iPhone 13 Pro Smart HDR Missing on iPhone 13 Pro?

[SteveBUK2]

Hi all,

Just upgraded to a 13 Pro from XS and when I go to camera settings, the Smart HDR toggle is not there? Any ideas, or can it no longer be switched off?

Thanks!

 

[Canezmd]

Can’t find it either!!!!

 

[now i see it]

On iOS 14.8 there’s only an “Auto HDR” toggle button. Not sure what iOS 15 has

 

[Lammy]

I don't think smart HDR is like other phone's HDR. It's how the phone takes pictures in general. Smart HDR is how they brand their computational photography so it's not something you can turn on or off. This probably confuses people because the term HDR used to be only used for the super polarizing photos.


I could be wrong, but that is my understanding of what smart HDR 4 is.

 

[Canezmd]

On all the other iOS versions, we were given the option of on or off… on Apple support pages, that option is still there for all phones up to iPhone 12… but not on 13.
13 only has the hdr toggle for video, not photos.
Disappointing

 

[no0nefamous]

I just noticed this as well. The "Scene Detection" setting is also missing, although I never really could tell what that affected.

12 Pro on iOS 15:




13 Pro on iOS 15:




I don't really care for the Photographic Styles options and they aren't a compensation for this so I'm not sure what is happening here. I assume that this just means HDR 4 is always on and/or smart enough to not need these toggles?

Not that I ever turned them off anyway.

 

[cincywoods]

I can confirm I'm seeing the same Camera settings options for iPhone 13 Pro (non iPhone 13 still shows Smart HDR on/off toggle). This is disappointing given the over processing that HDR can often bring to certain scenes. Discovered this much to my dismay yesterday when I took a picture and I didn't like the 'HDR effect' that was being applied to my photos. Hopefully we'll see an update to bring the HDR on/off back just like the ability to disable auto lens switch for macro (which I have heard is being fixed in future release).

 

[andbjo]

I've been trying to find this setting on my iPhone 13 mini as well without luck.

Some of the photos I took this weekend look horrible with the HDR going bananas. The camera is almost unusable to me if it isn't possible to turn it off.

 

[PBz]

I noticed this today when looking at the 13 model phones. I DO NOT like the HDR (computational) math/expose for the entire scene applied to my photos. This started with the 12PM as I noticed it was going way beyond what I wanted my images to look like. Even when I turned it off on my 12PM it is like the Camera app ignored that and did the same expose-for-entire-scene .. yuck. I found that this can be avoided by shooting in ProRaw format.

I also learned that the ProRaw format is not available on the iPhone 13.. only the Pro models. Sucks as I really like the wight/size of the 13.

 

[PBz]

I've been trying to find this setting on my iPhone 13 mini as well without luck.

Some of the photos I took this weekend look horrible with the HDR going bananas. The camera is almost unusable to me if it isn't possible to turn it off.

Try shooting in ProRaw.. I feel the same way about my 12PM... even when I turn it off. When I got the 12PM.. it was the first time in years I started carrying a 'real' camera again (X100V) because I disliked the flat/unrealistic/lack of tone images from the 12PM so much.. I have since learned you can 'avoid' this with the use of ProRaw.

 

[Rooz98]

I created an account here just to write this post.
The post processing (SMART HDR) on the cameras is making it unusable for me personally. I absolutely can’t stand the cartoony effect it does to my photos, and how it ruins a lot of details, faces look like they come straight out of a Picasso painting.
I’ll wait and see if they fix this/add an option to disable as I have a couple of months to return. If not I’ll 100% go back to my XS as it takes photos way better. This was such a disappointment and I wonder how no one notices it and every single reviewer praises the cameras as “best iPhone cameras ever” as they clearly lose in a competition with my 3 year old XS.
Also, this is resulting in the photos losing a lot of details in the photos see the examples below, you can see how the XS has much crisper details when taking photos of my watch. (I am not sure if this is because of this feature or the camera is just not as good!) first photo from XS MAX 2nd photo from 13 Pro Max
This is an example of how it ruins faces in the photos with a cartoony effect:

edit: all of the photos attached here taken from the main “wide” camera

https://imgur.com/a/wklXpus

 

[Jake3231]

Hi all,

Just upgraded to a 13 Pro from XS and when I go to camera settings, the Smart HDR toggle is not there? Any ideas, or can it no longer be switched off?

Thanks!

As a side note, has the 13 Pro been a significant camera jump from the XS, aside from software issues?'

That is, is the software issues bad enough such that it makes is less usable?

 

[Rooz98]

As a side note, has the 13 Pro been a significant camera jump from the XS, aside from software issues?'

That is, is the software issues bad enough such that it makes is less usable?

The telephoto is different(3X vs 2X) so can’t compare. Ultra wide is a nice touch but my main camera on XS definitely takes better photos than my 13 Pro Max. Check my reply to see samples.
I would say it’s software issues because videos look very nice from the main camera while photos are a huge let down.

 

[Cory S]

Ignore my nasty feet, but I also noticed this while playing around with my new 13 pro the other day. HDR if freaking out and ruining shots, but it can't be turned off.

 

[kushal11]

Wow, this is a serious serious issue.

 

[ghsDUDE]

I just noticed this today.

The 12 Pro has these settings (1st image) and the 13 Pro Max has these settings (2nd image).

 

[PBz]

TBH.. I did some basic testing with my 12PM & turning off HDR didn’t seem to really turn it off. Shoot in ProRaw if you don’t want the whole scene having Apple exposure math applied to it.

 

[Manzzle]

I'm coming from the 11 Pro Max and my 13 Pro max every time I take a selfie i notice the difference in what is shown on the phone screen as to what it looks like when I switch to the photos app. NONE of my pictures look the same as they do when I snap the picture and look at all my pictures in the photos app.

I notice my skin is too bright or too dark as well as the background and the color of my skin changes. I see no way of turning of HDR as I think that's what is causing this problem for me.

When shooting video I notice the screen gets very bright and when you turn off HDR for the video it looks normal again.

This is a big issue for me because EVERY single picture I take with the 13 pro max I must edit it. And the whole "photographic styles" thing does nothing for me. As soon as you switch to the photos app, the picture changes and you can see it changing. Snap a picture and immediately switch to the photos app and you'll see that it takes a fraction of a second that the picture goes from looking how it looked on screen to something way different.

 

[Cory S]

It is pretty weird none of the tech blogs are talking about this.

 

[SteveBUK2]

It is pretty weird none of the tech blogs are talking about this.

Yes. Don't get it. The HDR issue makes my XS look good.

 

[Rooz98]

Another example of how the post processing is over exaggerating where there is a high contrast between two colors.
These photos are taken using the main camera app and the third party ProCam app. The difference is very clear.

 

[TL24]

Try turning off View Full HDR for Photos in Settings.

Used to hate it but Apple tweaked it for the 13 Pro or maybe it was iOS 15 but the HDR is way less aggressive at blowing out the highlights and making everything look artificial. I keep mine on now.

 

[PBz]

Try turning off View Full HDR for Photos in Settings.

Used to hate it but Apple tweaked it for the 13 Pro or maybe it was iOS 15 but the HDR is way less aggressive at blowing out the highlights and making everything look artificial. I keep mine on now.

They took that option away.

 

[RickNY]

They took that option away.

No, its there. 13 Pro w/iOS 15 has it. Under Settings, PHOTOS (not Camera)

 

[PBz]

No, its there. 13 Pro w/iOS 15 has it. Under Settings, PHOTOS (not Camera)

Ok. I shoot ProRaw so all the HDR stuff is not used.