iPhone 15 Pro Another year, another iPhone with near ZERO improvements to camera color rendering and white balance (everything is yellow)

[redbeard331]

Blind assumptions are so sad. I am not a fan of anything.

He wrote this at the bottom.

Disclaimer: let's get this out of the way. The following responses are meaningless so there's no need to post them: 1) "Buy a pixel" no thanks, I'm locked in to iPhone and prefer Apple's ecosystem, it's entirely reasonable to ask for improvements to a product you're heavily invested in. 2) "iPhones are not meant for upgrading every year, don't expect radical changes" this problem has been going on for years and it never gets addressed. If Google can deliver big upgrades to both their camera hardware and software processing whilst avoiding major mishaps with white balance/color, why can't Apple? I'm not asking for magic, just some focus on white balance and color

 

[TechnoMonk]

Clearly neither you or most everyone criticizing the op didn’t read his post or didn’t understand it.

He wrote this at the bottom.

Disclaimer: let's get this out of the way. The following responses are meaningless so there's no need to post them: 1) "Buy a pixel" no thanks, I'm locked in to iPhone and prefer Apple's ecosystem, it's entirely reasonable to ask for improvements to a product you're heavily invested in. 2) "iPhones are not meant for upgrading every year, don't expect radical changes" this problem has been going on for years and it never gets addressed. If Google can deliver big upgrades to both their camera hardware and software processing whilst avoiding major mishaps with white balance/color, why can't Apple? I'm not asking for magic, just some focus on white balance and color

I read just fine. You didn’t read the post I quoted. It also said disclaimer:

 

[Bananasaurus]

“Rampant anti-Apple hate”.

This is such a preposterous, hysterical comment I can only assume you’re trolling.

Show me one comment that could be seen as your ridiculous assertion or delete your post.

I’ve purchased 4,000 dollars in Apple products in the last 3 months, and just bought a iPhone 15 pro max. The OP is an Apple user as well.

I was stating that both sides exist in this forum.

 

[redbeard331]

I was stating that both sides exist in this forum.

Yes they do but I’m not seeing it here.

 

[headlessmike]

Back in the film days Fuji was known for producing images with a green tone. It was even a reason why many preferred Fuji’s film stocks over other brands like Kodak (which was known for its yellow tones).

My problem with this thread is that people are acting like there is only one right way to color balance an image, and that Apple is clearly wrong, when that’s just not true.

I don’t care if people bash on Apple or their products, but find the reasons here mostly silly as they’re based on an easily corrected point that is more a matter of taste than anything else. Of all the side by side comparisons in this thread, I find the uncorrected iPhone images more appealing in many of the cases. Again, that’s just my personal taste.

 

[gelno]

Being colorblind is finally useful!

Allows me to just not care as long as the image is sharp and generally close to the right colors

 

[Oohara]

A while ago (before you seemed to disappear from here) you were very keen on the Android side of things. Has that now changed?

Hey & thanks for asking! I'm still interested as ever I just had to reset my life priorities a little which meant giving up the time I used to spend on endless phone comparisons on this forum, as much as I loved doing that. Prioritising practicality over fun also meant sticking to my Apple gear instead of fiddling with cross-platform experiments.

Then I also started having an issue in my wrist which made it difficult for me to type, and using heavy phones all day made it worse. My obsession used to be large screen phones, so I was ecstatic about the iPhone 12 Pro Max...but sadly I was forced to give it up. And get myself the lightest phone I could find which still had a decent size display, turned out to be the iPhone 12 so that's what I've been using for the past two years or so. Kinda boring...but it's also making me discover other aspects of these gadgets, how to make things work on a smaller screen, less fancy specs etc. How to streamline app use.

Anyway, having to give up those big phones also put a damper on my whole gadget lust sadly, which contributed to me engaging less on forums etc.

What kinda saves my day a little though is that my girlfriend remains an Android user through and through. And I just managed to talk her into buying a used Pixel 6A which I'm having a blast helping her with. I absolutely love that little thing. Not sure if I'm being objective but I feel like its display puts mine to shame.

But there I go again...haha. Better pry myself off the screen and get back to work. I'm still around though as you see, keeping myself posted on the goings on here. Have a good one mate and c u around!

 

[Expos of 1969]

Hey & thanks for asking! I'm still interested as ever I just had to reset my life priorities a little which meant giving up the time I used to spend on endless phone comparisons on this forum, as much as I loved doing that. Prioritising practicality over fun also meant sticking to my Apple gear instead of fiddling with cross-platform experiments.

Then I also started having an issue in my wrist which made it difficult for me to type, and using heavy phones all day made it worse. My obsession used to be large screen phones, so I was ecstatic about the iPhone 12 Pro Max...but sadly I was forced to give it up. And get myself the lightest phone I could find which still had a decent size display, turned out to be the iPhone 12 so that's what I've been using for the past two years or so. Kinda boring...but it's also making me discover other aspects of these gadgets, how to make things work on a smaller screen, less fancy specs etc. How to streamline app use.

Anyway, having to give up those big phones also put a damper on my whole gadget lust sadly, which contributed to me engaging less on forums etc.

What kinda saves my day a little though is that my girlfriend remains an Android user through and through. And I just managed to talk her into buying a used Pixel 6A which I'm having a blast helping her with. I absolutely love that little thing. Not sure if I'm being objective but I feel like its display puts mine to shame.

But there I go again...haha. Better pry myself off the screen and get back to work. I'm still around though as you see, keeping myself posted on the goings on here. Have a good one mate and c u around!

Thanks for the update. Many more important things in life than spending too much time here. I contemplated a 6a but read that it has a bad PWM rate which causes headaches in some folks. I had to return a 13 mini has it gave me problems. Currently on iPhone SE 3 with no issues. Google does not sell here but I noticed that a local big electronics store now has the 7a. I may have a look but it is about 550 euros.

 

[rkoshack]

😂

 

[Eekamouse]

 

[OneBar]

Sums it up nicely. Or you can opt into fuji x series for cheap or Leica on a higher end to get that more or less perfectly balanced jpg unless you don’t want to edit.
Everything meant to be edited - we just sometimes happen to live with whatever the camera outputs as an acceptable choice.

Even Fuji and Leica won't produce a balanced photo. Not unless you're doing quite a bit of initial setup and even then, it'll be close but not on. Light changes, clouds happen, you move, and the balance is off.

 

[OneBar]

That's a truism which doesn't excuse Apple from continuing to radically push the standard of what the iPhone camera is capable of. People have been saying this since the first iPhone which struggled with dynamic range. We were told that's just the limit of small sensors. Then they introduced HDR and all of a sudden the standard goes up. Then they work on computational photography and all of a sudden we're in point and shoot territory. The cycle continues.

Improvements will continue to be made and in 10 years we will be in a whole new realm of smartphone photography altogether, mark my words. In the meantime we don't need to be satisfied with cameras failing in some scenarios; Apple certainly aren't because otherwise why would they bother improving the iPhone camera every year.

I'm unsure what your beef is here. The 4s (my first iPhone) did struggle with dynamic range. Which is a common issue with small sensors. You get a lot of light bleed across the pixels. Shooting in HDR does mitigate that some, at the cost of a longer shot since it's shooting 3 images and processing them together. Then they made the sensor bigger on later phones and added some computational shenanigans (around the 6s era I think, which was my second phone) and yes now it was in PnS territory as far as photo quality. Having had a larger sensor with lower MP on a Kodak, I can confirm my 6s took better out of the box photos. This is how tech works. Are you saying they shouldn't be improving the tech or that they shouldn't talk about it or....?

I'm not crazy about either photo and would edit a lot more in post if I cared about the photo, with that being said I'm a lot more okay the photo on the right than I am with the one on the left because leaning towards greens is a lot more anemic than leaning towards magenta.

What about you? Do you prefer the one that is a touch too green or the one that is a touch too magenta? Identifying the first as too green was all I wanted people to recognize but instead it became a discussion about Pixel vs iPhone, Warm vs Cool, Photographic Styles, and whether or not my edits are to people's tastes.

Depends on what I'm shooting for. If I'm shooting a reference photo for a location, I don't care. If I'm shooting an artistic shot, I'm not using the stock camera app. I'm shooting RAW in Moment, using a tripod, and composing the shot as much as possible before shuttering. Which is the point.

I think Apple, with raw access to the photo pipeline, could do a way better job at meeting that balanced photo you referenced.

Absolutely no camera ever is going to accomplish your ideal photograph. And your ideal photograph isn't going to be mine or anyone else's on this forum's. What you see as balanced, I'll see as (likely) skewed blue. What I see as balanced you'd see as probably too magenta. If all you want to do is lift the phone and take a shot, then you should be aware and prepared for a less than ideal photo. If you want better, then you must prepare better and be ready to edit for a couple minutes. Actually I have my processing down to about 45 seconds on most photos since I tend to shoot repetitive subjects.

 

[chanchowancho]

I think the only way to get perfectly color balanced photos is to balance them yourself! I recently bought a Xiaomi lightbulb with that blue > white > orange color spectrum changing ability, I wanted to take a photo of my cosy reading nook and both the iPhone and Pixel "corrected" the warm orange light to daylight white!

I ended up giving up, taking a photo with my old Fuji X100T, and mucking about with it in Lightroom!

 

[zakarhino]

I think the only way to get perfectly color balanced photos is to balance them yourself! I recently bought a Xiaomi lightbulb with that blue > white > orange color spectrum changing ability, I wanted to take a photo of my cosy reading nook and both the iPhone and Pixel "corrected" the warm orange light to daylight white!

I ended up giving up, taking a photo with my old Fuji X100T, and mucking about with it in Lightroom!

Yeah I cancelled my 15 Pro Max and will see what kind of upgrades the Pixel 8 Pro has this year. Carrying a Pixel in addition to my 14 PM is not my ideal setup because there are plenty of scenarios where I prefer iPhone pictures (and video) but it won't be the end of the world, I've been meaning to try out Android again for a while.

On the other hand, as per your comment, it may finally be time for me to start carrying an actual camera again. I love the idea of being able to do everything with just my smartphone but yeah there is no beating a proper large sensor and good quality glass. The thing about a smartphone is you can use it anywhere (great for stealth shooting at venues where photography might otherwise be discouraged), you never forget it, it's near instant, you can edit on it, you can upload on it, the video is great, it calls little attention to itself (walking around with ANY camera in parts of the Bay Area makes you a target for muggings), etc. Oh well... Anyway I'll take a look at the X100V, the new Nikon Zf, and Q3 as potential options.

 

[zakarhino]

I'm unsure what your beef is here. The 4s (my first iPhone) did struggle with dynamic range. Which is a common issue with small sensors. You get a lot of light bleed across the pixels. Shooting in HDR does mitigate that some, at the cost of a longer shot since it's shooting 3 images and processing them together. Then they made the sensor bigger on later phones and added some computational shenanigans (around the 6s era I think, which was my second phone) and yes now it was in PnS territory as far as photo quality. Having had a larger sensor with lower MP on a Kodak, I can confirm my 6s took better out of the box photos. This is how tech works. Are you saying they shouldn't be improving the tech or that they shouldn't talk about it or....?


Depends on what I'm shooting for. If I'm shooting a reference photo for a location, I don't care. If I'm shooting an artistic shot, I'm not using the stock camera app. I'm shooting RAW in Moment, using a tripod, and composing the shot as much as possible before shuttering. Which is the point.


Absolutely no camera ever is going to accomplish your ideal photograph. And your ideal photograph isn't going to be mine or anyone else's on this forum's. What you see as balanced, I'll see as (likely) skewed blue. What I see as balanced you'd see as probably too magenta. If all you want to do is lift the phone and take a shot, then you should be aware and prepared for a less than ideal photo. If you want better, then you must prepare better and be ready to edit for a couple minutes. Actually I have my processing down to about 45 seconds on most photos since I tend to shoot repetitive subjects.

No I'm saying the opposite, they should continue improving the tech and eventually many of the aspects of smartphone photography (and photography in general) that we think are hard limitations ("the white balance will never be perfect", "smartphones will never great bokeh", etc.) will be disproven.

You make a lot of good points though, I do see your point. I take ProRAW and regular RAW photos with my iPhone all the time and I continue to surprise myself with what these tiny devices can deliver. A lot of my edits aren't necessarily about chasing perfect white balance or realistic colors either, it depends on what I'm shooting just as you say.

 

[Supermallet]

Oh I forgot, thanks for reminding me that this forum only exists for cult-like adulation of Apple. On my way to Cupertino now to offer my help!

Hogwash. Many of the responses in this thread have been thoughtful and from the perspectives of professional photographers, or high level amateurs. A prevailing sentiment is that no camera, no matter how high end, will give you a picture you consider perfect out of the box. Many have pointed out that there is no absolute reference for white balance and different people see color differently anyway, and that’s before you even get into a discussion of preference.

These are all valid points and not blind Apple fanboyism.

 

[Und Eser]

Good thread. The usual predictably sycophantic "defenders of the realm" have been a big help in focusing the argument by eliciting even further and more detailed analyses and observations on the subject matter, which go a long way to explaining why I used to be able to get such superior snaps on my Galaxy S9 (2018) to those I currently can on my iPhone 13 mini (2021).

Never ceases to amaze me how some turkeys fail to see the folly in expressing their preferences in relation to stuffing.

 

[Und Eser]

I had no issues with the thousands of pix I captured with the 12 Pro; YMMV.

I wonder what that says more about, the 12 Pro or the objectivity of your commentary?

 

[Supermallet]

I wonder what that says more about, the 12 Pro or the objectivity of your commentary?

Get out of here with that BS. A person’s opinion by definition cannot be objective, it’s an expression of subjective preference. YOUR subject preference isn’t any more objectively correct than anyone else’s.

 

[redbeard331]

Hogwash. Many of the responses in this thread have been thoughtful and from the perspectives of professional photographers, or high level amateurs. A prevailing sentiment is that no camera, no matter how high end, will give you a picture you consider perfect out of the box. Many have pointed out that there is no absolute reference for white balance and different people see color differently anyway, and that’s before you even get into a discussion of preference.

These are all valid points and not blind Apple fanboyism.

Hogwash, it’s been this way for years, MKBHD proved it in his blind test where the iPhone came in last place because it took the worst pictures. I don’t know about you, but as the leader of the worlds largest Apple cult, I want our phones to take the BEST pictures of any smartphone, why would anyone want anything else??

Saying you can edit them in post is a cop out, the whole point of these phones is that we do not have to sit down and spend hours editing photos every time we use them. If I have to do that I might as well just use my SLR. 🤷🏻

We aren’t asking for perfection, just some color accuracy here, my pictures from my old cheap Samsung phone need no post processing.

 

[Supermallet]

It’s so tiring to disagree with people who confuse opinion for facts. Your OPINION is not a FACT.

 

[ToddH]

This is getting tiring. iPhones have been delivering very poor white balance and color rendering for YEARS now, especially in low or imperfect light (such as overcast). I don't understand what is going on. This year's Smart HDR was upgraded to version 5 but the "improvements" (or lack thereof) to rectify this issue are not up to par, in particular when compared to Pixel in many scenarios. If you have give me 10 pictures from an iPhone and 10 from any other smartphone I can usually figure out which one is the iPhone based on the yellow-green characteristic alone. Here are some yearly observations from all the review photos (as well as my own) that are yet to be fixed. I will use specific examples from 14 Pro and 15 Pro reviews to demonstrate.

1. iPhones repeatedly render a green or yellow tinge in many photos and subsequently kill the kind of beautiful color contrast we see in the 'best case' photos from Apple's keynote as well as our own photographs. It is not the sort of orange glow associated with a 'warm' photo for me, it is very specifically a yellow-green layer that kills a lot of the color contrast. Most often happens when some green is present in the frame or when there's yellow lights at night.
2. White balance misses all too frequently in scenarios without perfect direct sunlight. Even then it sometimes struggles.

It's getting to the point where every new iPhone release has me waiting in anticipation for the first real life photos to be published JUST so I can see if they've fixed this one issue. I often find myself adjusting my 14 PM photos slightly to account for the yellow-green cast and subsequent desaturation/poor contrast.

Let me start by presenting a side by side comparison of a shot from the 14 Pro and Pixel 7 from The Verge's iPhone review last year. I know it's a year old but I remember being irate when I saw it last year because this is a particularly disgusting example. As you will see the 15 Pro still has this issue in varying degrees of severity:

14 Pro	Pixel 7
View attachment 2270048	View attachment 2270050

You see it? The Pixel is very balanced, there are different colored lights and the color of buildings can be seen through the harsh office lights, all the while the sky is closer to what you would see if you were actually standing there. The iPhone on the other hand looks like a PS3 cutscene from a Yakuza game, a complete blob of yellow-green Gotham CGI.

Unfortunately the 15 Pro exhibits the same issue, maybe there are some slight improvements but not enough. Again from The Verge 15 Pro review except this time I've included the same image with some very simple correction applied to it via Pixelmator. I'm no editor or professional photographer so you may not agree with the final output of my corrections (some are too magenta or cool for example) but the point is to demonstrate that the original needs SOME form of correction, albeit better than mine, to counter the yellow-green tinge. The "balanced" versions are to provide contrast and demonstrate the yellow-green tinge exists in the first place for those that don't think it's obvious

15 Pro Original Output:	15 Pro Balanced:
View attachment 2270069	View attachment 2270070

Again, the correction is not perfect as I'm applying auto white balance adjustments to an already compressed jpeg, Apple's original processing could produce a much better result. Look at the overall color of the original image though, in particular the buildings and the sky. I assure you Market St doesn't look so jaundice.

Some more examples:

15 Pro	15 Pro Corrected
View attachment 2270092	View attachment 2270093
View attachment 2270096	View attachment 2270097
View attachment 2270100	View attachment 2270101
View attachment 2270102	View attachment 2270103
View attachment 2270104	View attachment 2270105

Disclaimer: let's get this out of the way. The following responses are meaningless so there's no need to post them: 1) "Buy a pixel" no thanks, I'm locked in to iPhone and prefer Apple's ecosystem, it's entirely reasonable to ask for improvements to a product you're heavily invested in. 2) "iPhones are not meant for upgrading every year, don't expect radical changes" this problem has been going on for years and it never gets addressed. If Google can deliver big upgrades to both their camera hardware and software processing whilst avoiding major mishaps with white balance/color, why can't Apple? I'm not asking for magic, just some focus on white balance and color

Most of these camera tests are done by tech geeks, not photographers. A photographer would know how to adjust the camera before the shot is taken. I take a gray card (photo white balance tool) with me everywhere and take a Photo of it in the same light I’ll be shooting in. Cloudy, incandescent, sunny, ext to balance the color in post.

Also, the shots are JPEG or HEIF and can’t be changed later as they are compressed files. If you want the best out of the iPhone camera (or any camera) whether you like it or not, you’ll have to shoot ProRAW or RAW. Otherwise you’ll have to settle with what the HEIF or JPEG files give you. So many people complain about camera image colors because they don’t understand light and color temperature….and they choose not to educate themselves to learn it.

 

[Und Eser]

Get out of here with that BS. A person’s opinion by definition cannot be objective, it’s an expression of subjective preference. YOUR subject preference isn’t any more objectively correct than anyone else’s.

Exactly, so the poster saying they didn't have any issue with thousands of pictures out of the 12 Pro says nothing objective about it whatsoever.

Get out of here your triggered self.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Apple’s images tend to suffer from over processing but as many others have pointed out, just shoot in raw and edit later.

Personally, I really appreciate the iPhone cameras, which are good enough for most images I take. But when I do serious photography I use my Fujifilm XT-3.

So, yeah. Seems like a lot of complaints basically nothing. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Supermallet]

Exactly, so the poster saying they didn't have any issue with thousands of pictures out of the 12 Pro says nothing objective about it whatsoever.

Get out of here your triggered self.

He wasn’t trying to be objective, he was relaying his own experience.

Now it’s off to the ignore list with you. Begone, troll.