when taking photos with front-facing camera. What would be the odds that both cameras were somewhat hardware malfunctioned at once in one device.

Another reason why I believe it is a software fault is that I have also been able to get photos without this flaw via Adobe Lightroom app and DNG format.

We at ProCamera have been analysing the issue. What is being described as "waterpainting effect" is caused by OIS and SIS. Optical Image Stabilisation is always using multi-image-fusion to create the final image. This can cause patchiness in the image and create a "water painting" look.

When capturing RAW, no OIS/SIS is used as RAW files guarantee unprocessed sensor data. Therefore most users are reporting that RAW files look 'better'.

With apps like ProCamera you can disable AIS (automatic still image stabilization), which means it deactivates OIS/SIS on iPhone 6(S) Plus, iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and SIS on devices that only offer SIS (e.g. iPhone 6S).

However, this of course can lead to more motion blur. There is a tradeoff: either you use AIS (OIS+SIS) and get "sharp" photos that may exhibit patchiness and waterpainting like artefacts, or you get possible blurry photos when disabling AIS, but you will not see waterpainting effects.

There is also another alternative: apps like ProCamera offer an Anti-Shake capture mode which uses the device motion sensors to capture the photo once the device is held steady. This also reduces motion-blur without any multi-image-fusion. This is what we recommend when capturing RAW or TIF/JPG without OIS enabled.

When SIS was first introduced, we made an in-depth comparison between photos captured with/without AIS:

https://www.procamera-app.com/en/blog/image-stabilization-in-procamera8/

The post is a bit dated, however, it is still relevant as OIS uses SIS as well.

We recently made a post about capturing RAW which also talks about some technical details in regards to OIS:

https://www.procamera-app.com/en/blog/procamera-raw-dng-ios10/

Conclusion:

I believe there is nothing wrong with the camera hardware. Actually, we at ProCamera are very pleased with the quality of the camera hardware. However, we learned that many professional/discerning users prefer shooting photos without OIS/SIS (AIS).

AIS is great for snapshots and when you are not able to hold the iPhone totally steady. Also, many user seem to prefer "over-sharpened" images (at least on their iPhone screen) over blurry images. Therefore I understand that Apple prioritizes sharpness (which comes with a cost).

Tip:

If you are a professional/discerning user, check out third party apps that allow to disable OIS/SIS.

@wc2h .... No it was just the basic all settings reset what kind of fixed it. Before that I did full restore because of other reasons and photos were with watercolor effect every time. I think also that the settings might be stored in icloud and they are always restored with restore that is why the consultant asked me to reset them to do the diagnostics on my phone...

They do the same in Munich- on phone aswell as at the Apple shop. It makes me furious that they are either so dull to not see the watercolor effect or even worse that they pretend to see nothing. How can you argue with someone who keeps saying there's nothing there.

It did find a way around it using the Adobe Lightroom App which is a lot more cumbersome than the iPhone camera app, but it does make a big difference.

In iPhone Camera Settings - set to "Keep originals". (Not optimize for storage).

In Lightroom App- set the foto quality to DNG.

Obviously this only works for Lightroom users. I tried it with the camera+ App (highest quality) and had the same ugly results as with the apple camera app.

The pics taken in the Lightroom App have a nice fine grain rather than blotchy smeary colors- especially with skin tones.

I can't believe those big "shot on iPhone" posters are really shot using an iPhone.

My own experiments (and Apple replacing my camera unit) point to this being a software/firmware issue. Raw images in 3rd party apps don't have the same problem. Really looks like an overcooked JPEG algorithm.

I am having the exact same issue only with a standard iPhone 7 not a 7 plus. The camera was one of the selling points for me so to find myself unhappy with 80% + of the pictures I am taking is extremely disappointing.

All of my pictures have this strange rippled blur effect to them. As others have mentioned I can only discribe it as being like a watercolour effect has been applied to the picture. It is more apparent when shooting anything more than 1m away. It means that details such as hairs are lost and lines in the background of images which should be straight appear rippled. I have two friends who bought standard 7s (not plus) around the same time as me and their images have the same problem.

I was unsure whether it was a hardware issue until I saw mention of the quality of light room images being much better in this thread. I decided to try it myself and was astounded at how much sharper the images were and how much more natural the colour balance and contrast seemed. I am now convinced that this is a software issue and that it is the standard iOS10 iPhone 7 image settings that are providing the inadequate results.

I've included an example below of two images taken a few seconds apart. The left was taken in the iPhone camera app and the right using lightroom. At first glance the quality may not seem too dissimilar but if you zoom in there is definitely loss of detail within the ears etc in the picture of the left.

More concerning than loss of detail is the way in which this "water colour" effect is adding detail where it shouldn't be. The below example is some faint daylight shining through my window on the opposite wall. The photograph on the left is a standard iPhone camera app picture and has added so much contrast and blur to the light reflecting on the wall that it looks rippled - what you'd expect to see with a really low pixel camera. The picture on the right was taken seconds later using the lightroom app on the sale phone and reflects the actual colours and contrast very accurately.

I am considering taking my phone to an Apple Store but as this appears to be quite a widespread issue I think this is something that only an iOS update will resolve.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7760407

Great news people!

I'm taking mine back next week!

http://www.cultofmac.com/459422/apple-said-replacing-iphone-7-plus-units-faulty- cameras/

I'm getting a replacement 7+ within a few days after complaining about picture quality at a Genius Bar, but like you, I worry this is a general 7+ problem and not a few bad phones. This article http://www.imore.com/iphone-7-plus-telephoto-wont-shoot-low-light-situations seems to make the most sense -- that most of the time if you shoot using the "2x" button, it's actually just using the wide angle lens and digitally zooming, as opposed to using the 56mm lens. And when it does use the 56mm lens in anything but the best lighting, the quality of that lens is just not great given its f/2.8 aperture and lack of optical image stabilization.

https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/03/opinion-iphone-camera/

Above article is the opposite of Rene Ritchie's article which was pretty well known by most who understood what they were getting. Just my opinion but I seriously doubt Apple expected the average user to pixel peep at 100% or more. As they had thrown out a statement around mid 5s time that their data suggested those who printed did so overwhelmingly at 4"x6".

That said I absolutely agree they heavy use of noise reduction along with the over sharpening on the in camera jpegs are pretty rough but having viewed jpegs taken with Camera+ 8.02 and with any adjustments needed done in that apps lightbox do NOT exhibit any of the issues users are describing here. That is with the "Quality" setting as JPEG Highest which has minimal compression and saved at full resolution. My thoughts are that it does not effect every camera.

I say this as too many highly thought of technical reviewers went through this iPhone 7 class and did not experience it. As did quite a few Photogs who shoot for a living and yes they shot jpegs mainly along with raw for example. None of this matters to those experiencing the issue and to those the more reports Apple gets from calls to AppleCare and appointments with Genius Bars the quicker they hit it. Not 1 developer of third party Camera apps have brought this issue to light and they would as it equals $$$$ via sales.

Just another mans opinion.

TL24,

Have you ever tried a shot using a tripod or any setup with remote release (use your EarPods) that takes your hand/wrist/finger out of the equation as movement that you won't see on standard size shots will show up smeared at 100% resolution.

I would venture to guess very few in this thread (or in general) can take a shot with absolutely no induced movement with a phone.

If you look at the better photo sites like dpreview (digital photography review) you would see it's the only true way to test while taking out any user error. And the ONLY accepted way.

There is no reason to pixel peep as you are never using 100% resolution from a phone sensor it's size alone precludes that. It's not full frame nor is it C size... its tiny in comparison.

Also comparing the jpg size of Apples Camera app photos to those from other camera apps one would see at times a jpg that maybe 5mbs or less compared to a Camera+ shot of exact same thing BEFORE doing any editing 3 times that size. Can you say heavy compression?

I am not saying there isn't an issue but it would carry a heck of a lot more weight if accepted testing practices were used by someone in this 8 page thread. You have millions of phones in use now and while we all seem to agree Apple went with heavy noise reduction no way did any testing site that spent years building their reputation jeopardize that or overlook something this obvious.

Just another mans opinion.

I have the same issue (watermark effect / high noise) on my iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 10.1.1 - just compared the pictures I have taken when the iPhone was running iOS 10.0.2 and 10.0.3 - huge difference, i.e. no issue at all, lower noise and way sharper (even in small distances)

I think it has to be a software bug and Apple should address this in a software update sooner than later because taking pictures now isn't fun at all.

in the meantime: please check your pictures from before iOS 10.1 was released and see if the issue existed there as well. Happy to read from your observations.