iPhone 13 Pro Really bad photos with iPhone 13 Pro (+Max) Merged

[H3LL5P4WN]

Thin is better. Apple used to advertise thin. Remember that?

Now they conveniently forget to mention the thickness and weight of their phones.

I used to take that phone out of it's case and just marvel at how thin yet powerful it was.

Don't get me wrong though, as much as that phone was nice to look at, I'd much rather be able to shoot photos and videos all day and still be able to make it home without ever having to worry about a charge. I've got no problem with the bulk that my 13 PM has.

 

[Fred Zed]

Thin is better. Apple used to advertise thin. Remember that?

Now they conveniently forget to mention the thickness and weight of their phones.

Bigger girths are the future.

 

[Jake3231]

This is in the iOS 15.2 RC release notes:

• ProRAW photos may appear overexposed when viewing in third-party photo editing apps

Could this be related to the issue we're all seeing with iPhone 13/Pro photos?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thin is better. Apple used to advertise thin. Remember that?

Now they conveniently forget to mention the thickness and weight of their phones.

People complained that the iPhones are too thin and the battery life suffers because of it. Apple rectifies that by making the iPhone thicker and putting a larger battery in the iPhone. Larger battery = more weight. Until Apple starts using battery tech like solid state batteries, weight is always going to be an issue with larger batteries.

 

[nycjohn]

Check here two photos taken with the telephoto lens on my 13 PM
Both with tap to focus on the candle inside the box
The first is taken without night mode, the second is with night mode
If you zoom in on the lace you’ll see that night mode is super clear compared to the other one
It’s like the software “paints” everything that it recognizes as noise
I can’t believe that this is normal
Finally in the third pic the license plate of the last car would be visible with my old 8plus that I upgraded from
I hope for an update soon!

 

[alpi123]

Check here two photos taken with the telephoto lens on my 13 PM
Both with tap to focus on the candle inside the box
The first is taken without night mode, the second is with night mode
If you zoom in on the lace you’ll see that night mode is super clear compared to the other one
It’s like the software “paints” everything that it recognizes as noise
I can’t believe that this is normal
Finally in the third pic the license plate of the last car would be visible with my old 8plus that I upgraded from
I hope for an update soon!

It's kind of obvious that night mode would yield better and more detailed results in those lighting conditions. The non-NM one doesn't have enough information to work with, while night mode stitches a couple of images and there is enough information to both remove noise and add more detail.

 

[liudasbar123]

30” Apple ProRAW & Lightroom mobile

Lots of light pollution though. ISO 640

A photo of the stars is a good test for optical quality.

View attachment 1922817

Great photo but it is not the optical quality we are discussing here but iOS AI intervention (oversharpening, over-HDR-ing) with native camera app.

 

[ToddH]

Great photo but it is not the optical quality we are discussing here but iOS AI intervention (oversharpening, over-HDR-ing) with native camera app.

Thanks…Just giving you options. You may have to start shooting RAW anyway. Jpeg files are usually not very good with any camera. They can be used and taken properly if you watch you highlights and shadows. Since sharpening can’t be adjusted with a jpeg file, it’s easily done in a RAW file. If the default camera in the iPhone isn’t pleasing to you and the others, hence the topic, may I recommend either the Moment or Halide apps? Full control over the camera gives the user better results…

 

[andymm76]

I also have problems with the telephoto lens on the iPhone 13 pro. Almost every picture I take with the 3x tele is taken with the wide angle lens and 3x digitally zoomed.

If I shoot the same object with the wide angle lens and then zoom in, i have the same level of detail in both pictures.

If I cover the wide angle lens to force using the tele lens, I get very poor images from the telephoto lens at most. Even in very good lighting conditions, it goes to 3 seconds exposure here.

Some here are having various problems with different camera modes. I suspect Apple has a massive quality issue here with the camera modules, which they are trying to solve with software AI.

My previous iPhone 11 Pro had worlds better image quality.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

I also have problems with the telephoto lens on the iPhone 13 pro. Almost every picture I take with the 3x tele is taken with the wide angle lens and 3x digitally zoomed.

If I shoot the same object with the wide angle lens and then zoom in, i have the same level of detail in both pictures.

If I cover the wide angle lens to force using the tele lens, I get very poor images from the telephoto lens at most. Even in very good lighting conditions, it goes to 3 seconds exposure here.

Some here are having various problems with different camera modes. I suspect Apple has a massive quality issue here with the camera modules, which they are trying to solve with software AI.

My previous iPhone 11 Pro had worlds better image quality.

Sounds like a trip the Genius Bar is in your near future. Obviously something is out of whack with your camera sensors.

 

[SocialKonstruct]

I started to use Halide 3rd party app and wow much better photos than the default Camera app

 

[jtuk]

Thanks…Just giving you options. You may have to start shooting RAW anyway. Jpeg files are usually not very good with any camera. They can be used and taken properly if you watch you highlights and shadows. Since sharpening can’t be adjusted with a jpeg file, it’s easily done in a RAW file. If the default camera in the iPhone isn’t pleasing to you and the others, hence the topic, may I recommend either the Moment or Halide apps? Full control over the camera gives the user better results…

I think all these fanboys here are missing the point. One could get very good photos - passable photos - on the previous iPhone models cameras just using the native app. With iPhone 13 PM it seems neigh impossible. Especially in indoor settings. I use my iPhone for work and pretty much every photo of the hundreds I take has been unusable whereas my previous iPhone XS Max took photos I could use with minimal work on them. Now I have to spend hours in Photoshop trying to produce something we can use on instagram etc.
There is definitely something wrong with the iPhone 1e pm camera. Otherwise I am quite happy whit the phone but getting this phone has been a huge regret. Huge. On top of other camera problems on this it is very difficult to get the camera to focus on what you need it to focus on. Tapping the focus point mostly does not work and the camera seems to focus on what it wants rather than what you want it to focus on. Just on Wednesday I took about 200 photos and maybe 2 can be used. It has been a total disaster. And yes I have tried the raw mode but without a tripod it does not work indoor either. The focusing problems are too great. Never happened with any other iPhone I have had.

 

[jtuk]

You should handle a 7 Plus then. That phone was impossibly thin, yet still (barely) made it a day on a single charge.

I still keep an old 7 Plus as it is the most beautiful phone and love the black metal back. The new phones can't compete on design values even if they are ten times more powerful. I don't use the old 7Plus but just love looking at it! And holding it as it is so light and fits in your hand so much better than my current 13 PM.

 

[PeterJP]

I started to use Halide 3rd party app and wow much better photos than the default Camera app

I bought FirstLight and while the detail is indeed much better, I'm not a fan of the film simulations. They all seem yellow to me. For example, Lesko and Gypsum are compared to Portra, but Portra was very good in saturation, particularly the reds in 400ISO, but the simulations are just pale and yellow. Does Halide offer something like that?

 

[dallegre]

I bought FirstLight and while the detail is indeed much better, I'm not a fan of the film simulations. They all seem yellow to me. For example, Lesko and Gypsum are compared to Portra, but Portra was very good in saturation, particularly the reds in 400ISO, but the simulations are just pale and yellow. Does Halide offer something like that?

Afiak, Hallide is more focused on image capture and not so much processing. It's a great interface for having quick access to basic controls and delivers a clean output in jpeg, heic, or dng. It does have an instant processing feature for dng that manipulates shadows/levels/color, but it's relatively subtle.

Also, I haven't tried it on mobile, but you might look at the RNI Films app for film simulation. I think theirs are some of the best for desktop.

 

[Thibaut 67]

2 picture

1 taken with Apple App and 1 with Procam

With Appple App, I have the impression that there is snow on my tree

 

[Thibaut 67]

Here it is the same if I had to push the sharpness button to 100% on Photoshop

 

[fstoprm]

Straight out of my 13Pro - Native Camera app -- HEIC no edits.

 

[darkheroz]

I change shooting in HEIF format. results are one idea better or just am going crazy …

 

[golfnut1982]

Low light. Wide lens. Happy with the photo.

 

[SteveJobs2.0]

People, stop using the telephoto lens at night and you will get better pictures. Telephoto lens on this phone should ONLY be used outside in very bright light. Otherwise, the phone will just use the wide lens and digitally zoom in 3X. This is what is giving so many of you that painted effect.

 

[ToddH]

I think all these fanboys here are missing the point. One could get very good photos - passable photos - on the previous iPhone models cameras just using the native app. With iPhone 13 PM it seems neigh impossible. Especially in indoor settings. I use my iPhone for work and pretty much every photo of the hundreds I take has been unusable whereas my previous iPhone XS Max took photos I could use with minimal work on them. Now I have to spend hours in Photoshop trying to produce something we can use on instagram etc.
There is definitely something wrong with the iPhone 1e pm camera. Otherwise I am quite happy whit the phone but getting this phone has been a huge regret. Huge. On top of other camera problems on this it is very difficult to get the camera to focus on what you need it to focus on. Tapping the focus point mostly does not work and the camera seems to focus on what it wants rather than what you want it to focus on. Just on Wednesday I took about 200 photos and maybe 2 can be used. It has been a total disaster. And yes I have tried the raw mode but without a tripod it does not work indoor either. The focusing problems are too great. Never happened with any other iPhone I have had.

The iPhone camera and any other camera ever made is just a tool. Some people think if they buy a $5,000 camera they are going to get professional looking photos. Same with the iPhone, it’s camera is a tool. If you don’t know what you are doing or if you haven’t mastered photography or the camera, then you won’t get good results. If you remember the point & shoot pocket cameras that were popular in the 80’s & 90’s they were much like the iPhone camera today, just point and shoot, people got lousy results from those as well because of the lack of knowledge of how the camera works or they didn’t educate themselves on how to become a better photographer. All I see here are mostly snapshots, no technique or planned shots. Some are better than others. Photography requires patience and skill and a lot of passion. I talk to a lot of people publicly that have the iPhone 12 or 13 pro max and mention how great the camera is and I usually get the reply that they hardly take photos with it! I think to myself, why get the pro model if you aren’t going to take photos and take advantage of the cameras?
So Apple fanboys have nothing to do with the post, I am a professional photographer and I have studied photography for decades now, I know what I’m doing and have trained my eye to see how the camera sees the scene I’m about to capture. It all comes down to technique, patience, and knowing your camera and how to set it properly before taking your shot.

 

[MisterTibbs]

In my case, the "snaps" I took on my X were better (more natural) than those taken on the 13 so I sent it back. For me at least, the function of the iPhone camera is to have something in my pocket to take snaps whilst I'm out and about. I have a decent 4/3 camera and a good selection of lenses for when I'm planning to take photos, however once in a while I'll capture something surprising on the iPhone. I too have been taking photographs for decades, developing my own film and prints when I first started. I am constantly amazed by technology and am grateful for it.

I think most people here are posting photos which best illustrate the issues they are seeing with over processing, rather than showcasing technique.

 

[fitgirl]

People, stop using the telephoto lens at night and you will get better pictures. Telephoto lens on this phone should ONLY be used outside in very bright light. Otherwise, the phone will just use the wide lens and digitally zoom in 3X. This is what is giving so many of you that painted effect.

How do you turn telephoto lens off?

 

[ToddH]

How do you turn telephoto lens off?

You don’t turn it off, you only need to know when it’s time to use it. If the scene is too dark and requires an iso higher than 2688 (max iso of the 3x camera), the telephoto should not be used in the default camera app unless it can be set to night mode. If you want full control over your cameras in any situation, you’ll need to use the Halide or Moment app to hard select your camera and adjust them manually to get the best results.