iPhone 16 Pro I predict the Camera control button will be gone in less than 3 years

[netjack]

As technology evolves, more devices are moving toward touchscreens and voice controls, so buttons might become less common.

 

[Phone Junky]

You’d think that the default use from a cold start would be zoom but its exposure, something nobody really tweaks on the fly.

After playing around with the camera control on my Pro Max, I’ve figured out that it defaults to the last setting you used and took a picture with. Even after force closing the camera app, it defaults to last used. If you change to a different setting but didn’t take a picture, the next time you go to use it it goes to the last setting you used and actually took a picture.

 

[TracerAnalog]

You heard it from me first.

Truly a gimmick.

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the whole iPhone is gone in 5 years. You heard it here first 🤣.
I myself used it regularly during my first day of shooting pictures, but that was to see if it is truly useful. So far so good👍🏼

 

[sk1985]

Wish the camera button had Face ID. My only issue with the button is that it makes my pictures blurry due to the pressing movement.

 

[gentlefury]

The biggest issue for me is the video control. I want to be able to switch to video using the camera button only, without having to fumble through the screen. Holding the camera button to record video is only used to for like 5-second videos, and you can’t even use the zoom feature. So if you want to zoom in a video, you have to hold the button and use pinch controls on screen, or use the screen to select video, then press the camera button to start recording, then half press to use the zoom slider.

Both ways are too cumbersome and almost defeat the purpose of the new button.

I’ve been pressing the button to open camera then swipe over and put my finger back on the button to start recording with focal length controls.

 

[gentlefury]

Seems like he was wrong. Accessibility is great. More buttons = more access to features without digging through menus. I think the 16 is the perfect iteration of iPhone.

 

[Ctrlos]

After playing around with the camera control on my Pro Max, I’ve figured out that it defaults to the last setting you used and took a picture with. Even after force closing the camera app, it defaults to last used. If you change to a different setting but didn’t take a picture, the next time you go to use it it goes to the last setting you used and actually took a picture.

I still find it ridiculous they still don’t have manual focusing on the iPhone.

 

[th1nk]

I still find it ridiculous they still don’t have manual focusing on the iPhone.

you can touch the target you want to focus before you take the picture, no? or do you mean something different?

 

[gentlefury]

Having wandered into the Apple Store earlier today it’s certainly a talking point. Had a play on all the phones and there is no way anybody is accidentally triggering it in their pocket. It’s actually quite stiff to depress.

The contextual awareness is all over the place. You’d think that the default use from a cold start would be zoom but its exposure, something nobody really tweaks on the fly. At the same time you can’t hold to focus and then depress to take a picture! This should not be a software update but a day one bullet point.

I think they’ve tried too hard to make it into something useful. Had it sat closer to the base like it does on Xperia devices and older Lumia handsets they could have relegated focus and shutter to it, freeing up your thumbs to mess with settings. Single handed portrait users (ie teenagers) will just use the screen anyway so don’t need to be appeased.

Move it closer to the base, make it easier to focus with and not require such a hard press to take an image with. Making it lighter won’t trigger by accident. I used Sony Xperia phones for years and never had that problem.

It’s whatever mode you used last so if someone was playing with exposure that will be the setting it’s on when you open it. By default tho, it’s zoom.

 

[zachcsnyder]

2 days in and I’m still trying to figure out how Apple thinks people hold their phones to take pictures. Just want to zoom? It takes about 3 seconds once you’ve practiced. Blows my mind that they were able to fumble the implementation so badly

 

[Kylo83]

It’s terrible, what was Apple thinking; as a photographer I liked the idea but the button is hard to press to take a photo which causes the whole phone to shake and make blurry images, it’s much better using the screen. All the settings are harder than just using the screen. It’s usless. My 5d mark iv dslr has a soft shutter button but on the phone you have to press it hard to take a photo and that’s not natural and you shake the whole phone. Apple really lost the plot on his one, get rid of it there’s no need

 

[Kylo83]

2 days in and I’m still trying to figure out how Apple thinks people hold their phones to take pictures. Just want to zoom? It takes about 3 seconds once you’ve practiced. Blows my mind that they were able to fumble the implementation so badly

This is the new Apple, add more buttons and make thinks that was easier harder.

 

[JapanApple]

I say the person posting thread doesn't last as long as the camera button on this site. Like many, the camera button is a good function.

 

[mysticmanix]

Tried it in store today. The soft press is way too inprecise, the hard press and scrolling are nice to use, and IMO the little menu that sticks down should be twice as tall, i.e. another row down. But most importantly, why the heck would I use this over the buttons on the screen? The thumb is a much better anchor and can pivot to all the screen buttons, and is less tiring

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

I say the person posting thread doesn't last as long as the camera button on this site. Like many, the camera button is a good function.

bro, are you saying i'm gonna die within 5 years.. that's cold

 

[iRizz]

I absolutely hate it, though some people love it. I'm one of the weirdos that liked the Touch Bar, so yeah. It's not for everyone. I'm more annoyed that they removed the mute button.

 

[ThailandToo]

As someone into photography, I think the camera control “BUTTON” has poor placement. Bad decision making no matter who likes holding their iPhone vertically to shoot, it’s bad. And who it’s seemingly intended for, Photographers, its placement is even worse. I thought maybe I can use this for photos but the iPhone display is better for the photo control.

 

[Detonation]

Struggling to find something this button does that I can't already do, let alone do easier. Zooming is still quicker and more precise using the screen dial. The volume keys are easier to press to take a picture if you don't want to use the screen.

And I've already pressed the button on accident several times while picking up the phone. Not to mention the eyesore cutout all the cases have for now.

 

[hch720]

It will quietly be converted into a fingerprint sensor.

It’s a terrible placement for a fingerprint sensor

 

[hch720]

My theory is that it's there so that it's not too weird once it becomes the fingerprint sensor in a few years. They'll have to get rid of Face ID at some point to get a true edge to edge display once the tech for an under display camera gets there. The dot projector and other stuff Face ID uses are a harder feat of engineering if not impossible to put under the screen. Of course we've had ultrasonic sensors like the Samsungs have for a while, but maybe they'll reserve that for the Pro models.

I tried it out on launch day at the store, but I didn’t find it particularly useful. I wouldn’t personally use it because the position is awkward unless you’re taking photos in landscape mode, which I rarely do. I prefer tapping the screen to fiddling with this UX. For instance, the flash settings are just a tap away, so I don’t understand why I need this too. For zoom I can hold down and swipe across where my thumb naturally rests on the lower part of the screen. I’d call it a gimmick, but I wouldn’t compare it to the Touch Bar. With the Touch Bar, we were supposed to get useful and contextual app shortcuts that resurfaced based on our actions, so it had more of a use case.

I am left-handed and I imagine it's supposed to be a bit more comfortable for me to use especially with the ring finger but it wasn't in reality.

I don’t think Apple will ever get rid of Face ID. They will keep a Dynamic Island until the end of time if they cannot fit the components under the screen. Think of how that looks to the average consumer. “We are going back to Touch ID after ditching it for Face ID, which we marketed as a significantly more secure authentication method, because we can’t engineer Face ID into an all screen device.”

 

[csfossett]

what a bunch of pessimists.

Pessimists on the INTERNET? Weird!

 

[pg132]

I don’t think Apple will ever get rid of Face ID. They will keep a Dynamic Island until the end of time if they cannot fit the components under the screen. Think of how that looks to the average consumer. “We are going back to Touch ID after ditching it for Face ID, which we marketed as a significantly more secure authentication method, because we can’t engineer Face ID into an all screen device.”

Don't put it past marketing teams to describe how their old technology is suddenly "significantly more secure."

 

[Cirillo Gherardo]

Nah. It's only odd to people because it took Apple 17 years to add a dedicated camera button. It's arguably something that should have been there from the very early days. It will take time to catch on simply because people have been living without it for so long. I've already gotten used to it and prefer it to the software controls most of the time.

It's also worth pointing out that this specific design of camera button is really dependent on this iPhone's design, with flat sides and room for it to be sunken into the frame. Safe to say we're not going to see a return to curved sides or a curved back design any time in the future. Flat is here to stay.

 

[msackey]

I still find it ridiculous they still don’t have manual focusing on the iPhone.

YES! You'd think this would be a simple adding of a control function because you would think that technically the iPhone can do manual focus.

When taking up close pictures through say wire fences, it is very difficult to get the subject behind the fence in focus. The "AI" might think the wire is what the user wants to focus on and instead the user wants something else to be in focus.

 

[Chateaunole-du-Pape]

YES! You'd think this would be a simple adding of a control function because you would think that technically the iPhone can do manual focus.

When taking up close pictures through say wire fences, it is very difficult to get the subject behind the fence in focus. The "AI" might think the wire is what the user wants to focus on and instead the user wants something else to be in focus.

Good point. I'm glad that, when the Aurora Borealis came as far south as the southeast US several months ago, I had the forethought to remove our window screens before trying to take any pictures from our finished attic. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to capture this. Autofocus would have ruined it had the screens remained, though, in fairness, even manually focusing through a fine screen would have been less than ideal.