Terrible pictures taken on 5S and 3 Apple Rep's say "it's normal"

[qbnkelt]

Ok understanding that I'm viewing on a phone, the group pic looks great. The middle one has harsh stage light washing her out but the colours on the foreground are great. The last pic might have been zoomed also?
Yah the Lumia phones have insane cameras with incredible lenses. Carl Zeiss?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?? I'm thinking of getting one because I'm a phone geek. But I have to say I love the camera on my 5s.
I hope you find a solution that suits you well.

 

[qbnkelt]

What a cute picture. Does it get grainy when you try to zoom in? I have tried to take a picture with an App called Camera+, but, unfortunately they have the same problem. When I take photos I like to see the clarity of the faces and I would like to have 3X5 or 5X7's made, but, the minute I zoom in everybody becomes extremely grainy. I have spent countless hours trying to edit out the graininess on several different editing app's, but, I just can't fix them. I normally send them to Shutterfly or similar places to have family books made, but, right now I have to take along an additional camera to get good pictures. I can never remember to bring the big camera because I am so used to depending on my phone for pictures and you never know when the perfect picture opportunity will become available. Like the picture you have attached. Besides, who wants to carry a phone everywhere they want to go? Thanks for sharing your thoughts and awesome memory.

Thank you! My Max and his partners in crime give me loads of opportunity for pics.

Zooming in does cause grain and noise to appear. So zooming and cropping amplify the graininess and noise that you see in my pics. If I have to take a pic of something far away I make a choice, one or the other. I generally take the pic them crop and hold my breath, hoping it comes out.

Here is an example of zooming in from too far away.

I didn't crop if I remember correctly. I should have taken in my tiny point and shoot but I forgot.

You can only do a certain amount of zooming before the quality suffers, as in the attached pic.

 

[Lisa Bradley]

Cute Dogs! Thank you for sharing. I have tried to not zoom while taking the photo. I have tried AF and everything else. Once my pictures are taken I should be able to have clear pictures that I can zoom in on. It a simple request and I have taken over 1000 pictures with my 4G and had no issues. I don't understand why the people are blurry in your picture? Even if his arm were moving, the face should still be clear. And what about the pretty lady who is standing still in the background? Although she is not blurry, she is not super clear either. If you read the advertisement for 5S and you watch the video of what the phone is supposed to do, it doesn't match to the photos we are getting. I need pictures that I can zoom and crop and I made that perfectly clear to the Apple Reps when I purchased the phone and they assured me I could use it for those purposes. I am glad you are happy with your photos. Thanks for your input.

 

[mikeo007]

Cute Dogs! Thank you for sharing. I have tried to not zoom while taking the photo. I have tried AF and everything else. Once my pictures are taken I should be able to have clear pictures that I can zoom in on. It a simple request and I have taken over 1000 pictures with my 4G and had no issues. I don't understand why the people are blurry in your picture? Even if his arm were moving, the face should still be clear. And what about the pretty lady who is standing still in the background? Although she is not blurry, she is not super clear either. If you read the advertisement for 5S and you watch the video of what the phone is supposed to do, it doesn't match to the photos we are getting. I need pictures that I can zoom and crop and I made that perfectly clear to the Apple Reps when I purchased the phone and they assured me I could use it for those purposes. I am glad you are happy with your photos. Thanks for your input.

No,that's not how it works unfortunately. Zooming while you take the picture, or after you take the picture will achieve the exact same results. Your camera can only capture a specific amount of detail. Zooming in reduces the level of detail since there are now less pixels to work with. Take another look at my example above with the flower. The exact same thing happens when you zoom after taking the picture.

This will happen no matter what phone or camera you use. Even a top of the line digital SLR camera would allow you to zoom in on the pictures after you take them and maintain detail. I feel like you're still missing this point and claiming "false advertising" when it's behaving exactly like any other camera phone would in the same circumstances.

 

[Lisa Bradley]

To finn5975: The Apple commercials advertise the phone as a point and shoot camera. These are just a few parts of their advertisement: “What makes the iSight camera so remarkable is how beautiful photos look without your having to do anything at all. Just aim and shoot. That’s it... All because of the advanced technologies custom designed for the camera’s hardware and software." and they also advertise "The new iSight camera on iPhone*5s builds on the iPhone*5 camera in ways that make a real difference to your photos. It captures beautiful images at 8 megapixels. What makes them beautiful is a redesigned camera sensor that allows for bigger pixels." According to you, the phone has a tiny sensor and weak LED Flash. The video advertisement states that the 5S has a white and amber flash which allows beautiful pictures in any light. So, excuse me for expecting what was promised. If you go and look up their advertisement and watch Apple's video advertisement of the 5S you will understand my expectations. I wasn't expecting anything that was not marketed by Apple. I have taken pictures in many different lights and none of them are capable of being used for albums which makes me get "bent out of shape", as you say. Furthermore, the Apple Store is not a doctor's office. And it is a bit of a stretch that you are trying to compare the two. People go to the doctor because they require the attention of ONE person who has gone to school for over a decade. You would expect to make an appointment when there are hundreds of people who need one particular person. We go to the doctor for our health and sometimes to save our life so waiting for the doctor for even an hour is frustrating, but easier to understand because their is only one of them. We also need to make appointments because we need the privacy of our own room. However, the Apple Store, has an average of 100 people working in the store and the employees have a few weeks to a few months of training and they sell products that are mass produced. They are really not comparable. What if we had to make an appointment to shop at Macy's or Target? I have gone to the Apple Store about a dozen times and received bad customer service on at least 10 out of the 12 appointments. To say that I am bent out of shape, is a bit of a stretch. And I have seen the pictures that people have posted on this forum and they do not compare to the quality of pictures advertised by Apple. The 5S advertises that it captures 8 megapixels, which should be plenty big enough to zoom in and blow up to poster size without being grainy. There are many pictures posted that would not be capable of being blown up which shows me that this is a 5S problem and not a photographer issue which means that the 5S does not do what it is suppose to do as far as the camera is concerned.

 

[Lisa Bradley]

Mikeo007; I have zoomed in on many of my 4S and it was crystal clear. I had a poster size zoomed in picture of my daughter and my husband which was taken with my 4 at Disney World and it was awesome. The strange thing is that I can zoom on plants with my 5S and they are great. I just can't do faces or animals. If you read their advertisement and watch their video you will understand why I say that Apple has "falsely advertising" in regards to the camera capabilities of the 5S.

 

[Lisa Bradley]

acerace113: They are not just concert pictures. There are other ones I posted in other threads that are in the daylight and dusk. Is that a mountain in the back? Thanks for sharing.

 

[kataran]

Hi Lisa. Just to be fair nowhere in the advertisement did Apple state that the 5s photos are good enough for printing posters or the like just to make sure that is clear

As for the iSight flash in low light it works as advertised if you had the opportunity to take any photos in pitch black condition you would see the difference in the flash compared to the i5 which I owned before getting my i5s

 

[Lisa Bradley]

Thanks for your input, but, I tried that before I went to the store. Verizon was very nice but they could not help me because they cannot work on the phone or check it to see if it runs properly.

 

[Ledsteplin]

And, Lisa, there are many great photo editing apps that help. Here's your concert photo edited in camera+ and ProCamera 7.

 

[Lisa Bradley]

KarenKcoulter: I try to edit my pictures so that I can order prints. Like make photo books or pictures for wall frames. I tried to edit them on iPhoto and then I tried to edit some in Shutterfly. I have not tried to do anything different then what I have done for years with my other I phones. I now know that you'll are not affiliated with Apple, but, some of these people act like they are because of their comments. Every piece of electronics in my home are Apple. I have an Apple desktop, that I still use, that I purchased in 2008. I have 3 Apple laptops. But, I am not happy with the 5S phone. I have spent thousands of dollars at Apple and I am very disappointed that they are telling me that I am stuck with one of their products that I believe does not work as advertised. If these people who keep blasting me for my statement that Apple falsely advertised the 5s would have been with me when I asked all the right questions to the Apple Rep, they would understand why I think they have falsely advertised this product. I asked about taking the phone to concerts, I asked about zoom and crop and was very specific about what I use the phone for and before I purchased it. I read the advertisement and watched all the videos. The employees of Apple are Apple and they assured me that the camera could take the pictures I needed. Then when I bring it back to show them the poor quality of the pictures they just kept repeating that the camera is doing exactly what it is supposed to. I have only owned it for 45 days and they have a 30 day strict return policy. I am glad that everyone else on this website has had a great experience with Apple because it sucks to feel this way. And I would rather be out enjoying my new phone and camera then stuck to my computer trying to figure out what to do with my investment.

 

[Lisa Bradley]

Ledsteplin: Awesome screen name by the way. Where is the edited version? The one on the screen still looks like a cartoon character. There is no clarity at all.? Certainly not a picture I would want hanging on my wall. What do I have to click to see your edited version? Thanks for your helping me.

 

[Lisa Bradley]

Kataran: I would be happy with a 5x7. I have taken pictures in all different lights, but they are all cartoonish looking. Thanks for your input.

 

[kataran]

Kataran: I would be happy with a 5x7. I have taken pictures in all different lights, but they are all cartoonish looking. Thanks for your input.

I agree you should be satisfied Lisa

What's your opinion on this photo which was taken with my i5 then printed at CVS no editing applied

 

[Ledsteplin]

Ledsteplin: Awesome screen name by the way. Where is the edited version? The one on the screen still looks like a cartoon character. There is no clarity at all.? Certainly not a picture I would want hanging on my wall. What do I have to click to see your edited version? Thanks for your helping me.

I thought it was the dark image of the drummer you didn't like. Was that zoomed? If so, that's why the clarity is missing. There's really not much you can do with zoomed photos. And don't use the sharpen option seen on many editing apps. They make it worse. You also lose resolution with screen shots. These phone cameras keep getting better. Hopefully they will soon fix the digital zoom to where those photos will have better clarity. For concerts and such, use a camera rather than a phone.

 

[mikeo007]

Mikeo007; I have zoomed in on many of my 4S and it was crystal clear. I had a poster size zoomed in picture of my daughter and my husband which was taken with my 4 at Disney World and it was awesome. The strange thing is that I can zoom on plants with my 5S and they are great. I just can't do faces or animals. If you read their advertisement and watch their video you will understand why I say that Apple has "falsely advertising" in regards to the camera capabilities of the 5S.

I seen virtually all of their commercials. I've never seen one where they say you can take photos in poor lighting, crop and zoom them to the extreme and expect great results.

Maybe you should just buy a Lumia. it seems pretty clear that you're not interested in hearing the truth or understanding how digital cameras actually work. I'll see you over on Windows phone central in a couple months where I expect to see the exact same complaints.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Lisa, I think you'll be seeing improvements in the near future. Apple recently hired a camera expert. I like most of my photos. Here's one I took with my iPhone 5 a couple months ago. I did crop it just a bit. Not much though.

 

[Massie]

Hi Lisa, sorry you're having such a tough time with your 5S photos. Can you think of anything you did differently with the "poster size" photo from your earlier phone? The 5S photo should indeed be better if everything else is the same.

It almost sounds as if you've been editing low-res thumbnails, screenshots, or zoomed in details cut out of much bigger pictures. Are you sure you're using the full, non-cropped, version directly from your phone, and not a low resolution version you're emailing to yourself or something like that?

Another thing: you mentioned that plants are fine. If you're taking photos of people while they're moving--even if it's just a little bit of motion--it's not going to look very good.

Finally, I noticed in a lot of your photos that you're shooting directly into bright stage lights or sun light...this will totally blow out your sensor and result in poor quality photos. If you still use Camera+ you can adjust the exposure in the app (this feature is also coming to iOS in iOS 8 this fall).

Anyway, if all else fails and you want to go back to an iPhone 4, I have one. Maybe we should trade!

 

[Massie]

Lisa, I think you'll be seeing improvements in the near future. Apple recently hired a camera expert. I like most of my photos. Here's one I took with my iPhone 5 a couple months ago. I did crop it just a bit. Not much though. View attachment 61903

For what it's worth (and I don't mean to offend Ledsteplin) I don't think this is the best example of what the camera can do either...here is a shot I took for work (for use in a print ad) using my iPhone 5:



I think the detail, color balance, etc are pretty good--and your phone should do even better.

 

[kataran]

For what it's worth (and I don't mean to offend Ledsteplin) I don't think this is the best example of what the camera can do either...here is a shot I took for work (for use in a print ad) using my iPhone 5:

View attachment 61904

I think the detail, color balance, etc are pretty good--and your phone should do even better.

Any photo taken with a white background comes out great this is the reason I use it to take my eBay item photos. Led's flower photo had a lot of background disturbance with the brick wall to be very effective