Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Horrible iPhone 6 Plus Noise Reduction
- Thread starter HelloMikee
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Finally
!!!
Someone sees the "painted" effect that I started seeing in my photos the first weekend they released the 6. I got mine on day one.
I went to the Apple store last Sunday to have a genius look at some of the HORRIBLE shots I had taken much to my dismay. Even wrote to tech writer David Pogue and alerted him about it. No reply.
While waiting for the genius, I started taking shots with several display phones in the store.
I used a 6, 6+ and a 5s.
All shot in bright Apple store light, no flash.
All showed the same painted effect that this thread covers. I almost just walked out figuring, we'll this is a general iPhone thing and not just a "myphone" thing.
Genius was pleasant. Took my phone in back to a tech person who shot some pattern hanging on the wall they use to test the camera. He returned and said it looks fine to them. I left.
Now, listen. The 6 is my fifth iPhone. And all previous have been fine for photos. Very good for what they are.
I like to shoot, enlarge and take a screen shot of the enlargement. Always crisp and good looking.
But this is bizarre. And unacceptable.
Wanna really get depressed? Try enlarging one of those painted effect shots. Nice if you're an oil painter
Oh, and try taking a screen shot of a photo and see how blurry it becomes.
Lastly, I have shots from previous phones on my 6 camera roll - they look fine.
Camera Gate anyone?
And don't get me wrong. I'm a total iPhone fan.
But this is bad.
Can you see this shot? Enlarge it.
Bright restaurant, no flash, focused on the woman's face.
Yuck!!!
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=500690&stc=1&d=1412398282
Someone sees the "painted" effect that I started seeing in my photos the first weekend they released the 6. I got mine on day one.
I went to the Apple store last Sunday to have a genius look at some of the HORRIBLE shots I had taken much to my dismay. Even wrote to tech writer David Pogue and alerted him about it. No reply.
While waiting for the genius, I started taking shots with several display phones in the store.
I used a 6, 6+ and a 5s.
All shot in bright Apple store light, no flash.
All showed the same painted effect that this thread covers. I almost just walked out figuring, we'll this is a general iPhone thing and not just a "myphone" thing.
Genius was pleasant. Took my phone in back to a tech person who shot some pattern hanging on the wall they use to test the camera. He returned and said it looks fine to them. I left.
Now, listen. The 6 is my fifth iPhone. And all previous have been fine for photos. Very good for what they are.
I like to shoot, enlarge and take a screen shot of the enlargement. Always crisp and good looking.
But this is bizarre. And unacceptable.
Wanna really get depressed? Try enlarging one of those painted effect shots. Nice if you're an oil painter
Oh, and try taking a screen shot of a photo and see how blurry it becomes.
Lastly, I have shots from previous phones on my 6 camera roll - they look fine.
Camera Gate anyone?
And don't get me wrong. I'm a total iPhone fan.
But this is bad.
Can you see this shot? Enlarge it.
Bright restaurant, no flash, focused on the woman's face.
Yuck!!!
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=500690&stc=1&d=1412398282
Attachments
You obviously have zero knowledge in JPEG camera engines and how's its software that causes heavy NR and not the hardware itself. So please, take a freakin seat and learn something.
Not expecting too much at all when the 5s does not produce these results at low ISO.
So again. Take. A. Seat.
----------
I disagree big time. The iphone is actually suppose to be a great camera. It is, however the software that applies heavy NR just needs to be fine tuned.
If you can't comprehend that NR shouldn't be applied to low ISO, you really have no business in here.
I don't think it's a hardware issue with the camera so no need to make another "gate" out of a software issue that can be addressed via future update.
I agree it's most likely some software setting needing to be tweaked. Hard to imagine all the phones producing these odd images have bad hardware. Unless there is a real problem at the manufacturer end - a universal issue.
I appreciate the many thoughtful comments in this thread.
Let's hope our attention to this issue starts the wave needed to rectify the problem.
iPhone cameras have been so handy and reliable through the many versions, with great results.
As I said I'm a big fan.
Just want to see the gorgeous photos I'm used to.
I appreciate the many thoughtful comments in this thread.
Let's hope our attention to this issue starts the wave needed to rectify the problem.
iPhone cameras have been so handy and reliable through the many versions, with great results.
As I said I'm a big fan.
Just want to see the gorgeous photos I'm used to.
Kind of makes you wonder why a lot of the professional reviews don't mention this when they get to the "Camera" section. It's usually just unanimous praise. I know diddly squat about photography and still noticed this...
Generally two things
1) The camera is exposing for highlights and then bringing up shadows in post which causes noise.
2) The camera (especially if made by sony that has this problem) sees things like foliage and grass (which is where the NR is most noticeable in everyone's pics) as noise and is messed up.
5s does this, too.
I've posted this elsewhere on similar threads. It's not just the new phones. I've struggled with this issue on my iPhone 5s since I got it a year ago. My 5s has a bad case of it but not all the time. Oddly enough my husband's 5s does not do this as far as I know from looking at a sample of his albums. I've wanted to get it addressed but my husband shrugged the issue aside. I thought it was some odd thing only some people notice and most don't. So I've kept quiet about it this past year of owning the 5s. I figured I did something to the camera when I dropped it within a couple days of owning it.
My new 6plus has not done this so far except for what I perceive to be touches of overzealous noise reduction in objects with vague surface details like a stretched canvas lid on a hamper. I've yet to see it do the watercolor effect to the degree my 5s does or the cameras here have.
At any rate the 5s, or at least my 5s, does this, too. Because my husband's 5s (bought the same time) doesn't, nor does my 6plus seem to (yet) I can't rule out a hardware issue.
I've posted this elsewhere on similar threads. It's not just the new phones. I've struggled with this issue on my iPhone 5s since I got it a year ago. My 5s has a bad case of it but not all the time. Oddly enough my husband's 5s does not do this as far as I know from looking at a sample of his albums. I've wanted to get it addressed but my husband shrugged the issue aside. I thought it was some odd thing only some people notice and most don't. So I've kept quiet about it this past year of owning the 5s. I figured I did something to the camera when I dropped it within a couple days of owning it.
My new 6plus has not done this so far except for what I perceive to be touches of overzealous noise reduction in objects with vague surface details like a stretched canvas lid on a hamper. I've yet to see it do the watercolor effect to the degree my 5s does or the cameras here have.
At any rate the 5s, or at least my 5s, does this, too. Because my husband's 5s (bought the same time) doesn't, nor does my 6plus seem to (yet) I can't rule out a hardware issue.
There are a lot of variables when taking a picture. The lighting and focus are big factors. The only way to truly compare is to take the picture at the exact time and with the same settings.
I think it's a software issue because the problem seems to occur during post processing of the image.
I think it's a software issue because the problem seems to occur during post processing of the image.
Last edited:
NR is not done via hardware. It makes no difference who manufactured the camera for Apple (regarding NR). Apple wrote the software for the camera that does the NR.
Well to be technical there is a certain amount of noise reduction in hardware. The nr we're talking about is software and I was assuming they were using Sony software to go along with the hardware. It would make sense.
Sorry but I must disagree. There is not hardware noise REDUCTION. There might be optical aberrations such as chromatic aberration, etc. But after the RAW file is created then the software goes to work. That's why most working photographers use RAW camera files so they can manually control what what and how much processing they want done.
I just tried Cortex Camera. It IS AMAZING. It is worth three dollars. It is worth thirty dollars. If I were Apple or Google or Microsoft or Nokia or Sony or any big company involved with photography I would hire this person who wrote this thing immediately and pay a huge salary just to keep him/her from my competitors.
If it is software though, I have to wonder why the 5S doesn't exhibit the same problems on iOS 8
Horrible iPhone 6 Plus Noise Reduction
Even if they are running the same OS they are still running different internal versions. The OS for the 6 has programming to take advantage of the A8 processor. Those algorithms aren't used the same way for the A7.
Apple claims new NR capabilities on the iP6. That is possible because of the A8
Even if they are running the same OS they are still running different internal versions. The OS for the 6 has programming to take advantage of the A8 processor. Those algorithms aren't used the same way for the A7.
Apple claims new NR capabilities on the iP6. That is possible because of the A8
Agreed, in the right situations.
For low light situations, with non moving subjects, it's so superior as to almost be magical. Amazing detail, no Monet effect, ridiculously low noise. But for moving subjects or good lighting, it's a little too hazy for me.
Just bought Cortex and have been comparing to native camera on ip6.
Cortex is noticeably sharper on shots with good light in my very sunny living room. Depressing cause I really love the native camera on all the iPhones I've owned.
A selfy of my face using rear cam (the 8mp) with both showed better fine detail on the native cam however.
But even so, the "Monet" painted effect was there when I zoomed in.
I'll post all my concerns and experiments to the Apple feedback link.
Mine has overly aggressive NR too. No idea why, I wonder if camera apps like ProCamera can fix this. Otherwise, iOS 8.1, 8.2 or 8.3 need to do it
(according to MR, all three are in the works)
Well, we both agree on Cortex's magic in low-light, static situations at least
I just found that it provided a little too much 'smoothing' in good lighting situations (particularly on smooth surfaces like a face or walls), whereas the normal camera (or Camera+, etc) gave better detail. Not to say Cortex doesn't provide great edge detail in good lighting - it absolutely does. And that can certainly make some pictures look sharper even if it does median out some fiddly bits that I would rather preserve.
I'm not going to argue about it but do some research if you don't bekieve me. Also I am a photographer and use raqr
----------
Different camera manufacturer and software