I recently got myself an iPhone 16 Pro and after only a few photos and videos taken with it I am already impressed by the capabilities of this phone. In this blog I am sharing the settings I use to shoot the best looking photos with it and a separate blog will cover the editing process.

Most of the information I am sharing in this blog are also applicable to previous generations of the iPhone so if you are using an older one you can still benefit from reading this blog.

First I want to say that when shooting with my iPhone on purpose or on a pinch because I don’t have my proper camera, I want the experience to be as smooth and seamless as possible so that’s why I use the regular camera app. I don’t use any 3rd party app to have more control on the phone’s camera. I think it defeats to purpose of shooting photos with my phone. As for editing I use LightroomCC when on my computer and Lightroom mobile when editing straight on the phone.

Camera Settings

First let’s make sure to apply the right settings so you can go to the settings menu and then in the camera section. This blog is about my photography settings only so I won’t talk about video and let’s read through them from top to bottom.

It’s unfortunate but the first setting is the most flawed design feature Apple made in a while, Camera control. I like that we can launch the camera app with one click but that’s it. Using to change settings or as a camera shutter is so finicky. I disabled Clean preview, launch camera with one click and the app to open is Camera.

I don’t use photographic styles as I am shooting RAW and edit the photos in Lightroom/LightroomCC

Next is the formats, I leave it in High Efficiency although it doesn’t impact me because I am shooting RAW, Photo mode at 24MP. I turn ON ProRAW & Resolution Control, I set my Pro Default to ProRAW Max for best image quality but then select JPEG-XL Lossy to keep the file size rather small. Some tests have been made and the difference between JPEG Lossless and JPEG-XL Lossy is almost unnoticeable and the files are almost 4 times smaller.

Next go to preserve settings where you can choose which settings to save so you don’t have to adjust every time you open the camera app. I turn ON the followings:

Camera Mode
Creative Controls
Macro Control
Exposure Adjustment
ProRAW & Resolution Control
Live Photo
Everything else is off

Back to the previous menu I turn off Use Volume Up for Burst because when you take a burst it will not capture RAW files but HEIF/JPEG instead. I turn ON the Grid and Level to help me composing my shots.

Fusion camera I believe is a new feature on the iPhone 16 Pro letting you ‘add’ 2 more focal lengths. The truth is that they are just crops into the main 24mm equivalent 1x lens. I still like to use them to help me composing. I use 35mm a lot on my Sony camera so having access to it is quite useful. One thing to be aware of is that you cannot revert it in post. A photo taken at 35mm cannot be reverted to the full 24mm file.

Portraits in Photo Mode is ON, it just gives you more flexibility if you want to use the portrait mode in post instead of shooting in portrait mode and losing the ability to shoot RAW. Lens correction is ON and Macro Control is also ON.

What Lens to Shoot With

The main and best lens/sensor is the 1x 24mm equivalent. The 0.5x and the 5x are also real lenses while the 2x and 28mm and 35mm variants of the 1x are just crops of the 1x lens.

I barely use the 0.5x (13mm) because it is just not my style to shoot that wide. Still it can be a good solution to shoot landscape and architecture. It is also the lens that will let you take macro shots. I would say I use it less than 1% of the time.

Next is the 1x (24mm) which is the best lens optically speaking and captures the full 48MP resolution. It is good for establishing shots and also gives you a nice background blur to capture objects or products. Like mentioned before the 1x also gives you access to 28mm and 35mm crops that I use to help me compose. I am OK to sacrifice the possibility to access to the full 24mm photo because it helps me framing better photos.

Next is the 2x which is also a crop into the 1x this time equivalent to 48mm. I love the 50mm focal length for street photography and still life so I use it frequently. Again it is not a native lens, only a crop but it helps me with composition and the iPhone uses computational magic to make a photo taken with the 2x lens look better than if it was shot on the 1x and cropped to 48mm equivalent in post.

Last is the telephoto lens, the 5x on this iPhone 16 Pro which is a 120mm equivalent. I wished apple made more of a 4x or a 90mm equivalent as 120mm is pretty niche but I love it for details, for subjects and for the compressed look. Be careful when shooting details and things closer to the camera as sometimes it jumps back to the main lens and cropping into this 5x look. Point the camera to something far in the distance and come back to what you were trying to shoot. I noticed that it does the trick most of the time.

How to expose and focus

I usually keep my exposure to -0.3 and shoot without pressing anywhere on the screen. It gives you good result and preserve a lot of information to work with in post.

When shooting a high contrast scene I touch the brightest part of the frame to exposure for the highlights and drag up or down for finer adjustments if needed. I can also long press where I want my exposure and focus to be made so it locks both the focus and exposure.

When your focus point and exposure reference are not the same you can always tap on the exposure meter at the top left of the screen and set the exposure manually.

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