iPhone 15 Pro Max camera unable to focus on the moon.

Facing the same issue, tried for weeks to change settings and adjust focus but seems like IPhone 15 pro max is failing to focus. Very disappointed.

Adjusted every possible setting . Still can't take moon picture easily like we use to take in 14 pro max . Do something about this in next update .

Yup they need to do something about this very disappointed.

All my friends and family have these awesome pictures of the total eclipse today. You can’t tell but the moon was 1/2 way over the sun. And mine are blurry and you can’t see anything. I chose the 15 pro because I thought it would take great pictures. I guess I was wrong😟😟

Hi jchong,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities.

There are many camera features that can be adjusted to ensure you get the best photos.

Before you take a photo, the camera automatically sets the focus and exposure, and face detection balances the exposure across many faces. You can use Exposure Compensation Control to precisely set and lock the exposure for upcoming shots.

Just tap the arrow , then tap  and adjust your exposure level. The exposure locks until the next time you open the Camera app.

Exposure Compensation Control is available on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and later with iOS 14 or later.

About the Camera features on your iPhone - Apple Support

Change advanced camera settings on iPhone - Apple Support

Regards.

It might be that the automatic HDR, the Deep Fusion, is causing the blur.

Whenever I try to take a picture of the moon at night, the moon will be blurry, but the stars in the background are sharp dots. So the focus is correct for the distance of the stars, which should do for the moon as well.

Looking at the details of the photo with Metapho, I can see that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has been taking the image as a composite of six images and has fused them to bring out the details. This results in an overall exposure time of 3.2 seconds.

The moon is moving relatively fast among the stars. In two hours it is moving once the distance of its own diameter. If the iPhone is trying to track the stars to compensate for the motion of the stars, the Deep Fusion of the moon may result in motion blur because of its motion relative to the stars.

Next time I'll try to take the photos of the Moon as RAW images to avoid Deep Fusion or Night Mode.