Force Camera Focus to Infinity?

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Force Camera Focus to Infinity?

Using iPhone 13 Pro (currently iOS 16.1.1), I can't see any way to force the back cameras to focus at Infinity. Am I missing something?

Yes, there's the facility to touch and hold a point on the screen to set focus and exposure, but often there is not a big enough area at distance for this to work, and/or I only want to set focus and leave exposure on auto.

I've tried the third-party Lightroom Mobile camera app (currently vs. 8.0.1), but although it does have a manual-focus option in "Pro" mode, that does not work properly: Setting the focus slider to max actually goes well past Infinity (which is not identified explicitly), resulting in everything's being blurred. (I'm told this is also true for at least 2 other third-party camera apps and also on the iPhone 12 Pro and 14 Pro, suggesting that it's a problem in the iOS SDK.)

Can anyone shed any light on this issue? -- JCW6

Posted on Jan 20, 2023 10:42 AM

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Answer 1

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JCW6 Author

Level 1

33 points

Jan 23, 2023 12:40 PM in response to Omar_A1

Thanks, Omar_A1, for replying. Unfortunately I already knew nearly all of that, and it doesn't really address my issue (see my second and third paragraphs).

I have tried Apple support, but to no avail. Since their own camera app does not offer direct control over manual focus -- and, incredibly, no defined Infinity focus -- the issue I and others are experiencing is manifest only in third-party aps -- at least three different ones! Apple support is unwilling to even consider that their SDK might be flawed unless (1) it affects their own apps, or (2) the app developer comes to them with a complaint.

Best Regards -- JCW6

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Answer 2

Omar_A1

Community Specialist

Jan 22, 2023 5:50 PM in response to JCW6

Hello JCW6,

Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

We were able to find this:

"Adjust the camera’s focus and exposure

Before you take a photo, the iPhone camera automatically sets the focus and exposure, and face detection balances the exposure across many faces. If you want to manually adjust the focus and exposure, do the following:

Open Camera.
Tap the screen to show the automatic focus area and exposure setting.
Tap where you want to move the focus area.
Next to the focus area, drag up or down to adjust the exposure.
To lock your manual focus and exposure settings for upcoming shots, touch and hold the focus area until you see AE/AF Lock; tap the screen to unlock settings.

On iPhone 11 and later, you can precisely set and lock the exposure for upcoming shots. Tap , tap , then move the slider to adjust the exposure. The exposure locks until the next time you open Camera. To save the exposure control so it’s not reset when you open Camera, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings, then turn on Exposure Adjustment."

More details can be found here: Use iPhone camera tools to set up your shot

We would also recommend leaving feedback for Apple regarding this.

You can do so by going to iPhone

Hopefully this helps.

Cheers!

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Force Camera Focus to Infinity?

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