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Why is it so impossible for me to take consistently good photos with my 6?

Technarchy said:
For the 14 days that I had the iPhone 6 I too found it challenging to consistently take clear pics. Where the iPhone seemed to excel is macro shots. Outside of that the photos were just okay.

I actually preferred my S5 and Note 4 camera.
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By "clear pics" do you mean pictures that don't look like they are taken through a dirty window or a layer of smoke?

I am puzzled by what could possibly cause that. Usually that type of problem indicates moisture in the camera lens. Other than that, I can't think of another intermittent cause.
 
meistervu said:
By "clear pics" do you mean pictures that don't look like they are taken through a dirty window or a layer of smoke?

I am puzzled by what could possibly cause that. Usually that type of problem indicates moisture in the camera lens. Other than that, I can't think of another intermittent cause.
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I just had a really hard time consistently capturing details in photos. Compared to my S5 and Note 4 the iPhone 6 took visibly softer images that were smoother and less detailed. Almost like some filter had been used.

Some photos looked great, but it just felt like I had to be more selective about lighting, and positioning to capture the finer details.
 
Technarchy said:
I just had a really hard time consistently capturing details in photos. Compared to my S5 and Note 4 the iPhone 6 took visibly softer images that were smoother and less detailed. Almost like some filter had been used.

Some photos looked great, but it just felt like I had to be more selective about lighting, and positioning to capture the finer details.
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I see. I have a theory. I compared a few iP5 and iP6 shots on my 24" LCD tonight and one thing I notice is that the iPhone 5 photos were taken at f/2.4 where the iPhone 6 is f/2.2 which means it's possible to have a more out of focus area with a iP6 camera. On the iP5 it's hard to not have an area of a shot not in focus. When an area of your shot is not in focus, it would not appear to be sharp. I don't know if that's the case with some of your shots, but it's certainly with mine. It's actually what I prefer as it gives me more creative control. At the same time it could be frustrating if you choose the wrong focusing point.

The other thing that has on affect on sharpness is the amount of sharpening. All images from a digital cameras are sharpened when converted from raw to JPEG. It's certainly a personal preference, but in the past many PS cameras tend to over sharpen the images where as DSLRs less so for JPEG files. I wonder if Apple is less aggressive with their sharpening filter for iP6 images than they were with the iP5 photos. One thing about image sharpening is that it is not reversible, and desktop softwares are better at it than in camera software, so if you have an image that you really like, you better off that it's not over sharpened because you can do a better job with your desktop software.

But that seems like a lot of work to get some good snapshots. Luckily for me, I happen to like what the iP6 can do. I do now pay more attention to the focusing point than I did with my iP5, and I like that extra control. I do it all the time when I shoot with my DSLR.
 
Any more updates in regards to iOS 8.2 beta and software changes to the camera processing? I use the camera a lot and it was the first thing I noticed when I upgraded from the 5 to the 6. It annoys me so much I am thinking of selling my 6 and picking up a 5s on iOS 7. Does anyone have any resources or info in regards to the changes (if any) in the camera processing between iOS 7 and iOS 8? I'm still undecided if there are any differences in picture quality between a 5s on iOS 7 or iOS 8.

Just to reiterate what everyone else has already said, I do agree that it is over aggressive noise reduction applied to the photo but I don't think Apple will ever revert back no matter how much we complain through their feedback forum.
 
Not to hijack or be OT. When taking a picture of a picture in a frame with glass, how do you not see yourself or room background. A noob photographer.
 
Being a Photographer myself I have no problems at all with the iPhone 6 camera, I use it alot and pleased with what i can get from it I used it over the weekend while out on a Easter walk & was more than happy with the results even on a dull grey cloudy morning in the UK.

Here's one example of the many pictures i took that morning with the iPhone 6.

2015-04-05%2009.47.26.jpg


My main camera Nikon D610 which obviously the iPhone 6 isn't a patch on, but one of my old camera's a Nikon D40 which is a DSLR from 2006, the iPhone actually beats it image wise in alot of area's moreso jpegs & low light even with a decent F1.8 50mm & 35mm prime,which are truly shocking on the D40 considering it has a "much much bigger sensor", so it just show you how far camera's in phones have come since the Nikon D40 days.
 
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rugmankc said:
Not to hijack or be OT. When taking a picture of a picture in a frame with glass, how do you not see yourself or room background. A noob photographer.
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Don't shoot the picture dead on. Move to the side and have a white wall in the background. Not a photographer, just what I would do.
 
Lol. I tried that and still had my hands in photo. Sure some high end photo app could help. Did not have white wall option. Couldn't take photo out of frame. Too detailed explanation on that to write.
 
rugmankc said:
Not to hijack or be OT. When taking a picture of a picture in a frame with glass, how do you not see yourself or room background. A noob photographer.
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I shot artworks for an artist friend before, but it's done before framing. I have tried shooting through glass before but I was using an SLR with a polarize filter to cut reflection. With an iPhone, I have a few guesses.

What you want to do is to light the picture frame to get rid of unwanted reflection. I would place the framed picture at 45 degree from vertical, facing a white ceiling, then shoot it straight on. Unless you have a good lighting set up, a well lit room with indirect light is your best bet. Your photos will need perspective correction which is available in many free softwares.

Failing that, you may want to experiment with lighting the picture from the sides, using a diffuser over the light source, like a piece of white cloth.
 
I thought I'd contribute again. I am still disappointed in the iPhone 6's camera, but it's not as bad with really good light, but still there.

Here are two shots of my rabbit come up named after the device used to take it. Notice the edges and whiskers are more blurred/smeared in the iPhone 6 image. This one's close because of good light, with bad light the 6's issues are more noticeable.

NOTE: The first is with a 5S, the second is with a 6.
iPhone 5S - Copy.jpg
iPhone 6.JPG
 
Yea I too really dislike the painted effect most of my photos end up with. Loved shooting on my ip5 but this ip6, my previous ip6, and my wife's ip6 all look very unnatural when blown up any size larger than shown on the phone screen.
 
lagwagon said:
It looks like the focus was off and on the blue towel and brown chair instead. Which is why the rabbit is "painted". The iPhone 6 camera doesn't handle bokeh well (it puts too much noise reduction on out of focus areas, which causes the bad painted look.)
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What is "bokeh"?
 
So I took my 6 plus on vacation last month and really put it through it's paces. I was pleased with the output.





























 
Traverse said:
I thought I'd contribute again. I am still disappointed in the iPhone 6's camera, but it's not as bad with really good light, but still there.

Here are two shots of my rabbit come up named after the device used to take it. Notice the edges and whiskers are more blurred/smeared in the iPhone 6 image. This one's close because of good light, with bad light the 6's issues are more noticeable.

NOTE: The first is with a 5S, the second is with a 6.View attachment 560011View attachment 560012
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There is a difference in those two images for a reason.

1: They are clearly different distances. (Second image is closer)

2: The aperture of the 6 lens is larger than the 5s. Thus shallower depth of field (dof) which also get more exaggerated the closer to the subject you get.
 
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It's this issue still present on the newest models 6S & 6S+???


Noise reduction sucks :/
 
no, i took this same plant a few weeks ago with 6plus both up close. and it was faded. plant has obviously grown and needs watered. detail on mulch is great.


IMG_0278.JPG
 
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