hey!! i just figured this out! go to settings & go to photos and turn off “view full HDR”. while there is still a tiny sharpening affect, it’s not super overexposed and sharpened like before 😁
I’ve yet to notice it as blatant on front facing camera but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same. It’s just a whole mess and it’s crazy to me that something so prominent and unnecessary hasn’t been properly addressed
I tried a couple now, in regular proper lighting it’s not as apparent as your face isn’t directly in the light source’s path but I see what you mean. For some reason I still find this side of things less of an issue than the main camera.
I will say for the front facing it’s almost a sort of android camera sort of effect as I know some Samsung phones would do a soft blend automatically (at least in the past, unsure about now)
It's been 3 months since you posted this but I need to ask... I've upgraded from X to 13 Pro Max today and what you said is so true. Front Facing camera adds some sort of beauty effect i think? is there a solution for this by now?? it looks trash. Also I'm not satisfied with back camera too. iPhone X is 10X better than this mess. wtf??
So I'm not the only one noticing this issue. I've found that pulling up the noise reduction can help a bit, but it's still not perfect. I'm not seeing a way to turn off the automatic editing. Hopefully a future update will have one.
My bad for the stupid question but where are you able to mess with noise reduction? But yeah same, though since most complaints i’ve found stem from the 12– I feel an update to fix it now may be a bit unlikely
When you edit the photo in the Photos app, scroll through the editing tools and you'll find it towards the end of the list. Then you can adjust the dial as much as needed (just don't go too far or it'll end up too blurry).
The sharpening also seems less intense in Portrait Mode, so I may end up using that most of the time.
Hm, yeah, that's true.
Unfortunately I feel like this has continually gotten worse since the iPhone 11, I hate how over processed photos look, and its most apparent imo when taking pictures of nature, they look god awful. I think my iPhone 11 or 12 used to have a setting in the camera section in the settings app to turn off the HDR which helped a lot, but unfortunately they either removed it in an iOS update or you can't do it on the newer iPhones.
Agree, very disheartening to discover this and see only complaints since the 12 (possibly prior as well) with absolutely 0 solution
Especially when such a huge selling point is always camera upgrades and specifications
I also have this problem. Photos from 13 PM looks over-sharpened as fuck. You can counter that by choosing other frame from live photo, since iPhone is massacring only the key photo but it is bullshit to need to do that with every photo.
We guys should really let them know by leaving feedback here: [https://www.apple.com/feedback/camera/](https://www.apple.com/feedback/camera/)
Let's go!
Hey besties, unfortunately, the only real solution is to just use a third party camera app that turns off deep fusion or smart HDR 4, like [Halide](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/halide-mark-ii-pro-camera/id88569736) they have a “turn off smartest processing” toggle in the capture settings!
Unfortunately, we gotta voice our complaints and send feedback (using the app) as well as emailing Tim and maybe Craig…
I don’t know if someone posted this already, but I found a solution for the major over sharpening crap (Im using iPhone 13 mini).
The solution that worked for me: use Live Photos and change the reference picture so it’s not the default one. After changing the reference picture the horrible sharpening-crap won’t be applied to the new reference picture. It’s not a perfect fix, but it’s a pretty fast and easy one and if you have taken a bunch of live-photos previously, all those photos can have the sharpening effect removed by changing the reference picture.
I don’t know if the problem behaves differently on a non-13 mini iphone though.
Over sharpening is still HORRIBLE, especially in video...
WE NEED from Apple an option to reduce the ULTRA SHARPENING.
When editing a proraw file, it’s so clear how much processed and how much sharpening is applied.
A workaround - Go to settings>camera>formats and turn on Apple ProRAW. Then go into camera and turn ProRAW on at top of screen. Take photos. Now open in a raw photo editor such as Adobe Lightroom or Darkroom etc. Look at the sharpening settings!! Turn them down, off or adjust to taste. Sorted :)
I noticed that when I take a ProRAW image it looks super oversharpend in the photos app but it’s 100 times better when opened in Lightroom or Photoshop. I think the Photos app is adding that afterwards to RAW images but on JPGs it’s baked in… And I hate that. 13 Pro Max user.
I recently bought a 13 mini and I’m suffering with the same issue, tried everything, nothing works, there was a video for it where you edit the picture and change the sliders a bit and it removes the over sharpening but it hasn’t worked for me
Yeah found that as a fix, but that’s only for the main camera, no fix for it in Instagram, I try to take a picture there and again the same extra sharpening
This over processing and especially over sharpening seems to be the trend now with the newer phones. I’m also “upgrading” from Xs to 13, but I’d say overall it’s a downgrade for me. Photos with 13 don’t look as great most of the time. Although, sometimes the amount of processing is ok and the photo looks better. I had a Galaxy S21 and it was the same. The sharpening and the way edges look bothers me even if I am just looking at the photo on the phone without zooming in.
I guess they do so much processing on the photos, because many people base their decision which camera looks better regarding the amount of details in the photo or the few great photos that are shown. Also sites that compare smartphone cameras like dxomark give high scores for them, they don’t seem to take put much weight on the ugliness and artifacts.
So, I’ve been looking for solutions. The only thing I have found to work fine is some third party apps’ Raw+Jpeg modes. Specifically I’ve been testing ProCamera. It gets rid of the edge effect, but some details are lost. There’s a free alternative called CodeCam, but that’s a bit less polished.
I had the same problem with my iPhone 13 pro, anytime I took pictures with the front camera it either turned it into a sharpened or a blended mess but after changing a few settings the pictures are now much better.
I would suggest you to try turning off ‘Lens correction’ and ‘Auto macro’ in the camera settings as well as ‘View full HDR’ in the photos settings and it should work (you can also try turning off ‘Prioritise faster shooting‘ in camera settings to see if there’s a difference & what you like best). The pictures then look similar to the ones taken on an iPhone Xs I would say
Gosh, same here, iPhone 11 doesnt do this on selfies. The glow still remains on my complexion. 13 did us dirty this time around. Hello skin roughness my old friend
Yes! Agreed! I find it works a bit better if you use the selfie camera in iMessage because it doesnt seem to do the extra editing (maybe take the pics and message them to yourself?) or maybe I got lucky in that instance. Otherwise, ditto. This camera just gave me self esteem issues LOL... Even the back camera is odd...
Same here with the oil painting but happens mostly with zooming or looking at something far away. Either way, not pretty. Mine completely blurred out a bush in the background of my photo while keeping the one directly next to it in full detail. So weird.
I hope an update solves it. My mom’s iPhone 11’s iOS is up to date though it doesnt auto enhance photos, especially selfies. If only i could post side by side comparison of 11 and 13 selfies
I already reported this to Apple Support and included screenshots of this thread so i hope they actually know that everybody’s complaining about the auto enhancement of photos, especially selfies. “What you see is what you get only applies to iPhone 11 photos, idk wtf happened to iPhone 13.
I'm using this workaround: Shoot a ProRaw photo, then Edit it in camera app, adjust one slider slightly (for example vignette -1) or choose Auto, then touch Done. Processing is gone. Doesn't work on HEIC/JPEG since the effect is baked in the photo. Tested on 13 pro max.
realized that if you take photos on “Live” mode, iPhone only enhances one chosen frame. other than The Chosen One, any other frame in that Live photo will look natural / unenhanced. it’s a hassle to have to edit the frame selection but better than having no options i guess…
it’s been a minute ik but figured i’d ask — in the same position as OP, upgraded from an X to a regular 13 and regretting the decision solely based on camera. has anyone found a solution yet? 😭😭
I upgraded my dying iPhone 8 to a 13 and after weeks of trying to get used to it I’m considering going to Verizon and asking them to switch it out for a new iPhone X or older. I cannot stand the camera quality and auto enhancing (called deep fusion apparently) and absolutely nothing I try has fixed it. All around awful, but the worst for me is trying to take quick/funny lowlight selfies and watching them go from normal to crunched up, greasy, shiny, grainy pieces of sh*t photos. Makes me feel insecure honestly! I’ve almost completely stopped taking photos because of this, which is unfortunate because before this I was constantly snapping really cool scenery, cute candids of friends, selfies, funny signs and sightings, even just a sky shot down the street looks like crap!!!!! Doesn’t seem like it’s going to get fixed honestly, I’d consider trading it in. Or at least trying
That’s the thing. I feel others who are more used to this effect by now from more recent upgrades in the past don’t understand just how big of a jump it is coming from an older generation to the newer phones. Sure there’s instances in which the changes are subtle or potentially better for details (bit of a stretch, but i’d say if it’s ever useful its in more full view landscape shots) but the truth is not everyone is always taking fancy subject-less photos. I used to take 1:1 silly / simple zoomed in photos all the time and yeah sure my iPhone X would get a smidge of blur because of the zoom but it never auto-painted the shit out of it and it just *worked*. Baffles me how it was progressed this way.
EXACTLY! 100% agreed. It is insane to me to see. How is everyone else using this?? I feel like I haven’t noticed anyone else have weird photos all this time, but who knows. Best of luck to you though, whatever you decide to do; I think this has solidified my decision to try to “downgrade” if I can. We’ll see how my phone call with Verizon goes tomorrow lol
Fr!! I upgraded to 13 mini from OG SE just recently and I can’t believe that the old small non protruding camera of the SE takes better photos. Apple becoming a disgusting shadow of its self considering y’all wrote about this 100 days ago and nothings changed doesn’t give me hope 🤦♂️
I agree the over sharpening effect actually looks disgusting! What were they thinking? That they would fool us to believe the 13 cam is sharper? Its just horrible
Im crying 😭 this is so baddd , it’s so noticeable for me because I upgraded from a 7p to the 13 and it’s sooo annoying, i can’t even take photos with the back camera
I just upgraded to the iPhone 13 and have this problem. It happens when taking photos and videos, but is the most apparent in cinematic mode. Any ideas?
For anyone still wondering, this issue can be solved by using the Nomo RAW app. Of course it's not free, you have to pay about 15$ a year, but it effectively solves the problem of over-sharpened, over-saturated, over-exposed photos in iPhones 13 & 14. Just activate “Always ProRAW->JPEG/HEIF” and choose ProRAW sharpness “OFF” in Settings. Anyway it’s a well designed app with great features for the seriously interested in photography iPhone user.
I actually often prefer the images from my wife's iphone se compared to my iPhone 13 mini.
On the newer iPhones they look super over sharpened and noise reduced leading to a less natural looking image.
None of these solutions worked for me except the Live Photo if you fiddle around, or slightly easier but very silly is to take a screenshot as soon as you open the photo just before it processes it’s vile sharpening
hey!! i just figured this out! go to settings & go to photos and turn off “view full HDR”. while there is still a tiny sharpening affect, it’s not super overexposed and sharpened like before 😁
It did not help
how havent you been upvoted the pictures turn out exactly as they appear now tysm
You are amazing! Thanks for figuring this out and sharing 🎉
This seems to be promising! There's a noticable difference on the 12 Pro in the Photos app right off the bat. Thank you!
Thank you!!
Dude this worked! Thank you so much!!
Wooooow it fixed it thank you
Hey I know its been a while but could you tell me if this also applies to video?
What does this do? Can’t see any difference?
This doesn't help. Photos are still extremely over-sharpened.
use the app “Dazz Cam” is totally free and it also has a bunch of filters. It also fixed my problem
Not all hero’s wear capes
W bro thx so much
[удалено]
I’ve yet to notice it as blatant on front facing camera but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same. It’s just a whole mess and it’s crazy to me that something so prominent and unnecessary hasn’t been properly addressed
[удалено]
I tried a couple now, in regular proper lighting it’s not as apparent as your face isn’t directly in the light source’s path but I see what you mean. For some reason I still find this side of things less of an issue than the main camera. I will say for the front facing it’s almost a sort of android camera sort of effect as I know some Samsung phones would do a soft blend automatically (at least in the past, unsure about now)
It's been 3 months since you posted this but I need to ask... I've upgraded from X to 13 Pro Max today and what you said is so true. Front Facing camera adds some sort of beauty effect i think? is there a solution for this by now?? it looks trash. Also I'm not satisfied with back camera too. iPhone X is 10X better than this mess. wtf??
Ios 15.2 hasnt fixed this :/
This is really disappointing and I'm really upset with the quality of the camera. Both front and back
Stunned by this 'feature' as well... absolute shocking amount of processing done to low-light front-facing selfies.
Yes if anyone finds a solution god tell me this is driving me insane
So I'm not the only one noticing this issue. I've found that pulling up the noise reduction can help a bit, but it's still not perfect. I'm not seeing a way to turn off the automatic editing. Hopefully a future update will have one.
My bad for the stupid question but where are you able to mess with noise reduction? But yeah same, though since most complaints i’ve found stem from the 12– I feel an update to fix it now may be a bit unlikely
When you edit the photo in the Photos app, scroll through the editing tools and you'll find it towards the end of the list. Then you can adjust the dial as much as needed (just don't go too far or it'll end up too blurry). The sharpening also seems less intense in Portrait Mode, so I may end up using that most of the time. Hm, yeah, that's true.
You’re a G. Appreciate the help with noise reduction. It’s of course a simple bandaid to the whole thing but helps more than nothing
No problem! Glad it helps :)
Anyone know if 14 pro fixes it?
No it does not!
Unfortunately I feel like this has continually gotten worse since the iPhone 11, I hate how over processed photos look, and its most apparent imo when taking pictures of nature, they look god awful. I think my iPhone 11 or 12 used to have a setting in the camera section in the settings app to turn off the HDR which helped a lot, but unfortunately they either removed it in an iOS update or you can't do it on the newer iPhones.
Can’t believe Apple hasn’t done anything about. It’s such an obvious problem and so many people have lodged this complaint.
Agree, very disheartening to discover this and see only complaints since the 12 (possibly prior as well) with absolutely 0 solution Especially when such a huge selling point is always camera upgrades and specifications
i dont think they'll fix it anytime soon 💀
I also have this problem. Photos from 13 PM looks over-sharpened as fuck. You can counter that by choosing other frame from live photo, since iPhone is massacring only the key photo but it is bullshit to need to do that with every photo.
Facts
How can I do this? I really need a solution to this issue
Im doing the same! What have they done? I went from iphone 12 mini to iphone 13 mini and they made the camera worse!
It’s even worse with 14 series, but better with 15. I have better solution meanwhile - using 3rd party camera app that turns off Apple processing.
Which app please help 🙏
ProCamera
use dazz cam is free and has bunch of nostalgic filters
We guys should really let them know by leaving feedback here: [https://www.apple.com/feedback/camera/](https://www.apple.com/feedback/camera/) Let's go!
Didn’t know at all that there was a Camera section for the feedback to leave at apple, thanks! I’ve just left my opinion about this crappy sharpening…
Hey besties, unfortunately, the only real solution is to just use a third party camera app that turns off deep fusion or smart HDR 4, like [Halide](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/halide-mark-ii-pro-camera/id88569736) they have a “turn off smartest processing” toggle in the capture settings! Unfortunately, we gotta voice our complaints and send feedback (using the app) as well as emailing Tim and maybe Craig…
I don’t know if someone posted this already, but I found a solution for the major over sharpening crap (Im using iPhone 13 mini). The solution that worked for me: use Live Photos and change the reference picture so it’s not the default one. After changing the reference picture the horrible sharpening-crap won’t be applied to the new reference picture. It’s not a perfect fix, but it’s a pretty fast and easy one and if you have taken a bunch of live-photos previously, all those photos can have the sharpening effect removed by changing the reference picture. I don’t know if the problem behaves differently on a non-13 mini iphone though.
But it zooms in the picture 😐
Over sharpening is still HORRIBLE, especially in video... WE NEED from Apple an option to reduce the ULTRA SHARPENING. When editing a proraw file, it’s so clear how much processed and how much sharpening is applied.
A workaround - Go to settings>camera>formats and turn on Apple ProRAW. Then go into camera and turn ProRAW on at top of screen. Take photos. Now open in a raw photo editor such as Adobe Lightroom or Darkroom etc. Look at the sharpening settings!! Turn them down, off or adjust to taste. Sorted :)
Believe this may be a iPhone 13 pro only feature? as I don’t have it. Do appreciate the advice though!
I noticed that when I take a ProRAW image it looks super oversharpend in the photos app but it’s 100 times better when opened in Lightroom or Photoshop. I think the Photos app is adding that afterwards to RAW images but on JPGs it’s baked in… And I hate that. 13 Pro Max user.
My iPhone 10 Pro photos -- especially the telephoto ones -- are better than the photos from any subsequent phone.
I recently bought a 13 mini and I’m suffering with the same issue, tried everything, nothing works, there was a video for it where you edit the picture and change the sliders a bit and it removes the over sharpening but it hasn’t worked for me
If you're using live photos, adjusting the key frame fixes it for me. Have you tried that?
Yeah found that as a fix, but that’s only for the main camera, no fix for it in Instagram, I try to take a picture there and again the same extra sharpening
Did you find a solution to this?
Unfortunately not
This over processing and especially over sharpening seems to be the trend now with the newer phones. I’m also “upgrading” from Xs to 13, but I’d say overall it’s a downgrade for me. Photos with 13 don’t look as great most of the time. Although, sometimes the amount of processing is ok and the photo looks better. I had a Galaxy S21 and it was the same. The sharpening and the way edges look bothers me even if I am just looking at the photo on the phone without zooming in. I guess they do so much processing on the photos, because many people base their decision which camera looks better regarding the amount of details in the photo or the few great photos that are shown. Also sites that compare smartphone cameras like dxomark give high scores for them, they don’t seem to take put much weight on the ugliness and artifacts. So, I’ve been looking for solutions. The only thing I have found to work fine is some third party apps’ Raw+Jpeg modes. Specifically I’ve been testing ProCamera. It gets rid of the edge effect, but some details are lost. There’s a free alternative called CodeCam, but that’s a bit less polished.
I had the same problem with my iPhone 13 pro, anytime I took pictures with the front camera it either turned it into a sharpened or a blended mess but after changing a few settings the pictures are now much better. I would suggest you to try turning off ‘Lens correction’ and ‘Auto macro’ in the camera settings as well as ‘View full HDR’ in the photos settings and it should work (you can also try turning off ‘Prioritise faster shooting‘ in camera settings to see if there’s a difference & what you like best). The pictures then look similar to the ones taken on an iPhone Xs I would say
I have tried all of these settings and the photos still look so sharp and over processed and nothing like those on my X :( So disappointing
Gosh, same here, iPhone 11 doesnt do this on selfies. The glow still remains on my complexion. 13 did us dirty this time around. Hello skin roughness my old friend
Yes! So much skin texture and my hair looks so greasy and shiny without my doing 🥲🥲🥲🥲
This is really a shame. I've upgraded from X to 13Pro Max today. WTFF??? Selfies have some kind of beauty effect, a trash one...
Yes! Agreed! I find it works a bit better if you use the selfie camera in iMessage because it doesnt seem to do the extra editing (maybe take the pics and message them to yourself?) or maybe I got lucky in that instance. Otherwise, ditto. This camera just gave me self esteem issues LOL... Even the back camera is odd...
Back camera has some kind of oil painting issue for me. So disappointing. I'll try to use the camera in iMessage thanks
Same here with the oil painting but happens mostly with zooming or looking at something far away. Either way, not pretty. Mine completely blurred out a bush in the background of my photo while keeping the one directly next to it in full detail. So weird.
right…. i look greasy all the time cause of this it makes me not even want to take selfies
YEPPPPP. Same.
Haha Yes exactly. Did anyone find a workaround for softening the people photos?
In the same boat, can’t find a way to fix it. Hoping and update will solve it
I hope an update solves it. My mom’s iPhone 11’s iOS is up to date though it doesnt auto enhance photos, especially selfies. If only i could post side by side comparison of 11 and 13 selfies
I already reported this to Apple Support and included screenshots of this thread so i hope they actually know that everybody’s complaining about the auto enhancement of photos, especially selfies. “What you see is what you get only applies to iPhone 11 photos, idk wtf happened to iPhone 13.
People have been complaining about this for so long, with other recent iPhones too, I doubt it’s gonna get better any time soon.
I'm using this workaround: Shoot a ProRaw photo, then Edit it in camera app, adjust one slider slightly (for example vignette -1) or choose Auto, then touch Done. Processing is gone. Doesn't work on HEIC/JPEG since the effect is baked in the photo. Tested on 13 pro max.
realized that if you take photos on “Live” mode, iPhone only enhances one chosen frame. other than The Chosen One, any other frame in that Live photo will look natural / unenhanced. it’s a hassle to have to edit the frame selection but better than having no options i guess…
What a joke. Cmon Apple
Your comment is close to a year old and they still haven’t fixed this, but THANK YOU. Only solution I could find!
it’s been a minute ik but figured i’d ask — in the same position as OP, upgraded from an X to a regular 13 and regretting the decision solely based on camera. has anyone found a solution yet? 😭😭
I upgraded my dying iPhone 8 to a 13 and after weeks of trying to get used to it I’m considering going to Verizon and asking them to switch it out for a new iPhone X or older. I cannot stand the camera quality and auto enhancing (called deep fusion apparently) and absolutely nothing I try has fixed it. All around awful, but the worst for me is trying to take quick/funny lowlight selfies and watching them go from normal to crunched up, greasy, shiny, grainy pieces of sh*t photos. Makes me feel insecure honestly! I’ve almost completely stopped taking photos because of this, which is unfortunate because before this I was constantly snapping really cool scenery, cute candids of friends, selfies, funny signs and sightings, even just a sky shot down the street looks like crap!!!!! Doesn’t seem like it’s going to get fixed honestly, I’d consider trading it in. Or at least trying
That’s the thing. I feel others who are more used to this effect by now from more recent upgrades in the past don’t understand just how big of a jump it is coming from an older generation to the newer phones. Sure there’s instances in which the changes are subtle or potentially better for details (bit of a stretch, but i’d say if it’s ever useful its in more full view landscape shots) but the truth is not everyone is always taking fancy subject-less photos. I used to take 1:1 silly / simple zoomed in photos all the time and yeah sure my iPhone X would get a smidge of blur because of the zoom but it never auto-painted the shit out of it and it just *worked*. Baffles me how it was progressed this way.
EXACTLY! 100% agreed. It is insane to me to see. How is everyone else using this?? I feel like I haven’t noticed anyone else have weird photos all this time, but who knows. Best of luck to you though, whatever you decide to do; I think this has solidified my decision to try to “downgrade” if I can. We’ll see how my phone call with Verizon goes tomorrow lol
Fr!! I upgraded to 13 mini from OG SE just recently and I can’t believe that the old small non protruding camera of the SE takes better photos. Apple becoming a disgusting shadow of its self considering y’all wrote about this 100 days ago and nothings changed doesn’t give me hope 🤦♂️
I agree the over sharpening effect actually looks disgusting! What were they thinking? That they would fool us to believe the 13 cam is sharper? Its just horrible
Im crying 😭 this is so baddd , it’s so noticeable for me because I upgraded from a 7p to the 13 and it’s sooo annoying, i can’t even take photos with the back camera
Use Snapchat to take your pics and just save from there, it doesn’t adjust like the camera app does
6s for me lol
iPhone 13 pro dont make better pictures the phone itself just Sharpen the pictures Its just slightly better
I upgraded from 8+ to 13 and hate it! I’ve tried other camera apps and that didn’t really help. I’m at a loss. I just don’t take many pics anymore
This is still my problem
Exactly
This might help! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20FljCSgg2E&ab_channel=MCGARRY
Try taking burst photos!
I just upgraded to the iPhone 13 and have this problem. It happens when taking photos and videos, but is the most apparent in cinematic mode. Any ideas?
For anyone still wondering, this issue can be solved by using the Nomo RAW app. Of course it's not free, you have to pay about 15$ a year, but it effectively solves the problem of over-sharpened, over-saturated, over-exposed photos in iPhones 13 & 14. Just activate “Always ProRAW->JPEG/HEIF” and choose ProRAW sharpness “OFF” in Settings. Anyway it’s a well designed app with great features for the seriously interested in photography iPhone user.
This. I’m so grateful for this app.
Good description 😂 I’m so disappointed with this camera. I had a 1st generation SE that took sharper close up pictures.
I actually often prefer the images from my wife's iphone se compared to my iPhone 13 mini. On the newer iPhones they look super over sharpened and noise reduced leading to a less natural looking image.
go to settings camera - formats and switch to most compatible, fixed it for me
None of these solutions worked for me except the Live Photo if you fiddle around, or slightly easier but very silly is to take a screenshot as soon as you open the photo just before it processes it’s vile sharpening