YouTuber Marques Brownlee, additionally know as MKBHD, shared the outcomes of his 2022 Smartphone Awards final month. And though the iPhone 14 Professional received within the Greatest Digital camera System class, the YouTuber identified some flaws concerning the images taken with Apple’s newest smartphone. Now MKBHD is again with a video through which he particulars why some iPhone images are getting worse – and the reply is: post-processing.
Earlier than the outcomes of the 2022 Smartphone Awards, MKBHD additionally shared the outcomes of its blind digital camera check. On this one, Google’s Pixel 6A took first place, whereas the Pixel 7 Professional got here in second. This led the YouTuber and many individuals to surprise what’s happening with the images taken with the iPhone.
Picture post-processing is turning into exaggerated
So as to take image, it’s necessary to have sensor able to capturing as a lot mild and element as potential. Nonetheless, since digital camera sensors present in smartphones are very small in comparison with DSLRs, cellphone producers have been introducing new methods yearly to enhance these photos with post-processing.
Just about any fashionable smartphone makes use of a mix of {hardware} and software program to regulate photos after they’ve been taken in an try and make them look higher and compensate for the dearth of a big sensor. This consists of issues like lowering the noise stage, adjusting the white steadiness, and rising the brightness to indicate extra element in darkish scenes.
However in recent times, Apple and different corporations have been taking this to the following stage. On the iPhone, Good HDR combines a number of images in numerous settings into one. This enables the cellphone to decide on the perfect points of every of them to lead to a greater picture. However when there’s loads of post-processing happening, these photos can look unrealistic. And that is what has been taking place with the iPhone digital camera.
As identified by MKBHD, most telephones deal with effectively in favorable eventualities, comparable to a transparent sky or a topic in entrance of a transparent background. However when you’ve gotten totally different colours and textures in the identical scene, the post-processing should be sensible sufficient to grasp what would be the finest setting for all these components.
However the factor is, whereas corporations like Google are doing it the appropriate manner, Apple is unquestionably not. As proven by the YouTuber, the iPhone 14 Professional at all times tries to lighten the shadows, particularly on folks’s faces, making the picture look very synthetic. The iPhone additionally exaggerates the sharpness of the images in comparison with different smartphones. MKBHD even complains that his pores and skin tone appears to be like fairly totally different on the iPhone digital camera.
Apple is ruining the iPhone digital camera with all these sensible options
Even when the iPhone has nice digital camera {hardware}, it’s being ruined by all of the sensible options like Good HDR that Apple has been introducing in recent times. Yearly, the corporate provides much more steps to the digital camera post-processing. However as an alternative of constructing the images higher, they only make it extra unnatural.
Within the iPhone 14 Professional digital camera evaluate by Sebastiaan de With, developer of the favored digital camera app Halide, he additionally identified a number of flaws in Good HDR. For instance, each time there’s a really vivid background, the iPhone additionally tries to spice up the brightness of the folks within the picture, making them look very white. “I’ve truthfully by no means seen it make for a greater picture. The result’s merely jarring,” he stated.
In one other instance, the iPhone digital camera applies loads of “weird artifacts” to selfies taken in actually low-light environments to attempt to save the picture, however this finally ends up leading to an “absurd watercolor-like mess” as an alternative of a daily darkish picture with loads of noise.
Personally, I’ve additionally been noticing how Good HDR is ruining a few of my images, which additionally get too sharp and with exaggerated colours. On Reddit, many iPhone customers appear to agree with this.
Apple ought to give customers the choice to take pure images
For years, iPhone customers made enjoyable of different smartphones as a result of their images appeared too synthetic. Now we’ve reached the purpose the place iPhone images look very unnatural. Whereas I hope the corporate improves Good HDR, I would like an choice to cut back or utterly flip off picture post-processing within the iPhone digital camera.
You possibly can, after all, take a RAW picture utilizing apps like Halide (it’s price noting that ProRAW images are nonetheless post-processed), however you then’ll have a a lot bigger picture file simply to get a extra pure outcome.
What about you? Has the iPhone digital camera’s exaggerated post-processing been ruining your images too? Tell us within the feedback part under.
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