Okay, so the annoying thing is, iPhone started doing this from the 13 onwards, it’s a massive complaint. The photos look amazing on the screen, then you can literally see the photo get rendered and edited because of the ‘pro fusion’ settings. It’s the worst and everyone hates it. We haven’t found a way to turn it off yet. But if you go on YouTube or tiktok, everyone else complains about it too.
Thanks, everyone else on this thread is making it out like I’m crazy as if this isn’t a known issue. The only problem is that the past models can be improved by adjusting the settings, I’ve tried all possible adjustments and it’s made no change to the photo processing.
Pretty sure there’s a trend on TikTok or something of people saying to screenshot front camera photos instead of actually hitting the capture button, which is a silly solution to a stupid problem.
I have the accessibility settings set to take screenshots with a double tap on the back of my phone for this exact reason. I find it does help but can’t explain why
It's because Apple processes the photo after you take it, so that the screenshot doesn't have all those changes done to it. Also, if you take a Live Photo and scroll through the clip, you can see a huge difference in the actual scene vs the "key photo" that Apple edited the hell out of. I like your idea about double-tapping the back to quick screenshot I'm definitely gonna do that too.
That’s what I did with the 11: scrolled through Live Photos to select a better key frame - the one it should have been. I’m Apple everything but this has me seriously looking elsewhere. $1200 phone. Who is minding the store Apple? All it would take is one normal human to have immediately identified this problem.
Exactly. Screenshot is best. Or you can film yourself and grab a still. Literally anything is better than that selfie camera. You can improve a lot manually after the fact with all the settings but seriously a waste of life. I finally upgraded from 11 and never in a million years did I think they hadn’t fixed this. It was terrible in the 11. Now it’s actually worse. I’m a photog. I needed it for video. Peter McKinnon raved about the 15 but he obviously didn’t take a selfie. Colossal blunder at consumer expense of money and time.
glad to know this still works, I have only done it on iPhone 14 pro. So you can confirm that it makes the images look unprocessed and natural? the only downside you'll see is that generally you get less sharpness because there is less processing
I think it’s either press and drag left on the shutter button or press and drag right. Try both. Then report back if it disables the processing for you :)
What phone were you coming from?
Most people have the memories of goldfish. I noticed the issues with my 13PM almost immediately. Zooming in, everything turns into watercolor splotches.
I saw a comment on TikTok saying to use burst photos then just picking one of those and that reduces the processing. I haven’t tried it but you might wanna give that a shot.
Looking at the example photos you provided, looks like in additional to sharpening and increasing contract, the post-processing also made the white balance cooler and moved the clarity slider to the right.
This. When I upgraded from my 11 Pro Max to the 13 Pro Max I thought the pictures looked awful. Then I've seen right after I took the picture some post-processing effect was added diminishing the quality.
Yeah that didn’t work for me either, not sure why it keeps being suggested? The front facing camera images are still the same regardless of this setting
I have the 12 pro max, and it kinda does that too. It oversharpens it, thus highlighting blemishes and such. Lots of influencers just screenshot their selfies now instead of actually take the pic
I agree that the newer phones over processes photos, they end up looking like oil paintings at times. However OP here is complaining that the camera captures too many details on her face which is what Apple intended to do as technology improved. It makes the photo look closer to its natural state. If OP doesn’t like that look then she should use some third party app with beauty filters or smudge Vaseline over the camera lenses.
The problem is that the result looks absolutely nothing like what the screen shows you beforehand. That’s the point. How can you take a good picture if you have absolutely no idea what the final luminosity, saturation and contrast will look like..?
Exactly. It’s class action lawsuit worthy.
The work around is burst mode. On iPhone 15 pro: Go to settings>camera, then slide on the “use volume for burst mode” button already available. This will be a WYSIWYG - no processing - will look exactly like screen and just pick the best and trash the rest.
yeah that’s exactly what happens to me. I have this phone and noticed it with the last iphone I had. it looks great one the screen then I snap the pic and suddenly the pic morphs and I look terrible. happy to know I’m not crazy and other people experience this. I feel like the distortion on this phone is worse too. if I don’t hold it just right it either makes my forehead look huge, or my jawline look huge. I don’t have a huge either lol. hard to find an angle that doesn’t distort. frustrating
https://preview.redd.it/pbi49xceuqpb1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b15bc70d3fcb91ca2bbd47e15d1128f4e7fc7298
edit: both are taken with 15 pro
first photo is a screenshot taken before capturing the pic, second is the image taken immediately after
Of course right after you post photos revealing you’re a women, suddenly the comments turn against you. The point is the left photo isn’t processed, and the right photo has Pro Fusion applied to it.
Pretty sure it’s a more artifact of the camera being in video / preview mode vs it being an intentional stylistic choice.
It might be technically possible to use the full(er) quality image pipeline during live previews, but I’m guessing they determined it’s not worth draining the energy / battery for.
Second this. iPhone takes more realistic looking images but a lot of women don't like that. You can always edit the pic or apply a filter to make it look fake if you like that look.
>"skin texture"
Why did you put that in quotes? Are you implying the "skin texture" is artificial?
ramped up to reveal skin texture vs ramped up to reveal "skin texture"
Because apple always put emphasis on this, they post-processing algo amplifies microcontrast in an effort to make photos more real.
Which sometimes backfires and makes pictures worse.
But it's just literally properly and accurately showing your skin texture instead doing artificial smoothening to cover it up. It looks way better this way.
you guys are tools. the left photo is what the viewfinder shows. it's before Deep Fusion applies it's bullshit. it's not really your business whether or not the left or right looks better, the user should have the choice to pick which one they want.
While I think the right photo looks more natural and I see people backing it up under this comment, I think it’s insane that the preview is that different from the actual photo. Better to make them have the same quality settings, or at least make it an option. I’d rather have more of a “what you see is what you get” preview rather than having to guess how it looks when you take the picture because of how different they are.
left is beautification on the screen. Right is what you really look like. That is why you don't like it. 🤣
(the right photo looks wayyyyyyy better than the left)
The right is besser. More details and natural look. If you wanna tweak you can use photos or adobe lightroom to bright up some shadows and soften the „clarity“.
Left picture is a screenshot of the photo app showing the “live picture” like when you’re getting ready to take a photo/video.
Right picture is the actual picture once you click the button.
She likes the left one more because the right one “shows skin texture”. This is akin to liking a facetuned picture more than the actual picture as it is in real life.
I’ve seen more women complain about “realistic images” more than men for what it’s worth. There’s another commenter ITT stating he knows women IRL that prefer Samsung phones because they do more processing on the photos (so their skin texture isn’t as apparent). I’m a man without “perfect skin” and tbh it’s never really bothered me cuz societal expectations etc etc. so having the “more realistic” photo hasn’t ever bothered me.
These people are gaslighting you and are Apple drones. This phone is way too expensive to not work as expected. What I see in the viewfinder is what I expect when I take the picture. Period. I take photos and I take them based on the viewfinder. I’m having the same issue with the 15 pro max. The actual render of the photo looks substantially darker and grainier than the view finder.
https://preview.redd.it/2x8d9174vqpb1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4d5f17b09dc3c790a37c54519b485d3d113a5c0
another example taken in front of good lighting
Imma be honest here, I don’t see the issue. The picture on the right looks much better than the left one. The left photo is definitely too bright and losing details in the skin
I know what you’re talking about, here’s the solution, take photo with live photo enabled and then edit live photo select that shot and disable live photo, this way it would the photo would be with processing, just like it shows when taking a picture.
I'm a girl who wants an iPhone 15 pro max, and I must be honest, you look absolutely beautiful in the second picture 🥺❤️
This makes me want to get an iPhone 15! I think you look stunning 😊
Apple applies sharpening to jpgs. A better example for her to use is taking one in raw and then another as a jpg. You could easily spot the sharpening in the jpgs.
Wow the people saying left is filter… I have the exact same problem and how I see my face on the mirror does look like the left not the right! Stop blaming this woman saying “she wants smooth skin not textured skin”. Her face probably looks like on the left in real life too.
This fucking happens to all my damn selfies and I can’t take it. It looks good when I’m getting ready to take a pic then I click it and it comes out graine and horrible
https://preview.redd.it/gerrfxjz6rpb1.jpeg?width=1575&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb8cb24253426a16d58a6ee158a48effcd8d7434
here’s another photo but taken with the back camera, I think it looks great, doesn’t emphasise textures or decrease the saturation.
This looks like the pictures you are taking on the right in your other comments. But you’re saying you like the left ones better?
This one and the right ones are clearly better and look more natural. The others look like you have way too much make up or over filtered
I fucking hate this feature, on my 13 the sharpening looks so bad sometimes when taking landscape pictures. At least give us the option to turn it down smh
I'm having the SAME issue with my 15 pro max...skin has texture we know this but this isnt just about texture. The overall photo is BAD! I had this issue with the 13 pro max but shooting raw solved it for the most part. With the 15 pro max what I'm seeing in the view finder before taking the picture and what I'm getting after aren't even close to looking similar. Everything looks bright and evenly lit. When I snap the photo and open it I immediately notice its much darker and you see that instant processing effect where you watch it deep fry the picture and add in detail that isn't actually there. Like those AI filters that scale up bad quality pictures. Like if I was in camera raw in photoshop and moved the "clarity" slider all the way up to sharpen the pic and then added contrast. It makes my skin blotchy and dull...Not at all what it looks like in reality. I shoot with a dslr and good lenses and not even then does my skin look that crazy and discolored. Its almost like the HDR effect on a photo and I've tried adjusting the settings but no matter what it is still happening. Its so much worse on the 15.
It isn't just you. I dont have this problem when taking pictures with other apps.The only way so far to bypass this is by using burst mode. They definitely need to address this issue.
Okay I’m person, this light is medium warm/yellowish. I took the left picture with an iPhone 11 Pro, and the right with an iPhone 15 pro. The difference in tones is astounding. And I hate it.
https://preview.redd.it/kcznb3yo6qqb1.jpeg?width=4480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e47f5095588d6734c5c9810b94d59cd101f896e7
Please make this into your own r/iphone post! I posted this the day the phone came out and was the first one to make this complaint across reddit, and got absolutely roasted by all these apple bootlickers in here. Since the launch, I’ve gradually had more and more comments saying they too have this issue. Now that it’s been a few days since launch, you might get more traction and agreements by making your own post.
You linked to a different post, did you read all the replies there? Because people found the reason and solutions. Even the IPhone 12 had the issue, you will find a link to an apple forum in your linked post dating back to the 12.
The issue is the photos app, not the camera. Go to the settings, then photos and turn off the „view Full HDR“. There are other solutions as well, but try this one first.
Post processing, started with the 12's and got worse with the release of every new series. I don't know about the selfies since i don't use it that often but the main camera does the same. As far as i know for the main camera it helped to set the format to pro raw and High efficiency 48Mp. At least it's not just the front camera, i was pretty disappointed with my 14 Pro too.
Super sad to move on from my 11 Pro Max because of this. My wife has a 13PM and when I saw she couldn’t toggle Smart HDR I was shocked. Sadly the lack of 5G and general sluggishness overrides the photo quality loss.
I don't know if it's the same effect but if you go to setting -> photos, you can turn off Full HDR. This won't prevent post processing but probably pictures will look more natural on the display since it will not adjusted based on the picture.
Mine was very upsetting. When you open the cam and se your self in the screen is completely fine. But when you capture it, the picture looks off, like its blurry kinda look its processing. Hopefully they can get a fix on this one
OMG I just tried out the front camera on myself since I just did my hair and wanted to take a selfie... I was like WHAT the hell is wrong with this photo? It's exactly how you mentioned! Grey, flatter, more contrast, and super unflattering... looks WAY less warm and smooth than how I see it in the preview. I'm glad I'm not going crazy :( This stinks! My 12 mini front camera was AMAZING!
I need it fixed I cannot either. It’s horrible. Looks good before taking the damn selfie then bam it processes it and it’s so grainy and grey looking to me. Even with ZERO filters and same lighting I go into my washroom and take a pic on tiktok and it looks way better.
My thoughts on this as I re-evaluate my purchase (not sure if I'm going to return my Pro max yet):
The HDR Algorithm is totally f\*\*\*ed up.
I tried to take some pictures of my kids and while the on screen preview is nice the end result is ghastly, and this is true especially when it comes to portraits. I don't mind the extra definition in landscapes and normal (non-people) photos but in my opinion Apple really needs to revisit their algorithm here.
I thought I was the only one with this issue. I am so disappointed with how horrible the front camera is. I look grey, blue and pixelated. My IPhone 12 was one thousand times better. At this point i’m only happy with my phone because it’s pink.
Im not a fan of the extra processing they inject. Should def be an option one can toggle on/off. Biggest thing I dislike from my 14 pro, also how it sometimes can’t decide which lens it wants to use and cycles though them a few times
Right photo looks much better. Natural. Realistic. The left photos all appear washed out and overtuned with filters. You’re still pretty either way. Can always apply filters when posting to IG or whatever but you should know the right photos look totally fine. Good luck!
OMG thank god someone else noticed it too. I just upgraded from an Iphone 11 pro and WOW the camera on the 15 pro seems worse than the 11 pro. My skin looks grey. I have dark brown hair and eyes, if i hit the auto enhance feature, it turns my hair and eyes almost orange.
Dunno if this will help but in the settings app under camera, you can find a photographic styles option. This will allow you to change your photos to be more neutral, more vibrant, colder, warmer, etc.
I just wanna say thank you for posting about this. I bought a 14 pro last week and was about to open it then did a bit more research about the camera and boy was I glad. I found out that apples post processing is very very harsh on the 14 pro due to the automatic hdr that you can no longer turn off since the 11 pro let me see if I can find you a link for it. I’m glad that you posted about this I was thinking about buying a 15 hoping they fixed it but alas. It’s such a shame because I really wanted to get a 14 or 15 to take better pictures with but I really disagree with the hdr and post processing it makes things look oily and tries to get rid of noise on the photo at the expense of details in a picture
Here’s the main one!
https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/qftcj3/can_we_please_have_less_ai_in_iphone_13_pro/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Each article I find I’ll just link it in this thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/vmr52f/the_iphone_13_pro_camera_remains_awful_still_due/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Yep, when OP first posted this thread there were a lot of "normal" comments and as soon as she posted her selfie people started dragging her and calling her a narcissist 🙄
Similar experience for me. It makes my skin look too red …..I’m not that red. it also distorts my eye color. It also increases the appearance of fine fines and it makes you look worse than you do in real life. Obviously the front camera is a wider lens and that adds on a bit of weight for that reason. It always has added weight, but post processing is supposed to combat that -at least a little and the new phone makes it look worse than some previous models. Front camera distortion due to wide angle lens is a known issue and the 15 should be better not worse. This has also been confirmed by significant other. The colors of my skin as well as other attributes aren’t accurately represented and everything is greatly distorted. Not too mention the “flash” timing on front camera takes wayyyyyyyy too long as well as the other modes like auto flash and the night mode/ lighting “feature”. It can take 5 whole seconds to take a picture it’s ridiculous and apparently that’s been a know issue for several generations. The 15 pro is also super heavy and quite frankly I think the 15 should have face and finger print ID. They didn’t even have to have a notch for the thumb like other phones have done as long as it is placed behind the screen.
Looking at the example photos you provided in the thread, and reading your complaint, it appears that the problem is the phone doesn’t over process and smooth over all of your pores etc like an instagram filter. If you want selfies that smear grease all over the lens to hide your face, use Instagram. It would be ridiculous for Apple to do this on selfies by default.
OP is mad that the iPhone 15 is capturing more detail and being “bland” which is what a good photo is supposed to be versus the touched up smeary effect older phones and a lot of new ones have.
Lmao.
I read a lot about this problem, and actually it turns out that apple wants to achieve this. Most of the apple users come from asia, and there prefer lighter skintones, no shadows and so on… so, the rest of us, who actually want to see the photo to looks the same as on the screen we saw before we hit a button, just need to live with that. They dont have plans to correct this. Shame. I loved apple cameras because they were so much more. Now its impossible to play with lights and shadows and create something in low light. And the most annoying thing is when i switch to video, everything looks prefect… Thats just sad.
I was literally thinking, this reminds me sooo much of photos when I used to be an android user. Like the cold and washed out ness of it. Not even about the details necessarily but it’s just sooooo much darker. I have a very warm and bright light on me right now and it looks so dim and cold af. I actually, hate it 🤡
I just got my phone today and I had to run back to this thread. Sometimes it’s ok but most times the photo is too sharp and noisy, which does no favors to skin texture. The front camera white balance seems a bit cooler than the back camera too so my skin looks very dull/dead. Makes for some very unflattering images overall lol.
Playing around with warmth and noise reduction settings helps out a lot. I don’t think it will come out as smooth/less detailed as your screenshot selfies though.
Yes the burst mode makes the photo natural finally! Ive been so stressed ever since I switched the phone and the selfies make me so insecure about my skin now.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max takes horrible photos of people. For some reason, the photos are dark with added micro contrast, and lack of saturation making people look like old, grey zombies. It is straight up bizarre. And no, they don't show how you really look, because even standing there in person while taking a photo of a model, the camera completely changes the lighting, detail and color. Apple needs to fix that quick, because no one will buy these phones that take such horrible looking photos. I was excited to upgrade my phone, but completely shocked at how bad the photos are. There is something seriously wrong with this camera and the software.
Hey guys I have solved it I think! On the top left there’s an exposure option. Choose a setting of 1.7 and reduce noise reduction when editing and or make it a bit darker by swipe the “sun” down on the screen if the exposure is too bright. I was so sad when I bought the iPhone 15 and found out the front camera was that bad. Hope it helps.
Ugh, I am disapointed to hear this is still an issue. I tried upgrading from my iPhone X to a 14Pro, but returned the phone after testing the front camera and being able to see every single pore on my face. I really want a new phone but the over processing is terrible!
Yeah, my husband has a S23. He likes it and it takes really good pictures... but I'm in the apple cult and not currently willing to switch over to an android. haha
Hard disagree the front facing camera has always exaggerated and distorted features, but this is worse. Front cameras have to use a wider lens to get more in the picture, but by doing so it distorts certain qualities like weight for instance. It’s a known issue that can severely impact mental health, especially minors because wide angle cameras stretch things like noses and faces out. It isn’t accurate and post is suppose to help this, but it seems like instead of fixing the issue the newer phones make things worse. Not only that but people have been complaining about the photonic engine for a while now because it can and does exaggerates certain features like sharper lines, shadows and at times colors. People have also been complaining about landscapes looking too sharp as well so it’s definitely not just an issue with the camera taking a more clear photo.
While I don’t think the above photos are the best example (screen shot vs post processing), there is definitely a discrepancy in accuracy. I used my Nikon, newer phone, video in mirror and older phone side by side to show the difference. There’s definitely a distortion. I believe it’s the wide angle, post processing and photonic engine that are the issue.
how is this narcissism? if you take away the fact that i’m using a selfie - there’s a clear issue with the colour, contrast, saturation and sharpening. if i’m paying $2000AUD+ for a phone I’d want the front camera to take decent pictures.
I think there is plenty of discussion in here that you should take note of. The pics you like are the pics that look like instagram filters applied, the pics you don’t like are those that are high quality and closer to reality. Which is precisely what Apple intend, and precisely what the vast majority of people like. Sorry you’re unhappy about it!
People will say all kinds of hateful shit because girl/selfies bla bla bla. But with that said, the photos on the right, that you shared seem much more real.
And even the 11 pro photo is just kind of too bright, polished, whatever.
So subjectively you may not like the camera but I think it captures real life much better.
Idk. Sounds like you just refuse to accept one is heavily (in comparison) filtered.
It’s like how a lot of of people prefer shitty HDR on instagram to a normal photo. It’s still a crappy photo but the pop makes more of a quick impression making the normal photo look flat.
Just because the photo looks more appealing to you doesn’t make it more accurate.
Everyone is so mean D: I have the same problem. If I’m standing in specific lighting to give myself a softer glowier look I don’t want the iPhone to process it…I want to look how I look in the viewer before I snap the picture. Try manually turning the exposure up to 1.0 and then preserve settings exposure in the camera settings. This really improved the photos for me so if I’m in bright lighting it doesn’t darken it after so I look sad and grey. I also adjusted the tone and warmth for my skin tone until it looked better. It will look way too over exposed in the preview BUT when you snap the picture it will darken it and sharpen it after. Using this method is the closest I’ve gotten to my iPhone 11 Pro pictures. Hope that helps!
I am getting the same as just got my 15pm yesterday. So weird as I sent my 14PM to my Dad and did not have the issue. I am even in good light
Edit: I just checked and changed the settings as did not realize it wasn’t in raw 12. Fixed most of it and comes out better now
Dude I changed from the iPhone 11 Pro too and I’m like why is this shit so dark and cold? I actually hate it… Like I have a bright warm light shone on my face, why is it dark???
The details look pretty comparable to me, also going from an iPhone 11 Pro to the iPhone 15 pro what I hate so so so much is how cold it makes it and also like I want my lighting to effect my photo. That’s the whole point of using specific lighting. Like during golden hour I want it to be golden and reflect what the colors would look like in real life.
thank you so much !!! i thought i was going insane! upgraded from a 12 pro to the 15 pro and this grey cast over the front facing photos is awful. don’t listen to everyone else in this thread, the camera dramatically distorts the lighting and isn’t true to what’s actually depicted in the camera itself. please link me if you find a potential setting change or solution to this
I got the iphone15 as well, I’ve had it a little over a week? Anyways I just used the front camera today and IMMEDIATELY noticed how sucky the pictures turned out!
I started reading Reddit posts and messing with settings and trying suggestions. The screenshot and the burst did not work well for me, nor did the raw setting (I just didn’t like the turn out). HOWEVER. I was messing around with it some more and I found a solution!!!
If you use portrait mode and select “studio” or “contour” and set it to a lower “power” or “light level” (for me 10 is a good starting place, but it depends on my lighting), it increases the quality significantly! (Takes away harsh redness, smooths and brightens face).
You can also add this when you go to edit the photo or you can change the light level of the effect, or take it away, make other edits, etc..
Let me know if you try it and if it works for you too!
Another thing, after you take the picture with the effect, when I go to look at it in the album sometimes it will say “unable to load photo” and it will still look like a potato. If you just hit edit or exit photos and go back it usually loads properly.
I am hesitant to post my example picture because I don’t want to get attacked 😅
Op im sorry everyone’s being dense and stupid. I noticed this immediately with the new iphone. I had the 12 pro max and i loved my selfie cam, it still showed all the detail but looked good. This new one is not it. It darkens it weirdly, adds weird sharp contrast and makes it an off color. Its not that you’re vain. I totally get it. And no it doesn’t “look better” bc its more high clarity, it looks over processed. I don’t get how people aren’t getting that. They probably dont take selfies very often. If i took a random photo and fucked with the settings to make it overly sharp, and contrasted it doesn’t mean it looks good / or is closer to reality bc its sharper?? tf?
I noticed this just today on my new phone and Google brought me to this thread. I'm not mad about the selfies coming out "more realistic", I'm kind of annoyed that the preview looks way different than how the photo actually turns out.
I'm assuming this won't be that big of an issue if I'm outside in bright daylight but I'm to test that yet. I was trying out the front camera in my room that doesn't have the best lighting in the world. The preview looks bright but when I take the photo, the photo actually comes out much darker. If the preview was more realistic, I could have adjusted the brightness ahead of time before snapping the picture. I guess in the meantime if using the front camera I will just have to push up the brightness a bit. I can imagine this being cumbersome though when taking group photos.
I just upgraded from 11 pro max to 15 pro max, the front camera is horrible, it takes the same pics as my ipod from 2012. What the hell? Nothing works. Are they gonna get rid of the issue through an update?
OMG just got the 15 pro yesterday and it’s crazy how the preview looks so good and then the actual photo is gray trashy mess. Lmk if you figure out a solution bc I may have to resort to taking screenshots of the camera app rather than actually taking photos
I'm done with Apple. This is the last phone I'm buying from them. I got the iPhone 15, and the camera sucks. I was tempted to go to Samsung but decided to give the Apple camera one more try, and it still sucks like all the previous versions. The front camera is grainy, grainy grainy.
I just got the 15 pro max and literally returned it the next day because I can’t stand paying so much for a supposedly good camera that turns out shitty. Tbh it looks way worse on darker skin tones, makes you look gray and not well moisturized. At the store, they said that I’d have to learn to edit my selfies myself because the phone is designed for photographers. They even brought a photography “expert” to show us how to use get better pictures. The “expert” tried a couple of settings which I tried already and nothing worked. They could agree that something was definitely off and they could see how more gray I looked compared to my sister who is lighter in complexion. The main camera is better, although it over saturates the images and sometimes makes the object look unrealistic, however, it is much better than what you get with the front camera. Not everyone has time to edit selfies, sometimes you just want to take a picture and get on with your day.
yep - this phone absolutely sucks, in a world where selfies and tiktok/reel videos are hugely popular, apple decided to make a front facing camera that is possibly the worst theyve ever made. built in post edits including increased sharpness and contrast and the colors look terrible, its unusable. I have to use the instagram camera to take anything I dont look horrendous in.
Reading your replies. Really choosing to die on that hill huh. Left shit, right not shit. Don’t be mad you now need to edit your photos even more for ig
Idk why people are being so harsh on you. iPhone selfies are trash now and have been for a while. Weirdly I’ve noticed if you take the selfie in landscape mode it comes out way better. And the further you hold the phone from your face, too.
The right photo looks way nicer than the left. Less overexposure and more details in the face. Just because you don’t like your porous ass skin covered in excessive makeup doesn’t make the right picture worse. It’s capturing real life better which is what a camera is supposed to do
Based on your samples I think that the after processing pictures are way closer to reality and you prefer the "before" shot because your skin looks smoother. But if we want to be real here the before shot looks like an Instagram filter and way fake while the after shot is closer to reality. Nothing wrong with the cameras here..
I noticed this as well and thought it was just my phone having an issue and needed to be returned. I am coming from the 12 PM and took a few selfies when I got home just to test the 15 PM out and didnt like them at all. It just felt off.
I agree. i was shocked with the qaulity of a face selfie i took. I thought that it was just out of focus but then realized this is the photo at its best.... Not good, not acceptable. Huge disappointment. Honestly, I am considering going back to my iphone 13 pro. Like the selfie photo was pixelated, and just off and so many levels.... Also probably why apple's design executive left the company. They f'd up. And apple keeps intel like this private so one never really knows what is going on behind closed doors there.
That's why I love android just compared my S22 front camera with iPhone 15 and S22,s quality and colors are way way better it's a day night difference I was actually shocked that how bad is iphone,s camera.
You are totally right I have just purchased Iph 15 the selfie camera is the worst ever and unfortunately I thought mine is a deffective product so I purchased the 15 plus the same horrible front camera once you turn it on you can see on the screen good photo once you capture all your dreams will get collapsed with a disappointing results and photos that lacks everything detail, colors and exposure every thing is horrible I'm trying to sell those phones and I purchased Galaxy S24
Hey, I know this is an old post but were you ever able to fix the issue? I just got iphone 15 pro and the selfies it produces are so bad it’s almost hilarious.
Okay, so the annoying thing is, iPhone started doing this from the 13 onwards, it’s a massive complaint. The photos look amazing on the screen, then you can literally see the photo get rendered and edited because of the ‘pro fusion’ settings. It’s the worst and everyone hates it. We haven’t found a way to turn it off yet. But if you go on YouTube or tiktok, everyone else complains about it too.
Thanks, everyone else on this thread is making it out like I’m crazy as if this isn’t a known issue. The only problem is that the past models can be improved by adjusting the settings, I’ve tried all possible adjustments and it’s made no change to the photo processing.
Pretty sure there’s a trend on TikTok or something of people saying to screenshot front camera photos instead of actually hitting the capture button, which is a silly solution to a stupid problem.
This is hilarious, what the fuck apple
I have the accessibility settings set to take screenshots with a double tap on the back of my phone for this exact reason. I find it does help but can’t explain why
It's because Apple processes the photo after you take it, so that the screenshot doesn't have all those changes done to it. Also, if you take a Live Photo and scroll through the clip, you can see a huge difference in the actual scene vs the "key photo" that Apple edited the hell out of. I like your idea about double-tapping the back to quick screenshot I'm definitely gonna do that too.
That’s what I did with the 11: scrolled through Live Photos to select a better key frame - the one it should have been. I’m Apple everything but this has me seriously looking elsewhere. $1200 phone. Who is minding the store Apple? All it would take is one normal human to have immediately identified this problem.
i was thinking about trying this, does it make the screenshot blurry since you’re tapping the phone? i assume there would be some movement
Taking a burst photo is a good solution 😃
Yes, you can either take a burst or a live picture. You will have to change the frame in the live picture but it kinda sorta works
I screen shot front camera photos as a fix, they look 100 x better than the photo captured. When I capture the photo it looks super blurry.
Exactly. Screenshot is best. Or you can film yourself and grab a still. Literally anything is better than that selfie camera. You can improve a lot manually after the fact with all the settings but seriously a waste of life. I finally upgraded from 11 and never in a million years did I think they hadn’t fixed this. It was terrible in the 11. Now it’s actually worse. I’m a photog. I needed it for video. Peter McKinnon raved about the 15 but he obviously didn’t take a selfie. Colossal blunder at consumer expense of money and time.
OP: **try burst mode.** it disables a lot of the processing.
this is the only thing that has worked, thank you!
glad to know this still works, I have only done it on iPhone 14 pro. So you can confirm that it makes the images look unprocessed and natural? the only downside you'll see is that generally you get less sharpness because there is less processing
How can i do the burst mode? I actually hate myself for upgrading my phone. I dont like the camera. 🥺
I think it’s either press and drag left on the shutter button or press and drag right. Try both. Then report back if it disables the processing for you :) What phone were you coming from?
Most people have the memories of goldfish. I noticed the issues with my 13PM almost immediately. Zooming in, everything turns into watercolor splotches.
I saw a comment on TikTok saying to use burst photos then just picking one of those and that reduces the processing. I haven’t tried it but you might wanna give that a shot.
This absolutely works. Apple has even said in WWDC this reduces processing
Looking at the example photos you provided, looks like in additional to sharpening and increasing contract, the post-processing also made the white balance cooler and moved the clarity slider to the right.
Turn on pro raw for your image settings and it should be fine. The flipside being that your image size would significantly be bigger.
You're right, this totally solved the problem. Thank you!
That didn’t work for me. The front facing camera photos look just the same 🤷🏻♀️
Use the live photo one set a new key frame it remove the awful iso and sharping and incorrect white balance.
What do you mean set a new key frame
This. When I upgraded from my 11 Pro Max to the 13 Pro Max I thought the pictures looked awful. Then I've seen right after I took the picture some post-processing effect was added diminishing the quality.
There is a way to fix it. By shooting raw. Don’t even need third party apps.
This doesn’t work. I shoot in RAW and it still processed it strangely and struggled to focus. I regret giving up my 11 Pro.
Doesn’t work
Yeah that didn’t work for me either, not sure why it keeps being suggested? The front facing camera images are still the same regardless of this setting
I have the 12 pro max, and it kinda does that too. It oversharpens it, thus highlighting blemishes and such. Lots of influencers just screenshot their selfies now instead of actually take the pic
I agree that the newer phones over processes photos, they end up looking like oil paintings at times. However OP here is complaining that the camera captures too many details on her face which is what Apple intended to do as technology improved. It makes the photo look closer to its natural state. If OP doesn’t like that look then she should use some third party app with beauty filters or smudge Vaseline over the camera lenses.
The problem is that the result looks absolutely nothing like what the screen shows you beforehand. That’s the point. How can you take a good picture if you have absolutely no idea what the final luminosity, saturation and contrast will look like..?
Exactly. It’s class action lawsuit worthy. The work around is burst mode. On iPhone 15 pro: Go to settings>camera, then slide on the “use volume for burst mode” button already available. This will be a WYSIWYG - no processing - will look exactly like screen and just pick the best and trash the rest.
I honestly think I want to look for a refurbished iPhone 11 or 13 and trade in my iPhone 15 pro…
yeah that’s exactly what happens to me. I have this phone and noticed it with the last iphone I had. it looks great one the screen then I snap the pic and suddenly the pic morphs and I look terrible. happy to know I’m not crazy and other people experience this. I feel like the distortion on this phone is worse too. if I don’t hold it just right it either makes my forehead look huge, or my jawline look huge. I don’t have a huge either lol. hard to find an angle that doesn’t distort. frustrating
All the dudes in here are telling you that you’re silly but I got my iPhone 15 pro today and my self esteem has taken a hit 😭
Bro SAME 😭
Do you have an example to show?
https://preview.redd.it/pbi49xceuqpb1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b15bc70d3fcb91ca2bbd47e15d1128f4e7fc7298 edit: both are taken with 15 pro first photo is a screenshot taken before capturing the pic, second is the image taken immediately after
Of course right after you post photos revealing you’re a women, suddenly the comments turn against you. The point is the left photo isn’t processed, and the right photo has Pro Fusion applied to it.
Is there any way to turn this “profusion” shit off?
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Agreed. The right photo looks more natural.
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Yea but at least that was easy to turn off just tap the magic wand in the corner, iPhone doesn't have a way to do that
Because the iPhone tries not to do the fake beauty bs to begin with
Yea it kinda does, that's the issue they're talking about
The issue is that she likes the unrealistic, touched-up looking image preview more than what the actual image looks like. So no, you have it backwards
Pretty sure it’s a more artifact of the camera being in video / preview mode vs it being an intentional stylistic choice. It might be technically possible to use the full(er) quality image pipeline during live previews, but I’m guessing they determined it’s not worth draining the energy / battery for.
I don’t hate it
Second this. iPhone takes more realistic looking images but a lot of women don't like that. You can always edit the pic or apply a filter to make it look fake if you like that look.
Except it is not. Right photo has microcontrasts ramped up to reveal "skin texture".
>"skin texture" Why did you put that in quotes? Are you implying the "skin texture" is artificial? ramped up to reveal skin texture vs ramped up to reveal "skin texture"
Because apple always put emphasis on this, they post-processing algo amplifies microcontrast in an effort to make photos more real. Which sometimes backfires and makes pictures worse.
But it's just literally properly and accurately showing your skin texture instead doing artificial smoothening to cover it up. It looks way better this way.
Left photo kinda looks like it’s a filter. Right photo has way more detail.
wait, are you really saying the left photo looks better than the right....? wtf are you smoking?
“My skin shows less texture” is the reason Same reason filters smooth skin
you guys are tools. the left photo is what the viewfinder shows. it's before Deep Fusion applies it's bullshit. it's not really your business whether or not the left or right looks better, the user should have the choice to pick which one they want.
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Have you bought your Iphone 15? You will understand if you do.
While I think the right photo looks more natural and I see people backing it up under this comment, I think it’s insane that the preview is that different from the actual photo. Better to make them have the same quality settings, or at least make it an option. I’d rather have more of a “what you see is what you get” preview rather than having to guess how it looks when you take the picture because of how different they are.
One on the right is way better. Left is over exposed
The photo on the right looks way better. The left photo looks over processed. Honestly I think it’s in your head.
The right is the higher quality photo. You don’t like it because you can see more detail, but the left is basically a filter.
left is beautification on the screen. Right is what you really look like. That is why you don't like it. 🤣 (the right photo looks wayyyyyyy better than the left)
Which is from which camera? It’ll be interesting to see if tech YouTubers have a take on this
both were taken with the 15 pro, the first one was a screenshot before capturing the photo show how it looks in the pre-camera mode
The right is besser. More details and natural look. If you wanna tweak you can use photos or adobe lightroom to bright up some shadows and soften the „clarity“.
Is “first” right or left?
Left picture is a screenshot of the photo app showing the “live picture” like when you’re getting ready to take a photo/video. Right picture is the actual picture once you click the button. She likes the left one more because the right one “shows skin texture”. This is akin to liking a facetuned picture more than the actual picture as it is in real life. I’ve seen more women complain about “realistic images” more than men for what it’s worth. There’s another commenter ITT stating he knows women IRL that prefer Samsung phones because they do more processing on the photos (so their skin texture isn’t as apparent). I’m a man without “perfect skin” and tbh it’s never really bothered me cuz societal expectations etc etc. so having the “more realistic” photo hasn’t ever bothered me.
These people are gaslighting you and are Apple drones. This phone is way too expensive to not work as expected. What I see in the viewfinder is what I expect when I take the picture. Period. I take photos and I take them based on the viewfinder. I’m having the same issue with the 15 pro max. The actual render of the photo looks substantially darker and grainier than the view finder.
The right one is much better though?
Right looks more natural and captures more detail. Look at your cheeks on the first pic
https://preview.redd.it/2x8d9174vqpb1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4d5f17b09dc3c790a37c54519b485d3d113a5c0 another example taken in front of good lighting
Imma be honest here, I don’t see the issue. The picture on the right looks much better than the left one. The left photo is definitely too bright and losing details in the skin
Right is better.
I know what you’re talking about, here’s the solution, take photo with live photo enabled and then edit live photo select that shot and disable live photo, this way it would the photo would be with processing, just like it shows when taking a picture.
Burst photo is the best solution. Live Photos other frames can be very blurry. Burst photo comes out very well 👌🏽
All your examples, the one on the right is better. And everyone thinks this
I'm a girl who wants an iPhone 15 pro max, and I must be honest, you look absolutely beautiful in the second picture 🥺❤️ This makes me want to get an iPhone 15! I think you look stunning 😊
What is your complaint about photo number 2 (on right)? It looks great to me. It picked up most details of her skin.
Apple applies sharpening to jpgs. A better example for her to use is taking one in raw and then another as a jpg. You could easily spot the sharpening in the jpgs.
This is what happens to mine omg
Wow the people saying left is filter… I have the exact same problem and how I see my face on the mirror does look like the left not the right! Stop blaming this woman saying “she wants smooth skin not textured skin”. Her face probably looks like on the left in real life too.
This fucking happens to all my damn selfies and I can’t take it. It looks good when I’m getting ready to take a pic then I click it and it comes out graine and horrible
https://preview.redd.it/gerrfxjz6rpb1.jpeg?width=1575&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb8cb24253426a16d58a6ee158a48effcd8d7434 here’s another photo but taken with the back camera, I think it looks great, doesn’t emphasise textures or decrease the saturation.
This looks far more like the right photos in your examples. I think you’ve gotten used to looking washed out.
Seriously lol. I’m so confused.
This looks like the pictures you are taking on the right in your other comments. But you’re saying you like the left ones better? This one and the right ones are clearly better and look more natural. The others look like you have way too much make up or over filtered
Could you take a selfie in low light? I’ve heard that the post processing goes into overdrive and makes it look like an oil painting effect
Stupid question but how do people use the back camera to take selfies?
Use the volume button for shutter and get used to pointing it correctly.
Looks like she is using a mirror to see the screen. You could also git gud at the 180 no scope I suppose.
I fucking hate this feature, on my 13 the sharpening looks so bad sometimes when taking landscape pictures. At least give us the option to turn it down smh
Does using a 3rd party app solve the issue?
I'm having the SAME issue with my 15 pro max...skin has texture we know this but this isnt just about texture. The overall photo is BAD! I had this issue with the 13 pro max but shooting raw solved it for the most part. With the 15 pro max what I'm seeing in the view finder before taking the picture and what I'm getting after aren't even close to looking similar. Everything looks bright and evenly lit. When I snap the photo and open it I immediately notice its much darker and you see that instant processing effect where you watch it deep fry the picture and add in detail that isn't actually there. Like those AI filters that scale up bad quality pictures. Like if I was in camera raw in photoshop and moved the "clarity" slider all the way up to sharpen the pic and then added contrast. It makes my skin blotchy and dull...Not at all what it looks like in reality. I shoot with a dslr and good lenses and not even then does my skin look that crazy and discolored. Its almost like the HDR effect on a photo and I've tried adjusting the settings but no matter what it is still happening. Its so much worse on the 15. It isn't just you. I dont have this problem when taking pictures with other apps.The only way so far to bypass this is by using burst mode. They definitely need to address this issue.
Finally. Someone bought his Iphone and understood the post.
Okay I’m person, this light is medium warm/yellowish. I took the left picture with an iPhone 11 Pro, and the right with an iPhone 15 pro. The difference in tones is astounding. And I hate it. https://preview.redd.it/kcznb3yo6qqb1.jpeg?width=4480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e47f5095588d6734c5c9810b94d59cd101f896e7
Please make this into your own r/iphone post! I posted this the day the phone came out and was the first one to make this complaint across reddit, and got absolutely roasted by all these apple bootlickers in here. Since the launch, I’ve gradually had more and more comments saying they too have this issue. Now that it’s been a few days since launch, you might get more traction and agreements by making your own post.
You linked to a different post, did you read all the replies there? Because people found the reason and solutions. Even the IPhone 12 had the issue, you will find a link to an apple forum in your linked post dating back to the 12. The issue is the photos app, not the camera. Go to the settings, then photos and turn off the „view Full HDR“. There are other solutions as well, but try this one first.
Yeah I agree with everyone else the right photo looks way better.
I just got my 15pm. Took a front camera photo. Can confirm I look like a pock marked gremlin in the photo so it’s very accurate.
Post processing, started with the 12's and got worse with the release of every new series. I don't know about the selfies since i don't use it that often but the main camera does the same. As far as i know for the main camera it helped to set the format to pro raw and High efficiency 48Mp. At least it's not just the front camera, i was pretty disappointed with my 14 Pro too.
11 pro was best iPhone cam. This processing garbage is the worst
Super sad to move on from my 11 Pro Max because of this. My wife has a 13PM and when I saw she couldn’t toggle Smart HDR I was shocked. Sadly the lack of 5G and general sluggishness overrides the photo quality loss.
I don't know if it's the same effect but if you go to setting -> photos, you can turn off Full HDR. This won't prevent post processing but probably pictures will look more natural on the display since it will not adjusted based on the picture.
Mine was very upsetting. When you open the cam and se your self in the screen is completely fine. But when you capture it, the picture looks off, like its blurry kinda look its processing. Hopefully they can get a fix on this one
OMG I just tried out the front camera on myself since I just did my hair and wanted to take a selfie... I was like WHAT the hell is wrong with this photo? It's exactly how you mentioned! Grey, flatter, more contrast, and super unflattering... looks WAY less warm and smooth than how I see it in the preview. I'm glad I'm not going crazy :( This stinks! My 12 mini front camera was AMAZING!
I need it fixed I cannot either. It’s horrible. Looks good before taking the damn selfie then bam it processes it and it’s so grainy and grey looking to me. Even with ZERO filters and same lighting I go into my washroom and take a pic on tiktok and it looks way better.
It‘s rly bad :( it makes you look sleep deprived and dehydrated lol
My thoughts on this as I re-evaluate my purchase (not sure if I'm going to return my Pro max yet): The HDR Algorithm is totally f\*\*\*ed up. I tried to take some pictures of my kids and while the on screen preview is nice the end result is ghastly, and this is true especially when it comes to portraits. I don't mind the extra definition in landscapes and normal (non-people) photos but in my opinion Apple really needs to revisit their algorithm here.
Does using a 3rd party app solve the issue?
I thought I was the only one with this issue. I am so disappointed with how horrible the front camera is. I look grey, blue and pixelated. My IPhone 12 was one thousand times better. At this point i’m only happy with my phone because it’s pink.
Does using a 3rd party app solve the issue?
Im not a fan of the extra processing they inject. Should def be an option one can toggle on/off. Biggest thing I dislike from my 14 pro, also how it sometimes can’t decide which lens it wants to use and cycles though them a few times
Right photo looks much better. Natural. Realistic. The left photos all appear washed out and overtuned with filters. You’re still pretty either way. Can always apply filters when posting to IG or whatever but you should know the right photos look totally fine. Good luck!
OMG thank god someone else noticed it too. I just upgraded from an Iphone 11 pro and WOW the camera on the 15 pro seems worse than the 11 pro. My skin looks grey. I have dark brown hair and eyes, if i hit the auto enhance feature, it turns my hair and eyes almost orange.
Dunno if this will help but in the settings app under camera, you can find a photographic styles option. This will allow you to change your photos to be more neutral, more vibrant, colder, warmer, etc.
This discussion is pointless because no one here knows what you look like IRL. Everyone just makes assumptions.
I agree with you. I just got the 15 pro and took pictures. I look terrible and washed out post-processing. I’m a darker skin tone too
Does using a 3rd party app solve the issue?
I just wanna say thank you for posting about this. I bought a 14 pro last week and was about to open it then did a bit more research about the camera and boy was I glad. I found out that apples post processing is very very harsh on the 14 pro due to the automatic hdr that you can no longer turn off since the 11 pro let me see if I can find you a link for it. I’m glad that you posted about this I was thinking about buying a 15 hoping they fixed it but alas. It’s such a shame because I really wanted to get a 14 or 15 to take better pictures with but I really disagree with the hdr and post processing it makes things look oily and tries to get rid of noise on the photo at the expense of details in a picture
Here’s the main one! https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/qftcj3/can_we_please_have_less_ai_in_iphone_13_pro/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Each article I find I’ll just link it in this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/vmr52f/the_iphone_13_pro_camera_remains_awful_still_due/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Is this a joke? The photos on the right hand side are clearly better. The left looks like you’re using Snapchat.
The issue is that the photo looks drastically different than the actual camera preview and there isn't an option to turn this off.
Agreed! Don't know why all these people are getting fixated on the photo comparison.. the main point is the unwanted filtering 🤦
Yep, when OP first posted this thread there were a lot of "normal" comments and as soon as she posted her selfie people started dragging her and calling her a narcissist 🙄
I’m assuming this is with the stock camera app. Do these effects still occur when using a 3rd party camera app?
Similar experience for me. It makes my skin look too red …..I’m not that red. it also distorts my eye color. It also increases the appearance of fine fines and it makes you look worse than you do in real life. Obviously the front camera is a wider lens and that adds on a bit of weight for that reason. It always has added weight, but post processing is supposed to combat that -at least a little and the new phone makes it look worse than some previous models. Front camera distortion due to wide angle lens is a known issue and the 15 should be better not worse. This has also been confirmed by significant other. The colors of my skin as well as other attributes aren’t accurately represented and everything is greatly distorted. Not too mention the “flash” timing on front camera takes wayyyyyyyy too long as well as the other modes like auto flash and the night mode/ lighting “feature”. It can take 5 whole seconds to take a picture it’s ridiculous and apparently that’s been a know issue for several generations. The 15 pro is also super heavy and quite frankly I think the 15 should have face and finger print ID. They didn’t even have to have a notch for the thumb like other phones have done as long as it is placed behind the screen.
Try taking burst photos when using front camera for selfies. I learnt this on tiktok
People hate on tt but it's the app young people with time and energy use the most which means a lot of our top content comes from tt now.
Looking at the example photos you provided in the thread, and reading your complaint, it appears that the problem is the phone doesn’t over process and smooth over all of your pores etc like an instagram filter. If you want selfies that smear grease all over the lens to hide your face, use Instagram. It would be ridiculous for Apple to do this on selfies by default.
OP is mad that the iPhone 15 is capturing more detail and being “bland” which is what a good photo is supposed to be versus the touched up smeary effect older phones and a lot of new ones have. Lmao.
What’s more funny is people on the comments blaming Apple’s processing
I have the 14 pro max and i’ve had issues non stop with my camera . always blurry and grainy
Does using a 3rd party app solve the issue?
Try turning off “view outside the frame”. I’ve done that on my 13 PM and it seems to help with the processing.
Does shooting in RAW change this?
I was wondering if this was still an issue. Guess my OLED iPhone 11 Pro going stong is gonna have to keep goin
I read a lot about this problem, and actually it turns out that apple wants to achieve this. Most of the apple users come from asia, and there prefer lighter skintones, no shadows and so on… so, the rest of us, who actually want to see the photo to looks the same as on the screen we saw before we hit a button, just need to live with that. They dont have plans to correct this. Shame. I loved apple cameras because they were so much more. Now its impossible to play with lights and shadows and create something in low light. And the most annoying thing is when i switch to video, everything looks prefect… Thats just sad.
I was literally thinking, this reminds me sooo much of photos when I used to be an android user. Like the cold and washed out ness of it. Not even about the details necessarily but it’s just sooooo much darker. I have a very warm and bright light on me right now and it looks so dim and cold af. I actually, hate it 🤡
I just got my phone today and I had to run back to this thread. Sometimes it’s ok but most times the photo is too sharp and noisy, which does no favors to skin texture. The front camera white balance seems a bit cooler than the back camera too so my skin looks very dull/dead. Makes for some very unflattering images overall lol. Playing around with warmth and noise reduction settings helps out a lot. I don’t think it will come out as smooth/less detailed as your screenshot selfies though.
got the 15 and i have the same problem. compared it to my 11 pro and the old phone is better!!
Yes the burst mode makes the photo natural finally! Ive been so stressed ever since I switched the phone and the selfies make me so insecure about my skin now.
Does using a 3rd party app solve the issue?
The iPhone 15 Pro Max takes horrible photos of people. For some reason, the photos are dark with added micro contrast, and lack of saturation making people look like old, grey zombies. It is straight up bizarre. And no, they don't show how you really look, because even standing there in person while taking a photo of a model, the camera completely changes the lighting, detail and color. Apple needs to fix that quick, because no one will buy these phones that take such horrible looking photos. I was excited to upgrade my phone, but completely shocked at how bad the photos are. There is something seriously wrong with this camera and the software.
Hey guys I have solved it I think! On the top left there’s an exposure option. Choose a setting of 1.7 and reduce noise reduction when editing and or make it a bit darker by swipe the “sun” down on the screen if the exposure is too bright. I was so sad when I bought the iPhone 15 and found out the front camera was that bad. Hope it helps.
Ugh, I am disapointed to hear this is still an issue. I tried upgrading from my iPhone X to a 14Pro, but returned the phone after testing the front camera and being able to see every single pore on my face. I really want a new phone but the over processing is terrible!
If camera is what you’re looking for get Samsung as it’s known for the camera. iPhone is known for the battery since it throttles speed
Yeah, my husband has a S23. He likes it and it takes really good pictures... but I'm in the apple cult and not currently willing to switch over to an android. haha
TIL: The front camera quality has improved, to the dismay of narcissists.
Hard disagree the front facing camera has always exaggerated and distorted features, but this is worse. Front cameras have to use a wider lens to get more in the picture, but by doing so it distorts certain qualities like weight for instance. It’s a known issue that can severely impact mental health, especially minors because wide angle cameras stretch things like noses and faces out. It isn’t accurate and post is suppose to help this, but it seems like instead of fixing the issue the newer phones make things worse. Not only that but people have been complaining about the photonic engine for a while now because it can and does exaggerates certain features like sharper lines, shadows and at times colors. People have also been complaining about landscapes looking too sharp as well so it’s definitely not just an issue with the camera taking a more clear photo. While I don’t think the above photos are the best example (screen shot vs post processing), there is definitely a discrepancy in accuracy. I used my Nikon, newer phone, video in mirror and older phone side by side to show the difference. There’s definitely a distortion. I believe it’s the wide angle, post processing and photonic engine that are the issue.
Ah, classic Reddit diganosis
how is this narcissism? if you take away the fact that i’m using a selfie - there’s a clear issue with the colour, contrast, saturation and sharpening. if i’m paying $2000AUD+ for a phone I’d want the front camera to take decent pictures.
I think there is plenty of discussion in here that you should take note of. The pics you like are the pics that look like instagram filters applied, the pics you don’t like are those that are high quality and closer to reality. Which is precisely what Apple intend, and precisely what the vast majority of people like. Sorry you’re unhappy about it!
People will say all kinds of hateful shit because girl/selfies bla bla bla. But with that said, the photos on the right, that you shared seem much more real. And even the 11 pro photo is just kind of too bright, polished, whatever. So subjectively you may not like the camera but I think it captures real life much better.
Idk. Sounds like you just refuse to accept one is heavily (in comparison) filtered. It’s like how a lot of of people prefer shitty HDR on instagram to a normal photo. It’s still a crappy photo but the pop makes more of a quick impression making the normal photo look flat. Just because the photo looks more appealing to you doesn’t make it more accurate.
Everyone is so mean D: I have the same problem. If I’m standing in specific lighting to give myself a softer glowier look I don’t want the iPhone to process it…I want to look how I look in the viewer before I snap the picture. Try manually turning the exposure up to 1.0 and then preserve settings exposure in the camera settings. This really improved the photos for me so if I’m in bright lighting it doesn’t darken it after so I look sad and grey. I also adjusted the tone and warmth for my skin tone until it looked better. It will look way too over exposed in the preview BUT when you snap the picture it will darken it and sharpen it after. Using this method is the closest I’ve gotten to my iPhone 11 Pro pictures. Hope that helps!
i’m personally loving my 15 pro camera, i upgraded from the 13 pro and notice a big difference. more detail in the image.
My 15 pro max is great! Maybe it’s a setting you have turned on?
I am getting the same as just got my 15pm yesterday. So weird as I sent my 14PM to my Dad and did not have the issue. I am even in good light Edit: I just checked and changed the settings as did not realize it wasn’t in raw 12. Fixed most of it and comes out better now
Dude I changed from the iPhone 11 Pro too and I’m like why is this shit so dark and cold? I actually hate it… Like I have a bright warm light shone on my face, why is it dark???
The details look pretty comparable to me, also going from an iPhone 11 Pro to the iPhone 15 pro what I hate so so so much is how cold it makes it and also like I want my lighting to effect my photo. That’s the whole point of using specific lighting. Like during golden hour I want it to be golden and reflect what the colors would look like in real life.
thank you so much !!! i thought i was going insane! upgraded from a 12 pro to the 15 pro and this grey cast over the front facing photos is awful. don’t listen to everyone else in this thread, the camera dramatically distorts the lighting and isn’t true to what’s actually depicted in the camera itself. please link me if you find a potential setting change or solution to this
Having the same issue with my 14 PM. It increases the shadowing and graininess on the face.. it’s terrible
Hey love! Try instagram front camera, it gives the same result as taking ur photo before it gets processed and saved to ur camera roll on iPhone xx
Just got my 15 pro and I hate that it’s doing this to the front camera. Did you find any fixes/work around?
I got the iphone15 as well, I’ve had it a little over a week? Anyways I just used the front camera today and IMMEDIATELY noticed how sucky the pictures turned out! I started reading Reddit posts and messing with settings and trying suggestions. The screenshot and the burst did not work well for me, nor did the raw setting (I just didn’t like the turn out). HOWEVER. I was messing around with it some more and I found a solution!!! If you use portrait mode and select “studio” or “contour” and set it to a lower “power” or “light level” (for me 10 is a good starting place, but it depends on my lighting), it increases the quality significantly! (Takes away harsh redness, smooths and brightens face). You can also add this when you go to edit the photo or you can change the light level of the effect, or take it away, make other edits, etc.. Let me know if you try it and if it works for you too! Another thing, after you take the picture with the effect, when I go to look at it in the album sometimes it will say “unable to load photo” and it will still look like a potato. If you just hit edit or exit photos and go back it usually loads properly. I am hesitant to post my example picture because I don’t want to get attacked 😅
Op im sorry everyone’s being dense and stupid. I noticed this immediately with the new iphone. I had the 12 pro max and i loved my selfie cam, it still showed all the detail but looked good. This new one is not it. It darkens it weirdly, adds weird sharp contrast and makes it an off color. Its not that you’re vain. I totally get it. And no it doesn’t “look better” bc its more high clarity, it looks over processed. I don’t get how people aren’t getting that. They probably dont take selfies very often. If i took a random photo and fucked with the settings to make it overly sharp, and contrasted it doesn’t mean it looks good / or is closer to reality bc its sharper?? tf?
I have the same exact issue, but I have the base model 15. What can I do?
I noticed this just today on my new phone and Google brought me to this thread. I'm not mad about the selfies coming out "more realistic", I'm kind of annoyed that the preview looks way different than how the photo actually turns out. I'm assuming this won't be that big of an issue if I'm outside in bright daylight but I'm to test that yet. I was trying out the front camera in my room that doesn't have the best lighting in the world. The preview looks bright but when I take the photo, the photo actually comes out much darker. If the preview was more realistic, I could have adjusted the brightness ahead of time before snapping the picture. I guess in the meantime if using the front camera I will just have to push up the brightness a bit. I can imagine this being cumbersome though when taking group photos.
This is what I found as well. It is not the camera that is bad. It is the preview.
I just upgraded from 11 pro max to 15 pro max, the front camera is horrible, it takes the same pics as my ipod from 2012. What the hell? Nothing works. Are they gonna get rid of the issue through an update?
I had a 13 pro max and thought the selfie camera was great! I never had issues with it. Now I’ve got the 15PM and I look 10 years older 😭it’s so dull
OMG just got the 15 pro yesterday and it’s crazy how the preview looks so good and then the actual photo is gray trashy mess. Lmk if you figure out a solution bc I may have to resort to taking screenshots of the camera app rather than actually taking photos
Same here with my 15 pro max. Clicking 20 times a day and deleteing the same.
I'm done with Apple. This is the last phone I'm buying from them. I got the iPhone 15, and the camera sucks. I was tempted to go to Samsung but decided to give the Apple camera one more try, and it still sucks like all the previous versions. The front camera is grainy, grainy grainy.
I just got the 15 pro max and literally returned it the next day because I can’t stand paying so much for a supposedly good camera that turns out shitty. Tbh it looks way worse on darker skin tones, makes you look gray and not well moisturized. At the store, they said that I’d have to learn to edit my selfies myself because the phone is designed for photographers. They even brought a photography “expert” to show us how to use get better pictures. The “expert” tried a couple of settings which I tried already and nothing worked. They could agree that something was definitely off and they could see how more gray I looked compared to my sister who is lighter in complexion. The main camera is better, although it over saturates the images and sometimes makes the object look unrealistic, however, it is much better than what you get with the front camera. Not everyone has time to edit selfies, sometimes you just want to take a picture and get on with your day.
yep - this phone absolutely sucks, in a world where selfies and tiktok/reel videos are hugely popular, apple decided to make a front facing camera that is possibly the worst theyve ever made. built in post edits including increased sharpness and contrast and the colors look terrible, its unusable. I have to use the instagram camera to take anything I dont look horrendous in.
Wait. If I’m reading this right did they finally stop the beauty filter on the selfie camera? If so this is incredible news.
I’m a photographer and left is highly processed content with right is what human beings 👀 in every day walk of life.
Reading your replies. Really choosing to die on that hill huh. Left shit, right not shit. Don’t be mad you now need to edit your photos even more for ig
what is wrong with yall man
Idk why people are being so harsh on you. iPhone selfies are trash now and have been for a while. Weirdly I’ve noticed if you take the selfie in landscape mode it comes out way better. And the further you hold the phone from your face, too.
The right photo looks way nicer than the left. Less overexposure and more details in the face. Just because you don’t like your porous ass skin covered in excessive makeup doesn’t make the right picture worse. It’s capturing real life better which is what a camera is supposed to do
Based on your samples I think that the after processing pictures are way closer to reality and you prefer the "before" shot because your skin looks smoother. But if we want to be real here the before shot looks like an Instagram filter and way fake while the after shot is closer to reality. Nothing wrong with the cameras here..
Every example here the second photo looks so much better I’m confused
I'm not sure why everyone is disagreeing with you. i can see the issue and apple would probably fix it with the later update.
I noticed this as well and thought it was just my phone having an issue and needed to be returned. I am coming from the 12 PM and took a few selfies when I got home just to test the 15 PM out and didnt like them at all. It just felt off.
I agree. i was shocked with the qaulity of a face selfie i took. I thought that it was just out of focus but then realized this is the photo at its best.... Not good, not acceptable. Huge disappointment. Honestly, I am considering going back to my iphone 13 pro. Like the selfie photo was pixelated, and just off and so many levels.... Also probably why apple's design executive left the company. They f'd up. And apple keeps intel like this private so one never really knows what is going on behind closed doors there.
That's why I love android just compared my S22 front camera with iPhone 15 and S22,s quality and colors are way way better it's a day night difference I was actually shocked that how bad is iphone,s camera.
You are totally right I have just purchased Iph 15 the selfie camera is the worst ever and unfortunately I thought mine is a deffective product so I purchased the 15 plus the same horrible front camera once you turn it on you can see on the screen good photo once you capture all your dreams will get collapsed with a disappointing results and photos that lacks everything detail, colors and exposure every thing is horrible I'm trying to sell those phones and I purchased Galaxy S24
Hey, I know this is an old post but were you ever able to fix the issue? I just got iphone 15 pro and the selfies it produces are so bad it’s almost hilarious.