iPhone 16 Pro Max: One Week Camera Review

[MacRumors]

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.

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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

 

[LogicalApex]

The camera control button seems perfectly placed for photographers which is who this is aimed at. It isn’t all that much aimed at the basic camera users who likely will just use the camera app the same way they always have.

 

[Entilzha]

I hope the “other flagship phones” include the 15 Pro/Pro Max. I’m very curious to see actual direct comparisons between the two.

 

[TinyMito]

Been comparing with my X100V, it’s getting there.

 

[L92]

The camera control button seems perfectly placed for photographers which is who this is aimed at. It isn’t all that much aimed at the basic camera users who likely will just use the camera app the same way they always have.

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.

 

[Rayansb]

One week and I can't use the damn thing. The touchscreen is so glitchy it's basically impossible to comfortably type! This has been by far the worst iPhone experience I have ever had and I've been 'em since 2007!

 

[azhava]

One week and I can't use the damn thing. The touchscreen is so glitchy it's basically impossible to comfortably type! This has been by far the worst iPhone experience I have ever had and I've been 'em since 2007!

Sir, this is a Wendy's.


😆😆😆

 

[JosephAW]

Purist here, hardly ever take any photos or videos in portrait except for portrait mode photographs. All my consumption is on windscreen TVs and computer so it doesn’t make any sense.
Would be nice to allow the phone to always record in landscape mode even when you’re holding it vertically, I have an app called Horizon that does that.

Also hoping that they allow us to reprogram the camera button into other applications like a task switcher, imagine if you could switch between apps by just sliding your finger.

 

[wdfly]

I only use my phone camera for work or pictures I don't really care about so I consider this button useless. I may get the 17 if the battery in my 15PM has started sucking by then. If not then i'll wait for the 18. For pictures I care about I use my R5 mark 2 or R3 for my sports photography.

 

[wdfly]

Purist here, hardly ever take any photos or videos in portrait except for portrait mode photographs. All my consumption is on windscreen TVs and computer so it doesn’t make any sense.
Would be nice to allow the phone to always record in landscape mode even when you’re holding it vertically, I have an app called Horizon that does that.

Also hoping that they allow us to reprogram the camera button into other applications like a task switcher, imagine if you could switch between apps by just sliding your finger.

that would be more useful IMO.

 

[Havalo]

One week and I can't use the damn thing. The touchscreen is so glitchy it's basically impossible to comfortably type! This has been by far the worst iPhone experience I have ever had and I've been 'em since 2007!

You’ve just Cooked Timothy with this comment, he’s upset now…

 

[SantaFeNM]

For filming auditions, the new mics and Audio Mix features are fantastic. I adjust the intensity of the different effects to get just the right sound. On-device adjustments for improved sound, in addition to not having a take ruined by some sudden background noise, is making my workflow so much better. Audio Mix is one of the reasons I purchased the 16 Pro, coming from a 13 Mini.

 

[Fatboy71]

My experience/opinion with the Camera Control button.

Yes its useful to launch the camera instantly, but in my opinion its of limited use for people who take mostly portrait orientation pictures, as it feels clumsy to use when holding the iPhone that way.

I mostly take landscape orientation pictures, and I find that holding the phone in this orientation (with a finger and thumb on each of the four corners of the iPhone) I can press the button relatively easily (to launch the camera, thats if I hadn't done so already when I was raising my iPhone rotating it into landscape orientation) and then press to take the picture without my having to touch the camera shutter button on the screen and blocking what I could see on the screen in the process.

Other than that, with regards to accessing the other options that the Camera Control button has, I find those fiddly to access, and especially the zoom, clunky and not smooth, and it is smoother and easier and less clunky to use the pinch gesture on the screen to do this.

Overall opinion from my use of the Camera Control is, it feels gimmicky, and I think there will be lots of people who will try it out when they first get their iPhone, and then just do things the old way with the camera, other than using the Camera Control button to have instant access to the camera, and that's it (i.e. not using the other controls that it gives).

Perhaps Apple may refine the Camera Control button with updates, but at present it just feels unfinished.

 

[neimovirne]

I think the only reason they made the camera button is to hide 5g antenna spot from the chassis and present it as 'innovation', but its mostly useless

 

[PJWilkin]

Placement of the camera button is abysmal

it breaks a lot of car mounts and camera mounts, owing to the lack of space between it and the power button

it needed to be lower towards the bottom corner so it’s not a reach when held horizontal

 

[Applelover2880]

One week and I can't use the damn thing. The touchscreen is so glitchy it's basically impossible to comfortably type! This has been by far the worst iPhone experience I have ever had and I've been 'em since 2007!

This is an iOS 18 issue and not the iPhone itself. Multiple people including myself are affected and my iPhone 15PM had it and my 16PM has it now as well others have even said their 14s have the same issue.

We’re hoping it will be fixed in the 18.0.1 update that is expected to roll out next week.

 

[Pandyone]

This is what needs to be done if Apple wants to call their "Pro"-phones as "Pro" in my humble opinion:

Software

• ProRAW must allow manual controls like ISO and shutter speed. Right now these settings are ignored in third party apps that allow manual control when ProRAW is set as output format
• Ideally, ProRAW should not be denoised at all. It should just be a stacked (multi-exposure) merge. Nothing else. Professionals will be able to achieve much better results with manual edits than Apple's automatic processing currently does. In fact, the current ProRAW implementation should be named "NoobRAW" because it basically does everything for you and not in the best way
• It should be possible to take regular unstacked RAW (single frame) with 48MP, not just binned 12MP
• There should be an option to disable automatic switching to digital zoom from 1x in low light or when focus distance is too close on 5x, especially when night mode is on (I will say though that 16PM can use the 5x tele in very bad light conditions and it is much better than 15PM in this area but it should be possible to do it manually in stock camera app). Third party apps do not switch, luckily.
• Allow for even longer exposure time than 30s för night mode, like the Pixel phones

Hardware

• Minimum focus distance on 1x and 5x is too long and these lenses are useless for any kind of macro photography. Sure, 0.5x works good for this. But if you ever tried a phone like Xiaomi 14 Ultra that can focus on 20cm with 5x lens, you don't want to go back... It is perfect for shooting macros when it is hard to get really close, like bugs and flowers.
• 5x should be upgraded with a slightly bigger sensor and 48MP to allow for better quality shots when digital zoom is applied (above 5x)
• The step between 1x and 5x is just too big which makes the focal lengths between 50mm and 120mm pretty much unusable. Xiaomi added a fourth camera (3x) to handle this problem and Apple should consider doing the same

16 Pro Max is overall the best camera system I have tested in a smartphone and I tested them all. I recently had the Pixel 9 Pro XL and Xiaomi 14 Ultra for testing (I am the founder of https://1x.com so I do a lot of camera tests). When using regular raw 12MP, the iPhone performs amazing results. It is just too bad that Apple is deliberately limiting the performance of this phone unless third party apps are used.

If Macrumors is interested in writing a story about this, they are welcome to contact me.

Could probably get some in depth review and comparisons with other phones from this guy posts from this thread are relevant to this news article.

 

[JohnC1959]

Placement of the camera button is abysmal

it breaks a lot of car mounts and camera mounts, owing to the lack of space between it and the power button

it needed to be lower towards the bottom corner so it’s not a reach when held horizontal

Seems fine for my pretty standard car mount. Yes the camera button is covered by the arms of the mount but it doesn't cause any problem. Now I use a case so I don't know if that's the important difference

 

[JohnC1959]

I do find I can take a picture a small bit faster with the camera button. Handy for things like wildlife that doesn't stand still. I don't tend to use fancier features to enhance photos so can't comment on other uses of that button

 

[citysnaps]

One week and I can't use the damn thing. The touchscreen is so glitchy it's basically impossible to comfortably type! This has been by far the worst iPhone experience I have ever had and I've been 'em since 2007!

Will you be returning your phone to Apple for a full refund?

 

[klasma]

The camera control button seems perfectly placed for photographers which is who this is aimed at. It isn’t all that much aimed at the basic camera users who likely will just use the camera app the same way they always have.

I guess that’s why they put the button on the basic models as well.

 

[sdf]

One week and I can't use the damn thing. The touchscreen is so glitchy it's basically impossible to comfortably type! This has been by far the worst iPhone experience I have ever had and I've been 'em since 2007!

…From that description, it sounds defective. Even if it isn't, I don't know why you've waited this long to return it.

 

[klasma]

imagine if you could switch between apps by just sliding your finger.

You already can?

 

[darksoul78644]

I have noticed that when I use landscape using camera control that it kinda lags and when click the picture u have just taken a black square shows up goes away. Is this happening with anyone else or is it just glitchy and needs an update. Ill see if I can take a screenshot

 

[GermanSuplex]

The camera app is the buggiest and slowest I have ever seen it. Makes the new camera button useless if the app isn't functioning correctly. I've had sluggish response to controls, a black screen, and crashes.

The software slows down when snapping pics too, makes it feel like the button is slow even though its not.