iPhone XS iPhone XS applies skin smoothing to the front facing camera, this cannot be disabled

[silvertech]

Some fellow redditors and I have discovered this, this has been talked about on other threads there as well. The iPhone XS and Max front facing camera applies some sort of beauty mode / skin smoothing to pictures. Turning off HDR does NOT fix this

 

[Steve686]

Quite an improvement.

 

[Steve686]

Here. This is from my Xs Max. Quite decent detail from the front camera and zoomed and cropped like your pics. It’s all about lighting.

 

[pika2000]

Is it beauty mode or simply more aggressive noise reduction? I mean I can employ noise reduction in Lightroom on any photos and it produces those kind of effects.

Real beauty mode will not only “smoothen” skin, but also slim out your cheeks and enlarge your eyes.

 

[silvertech]

Is it beauty mode or simply more aggressive noise reduction? I mean I can employ noise reduction in Lightroom on any photos and it produces those kind of effects.

Real beauty mode will not only “smoothen” skin, but also slim out your cheeks and enlarge your eyes.

Like many skin smoothing beauty modes, it seems very similar to Samsung’s old modes which were meant for Korean markets. This is definitely much more than just noise reduction

 

[pika2000]

Like many skin smoothing beauty modes, it seems very similar to Samsung’s old modes which were meant for Korean markets. This is definitely much more than just noise reduction

Does it whiten your face? If it does not, imo it’s not “beauty” mode, but simply more aggressive tuning of the noise reduction.

Try turning on the flash to see if it produces the same result.

 

[silvertech]

Does it whiten your face? If it does not, imo it’s not “beauty” mode, but simply more aggressive tuning of the noise reduction.

Try turning on the flash to see if it produces the same result.

Something is definitely not right about this whatever it is. Flash has no effect on it. All pictures loo extremely soft; almost like an oil painting filter is over them.

 

[Krayzkat]

Really, I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but how is the ‘Xs’ picture any more beautiful-er than the ‘X’ picture? Still has scraggly facial hair and spots/freckles in same place. Ok skin tone is lighter, but how is whiter skin making somebody more beautiful?

 

[megy89]

Really, I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but how is the ‘Xs’ picture any more beautiful-er than the ‘X’ picture? Still has scraggly facial hair and spots/freckles in same place. Ok skin tone is lighter, but how is whiter skin making somebody more beautiful?

A lot of Asian countries deem whiter skin to be more "Beautiful"

But that aside- I also dislike the smoothing effect. I much preferred pics on my iPhone 7 front camera as they are much more natural.

 

[bt231]

Here. This is from my Xs Max. Quite decent detail from the front camera and zoomed and cropped like your pics. It’s all about lighting.

That shot looks terrible and also filtered by "beauty mode."

 

[alpi123]

Go to the Apple Store and compare their iPhones' cameras to yours or use your rear camera for selfies.

 

[PBz]

That shot looks terrible and also filtered by "beauty mode."

Yes.
[doublepost=1537891796][/doublepost]Removing 7+ comment as it was with rear-camera.
[doublepost=1537891922][/doublepost]Took selfie with 8+ and it doesn’t look much better. Then again, I’m thd subject.

 

[Steve686]

../

That shot looks terrible and also filtered by "beauty mode."

you guys really can’t see well. It’s a cropped as hell picture and still is significantly more detailed than the first two sample pics. I don’t expect a front camera to be anywhere near the quality of the rear camera, but there are definitely some overblown descriptions of how “terrible” the pics are from the front.

 

[JPack]

Several reviews suggest the XS camera is optimized to produce warmer, softer, and flatter images. This is a shift from the X and the Pixel.

Given the target market of the iPhones this year, I'm not surprised Apple made this choice.

 

[EugW]

you guys really can’t see well. It’s a cropped as hell picture and still is significantly more detailed than the first two sample pics. I don’t expect a front camera to be anywhere near the quality of the rear camera, but there are definitely some overblown descriptions of how “terrible” the pics are from the front

Probably partially related to lighting.

Anyhow, there are lots of reports of the smoothing, including examples.

 

[Smartass]

This can be called "Poor man's plastic surgery". Just pay 1000€ and you'll be beautiful on every picture!

 

[mjjferreira]

Oh no!!! It’s the end of the world!

 

[tl01]

Once you hit 40...you will be fine with it.

 

[Jumpie]

Unfortunately it didn't make me look any better

 

[Tom-H]

Apparently this is a problem with both the rear and the front camera, the colors and smoothing just looks wrong. Check this video and see the difference for yourselfs:

 

[Jonathantuba]

My first reaction was this is rubbish - but I have just tried taking some selfies with my new Xs and iPad Pro to compare - and I think this is correct. If this is good or bad, depends on what you want.

 

[Daremo]

Yeah, you know, I dismissed this as well, as just more anti Apple propaganda, but I did test shots with my X and my XS Max and I get the exact same thing. Apple NEEDS to fix this with a toggle.

 

[Cayden]

I shared the same sentiments as the above posters and doubted this was happening on a systematic level, but after taking a few pictures with the Max and my iPad it definitely seems like there’s some sort of smoothing going on. On some of the pictures, it looked like it smoothed part of it and not the entire thing, so there’s a definite line of smoothing and not smoothing. Although it looks similar to a shadow, no such shadowing occurred when taking pictures with my iPad

 

[madKIR]

Yeah, you know, I dismissed this as well, as just more anti Apple propaganda, but I did test shots with my X and my XS Max and I get the exact same thing. Apple NEEDS to fix this with a toggle.

Anything for the Asian market lol
If the new iPhone is successful there, Apple will implement some even crazier features haha
They’re all about numbers.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Yeah, you know, I dismissed this as well, as just more anti Apple propaganda, but I did test shots with my X and my XS Max and I get the exact same thing. Apple NEEDS to fix this with a toggle.

But can it be fixed with a software update?