How to Fix iPhone 16 Pro Max Camera Focus Issue

I see why no one has applied any photos for proof they only allow 5MB photo and even my screenshot of the proof is 14MB 🤦 sorry mate i tried!

Yep seems like it consistently blurry, I have an iPhone 11 Pro Max, 13 Pro, 14 Pro Max and now a 16 Pro Max. I understand that in certain situations you may take a bad photo here and there, but the IP16 Pro Max has been consistent horrid photos since unboxed on the main lens ONLY. (No issues with macro or wide lens)

The issue becomes more prominent when trying to take a photo of a pamphlet / menu / brochure. You get really clear text in the middle of the page but all around on the outside of that it gets worse and worse as it gets closer to the edges, and blurrier and blurrier.

Unfortunately I had to shrink the screenshot as it only allows to upload 5MB so it actually looks a lot worse in full quality as you zoom in on the phone, but this is consistent on the iP16 and I only noticed because i had to fill in a few values on a spreadsheet and when i zoomed in to the photo with the values i noticed how bad they look and kept re-taking the photo and kept having the same issue...... although when previewing and as you are about to take the photo, it seems to be ok, it is only after you take the photo and go back to have a look at it, you realise how blurry and bad the photo actually is.

Here are some examples when zoomed in between the iP11, 13, 14 and 16:

Last photo comparison from me today taken with 4 separate phones, sorry for the boring photos, but these are the photos I need to take for work hence how I found how terrible the main lens is on the iP16PM. This is not just a "one off", this is consistently bad and blurry every time especially the clarity around text is where it is most viable. starts off amazing quality right in the middle of the page / menu/ pamphlet/ brochure and then gets worse and worse as it moves towards the edges. Even the iP14 wasn't the greatest in these comparisons which i have made but iP16 is just trash.

Please see below:

I appreciate the images, but without the settings used, it reveals nothing.

Here’s my iPhone 16 macro shot taken just a couple minutes ago.

The above image shows lack of DoF at top of bottle, but overall looks sharp.

Crop of above image, center of frame

Here is the original photo from the iPhone 13 Pro Max (and by the way you can have a look at my previous posts I put up about 5 posts / replies already with comparisons)

By the way I'm not sure why the photo is not upright and how youre going to zoom in properly but anyways just have a look at the crispness of the text and I will post another comparison between this photo and the iPhone 16PM.

Here is the full photo as requested:

30 centimeters is about 12 inches. The newspaper ad is about 9 inches by 11 inches. So very similar in size. This is newsprint so ink bleeds a little.

crop from center of ad

9 cm X 4 cm

Extreme top left corner

5 cm X 2.5 cm

Mate, here you go, and roughly taken ~23cm off the table on both the ip13 and 16. please see below from ip13:

Might I Add this photo is 12MP and just under 5MB, where as the IP16PM is 24MP and is 5.5MB hence why i cant upload the full image for the iphone 16PM but i will slightly shrink it so i can upload it to give you a comparison, AGAIN were comparing the text and the blurriness. its in centimeters BTW.

Attached from iP13 Pro:

There are 5 pages of posts in this thread. Look at the images provided and then post some of your own showing the issue. Also include complete information, lens used, f/number, shutter speed, ISO, are you using fusion camera, format shot in etc.

just as a reference, I shot this last night in macro.

these photos that someone posted already.

honestly even with iphone12mini the photos are a lot sharper than the IP 16 pro max . I chatted yesterday with Apple support and took photos / videos for them as advised to see and compared a IP12mini photo with them and it is clearly different - they arranged for me to see an Apple technician this week . Now, I’m not an expert photographer but I take a lot of product photos for ecommerce platform and used my iPhone 12 mini until recently - then I upgraded to IP 16pro max hoping for better quality but clients tell me off for the photos are not up to standard - even after tweaking in photoshop with sharpness, exposure etc the older photos are still better. I have no complaints about the IP 16 pro max itself it works amazingly smooth and fast with everything else, however there is something definitely not right with the camera . I hope the iOS 18.2 will solve this problem but I have to wait as it won’t be available here until next year.

Here’s your image and specs.

Object = 10 ¾ inches X 18 ¼ in

Distance from lens to subject = 24 inches

Lens 1X = camera choose 13mm .5X Why???

Follow this path,

iPhone > Settings > Camera > Macro Control > enabled > forces camera to .5X for and 13mm ultra wide.

Settings = 12 mega pixel, ISO 64, 1/99 sec shutter speed

———————————————————————

Here’s your image and specs.

Object = 10 ¾ inches X 18 ¼ in

Distance from lens to subject = 22 inches

Lens 1X = camera choose 24mm 1X

Follow this path,

Lens 1X = camera choose 24mm 1X Why???

Follow this path,

iPhone > Settings > Camera > Macro Control > disabled > camera stays at 24mm/1X

Above image resized to meet 5mb website restriction ,

Image reduced from 75MB to 3 MB file size, 8064 x 6048 reduced to 2048 x 1536, resolution reduced 48MP to 12MP

What does app the above show? Settings make a huge difference. Best results for that distance? Turn off Macro Control and force use of 1X 24 mm lens and maintain at least 1/100 of a second shutter speed and add enough light to maintain ISO of 100. Better results obtained with a tripod.

13mm lens .5X 12MP

24mm 1X lens at 48 megapixel

AND NOW!!!

Here is the same shot taken with my iPhone 13 Pro, i have also circle /markup / draw in red where i think there is smudgy / blurry text on the same A4 Pamphlet shot at 1x zoom 12MP obviously not 24MP because its an iPhone 13 PRO. NOT macro, NOT 0.5x zoom, NOT 2x zoom, NOT 5x zoom, NOT 1.3x, NOT 1.5x, Just the plain old simple 1x zoom.

Oh wait, I didn't need to circle /markup / draw anything on it because the text is sharp all around :), but here is the same pamphlet anyways from the iPhone 13 PRO below:

They also don’t know they just keep trying like we do; they may have some knowledge but they are definitely not qualified technicians to know the problem; even when we tried the iPhone X which takes a more clear photo that the IP 16 pro max, they still try to persuade you it is normal. So I guess we just have to keep trying until the result is satisfactory - I will share two photos side buy side - the best image comes out with the 13mm ultra wide camera as you can see. The images a bit darker as I just screenshot them from my phone so you have to zoom in to see.

I think this issue is also effecting the iPhone 14 Pro model too. I am noticing blurry photos in the app and when trying to take a 48 megapixel picture. I’m not sure what is going on.

I think you are a little competitive, Mr. Jeff

one thing I've noticed about forum experts is some try to tear people down to make themselves look important ... so boring