Are there people out there not having this issue? Is it possible that it's indeed a hardware flaw on a subset of phones that were sold, while others are fine?
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I had it on launch day 128GB pro (silver), upgraded to a 256GB (sierra blue) with a registration date of 7th October and also have the same issue. The majority of the pictures from the telephoto lens seem to come out as if they've just been digitally zoomed.
Wow, that is horrible after spending the money to upgrade to the latest premium phone! Let's hope it's a software thing that can eventually be fixed, and not some sort of hardware flaw.
I was considering upgrading from my 12 Mini to a 13 Pro specifically so I could have the zoom lens (as well as the macro feature, and ProRaw). However, given that I truly do most photography with my DSLR, I may have been fooling myself thinking that the phone would ever replace my DSLR on certain outings- so maybe with this experience in mind, I'd be better off going to the 13 Mini, since I absolutely love that form factor anyway.....
Do you mean even when the telephoto lens actually is confirmed in use for the photos? Another issue is that the main lens is in use and crops in digitally. There is another thread about this issue.
For me actual telephoto photos are sharp, and the main lens is the big issue.
What’s weird is that not all devices seem to have the issue, so I thought about if the is was production issue for some devices.
I went 12 mini > 13 Pro > 13 mini. It’s an excellent upgrade, and the wide camera is consistently superb.
If anyone has ever used "Remini" for photo enhancements, it almost feels like those settings are built into the 13P's camera...
It's a possibility. If true however, it's widespread. Maybe was Apple saving some pennies:
Apple Reportedly Using New Method to Assemble iPhone Cameras in Effort to Save Costs
Apple is reportedly changing up the way it produces camera modules for its iPhone, now opting to individually produce each of the camera lenses...
www.macrumors.com
I had read lot of comments here and there about the aperture being the issue. I checked on Apple web today and the change from 12 Pro to 13 Pro is just one stop. Is 1.5 so much less detailed than 1.6? iPhone 12 Pro worked perfectly...
More I used it more it's clear.
It's exactly like I said days ago. The problem is simply the fact the a 1.5 aperture is too much.
Like i explained the last time, extreme apertures like this one means less details, it's like this in 3000 dollars lenses so obviously it can't be different here. And it's a double problem because you have less details on the focus area and you even have less focused area.
And Apple just applied a stronger sharpness filter to compensate it.
Just that. it's really simple.
The point is that the trick makes sense but I could expect this from huwaei, not from Apple.
It's exactly like I said days ago. The problem is simply the fact the a 1.5 aperture is too much.
Like i explained the last time, extreme apertures like this one means less details, it's like this in 3000 dollars lenses so obviously it can't be different here. And it's a double problem because you have less details on the focus area and you even have less focused area.
And Apple just applied a stronger sharpness filter to compensate it.
Just that. it's really simple.
The point is that the trick makes sense but I could expect this from huwaei, not from Apple.
You’ll probably find that it didn’t always use f1.6 that was wide open in nothing but all the daylight you could get. The new setup seems to be using f1.5 more instead of adjusting to a higher aperture.
Could well just need a software tweak (let’s hope).
The apertures on smartphones are fixed, an f/1.5 it will be always at 1.5, you can't change it.
Only real cameras have variable aperture (and a couple of smartphones, samsung tried to do it with a 2-variable aperture exactly to solve this problem).
Variable apertures need a lot more space, it's not something that you can do on a smartphone.
Yes and no.
The rule is that more you open the aperture less details you have.
But this is not a perfect proportional rule. If you look at professional lenses you can find a 3000 dollars lens with a more detailed f/1.4 than a f/1.8 1000 dollars lens.
We can say that is proportional to the quality on the lenses, and usually it becomes more difficult and expensive at every stop (in other words, trying to maintain the quality from a 1.6/7 to a 1.4/5 will be more difficult than doing the same thing between a 2 and 2.4 for example).
This because the apertures are not "linear", from an f/1.5 and 1.6 there more different in light than a f/2 and f/2.4 (for example).
This year it's a 1.5 so we know for sure that is a different lens system from the 12pro. So the fact that there's "only" a 0.1 difference doesn't say a lot. they could have used a cheaper lens system to maintain the cost similar.
But I still don’t get why not everyone is reacting to this if it’s the hardware?
Are we just having unsteady hands and gets more blur in the photos?
A lot of “show your photos” in other threads seems more sharp
I think that lot of people didn't notice that iphone automatically change from wide to ultrawide or from telephoto to digital zoom on wide lens etc. (It is noticable on apple discussion thread above)
I have similar or better results on wide lens than my iPhone 12.
For example in low office light
15cm from my keyboard is wide lens and then 14cm from my keyboard slightly change to ultrawide.
Left is wide - right is ultrawide changed to macro
Honestly ultrawide sometimes do a quite good results (than on 12) that you didn't notice that lenses are changed, only if you zoom in iphone you can notice that is blurry, grainy etc...
It is two times zoomed for notice a change in quality.
And I can't take a 3x zoom photo in this lightning - 1 second looks pretty grainy a then changed to wide...
But If it two times smaller (which is like on iphone) you slightly notice a difference... (second picture)
(I didn't see any dust by naked eye
)
I have similar or better results on wide lens than my iPhone 12.
For example in low office light
15cm from my keyboard is wide lens and then 14cm from my keyboard slightly change to ultrawide.
Left is wide - right is ultrawide changed to macro
Honestly ultrawide sometimes do a quite good results (than on 12) that you didn't notice that lenses are changed, only if you zoom in iphone you can notice that is blurry, grainy etc...
It is two times zoomed for notice a change in quality.
And I can't take a 3x zoom photo in this lightning - 1 second looks pretty grainy a then changed to wide...
But If it two times smaller (which is like on iphone) you slightly notice a difference... (second picture)
(I didn't see any dust by naked eye
)
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Your example clearly shows one of the issues with the main lens. There is clear “ghosting” in P key and the bracket key.
The ultra wide is sharper.
Do you still have the 12 to compare same setup?
Very good question. However, if you look carefully at the pictures posted in the https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-max-photos-up-thread-worldwide-2021.2312792/ thread, and focus on the outdoor, wide lens (not close-ups, night mode, indoors that perform better in most of the situations) you will see exactly the same issue across.
I had yet to see an outdoor picture taken with good light that's correctly focused.
Some examples below:
You can also find examples of the wrong lens selected by the iOS like the second squirrel in post #1024 or the in-plane picture in the post #951
Another great thing of the connected-global world that we live-in: most of us had visited the same places and took the same pictures. Example below iPhone XS (Taken by myself on September, 2019) and iPhone Pro 13 from the MR thread:
Wow, is that with 3x?
Yes, and I have found a similar comparison among my photos. Same place, date and incidentally almost same time. 11 vs 13 Pro.
Mine was with 2x (Telephoto lens). Not sure about the iPhone 13 Pro user. Objects like the Coit Tower at the back, seems to be of the same size at 100% zoom.
Wow, these example photos are horrible from the 13 Pro! Makes me worry that this is not just a software thing that can be corrected.... I was close to pulling the trigger on a Pro, mostly for some of the added features such as the tele lens. Now I might think twice about that!
Now I see. I read it as both pictures was yours.
13 pro picture quality is bad nonetheless and in that example it seems to be the “software AI adjustments” making it worse.
