iPhone 17 Pro Unimpressed with 17 series camera quality

[Jeweller]

Not rally haha.

Im complaining because I've always had an iphone and I'm deeply committed to the apple ecosystem, (iPad pro, mackbook pro, apple home kit etc,) and using an android phone, I can't take advantage of airdrop or anything apple related. Photography is my passion & because apple won't change the way the camera can be used professionally and giving me & other photographers more control, I chose the Samsung phone only for the camera system that better suits my needs, and honestly the android is a nice change. So.... until apple can update the camera software for us photographers and app developers, I'll be using my Samsung, which by the way I do love using. I'll switch back to the iphone when they upgrade the camera software. Sure I can carry my Sony A7RV and multiple lenses around with me, but I don't want to becauseof the bulk & possible theft. Does this help you understand my situation?

Sorta but not really! Why are upset with Apple when Apple does what they do? And were you just hoping for what....

 

[Jeweller]

Im complaining because I've always had an iphone and I'm deeply committed to the apple ecosystem, (iPad pro, mackbook pro, apple home kit etc,) and using an android phone, I can't take advantage of airdrop or anything apple related. Photography is my passion & because apple won't change the way the camera can be used professionally and giving me & other photographers more control, I chose the Samsung phone only for the camera system that better suits my needs, and honestly the android is a nice change. So.... until apple can update the camera software for us photographers and app developers, I'll be using my Samsung, which by the way I do love using. I'll switch back to the iphone when they upgrade the camera software. Sure I can carry my Sony A7RV and multiple lenses around with me, but I don't want to becauseof the bulk & possible theft. Does this help you understand my situation?

BTW complain away friend

 

[Ultraslan]

To me the clarity and the definition, not the sharpness; are much better on my 16PM with Raw and ProRaw files.

17PM suffers from softness and blurriness, witch is not good. Im having at least 30% less quality and information. (Images above {16PM vs 17PM})

And i tested at least 200 photos in ProRaw format.
(Tested 2 personal units as well some from stores).

Got contacted today and the assistant told me that this a now a well known problem. He wasn’t sure if the next 26.0.1 will resolve this.
However i will be contacted again soon.

Just signed up to confirm that I'm experiencing the same issues. When compared to my 15PM, images lack detail and look blurry at times. At first, I noticed this during difficult lighting conditions. But more testing revealed that this happens also during daytime. In identical conditions, both phones choose almost identical ISO and shutter speeds. Yet the iPhone 17 Pro delivers soft details and looks blurry to the point as if it is out of focus. Some of the issue, I think, is intentional and related to more aggressive noise reduction coupled with less sharpening (yes, the 15 PM is over-sharpened). But this 'artistic' choice leads to objectively worse images. Since many reviewers seem to think that the 17 pro is a substantial improvement over the previous phones, I wouldn't rule out a hardware issue as well. Sending mine back and will monitor this. If the issue gets fixed, I will re-order.

Btw. there are also reported and acknowledged issues by Apple, where there is significant light leaks on the edges:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShotWithHalide/comments/1no7r7x/17_pro_telephoto_lens_light_leak_exposed_with

 

[nunolikeapple]

Great, more people joining, more impactful the result will be.

 

[nunolikeapple]

After ios 26.0.1 i cant tell, that my photos from telephoto camera are much better in iphone 17PM vs my 16PM in ProRaw48 mode (First 2 photos).

Ultrawide camera shows exactly the same results on both 16PM and 17PM when zooming (3 and 4th photo).

The main wide camera, continue to be much worse when zooming to the maximum. (Last 5 and 6 photos).

I have now 2 17PM units and they show exactly the same results in the main camera. (Last 2 photos).

The unit that i returned, showed the same behavior as well.

Ps: Proraw48 format in every picture.

 

[Halbrand]

As a 16 Pro owner potentially interested in the 17 Pro I'm confused what is the deal with the cameras this year looking at threads like this and if it would be an upgrade or downgrade. Is the 8x any better than the old 5x zoomed in? Is the main lens worse all the time? Wondering if it has more noise reduction or just less sharpening.

 

[TroyBoy30]

fixed in the newest update?

- Photos taken under certain lighting conditions with iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro models may include unexpected artifacts

 

[nunolikeapple]

The lack of detail in 48MP mode is not fixed.
I dont know about the other issues about camera performance..

 

[nunolikeapple]

As a 16 Pro owner potentially interested in the 17 Pro I'm confused what is the deal with the cameras this year looking at threads like this and if it would be an upgrade or downgrade. Is the 8x any better than the old 5x zoomed in? Is the main lens worse all the time? Wondering if it has more noise reduction or just less sharpening.

Yes Telephoto camera is much better in the new model, less sharpness, much more definition and quality.

The main wide camera, is for now worse. Suffer from some blurriness and lack of clarity, aggravated by the softness.
My 16PM show much better quality.

Ultra wide is the exactly the same results and performance.

My experience is only based with ProRaw48 mode. I do not shoot at other formats.

Front camera is better.

 

[jntdroid]

Yes Telephoto camera is much better in the new model, less sharpness, much more definition and quality.

The main wide camera, is for now worse. Suffer from some blurriness and lack of clarity, aggravated by the softness.
My 16PM show much better quality.

Ultra wide is the exactly the same results and performance.

My experience is only based with ProRaw48 mode. I do not shoot at other formats.

Front camera is better.

I think it's important for people jumping into this thread fresh to understand that the issues in this thread are primarily in ProRAW, not in the normal photos, which are mostly excellent, albeit they are also less sharpened than the 16 Pro was (which seems to be a benefit more often than not).

I'm correct in that assumption here, right? I've been a little slow to keep up with this thread since the earlier comments.

 

[nunolikeapple]

As i refer in every post, i shoot mainly at ProRaw48 mode.

But i still see less quality in JPEG24mp as well in my 17PM. Even tho the 16PM likes to apply more sharpness in normal mode.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I only use proRAW and it looks a LOT blurrier on 17 pro than on my 13 pro, I'm heavily disappointed and having paid 1700€ it makes it though to keep . Idk if it's hw or software

 

[nunolikeapple]

Its probably software related .

 

[SumYoungGai]

Its probably software related .

Is it one side of the image or all 4 corners are like this?

 

[Ultraslan]

After ios 26.0.1 i cant tell, that my photos from telephoto camera are much better in iphone 17PM vs my 16PM in ProRaw48 mode (First 2 photos).

Ultrawide camera shows exactly the same results on both 16PM and 17PM when zooming (3 and 4th photo).

The main wide camera, continue to be much worse when zooming to the maximum. (Last 5 and 6 photos).

I have now 2 17PM units and they show exactly the same results in the main camera. (Last 2 photos).

The unit that i returned, showed the same behavior as well.

Ps: Proraw48 format in every picture.

I guess we are observing the same thing. Here are my samples. Daylight shots with the main sensor, sticking to 24MP in HEIC. 200% Zoom. Same ISO and shutter speed for the 15PM and 17Pro. I see this all over the place.

https://imgur.com/a/f7BhIOn

 

[nunolikeapple]

No its not only in one side of the corner. Its not hardware relatable.
I have 2 exact(17PM’s) phones with virtual identical results.

I see blurriness everywhere.

Here is an example.
Maximum zoom at the center of the image. 16PM vs 17PM

 

[nunolikeapple]

I guess we are observing the same thing. Here are my samples. Daylight shots with the main sensor, sticking to 24MP in HEIC. 200% Zoom. Same ISO and shutter speed for the 15PM and 17Pro. I see this all over the place.

https://imgur.com/a/f7BhIOn

Exactly like that! :/

More photos (16 vs 17).

 

[jntdroid]

No its not only in one side of the corner. Its not hardware relatable.
I have 2 exact(17PM’s) phones with virtual identical results.

I see blurriness everywhere.

Here is an example.
Maximum zoom at the center of the image. 16PM vs 17PM

When you say maximum zoom at the center of the image - the 16p max zoom is 25x, the 17p is 40x. If you're cropping from a 25x and a 40x, you're going to see that difference. Do you see a difference like that if you do 25x on the 17p alongside 25x on the 16p? Unless I'm misunderstanding and incorrect.

 

[nunolikeapple]

I was referring the maximum zoom in a photo. When u zoom a photo at 300 percent more or less.
Not zooming while taking a picture.

And yes the 4x optics of 17 series allows the possibility to reach the 40x zoom perspective.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I've usually upgraded my phone every 3 to 4 years, and thus far the it's always been a very positive surprise in terms of drastically improved image quality. The last time, upgrading from iPhone X to 14 Pro was the first time I really ended up leaving my real camera at home e.g. on several trips – the quality I was able to get from ProRAWs, esp. from the main camera but also from the other 2 in good light, was really most definitely good enough and allowed me to push the files in Lightroom where I wanted them to be at. And I'm a part-time pro photographer (and full-time geek on visual details), so my standards on this topic are up there. On JPGs/HEIFs the processing was over-the-top already on 14 Pro, but ProRAWs were just getting the good stuff from computational photography and mostly none of the negatives.

But. This time, jumping from 14 Pro to 17 Pro, I was left with feelings that range from "meh" to "wtf is this s**t!". I've done head-to-head comparisons between the two iPhones, and on many occasions I'm getting MUCH better image quality from the 14 Pro. And a lot of the issue seems to boil down to Apple having turned up the image processing algorithm even in ProRAW to the max this time around – even in not-at-all-dark environment, the noise reduction kicks in aggressively and butchers all the fine details that 14 Pro is still able to capture in excellent sharpness. Leaving just two cropped corner samples here – see the details on the white spine of the book with "52".

There's a long thread on this topic, esp. centered around the ProRAW processing here in the forums, with stuff about the 17 Pro at the end as well, despite the tag mentioning 16 Pro: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/issues-with-proraw-48-and-stock-camera-app.2437958/


I'm also starting to think some of my lenses have physical defects in them, misaligned to the sensor or something – seeing such weird lack of quality in the corners, blooming, halos etc which I've never noticed to this extent on the 14 Pro. So all and all very much disappointed with the IQ from the 17 Pro: at least "thanks" to the overt processing even in ProRAWs and probably due to bad quality control of the physical setup as well… 😢

Did you return yours ? I'm ordering a new one but don't have high hopes

I tested one in store vs mine and the differences are huge

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I totally agree with what you wrote. I just sold my 14P to get the 17P. The differences in the main 48mpx sensor pics are evident. I was so disappointed in the lack of details with ProRaw and the heavy over-processed pictures, that I went straight to the Apple Store thinking my unit had some issues. The guy at the store ran some tests and told me it was all good, even when I was showing him ProRaw files with little-to-no details. He was saying I couldn't compare my 14P with this new 17P; he said they are different phones, it's normal to get different results.

At that point I was shocked and disappointed. The photo comparison clearly showed that my new phone was struggling a lot with details and the picture were way better on an older phone. So I asked him to take a couple of 17P from the store and compare some test images with mine. The results were identical, meaning my unit is not broken. He was happy about it, since my phone had nothing wrong...

So this is it. I'm still tempted to return it though. I do believe that SW updates will make the situation better, but right now I'm not as happy as I should be after spending so much money on this 17P. I ran some tests with other third party apps and I found out that Halide at 1x is slightly better than the native camera app. I'm not sure I would buy the subscription just for a minor improvement though.

Let's hope Apple has this issue on their radar and fixes it asap.

You could test 26.1 but I don't think it changes anything

Are you gonna return yours ? My 13 pro takes better pictures

 

[drugdoubles]

The lack of detail in 48MP mode is not fixed.
I dont know about the other issues about camera performance..

The sensor is just physical that big, there is no way they can add more details. MP is a marketing thing. A bigger resolution picture without detail means nothing.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I feel like I recently read that they are indeed using lenses that may have defects and using software processing to deal with it.

Source

 

[Halbrand]

Did you return yours ? I'm ordering a new one but don't have high hopes

I tested one in store vs mine and the differences are huge

This is compared to a 16PM? Wow

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

This is compared to a 16PM? Wow

Hmm no both are 17 pros , one is mine the other is store's