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

[T-Will]

Actually they do.

5s



6



5S


6

The 5/5s does not have the same noise reduction applied that the 6 does, it's super clear in these photos. Look at the tile next to the table with the remote. The 5s is slightly noisier, but the 6 has way too much noise reduction applied and the tile texture looks like paint strokes. I can see that even without zooming in.

 

[HiRez]

The 5/5s does not have the same noise reduction applied that the 6 does, it's super clear in these photos. Look at the tile next to the table with the remote. The 5s is slightly noisier, but the 6 has way too much noise reduction applied and the tile texture looks like paint strokes. I can see that even without zooming in.

Yeah, you can see it in the floor in both sets of photos. Blotchy smearing on the 6, not there on the 5 (and yes, I realize the floor tiles have a kind of mottled texture). But these photos are not good examples for seeing the effect because they mostly contain expanses of same-color values with little or no micro-detail, that is what the NR will wipe out.

 

[pjstrrns]

Yeah, you can see it in the floor in both sets of photos. Blotchy smearing on the 6, not there on the 5 (and yes, I realize the floor tiles have a kind of mottled texture). But these photos are not good examples for seeing the effect because they mostly contain expanses of same-color values with little or no micro-detail, that is what the NR will wipe out.

But his don't look as bad as mine. It seems the NR is much higher on some phones.

 

[hasanahmad]

The 5/5s does not have the same noise reduction applied that the 6 does, it's super clear in these photos. Look at the tile next to the table with the remote. The 5s is slightly noisier, but the 6 has way too much noise reduction applied and the tile texture looks like paint strokes. I can see that even without zooming in.

That's the depth of field not noise reduction. The dof in 5s is near non existent as compared to 6 and is served by the focus pixel feature.

 

[azukre]

how about this one? Taken without focus on iPhone 6 Plus

 

[hasanahmad]

Here is another with one light source

 

[iPhone7ate9]

The smudging is very noticeable in the green patch of grass right in front of the white fence.

Just took a pic today and all my grass was smudged into one green blur. It's the software not the phone defects.

 

[iolinux333]

That's a beautiful bird, but please don't take this the wrong way, I'm strictly talking about the horrible smearing of details from the iPhone 6 camera. Your first photo perfectly illustrates that. It reminded me of a painting of a parrot my son did in an art class.

Yeesh. That smearing is TERRIBLE.

 

[azukre]

Yes, iPhone 6 camera sucks big time

 

[sumsingwong]

What the heck do you guys want. Noisy low light photos or NR? You can't both in these camera phones.

iPhone 6 Plus
645 Pro app
unprocessed image dRAW TIFF

iPhone 6 Plus Photos by Motogq, on Flickr

 

[paulking]

Have posted numerous times about the "smudge" or "painted" photo look with my 6.
Not sure if you can search my user name for these posts. Maybe.
Here's the first time it happened.
The second day I had the 6.
This is what shocked me.
Never took a shot like this with my previous 4 iPhones

 

[iolinux333]

Have posted numerous times about the "smudge" or "painted" photo look with my 6.
Not sure if you can search my user name for these posts. Maybe.
Here's the first time it happened.
The second day I had the 6.
This is what shocked me.
Never took a shot like this with my previous 4 iPhones

Ack!

I hope this is just a software issue and gets fixed.

The sensor in the 6 is supposed to be better than the 5s I thought?

Could Apple have decided to buy a cheaper sensor or lens than the 5s at the last minute for the 6 and now they have to do this with software and hope people don't notice?

 

[munkydust]

Have posted numerous times about the "smudge" or "painted" photo look with my 6.
Not sure if you can search my user name for these posts. Maybe.
Here's the first time it happened.
The second day I had the 6.
This is what shocked me.
Never took a shot like this with my previous 4 iPhones

Yeah, that looks very similar to what I have posted. I was shocked after reading all the reviews and coming from a 4s. I was expecting a whole lot more. Sometimes I get great pictures, sometimes I get pictures that I delete immediately because they look so awful.

 

[soundxplorer]

Have posted numerous times about the "smudge" or "painted" photo look with my 6.
Not sure if you can search my user name for these posts. Maybe.
Here's the first time it happened.
The second day I had the 6.
This is what shocked me.
Never took a shot like this with my previous 4 iPhones

Was zoom used on that pic?
Just wondering if that's the common denominator.

 

[HiRez]

What the heck do you guys want. Noisy low light photos or NR? You can't both in these camera phones.

That's easy: given that choice, I want noisy photos because I can always dial in my own custom noise reduction later. Once it's there, you can't take it out (without a RAW file). But I would be happy if Apple just backed it off a bit, I just think they missed a good balance with the amount.

It's like do I want to cook these ribs for 2 hours at 200 degrees, or 45 minutes at 350 degrees? They will both get the job done and be edible but yield different results. Unfortunately Apple chose to cook the ribs at 600 degrees for 15 minutes.

 

[sumsingwong]

Ack!



I hope this is just a software issue and gets fixed.



The sensor in the 6 is supposed to be better than the 5s I thought?



Could Apple have decided to buy a cheaper sensor or lens than the 5s at the last minute for the 6 and now they have to do this with software and hope people don't notice?

It looks to be software. If you look at my photo I posted, no smudging exists because I used a 3rd party app that allows capture in dRAW TIFF.

 

[Winona Northdakota]

Was zoom used on that pic?

Just wondering if that's the common denominator.

It looks like it. It looks like the posterization effect numerous others have been commenting of here.

 

[dyn]

Cameras on other phones, including the iPhone 5s, do not show heavy details smearing as the iPhone 6 does, which is why this thread exists. That is not an opinion.

Any camera with a small sensor (even crop cameras) will show smearing. How much is something that seems to be quite personal. A lot of people are not into photography and will find pictures from smartphones to be superb. People who are into photography will think otherwise. When the lighting conditions are good these small devices will take great pictures but when those lighting conditions are a fraction off the quality goes down tremendously. Using apps that allow you to control the settings will not change that, it'll only give you a bit more control. The problem in this case is physics; the sensor is simply too small. If you use zoom it will only make things worse since it is digital (aka it has to calculate the picture which leads to more smearing).

Moral of the story: smartphones and other small cameras will take great pictures but if you want proper pictures you need to buy a proper camera and learn how to use it. Knowing how to take pictures will also help with taking really good pictures with your smartphone too so it's really good knowledge to have.

 

[deviant]

Any camera with a small sensor (even crop cameras) will show smearing. How much is something that seems to be quite personal. A lot of people are not into photography and will find pictures from smartphones to be superb. People who are into photography will think otherwise. When the lighting conditions are good these small devices will take great pictures but when those lighting conditions are a fraction off the quality goes down tremendously. Using apps that allow you to control the settings will not change that, it'll only give you a bit more control. The problem in this case is physics; the sensor is simply too small. If you use zoom it will only make things worse since it is digital (aka it has to calculate the picture which leads to more smearing).

Moral of the story: smartphones and other small cameras will take great pictures but if you want proper pictures you need to buy a proper camera and learn how to use it. Knowing how to take pictures will also help with taking really good pictures with your smartphone too so it's really good knowledge to have.

Most stupid answer I've read all day. Of course they all will show smearing. The problem is its even more now than before. They said it's better but it's worse. Is it THAT hard to understand? Can't you see the problem here?

 

[dyn]

Most stupid answer I've read all day.

You should read your own reply then, it's far far worse.

Of course they all will show smearing. The problem is its even more now than before. They said it's better but it's worse. Is it THAT hard to understand? Can't you see the problem here?

Let me put it differently so you may understand what I was saying (although I seriously doubt you'll ever understand): it doesn't matter if it does it more or less because the problem is still worse. Use the older iPhone and you'll end up with a crappy picture, use the new one and you'll end up with a crappy picture. Less crappy or more crappy still is crappy. If you don't want a crappy picture there is only 1 solution: get a proper camera.

 

[deviant]

You should read your own reply then, it's far far worse.


Let me put it differently so you may understand what I was saying (although I seriously doubt you'll ever understand): it doesn't matter if it does it more or less because the problem is still worse. Use the older iPhone and you'll end up with a crappy picture, use the new one and you'll end up with a crappy picture. Less crappy or more crappy still is crappy. If you don't want a crappy picture there is only 1 solution: get a proper camera.

You are delusional. My 4S takes crisper photos than some of these I see here. That's the problem. By your logic unless I buy a canon 1D it doesn't really matter what I might buy, 5d or 700d , it's all the same, all crappy. Man, get out of here. Go to some photographers forum and troll people there. We are talking about phones here and we compare phones to phones, not dslrs to iPhones. We all know professionals use serious cameras. What we expect is iphone 6 should be better than iPhone 5.Just like 5D mark 3 should be better than the previous version. Is this explanation SIMPLE ENOUGH?

 

[Winona Northdakota]

You are delusional. My 4S takes crisper photos than some of these I see here. That's the problem. By your logic unless I buy a canon 1D it doesn't really matter what I might buy, 5d or 700d , it's all the same, all crappy. Man, get out of here. Go to some photographers forum and troll people there. We are talking about phones here and we compare phones to phones, not dslrs to iPhones. We all know professionals use serious cameras. What we expect is iphone 6 should be better than iPhone 5.Just like 5D mark 3 should be better than the previous version. Is this explanation SIMPLE ENOUGH?

Most ridiculous justification I have read all day.

 

[deviant]

Most ridiculous justification I have read all day.

Justification? What are yall smoking today ?

 

[Macshroomer]

Still figuring out mine...

 

[iosuser]

What the heck do you guys want. Noisy low light photos or NR? You can't both in these camera phones.

iPhone 6 Plus
645 Pro app
unprocessed image dRAW TIFF

[url=https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3936/15429822051_af723df65f_b.jpg]Image[/url]iPhone 6 Plus Photos by Motogq, on Flickr

I had no idea there's such a camera app, that allows for different quality jpegs and TIFF. Thanks for posting. I know we had some argument couple pages back. Could've been avoided if you'd just mentioned this app

I just bought it. Looks to be $4 well spent. Literally just took a few shots, from both jpeg quality (high and max) and TIFF. Looks promising - high quality jpeg the resulting file is 2MB, max quality is 10MB, and TIFF is **24MB**. For reference, the same photo taken with the stock camera app is 1.2MB. I'm surprised the 24MB TIFF shows up in iCloud that quickly. Few seconds after I take the shot from my iPhone 6, it shows up in iPhoto on my Mac.

This might be the answer. Beware though that this camera app has a dizzying array of options. There will be some learning curve. White balance looks different than the picture I took with the stock app.

Yes the noise/grain is far more pleasing than the nasty smearing effect.

----------

Have posted numerous times about the "smudge" or "painted" photo look with my 6.
Not sure if you can search my user name for these posts. Maybe.
Here's the first time it happened.
The second day I had the 6.
This is what shocked me.
Never took a shot like this with my previous 4 iPhones

Yeah that is horrible and it's all that I'm seeing from the photos taken with the 6. Try the 645 Pro app the poster above you posted. Looks to be well worth the $4. I just bought it, bit late now I only had a few minutes to take a few shots, but it looks very promising as it allows you higher quality jpegs and up to TIFF.