iPhone 14 Pro Max Photos Lose Quality When Brought in to Mac

[LD Curb]

Phone: 14 Pro Max
Setting: Download and Keep Originals

When I bring photos from my phone to Mac the quality is terrible. There are "hot spots" on the image and it is not crisp at all. Yet when I view it on my phone it looks great.

I often like to edit photos using Photoshop Elements so I really need to have something decent to work with.

Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to get same quality photo from my phone to my Mac?

 

[RRC]

When you say the quality isn’t there, what files are you importing? JPEG? ProRaw?

Also how are you importing the images?

 

[LD Curb]

When you say the quality isn’t there, what files are you importing? JPEG? ProRaw?

Also how are you importing the images?

The files are downloaded automatically from phone to Mac via iCloud. Today I tried Air Drop for a couple to see if that made a difference but it didn't. These are JPEG as Photoshop Elements doesn't offer Pro Raw (i don't think).

The quality issues are that the photos are not crisp .. .they re slightly blurry and there are hot spots. Such as I do a lot of photos of my white dog and there are areas of his head and back that are "burned out" when on the Mac but are perfect on my phone.

 

[jm31828]

Honestly even though iPhone cameras have come a long way- this is still sort of expected when viewing an iPhone picture on a computer screen. They are more flat and don’t have as much detail as you’d get from a dslr, and you really only notice that in a bigger computer screen.

I bought a 13 pro in hopes of being able to use it at least sometimes on my hikes for landscape photography when I don’t want to carry my dslr with me- but I’ve found that most shots end up looking disappointing on the computer screen- both heic images as well as proraw images that I do some post-processing with.

 

[chabig]

There is no reason photos downloaded to the Mac from iCloud would differ by even a single bit from the original, unless you have optimized storage turned on. If you do, you’re seeing a low resolution preview of the original image Until you download it. Then you have all of the same bits as on your iPhone.

You said you have Download and Keep Originals turned on on your iPhone. The same setting needs to be on on your Mac.

 

[LD Curb]

There is no reason photos downloaded to the Mac from iCloud would differ by even a single bit from the original, unless you have optimized storage turned on. If you do, you’re seeing a low resolution preview of the original image Until you download it. Then you have all of the same bits as on your iPhone.

You said you have Download and Keep Originals turned on on your iPhone. The same setting needs to be on on your Mac.

I hate to ask but how do I do that on my Mac? I don't have optimize storage turned on. I have a ton of iCloud storage available.

 

[LD Curb]

Honestly even though iPhone cameras have come a long way- this is still sort of expected when viewing an iPhone picture on a computer screen. They are more flat and don’t have as much detail as you’d get from a dslr, and you really only notice that in a bigger computer screen.

I bought a 13 pro in hopes of being able to use it at least sometimes on my hikes for landscape photography when I don’t want to carry my dslr with me- but I’ve found that most shots end up looking disappointing on the computer screen- both heic images as well as proraw images that I do some post-processing with.

Thanks! I don't recall having this issue previously. I used to do small-product photography for a client's Amazon store and I don't recall having this issue at all. It seems to be recent (iPhone 14 ?). I contacted Apple a couple weeks ago, and they made sure my camera settings were optimized but at that time I thought it was all photos .. not just on my Mac. Then I realized that they do look really good on my phone. My Macbook is only 13" so it isn't all that big of a screen.

 

[chabig]

I hate to ask but how do I do that on my Mac? I don't have optimize storage turned on. I have a ton of iCloud storage available.

System Preferences > iCloud > Photos I think. This is from memory because I don’t have my Mac handy.

 

[jm31828]

Thanks! I don't recall having this issue previously. I used to do small-product photography for a client's Amazon store and I don't recall having this issue at all. It seems to be recent (iPhone 14 ?). I contacted Apple a couple weeks ago, and they made sure my camera settings were optimized but at that time I thought it was all photos .. not just on my Mac. Then I realized that they do look really good on my phone. My Macbook is only 13" so it isn't all that big of a screen.

Interesting! In that case, I can't say I know what has changed from what you were seeing before!