Update (9.3) Camera Quality improvement

[ToddH]

Good morning everyone. Has anybody used their camera on their iPhone since the 9.3 update? I've been using mine quite a bit as I always do and it seems like the noise control has been cleaned up a little bit. The images look cleaner and sharper. Is there anybody out there that can confirm this. I sometimes wonder if Apple fixes certain things in the background doesn't tell you about it. I am currently using the iPhone 6s Plus, 128gig silver.

 

[ToddH]

I'm starting to believe that the iPhone camera, the default camera software has been tweaked to get rid of that aggressive noise reduction and watercolor look. For example, take a look at this photo and the 100% crop of the out of focus area. It looks very clean. At least it's definitely a lot cleaner than what it used to be. Even the clouds used to look like watercolor painting and now, they look like real clouds.
[doublepost=1458671509][/doublepost]Well evidently this is the wrong time to ask this kind of question since everybody is going ape sh/t over the new 4 inch phone that everybody has already had once. I guess I should've known better that I would not get a response from any of you guys on this forum at this time because of the new Apple stuff, which I understand. That's fine, I'll just consult with my friends...

 

[ToddH]

The images look fantastic. What do you guys think about the out of focus areas and how soft they are.? There's no more clunky grainy noise and the out of focus area.

 

[Bbqthis]

I agree. Took some photos now and compared to older ones, and while not at all scientific, it definitely looks like the "water color" feeling has been toned down.

 

[x34]

this would be fantastic news!!!

haven't tested it yet though. thanks toddh!!

 

[TL24]

OMG if this is true I'm going to lose my mind! I've been complaining about this since iOS 8!

Going to test this out today and will post some results later tonight!

 

[ToddH]

OMG if this is true I'm going to lose my mind! I've been complaining about this since iOS 8!

Going to test this out today and will post some results later tonight!

Cool! It seems to have been tweaked some... I looked at the images on a larger monitor (not high resolution) and it has improved some... Still see some noise, but can't see it on my iPhone screen using the big photo app.

 

[ToddH]

OMG if this is true I'm going to lose my mind! I've been complaining about this since iOS 8!

Going to test this out today and will post some results later tonight!

Well? Do you have test images?

 

[dk001]

Chuckle...
Did some comparison, old vs. new and have not seen much improvement. If any.
Still, I have not had any watermark issues with 9.3
Yet. Call me skeptical.

 

[ToddH]

Chuckle...
Did some comparison, old vs. new and have not seen much improvement. If any.
Still, I have not had any watermark issues with 9.3
Yet. Call me skeptical.

Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing but since I am a pixel paper sometimes, I have noticed a difference in the shadow areas where noise and the oil painting effect shows up and really didn't see much of that this time. I mostly noticed that aggressive noise reduction when photographing plants, grass, bright areas with dark shadows like inside my van down in the console, and the out of focus areas took on that blotchy oil painting look. Since the update though, I haven't really noticed it anymore.

I have an app called Big Photo which allows me to view the images at full resolution and so far I've been pretty pleased and this is with the default camera app. As a photographer, I take my time and get the exposure correct and make sure it's focused well and so far the images appear to be cleaner to me. I just hope it's not all in my head LOL. The picture quality does appear to be tweaked a little bit. Whether this was a silent fixed by Apple or just a simple adjustment. Anyway I'm going to keep on testing and looking because I was about to buy one of those DXO one cameras for the iPhone; but since I think that the image quality on the iPhone has been improved, I'll just keep shooting with this for now. So explain to me your watermark issue please. What did you mean by that?

 

[roeiz]

well well well... very good to hear.
any definite verdict and clear test results?

 

[ToddH]

well well well... very good to hear.
any definite verdict and clear test results?

Nothing other than my own visual confirmation. I am basing that on what I've seen in the past and how the camera behaves with dark out of focus areas and areas of the photo that can't be resolved very well and the sensor tends to turn to mush before, but now they are more defined. Usually areas lacking detail like a flat color gray would turn to mush wen out of focus because there's nothing there to resolve. For example, look at this photo and the telephone in the background has a much more pleasant soft out of focus look (better Bokeh). Originally this gray area would look very clumpy and take on a severe oil painting look. I think there still some clumping to it but it's definitely way better than what it used to be !!! Also check out the Photo of the carpet. The camera now resolves threads in the carpet all the way to the top of the frame. Before this would have been more of a watercolor/oil painting mush

 

[ToddH]

This is a good example of how the camera used to look with out of focus areas and how it looks now. The top photo is the one with the nasty clumping look and the bottom is current image quality. That top picture represents the same blurry garbage that I was dealing with when photographing almost everything that was a neutral color or did not have good contrast. I remember grass looking that way In the out of focus areas!!! I think I have my inspiration back and enjoying the iPhone camera again .

 

[Shark5150]

Good observation. I'll be checking mine out shortly. Thx guys

 

[Barrett85]

I noticed some of these problems with my iPhone 6s camera but didn't think much of it. After coming across this post I decided to check my camera and sure enough it def seems to have improved!! Especially while zooming in. When I used to zoom in on something it took a very blurred low quality picture. It's now pretty crisp and clear! Def a great improvement in iOS 9.3

 

[roeiz]

This is a good example of how the camera used to look with out of focus areas and how it looks now. The top photo is the one with the nasty clumping look and the bottom is current image quality. That top picture represents the same blurry garbage that I was dealing with when photographing almost everything that was a neutral color or did not have good contrast. I remember grass looking that way In the out of focus areas!!! I think I have my inspiration back and enjoying the iPhone camera again .

View attachment 622707 View attachment 622708

the 622708 file is the 9/3 camera? if that's so it's a huge improvement!

 

[ToddH]

the 622708 file is the 9/3 camera? if that's so it's a huge improvement!

Whichever the lower image is...yes! Definitely a big improvement! I'm taking photos like crazy now! Got my inspiration back. I love the iPhone camera again...

 

[ToddH]

Bluebonnets





100% crop of an eye...Nice!

 

[adroit11]

what change ?
please take two photo and compare old with new tnx !

 

[ToddH]

what change ?
please take two photo and compare old with new tnx !

The images are much cleaner, the aggressive noise reduction has mostly been removed, and the whole image when viewed on a monitor now looks clean and sharp. I don't really particularly have a full before and after, all I have is what's up above A couple of threads up. You can see how the noise reduction has been softened and the bottom photo of my foot versus the top photo which looks extremely noisy and clumpy. I'm a photographer anyway so I do a lot of photos and I look carefully at these images produced from the phone and it's definitely a lot better than what it was.

 

[justuron]

yes…. ToddH, You are right.
I check all the photos I have taken. That noise is so bad. Is there any way for that noise problem? Please …. Help…

Thanks and regards...

 

[Max(IT)]

It's quote difficult to check something like that without a controlled test (same photo, under the same light, at the same time, better with the same unit).
I'm satisfied by the photo quality of my iPhone , and surely iOS 9.3 didn't worsened it.

 

[C DM]

yes…. ToddH, You are right.
I check all the photos I have taken. That noise is so bad. Is there any way for that noise problem? Please …. Help…

Thanks and regards...

Seems like 9.3 is the help.

 

[ashindnile]

I can't imagine why apple wouldn't headline such improvements. I mean they are the company who rolled out iOS 9.2 highlighting a change in app switcher animations. And there wasn't anything else.

 

[marvz]

I can't imagine why apple wouldn't headline such improvements. I mean they are the company who rolled out iOS 9.2 highlighting a change in app switcher animations. And there wasn't anything else.

Maybe it's just a bug. A nice bug.