iPhone 14 Pro Max 14pro max. Worst camera of any iPhone.

[King_Kimbo]

Just going to say it. For more reasons than I can even be bothered listing here, the iPhone 14 pro max camera is the worst phone camera I’ve ever had. I only bought this phone for the 48mp Raw capability - and yea in theory having that is great. But, little did I know all the “smart” processing and lens switching etc. this phone does would make it basically useless. Especially for interior shots in commercial spaces/lighting. The image you see when you click the shutter is nothing like what the final image becomes. It is so over processed and totally far from being even close to accurate contrast/colour/ability to handle LED lights etc. it’s basically unusable. Upgraded from an iPhone X, before that a 6, 4s, 3Gs. Deeply regret it and should’ve stuck with the X.
Apple has me with its ecosystem, but how the hell is this camera possibly considered “pro” when you can override all of the BS the software does to every photo?
Also, no other apps I’ve tried including Halide do anything to stop this happening…
Rant over?

 

[maerz001]

Give it back and buy next week the 15

 

[arw]

You probably don't want another paid app but ProCamera lets you disable different steps of Apple’s (over-) processing up to completely unprocessed without OIS.
For images taken in RAW as well as JPEG/HEIF.

 

[cthompson94]

It shouldn't read that the iPhone has the worst camera because the cameras are actually really good..you do not like the processing that is automatically done and I certainly agree. There are some pictures that I look at in the photos app and they are just way too over processed which is why I still lug around the camera/lenses in my signature. Yes I know there are apps I can use that take a more true to life photo, but at that point I may as well use the separate came I already have.

I know people don't have the luxury or maybe even want a dedicated camera and just want the phone to do what is supposed to, but I do agree we should be able to turn off all of the automatic processing that is done, even if Apple wants to keep it on by default.

 

[StumpyBloke]

You probably don't want another paid app but ProCamera lets you disable different steps of Apple’s (over-) processing up to completely unprocessed without OIS.
For images taken in RAW as well as JPEG/HEIF.

Interesting. Do you have to pay for any of the ‘Up’ upgrades to get the no processing option or is it part of the standard initial purchase price do you know?

 

[arw]

Interesting. Do you have to pay for any of the ‘Up’ upgrades to get the no processing option or is it part of the standard initial purchase price do you know?

It is part of the initial (one-time) purchase.
Family sharing included.
Never felt the need for any additional upgrades.
For those capable of German, they also offer a free Apple Book.

 

[StumpyBloke]

It is part of the initial (one-time) purchase.
Family sharing included.

Nice! Thanks

Edit: purchased

 

[DaveS86]

Having come from a Galaxy S21 Ultra I can without a doubt say the iPhone just doesn’t compete in most settings for camera, imo of course. That being said, on occasion the 14PM does surprise me now and then. The macro mode is very good. Shame there isn’t an astrophotography mode.

 

[Hooterville]

I agree 100% the 14PM camera sucks.

Good luck scanning barcodes with the POS camera.

I sure hope the 15PM camera is better.

 

[King_Kimbo]

Give it back and buy next week the 15

I’m sure the 15 pro will be declared a “revolutionary” camera. My fear is that this intelligent over processing in the software is the direction Apple is choosing to take. And unfortunately for me I had no way of finding that out until I already bought it and got it into real world situations and discovered it was utterly useless for what I wanted to do. Pro should mean pro, or why bother. For me pro means the option of manually bypassing all the Instagram/HDR bs we’re getting force fed. This is the first time I’ve felt buyers remorse from any major apple product since 2005 and I’ve had plenty…

 

[King_Kimbo]

this is the first time I have ever contemplated switching to android. In fact I never ever thought that day would come, but this 15pm camera and the price I paid for it has left a really bitter taste unfortunately.

 

[King_Kimbo]

It shouldn't read that the iPhone has the worst camera because the cameras are actually really good..you do not like the processing that is automatically done and I certainly agree. There are some pictures that I look at in the photos app and they are just way too over processed which is why I still lug around the camera/lenses in my signature. Yes I know there are apps I can use that take a more true to life photo, but at that point I may as well use the separate came I already have.

I know people don't have the luxury or maybe even want a dedicated camera and just want the phone to do what is supposed to, but I do agree we should be able to turn off all of the automatic processing that is done, even if Apple wants to keep it on by default.

Exactly. Surely a pro phone should have that option. How can a raw image be so manipulated when it’s taken? It’s impossible to fix and the time it would take to try is so redundant

 

[Onimusha370]

Are you shooting 48mpx ProRaw? (File size of each pic like 100MB?)

 

[King_Kimbo]

You probably don't want another paid app but ProCamera lets you disable different steps of Apple’s (over-) processing up to completely unprocessed without OIS.
For images taken in RAW as well as JPEG/HEIF.

Thanks I’ll give it a shot. I’ll try anything at this point. The photos I took today in a major international art fair were an utter disgrace with the amount of flicker/lines and shadows that seemed to become the one thing the software focussed on trying to highlight ffs. I’d take a photo and it looked fine at the of capture….

 

[King_Kimbo]

Are you shooting 48mpx ProRaw? (File size of each pic like 100MB?)

Yes. I’m an artist and use the phone a lot in studio mainly for random progress shots etc. but I can’t even do that any more. Weirdly the iPhone X stayed truer to life.
I don’t expect a phone to give me shots like my Nikon I use for archival photographs, but the way it totally changes the contrast and colour after the shutter is pushed is infuriating

 

[Dsmith7]

Totally agree. 14 pro max camera works fine on halide. Not everyone wants to pay for an app after spending so much for the phone already. Give up the ability to disable smart hdr, problem solved

 

[xxr]

Just going to say it. For more reasons than I can even be bothered listing here, the iPhone 14 pro max camera is the worst phone camera I’ve ever had. I only bought this phone for the 48mp Raw capability - and yea in theory having that is great. But, little did I know all the “smart” processing and lens switching etc. this phone does would make it basically useless. Especially for interior shots in commercial spaces/lighting. The image you see when you click the shutter is nothing like what the final image becomes. It is so over processed and totally far from being even close to accurate contrast/colour/ability to handle LED lights etc. it’s basically unusable. Upgraded from an iPhone X, before that a 6, 4s, 3Gs. Deeply regret it and should’ve stuck with the X.
Apple has me with its ecosystem, but how the hell is this camera possibly considered “pro” when you can override all of the BS the software does to every photo?
Also, no other apps I’ve tried including Halide do anything to stop this happening…
Rant over?

You're not wrong, bought the 14PM at launch and immediately noticed how much worse it was than the 13PM. So do you know what I did? Turned it in to an opportunity.

Decided that I'd use a proper mirrorless camera for my photography. Yes it's heavier but I've now got a portfolio of photos I'm proud of that I'd happily have as prints.

I decided to only use my phone for travel apps and communication and anything else (social media etc) Id do on my iPad

So I sold the 14PM for an SE 2020 and haven't looked back. Turns out when you stop using the iPhone camera there's not much in it between generations

 

[Rockanrolero]

Having come from a Galaxy S21 Ultra I can without a doubt say the iPhone just doesn’t compete in most settings for camera, imo of course. That being said, on occasion the 14PM does surprise me now and then. The macro mode is very good. Shame there isn’t an astrophotography mode.

Astrophotography mode… you mean the google images android overlays an otherwise still crappy nighttime picture? Got it 👍🏻😂

 

[cthompson94]

Astrophotography mode… you mean the google images android overlays an otherwise still crappy nighttime picture? Got it 👍🏻😂

you do know astro is more than just the moon right? seeing as though the moon seems to be the only photos that seemly is not "true" when taking photos with some of the other smartphones. A designated Astro mode would just eliminate some of the automatic stuff like noise reduction that would normally be done for a nice clean photo, but because you would need at least 15 seconds imo of a photo being taken all of the the automatic things happening during and after the photo is taken would need to be off

 

[dudeski]

apples over processing is insane. i haven’t taken a single good photo on my 14 pro. the 12 pro was much better. it’s actually pathetic on their part

 

[akash.nu]

apples over processing is insane. i haven’t taken a single good photo on my 14 pro. the 12 pro was much better. it’s actually pathetic on their part

I mean there’s an entire thread on iPhone 14 Pro photography and the posts there don’t agree with your sentiment. I highly recommend taking a look there.

 

[OneBar]

I'm on an 11PM but it still does some "enchancing". I use the Moment Pro Camera app which allows for pure RAW shooting for free. If I just need a quick reference shot then I use the stock app but if I want to shoot like a landscape or something then I shoot RAW on Moment.

I do agree that since these phones have OIS we should be able to have better astro shots. The phone should be able to GPS locate itself and star track for 30 seconds instead of just shooting a handful of shots and doing a poor job of stacking them.

 

[King_Kimbo]

You're not wrong, bought the 14PM at launch and immediately noticed how much worse it was than the 13PM. So do you know what I did? Turned it in to an opportunity.

Decided that I'd use a proper mirrorless camera for my photography. Yes it's heavier but I've now got a portfolio of photos I'm proud of that I'd happily have as prints.

I decided to only use my phone for travel apps and communication and anything else (social media etc) Id do on my iPad

So I sold the 14PM for an SE 2020 and haven't looked back. Turns out when you stop using the iPhone camera there's not much in it between generations

Yes I also have a mirrorless Nikon which is fantastic and I use that for all the archival photography in studio. Just wish this NZD$2500 pro phone didn’t have such a dominant non pro override.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I mean there’s an entire thread on iPhone 14 Pro photography and the posts there don’t agree with your sentiment. I highly recommend taking a look there.

I figure it's just frustration right? "Worse than any iPhone" is more a statement of frustration.

I found focusing to be better on my 13 PM BUT my 14 PM has the ability to do Macros like no other with 3x (if lighting is good).

My wife and I continue to put out some consistently AMAZING pictures on our 14 PM, so much so that I'm actually enjoying it more than my 13 PM. I did find my 13 PM to do better .5x closeups and focus on QR/receipts better. The 13PM didn't try to default to the higher megapixel sensor on close photos.

iPhones trying to intelligently choosing the lens and processing photos is nothing new. I too wish that I could, without additional software, tell the phone what lens I want to use and how much after photo processing I want. But that would over complicate the camera app for the vast majority of people using the phone, I guess.

 

[cthompson94]

I figure it's just frustration right? "Worse than any iPhone" is more a statement of frustration.

I found focusing to be better on my 13 PM BUT my 14 PM has the ability to do Macros like no other with 3x (if lighting is good).

My wife and I continue to put out some consistently AMAZING pictures on our 14 PM, so much so that I'm actually enjoying it more than my 13 PM. I did find my 13 PM to do better .5x closeups and focus on QR/receipts better. The 13PM didn't try to default to the higher megapixel sensor on close photos.

iPhones trying to intelligently choosing the lens and processing photos is nothing new. I too wish that I could, without additional software, tell the phone what lens I want to use and how much after photo processing I want. But that would over complicate the camera app for the vast majority of people using the phone, I guess.

A simple pro mode would be all it takes, even if you have to enable it in the settings for the option to become available in the camera app so that the vast majority will still see the simple settings