iPhone 16 Pro Max: One Week Camera Review

[Toratek]

When I saw the camera control, I wondered how likely it might be that it could inadvertently activate the camera while in a pocket.

Well, day three with my new iPhone 16 Pro proved that concern to be valid- while getting out of my car and going into the office for a meeting, I found that the phone was growing uncomfortably warm in my pocket. Pulled it out to find it had recorded 28 minutes of video of the inside of my pocket.

NOT cool. It took the battery down from 95 to 83 percent -which could well be a big issue when traveling. This system absolutely needs to ignore button presses when the screen is down or in a pocket (just as the sensor shuts off the AOD when the phone is face down or in a pocket.)

And yes I'm using a genuine Apple case, and yes, I have the button set for double-click. It might actually be that the aftermarket cases with their unsightly gap to access the button might be BETTER for preventing this idiocy.

 

[Steve686]

I’m curious - a couple of people have started their posts “I’m a photographer” (not “I’m a professional photographer”), the implication being that in consequence their opinions offer more insight than those of us who aren’t “photographers”. But what constitutes being a “photographer”?

Pretty much anyone that uses the camera in more than a casual shot of your dog or kids every so often but geared more towards a hobby/creative outlet on a regular basis. A lot of people also do freelance(best way to describe it) photos for free at sporting events and other functions.

That's basically where I fit in. I'm a deep hobbyist that doesn't want to do it professionally.

My gear? Nikon Z8 with 24-70mm Zf2.8, 70-200mm Zf2.8, 20mm Z f1.8, 180-600mm Zf5.6-6.3 and countless flashes, triggers, microphones, and so on.

Does my opinion offer more insight as to what a good photograph is? Possibly, especially since the pictures I take with my 15Max Pro aren't even in the same ballpark as my Z8.
I'll post one example of a challenging picture to expose correctly. Trying to pull any detail with an iPhone in this low light is going to give you a splotchy mess.

 

[cptcaveman]

I'm a photographer and the placement is really-really bad. Thenagain, there is no good place for both vertical and horizontal. And this is just bad for both.
Also pressing is unnecessarily hard. Changing settings is slow. I can do everything it can and more on the screen at a faster speed.

But the camera quality and photographic styles are amazing.

iPhone 16 with its “new but slower” camera controls, action button that nobody asked for, samey camera system and no Apple Intelligence in my view is truly a jump the shark moment for Apple. The moment they completely ran out of ideas.

 

[ManuCH]

When I saw the camera control, I wondered how likely it might be that it could inadvertently activate the camera while in a pocket.

Well, day three with my new iPhone 16 Pro proved that concern to be valid- while getting out of my car and going into the office for a meeting, I found that the phone was growing uncomfortably warm in my pocket. Pulled it out to find it had recorded 28 minutes of video of the inside of my pocket.

NOT cool. It took the battery down from 95 to 83 percent -which could well be a big issue when traveling. This system absolutely needs to ignore button presses when the screen is down or in a pocket (just as the sensor shuts off the AOD when the phone is face down or in a pocket.)

And yes I'm using a genuine Apple case, and yes, I have the button set for double-click. It might actually be that the aftermarket cases with their unsightly gap to access the button might be BETTER for preventing this idiocy.

And that's why the first thing I did was to change the setting to double click. I was always triggering Camera Control by mistake when picking up the phone.

 

[smoking monkey]

I have no idea what those reviewers were doing, but I found my 16PM wide angle performance to be way better than the 15PM in low light. The camera upgrade is a really good one. Give it a try!

That's good to hear. What's I'm actually looking forward to with this phone is the larger screen, small DI, better thermals, better battery life and lighter than my 13PM.

The camera button or whatever it's called may be getting panned so far, but at least it frees up the action button for a function other than opening the camera.

 

[ubinko]

When I saw the camera control, I wondered how likely it might be that it could inadvertently activate the camera while in a pocket.

Well, day three with my new iPhone 16 Pro proved that concern to be valid- while getting out of my car and going into the office for a meeting, I found that the phone was growing uncomfortably warm in my pocket. Pulled it out to find it had recorded 28 minutes of video of the inside of my pocket.

NOT cool. It took the battery down from 95 to 83 percent -which could well be a big issue when traveling. This system absolutely needs to ignore button presses when the screen is down or in a pocket (just as the sensor shuts off the AOD when the phone is face down or in a pocket.)

And yes I'm using a genuine Apple case, and yes, I have the button set for double-click. It might actually be that the aftermarket cases with their unsightly gap to access the button might be BETTER for preventing this idiocy.

Set camera control to double-click or get a case with a cut-out. I have a cut-out in my case, still use single click and I haven't launched into the camera app by accident once.

 

[Radeon85]

Set camera control to double-click or get a case with a cut-out. I have a cut-out in my case, still use single click and I haven't launched into the camera app by accident once.

Same, I use a Torras ultra thin case and with the button still on a single press I haven’t accidentally launched the camera once yet. It’s a case with a cutout but a very thin one.

Honestly surprised Apple haven’t disabled this button by making use of the proximity sensor, so if you press it while in a pocket the button is ignored. Carlees design and implementation with Apple lately.

 

[lilkwarrior]

that would be more useful IMO.

That’s very debatable for the content production use cases it’s for but can be looked into being configurable to perhaps a mode you activate with a gesture like a partial click for x seconds and then swipe.

That way devs on apps that use the new button to contextually have shortcuts like TikTok not be impacted

 

[840quadra]

Low light on the new ultra wide is just plain poor in both photo and video. The 15 pro does better in these situations.

Hopefully can be resolved in a software fix!

::edit:: called out 13 pro was better, fixed to 15 pro.

 

[Marty80]

I hear a lot of people say the newer lenses on iPhones are poorer than my iPhone 12 Pro Max etc.

Is there any validity to this argument. Is there any online reviews that have tested older to newer iPhone cameras.

 

[cptcaveman]

I hear a lot of people say the newer lenses on iPhones are poorer than my iPhone 12 Pro Max etc.

Is there any validity to this argument. Is there any online reviews that have tested older to newer iPhone cameras.

No validity.

The only semi-valid complaint people do have is that the 5x optical in the 15 Pro Max forward (which results in the loss of the 3x optical) is a step backward because 77mm is a much more common focal length that people want to actually use over the 120mm in the newer phones.

 

[840quadra]

No validity.

The only semi-valid complaint people do have is that the 5x optical in the 15 Pro Max forward (which results in the loss of the 3x optical) is a step backward because 77mm is a much more common focal length that people want to actually use over the 120mm in the newer phones.

Meh!

I can resist that. Easier to step back in many situations, but it’s near impossible to get closer in so many situations. But everyone has their own use case. (too bad Apple didn’t add a 4th camera, or ability to do periscope internal zoom).

• Kid sport events
• Kid concerts
• Headline concerts
• The zoo
• Shooting motorsports
• Dance recital

For my “pro cameras” (canon R3, R5, R6 II) I shoot mostly prime lenses on my mirrorless cameras and am used to the art of crop. For the phone, While 3x + truly sucks in cropping on the main camera, I feel the trade to 5x is worthwhile for many users.

Having had the pixel 8 pro for a year and the 15 pro, I actually used the Google phone far more often for situations I listed above when using my mirrorless cameras was inappropriate.

 

[cptcaveman]

Meh!

I can resist that. Easier to step back in many situations, but it’s near impossible to get closer in so many situations. But everyone has their own use case. (too bad Apple didn’t add a 4th camera, or ability to do periscope internal zoom).

• Kid sport events
• Kid concerts
• Headline concerts
• The zoo
• Shooting motorsports
• Dance recital

For my “pro cameras” (canon R3, R5, R6 II) I shoot mostly prime lenses on my mirrorless cameras and am used to the art of crop. For the phone, While 3x + truly sucks in cropping on the main camera, I feel the trade to 5x is worthwhile for many users.

Having had the pixel 8 pro for a year and the 15 pro, I actually used the Google phone far more often for situations I listed above when using my mirrorless cameras was inappropriate.

I said semi-valid. It's horses for courses.

Arguably, people take more portraits, and having a high-quality 65mm (in the 12/13) or 77mm (in the 14/15 Pro) is much more useful in this scenario than 120mm.

For example, if you were using a "real" camera, a 13mm, 24mm, and 120mm lens would be a slightly weird combination of lenses to put in your camera bag for "go anywhere" photos.

The real solution is, of course, adding the 3x optical camera back while keeping the 5x optical 😀

 

[azhava]

I hear a lot of people say the newer lenses on iPhones are poorer than my iPhone 12 Pro Max etc.

Is there any validity to this argument. Is there any online reviews that have tested older to newer iPhone cameras.

No. It's "influencers" pandering for clicks by being controversial.

Do people honestly believe that Apple is incompetent and stupid enough to regress 5 generations on a new phone?

 

[cptcaveman]

No. It's "influencers" pandering for clicks by being controversial.

I think the opposite.

With the iPhone 16 release, I have actually been somewhat surprised that many of the channels that I may have thought in the past as borderline "shill tubers" have this time around said some variation of: "Yeah, it's a disappointment."

As I said somewhere earlier, in my opinion, if you are Apple and people like MaxTech are saying that they feel a bit "ripped off" after purchasing your new phone, then you have a major problem.

 

[wbeasley]

I think the opposite.

With the iPhone 16 release, I have actually been somewhat surprised that many of the channels that I may have thought in the past as borderline "shill tubers" have this time around said some variation of: "Yeah, it's a disappointment."

As I said somewhere earlier, in my opinion, if you are Apple and people like MaxTech are saying that they feel a bit "ripped off" after purchasing your new phone, then you have a major problem.

For the last few years we've had people saying Apple is behind because they dont have 100x zoom

So a real 5X lens is a good middle advance.
Let's me (so far) get much closer to the growing duckling on our morning walk or the back yard wallabies that come to feed. 3X just never cut it and digital zoom on it was fairly awful...

 

[ronno]

Do people not know that the volume controls can already be used as a shutter button when the camera is on?

 

[whitby]

Do people not know that the volume controls can already be used as a shutter button when the camera is on?

Yes, but they are on the wrong side of the phone if you want the lenses top left.

 

[azhava]

Do people not know that the volume controls can already be used as a shutter button when the camera is on?

But the volume controls can't launch the camera app, and they can't change settings on the camera.

It's one of those things where you either see a use for it or you don't, and neither side is wrong.

 

[Dog Bone Malone]

Too many buttons, imho. Soon it will be impossible to pick up your phone without accidently activating something!😀

 

[ds2000]

The camera control button is pointless.

 

[Zmmyt]

Many reviewers seem to have trouble using the camera control button.

I went to the Apple Store the other day and felt the button was very intuitive, had no issues moving through the options. The only bit I found a little difficult was zooming in and out smoothly and slowly. But I only spent less than a minute playing around with it.

I was expecting worse.

 

[Toratek]

As I said somewhere earlier, in my opinion, if you are Apple and people like MaxTech are saying that they feel a bit "ripped off" after purchasing your new phone, then you have a major problem.

“Max tech” holds zero relevance or credibility for me after their ridiculous, overhyped claims about the M2 MBA “thermal issues”, which turned out to be complete nonsense in the real world.

 

[spcopsmac21]

It's been a full week since the new iPhone 16 models launched, and we've now had enough time to give the Camera Control button and the camera setup a more in-depth look. We tested the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, which have triple-lens rear camera setups with 48-megapixel Fusion lens, 48-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, and 5x Telephoto lens.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.​

The Camera Control button has turned out to be great for quickly launching the camera and snapping photos and videos, but the more in-depth adjustments that require light presses and swiping are harder to get used to.

It's still quicker to get to these controls in the Camera app itself by tapping on the display. Maybe that's a matter of getting used to the new setup, but it's also harder to use the button in portrait orientation than landscape mode, and a lot of people take photos in portrait orientation these days. On the iPhone 16 Pro Max especially, the button is just too low to be comfortable to use when holding the device vertically.

New this year is the 48-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, and it's a big improvement over the prior 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens. Apple is using pixel binning to combine four pixels into one, ultimately providing a 12-megapixel finished image, but merging pixels allows for more detail and improved quality in low light.

The 5x Telephoto lenses haven't changed, but you can get 5x optical zoom on the 16 Pro in addition to the Pro Max, which is new this year. The "Fusion" camera is also basically identical to the "Main" camera from last year, and you still have the settings to choose between 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm lenses.

Photographic Styles are a great addition for tweaking the look of an image, and the pad for adjustments is useful to get a unique mood with minimal effort. Make sure to check out our video above to see it in action.

For videographers, the option to shoot in 4K 120 fps is super useful, especially because you can slow it down or speed it up in post production. The Audio Mix feature for changing the audio also really makes a difference for capturing video.

We have some iPhone 16 Pro camera comparisons coming, where we pit the iPhone 16 Pro against some other flagship smartphones. Stay tuned to MacRumors to see those videos next week.

Article Link: iPhone 16 Pro Max: One Week Camera Review

The camera button is putting lipstick on a pig.
Just like the Dynamic Island was. And IS.

The button is hiding the antenna that’s it. It’s cool they added functionality to it.
But this bottom breaks almost every currently available phone mounts currently on the market.
And its placement is getting a lot of hate with people that rest their phone on their right hand dominantly when they type.

Another lack luster meh.
That’s what Apple has been good at lately.
Meh.

 

[spcopsmac21]

Many reviewers seem to have trouble using the camera control button.

I went to the Apple Store the other day and felt the button was very intuitive, had no issues moving through the options. The only bit I found a little difficult was zooming in and out smoothly and slowly. But I only spent less than a minute playing around with it.

I was expecting worse.

Wait till you put a case on it….. chaos