iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 15 pro max photos are not great

[dylanlewis2000]

Dear all,

I have recently purchased an iPhone 15 pro max direct from Apple, and I am completely underwhelmed by the quality of photos. Initially, I put this down to the phone requiring a firmware update. After the firmware update, I found the indoor shots were slightly better, however overall I am quite disappointed. The rest of the phone is the same as my XS Max, so I suppose, there's no change there.

In its default mode, shooting at 24 mega pixel, photos initially look OK, however if you tap and zoom in slightly, nearly all photos of my 2 year old are slightly blurry. Yes, she is fast, and sometimes is difficult to capture, however, outdoor shots this afternoon all seem poor in comparison to both my iPhone XS max and Google Pixel 5.

Processing speed does seem to be a bit of an issue too. When using the max mode of 48 mega pixels, they always appear to be worse than the 24 mega pixel versions. Again, I'm not sure if this is down to the phone being unable to process the photos in a quick enough manner, or if it is just something with the camera. I love the zoom on the camera and is the reason I went for the larger phone as I really wanted the smaller normal 15 pro, however, I suppose, the extra battery life is not to be sniffed at.

I'm going to do a bit more testing tomorrow against a friend's 14 pro max to see how much difference there is, however, truth be told, this is the first iPhone I have serious contemplated returning. I have seen a few other threads on here discussing the same sort of issues, with some claiming that the handset might be faulty - any words of wisdom, or is a downgrade to a 14 the way to go?

 

[sdante]

In its default mode, shooting at 24 mega pixel, photos initially look OK, however if you tap and zoom in slightly, nearly all photos of my 2 year old are slightly blurry.

I don't use so much camera but pretty much every shot taken with my 15 Pro Max is pretty blurry, if using tap and zoom to view them in detail. Noticeable difference to photos taken with my previous 12 Pro where there was fine detail in objects. This difference is easy to see when taking photos of my cats.

But photos taken with 15 Pro Max look contrasty and colorful, I guess that is what matters for most people when they just view photos on iPhone display without zooming to see fine detail. I like more detailed images and not so much this HDR thing, so in a way camera is downgrade for me.

I mainly take photos indoors, so maybe 15 PM would perform better in bright daylight. But I used my previous iPhones same way, so it was easier to get good photos indoors.

 

[whitby]

Yes, I tend to agree. The system seems to have difficulty focusing when you get closer to a subject. The photos, to me look over processed and not entirely in focus in general. Macro especially seems to be more difficult to get in focus. My 14 Pro Max was fine and macro just worked, now I have to spend some time getting it to focus. I am not impressed with the photo output of this phone. I tend to pick up my Sony A7RV more than I used to for casual photographs now. Maybe that is not such a bad thing, but the 15 Pro Max seems like a down grade from the 14 Pro Max.

 

[maxrest]

Yes, I tend to agree. The system seems to have difficulty focusing when you get closer to a subject. The photos, to me look over processed and not entirely in focus in general. Macro especially seems to be more difficult to get in focus. My 14 Pro Max was fine and macro just worked, now I have to spend some time getting it to focus. I am not impressed with the photo output of this phone. I tend to pick up my Sony A7RV more than I used to for casual photographs now. Maybe that is not such a bad thing, but the 15 Pro Max seems like a down grade from the 14 Pro Max.

You might have a dud. The 15 PM definitely takes better than my old 14PM. That's not to say the 14PM camera was bad (it was really good) but the 15 PM definitely takes better shots, imo, with the processing being toned down a bit and the 24 mp shots.

 

[Wizec]

Interesting. Have you tried setting the main camera to 12MP to see if indoor photo quality improves?

 

[whitby]

You might have a dud. The 15 PM definitely takes better than my old 14PM. That's not to say the 14PM camera was bad (it was really good) but the 15 PM definitely takes better shots, imo, with the processing being toned down a bit and the 24 mp shots.

You may well be right. I will take it to Apple for their analysis. My wife has the same model phone and she has similar complaints but not at the same frequency as me.

 

[whitby]

Interesting. Have you tried setting the main camera to 12MP to see if indoor photo quality improves?

Yes and it does not seem to change much, which is in of itself interesting. I have tried various settings and options and none seem to improve matters. Even taking a photo of checks for bank deposits have become a bit of a chore. I can get it to work, but it seems to struggle with which lens to use and then focusing. The 14 Pro Max worked without an issue.

 

[schnitzel-pretzel]

The 15 Pro has a significantly larger sensor and better RAW abilities than the XS. I am surprised you actually find the photos blurry or soft, since for most people the issue is the opposite -- phones since the 12 Pro apply a lot more digital sharpening, making photos artificially sharper but not actually more detailed.

Differences between the XS and 15 Pro that you do not like will be down to processing (since, like I said before, the 15 Pro simply has a better, larger sensor).

This is just yet another example of why Apple needs to massively expand Photographic Styles and let us customize more. Some people like more sharpened photos, more contrast, some like less, just let us f'n choose!

 

[sdante]

phones since the 12 Pro apply a lot more digital sharpening, making photos artificially sharper but not actually more detailed.

I don't think it is this because photos taken with my previous 12 Pro show very well hair detail when zooming photos of my cats. Similar photos taken with 15 PM and hair looks like cotton ball, not individual hairs.

 

[schnitzel-pretzel]

Can you post a few comparison pictures for us to see this? If you zoom in, make sure you zoom in the same amount on each photo. That is very surprising if true and would make me think the sensor is faulty or something. There is absolutely zero reason the 15 Pro should have less fine detail than the 12 Pro.

But again, you may be used to more sharpened photos. The 12 Pro has a lot of digital sharpening. This isn't true detail, it's AI estimated detail applied algorithmically. It tends to look unnatural so they toned it down for the 15 Pro.

 

[sdante]

That is very surprising if true and would make me think the sensor is faulty or something.

Our both 15 PM's are similar, so I think this is unlikely.

There is absolutely zero reason the 15 Pro should have less fine detail than the 12 Pro.

I know.

But again, you may be used to more sharpened photos. The 12 Pro has a lot of digital sharpening. This isn't true detail, it's AI estimated detail applied algorithmically. It tends to look unnatural so they toned it down for the 15 Pro.

I know what I see and if photos from 12 Pro show actual hair detail from photos of my cat faces but similar photos taken with 15 PM it is like blurry cotton ball like look and no individual hairs. If anything 15 PM does a lot more artificial sharpening and manipulation to photos. Funny that cat face especially seems to be blurry in terms of fine detail as if it has problem to focus to actual object but even manually choosing focusing point before taking a photo or afterward selecting correct point (in photos taken with f-logo enabled) does not improve face detail.

I don't use camera very often, not my main criteria for phone but it would be nice to get sharp photos easily (I don't mean over sharpened but kind that have actual detail in it).

 

[dylanlewis2000]

Hey all,

Yes i'll try to upload a few examples over the next week.

From playing with it tonight, it seems that in some photos, the detail of hair and clothes are definitely sharpened, however faces seem to be a little on the blurry side. This might be due to the algorithm at play, I guess i'll have a play tomorrow and compare it against a friend's IP14PM.

My wife has a 15 non pro, therefore i'm going to see what difference that gives.

 

[dylanlewis2000]

Interesting. Have you tried setting the main camera to 12MP to see if indoor photo quality improves?

Our both 15 PM's are similar, so I think this is unlikely.


I know.


I know what I see and if photos from 12 Pro show actual hair detail from photos of my cat faces but similar photos taken with 15 PM it is like blurry cotton ball like look and no individual hairs. If anything 15 PM does a lot more artificial sharpening and manipulation to photos.

I don't use camera very often, not my main criteria for phone but it would be nice to get sharp photos easily (I don't mean over sharpened but kind that have actual detail in it).

I am the same. I have found that certain parts of the image are better, however I find that the phone will focus on a subject, and especially with children choose a slower shutter speed as opposed to cranking the ISO up slightly which renders a blurry shot.

On further testing I did find that the phone enhanced clothes, and sometimes hair, essentially anything with a straight line.

 

[sdante]

I am the same. I have found that certain parts of the image are better, however I find that the phone will focus on a subject, and especially with children choose a slower shutter speed as opposed to cranking the ISO up slightly which renders a blurry shot.

On further testing I did find that the phone enhanced clothes, and sometimes hair, essentially anything with a straight line.

Maybe there is some feature in automatic photo processing. I does not look like optical problem since I compared our both 15 PMs when they arrived for checking even focus and while not perfect it was fairly sharp in the middle when taking photos of some paper with text on it.

 

[Greenmeenie]

My iphone 11 Pro Max in Midnight Green was my favorite iPhone to date. As a photographer, I had ZERO issues with any of the cameras. Unfortunately my iPhone was destroyed while installing solar panels this past Summer. I was going to buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max but the Solar Company I work for gave me a corporate iPhone 14 Plus. It works fine, but I still plan to get another personal iPhone down the road. Think I’m gonna wait for the iPhone 16 Pro Max tho. If the rumors are true, it’ll be getting a 48mp sensor for both the Ultra Wide & Tele lenses. That’d be sweet.

 

[schnitzel-pretzel]

Yup if both sdante and dylanlewis could upload some comparison photos they're looking at it would be easier to talk about what the issue at hand is.

 

[AlmightyKang]

I recently played with an iPhone 15 Pro Max in the Apple Store when I wanted to upgrade my 13 Pro. I wasn't happy with the mutilation my 13 Pro does with the camera. The 15 Pro Max was worse.

I walked out of the store with a standard iPhone 15 and I'll use my mirrorless for anything I give a crap about.

 

[sdante]

There seems to be plenty of threads talking about focusing problems on Reddit and Apple discussion forums.
Anyway, camera is not very important for me unlike display panel. I never even use front camera for example. Just snapping some photos of my cats now and then.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Dear all,

I have recently purchased an iPhone 15 pro max direct from Apple, and I am completely underwhelmed by the quality of photos. Initially, I put this down to the phone requiring a firmware update. After the firmware update, I found the indoor shots were slightly better, however overall I am quite disappointed. The rest of the phone is the same as my XS Max, so I suppose, there's no change there.

In its default mode, shooting at 24 mega pixel, photos initially look OK, however if you tap and zoom in slightly, nearly all photos of my 2 year old are slightly blurry. Yes, she is fast, and sometimes is difficult to capture, however, outdoor shots this afternoon all seem poor in comparison to both my iPhone XS max and Google Pixel 5.

Processing speed does seem to be a bit of an issue too. When using the max mode of 48 mega pixels, they always appear to be worse than the 24 mega pixel versions. Again, I'm not sure if this is down to the phone being unable to process the photos in a quick enough manner, or if it is just something with the camera. I love the zoom on the camera and is the reason I went for the larger phone as I really wanted the smaller normal 15 pro, however, I suppose, the extra battery life is not to be sniffed at.

I'm going to do a bit more testing tomorrow against a friend's 14 pro max to see how much difference there is, however, truth be told, this is the first iPhone I have serious contemplated returning. I have seen a few other threads on here discussing the same sort of issues, with some claiming that the handset might be faulty - any words of wisdom, or is a downgrade to a 14 the way to go?

I am a photographer and I consider the 15 PM camera to be just fine, an improvement from the 14P - - using all the regular steps that a competent photog uses. However it is a tiny smartphone camera/lens, so it is easy to force poor image capture if one either sets out to do that or is simply lazy.

iPhone still cameras have never been good choices for movement. A puppy or a two-y-o are best shot with video unless they are sleeping...

Poor lighting or camera movement by the photog of course ruin photos. But with tiny phone cameras heavily computerized, the results of poor lighting or camera movement by the photog may present in some weird way as the camera's computing tries to correct for the poor lighting or camera movement by the photog. Worst case being when both poor lighting and camera movement by the photog happen concurrently.

 

[schnitzel-pretzel]

I am a photographer and I consider the 15 PM camera to be just fine, an improvement from the 14P - - using all the regular steps that a competent photog uses. However it is a tiny smartphone camera/lens, so it is easy to force poor image capture if one either sets out to do that or is simply lazy.

iPhone still cameras have never been good choices for movement. A puppy or a two-y-o are best shot with video unless they are sleeping...

Poor lighting or camera movement by the photog of course ruin photos. But with tiny phone cameras heavily computerized, the results of poor lighting or camera movement by the photog may present in some weird way as the camera's computing tries to correct for the poor lighting or camera movement by the photog. Worst case being when both poor lighting and camera movement by the photog happen concurrently.

The camera is "fine" for almost everyone, this much is clear in the sales numbers, the problem is that Apple willingly chooses to not offer the extra options that would make it far more than "fine".

For example ProRAW is seriously genius -- the idea of giving someone a DNG file with wide editing latitude but a better starting point is genius -- but they bake in so much noise reduction that the whole thing looks like plastic, and you have no ability to tell it to do less noise reduction.

For regular snapshots, you are incorrect that the photographer can make choices that will make the photo better. There's nothing you can do in this case -- Apple will apply the overly-contrasted Deep Fusion and sharpening.

Take any photo with your 15 PM -- any one at all -- that includes a tree against a bright sky background, taken without using ProRAW -- and zoom in and you will see the disgusting sharpening, so much digital sharpening that there's a halo around the tree leaves.

 

[twisted panties]

Try switching off lens correction in Settings. It helps a little, as there is less interpolation to skew ("correct") the image for lens behaviour, especially towards the edge of the frame, which Apple then applies sharpening to to "improve" the result. I suspect ProRAW gives you the uncorrected image too, if you don't mind the file size.

 

[schnitzel-pretzel]

ProRAW gives you a great image although there is a caveat to know about (and it highlights the ideological inconsistency inherent in Apple's ProRAW) -- when you take a ProRAW photo and look at it in your camera roll, you are not seeing the ProRAW result. You are seeing a processed HEIC. Hit "Edit" in the corner, and suddenly the colors will slightly change after the edit screen loads, and there will be less sharpening. NOW you are looking at ProRAW.

They are so afraid of giving you that result that they don't even show it to you until you go to edit the photo.

 

[ps4db]

Dear all,

I have recently purchased an iPhone 15 pro max direct from Apple, and I am completely underwhelmed by the quality of photos. Initially, I put this down to the phone requiring a firmware update. After the firmware update, I found the indoor shots were slightly better, however overall I am quite disappointed. The rest of the phone is the same as my XS Max, so I suppose, there's no change there.

In its default mode, shooting at 24 mega pixel, photos initially look OK, however if you tap and zoom in slightly, nearly all photos of my 2 year old are slightly blurry. Yes, she is fast, and sometimes is difficult to capture, however, outdoor shots this afternoon all seem poor in comparison to both my iPhone XS max and Google Pixel 5.

Processing speed does seem to be a bit of an issue too. When using the max mode of 48 mega pixels, they always appear to be worse than the 24 mega pixel versions. Again, I'm not sure if this is down to the phone being unable to process the photos in a quick enough manner, or if it is just something with the camera. I love the zoom on the camera and is the reason I went for the larger phone as I really wanted the smaller normal 15 pro, however, I suppose, the extra battery life is not to be sniffed at.

I'm going to do a bit more testing tomorrow against a friend's 14 pro max to see how much difference there is, however, truth be told, this is the first iPhone I have serious contemplated returning. I have seen a few other threads on here discussing the same sort of issues, with some claiming that the handset might be faulty - any words of wisdom, or is a downgrade to a 14 the way to go?

Switching off Portrait in Photo mode helped my pics be less blurry. Else anytime a person was involved, the focus would be all over the place.

 

[ToddH]

Comparing the 15 pro max to the 11 pro max is not a good comparison. The image sensor on the 1x camera of the 15 pro max is much, much larger than the 11 pro max and the image quality of the 15 pro max blows the 11 pro max away. Usually photo quality or bad photos comes down to poor technique, not the camera itself. The camera is just a tool. Why aren’t you using HEIF Max to get 48mp resolution? Portrait mode doesn’t work well with moving subjects, it only works with still subjects, portraits. Post some pictures that you think are bad and I’ll look them over and offer an explanation as to why they are bad and how you can fix them.

 

[Ifti]

Every year Apple overhype the 'huge camera improvements' when in actual fact, for the 'normal' day-to-day user, there is hardly any difference. Maybe the addition of a new feature (which a previous gen iPhone could also handle most of the time anyways) but otherwise it's always just hype. Hence why I've stopped the yearly upgrade cycle. Theres just not enough in it.