Issues with ios 26.2.1 and moon pictures

Your pictures are way over-exposed. The full moon is the same brightness as a normal landscape at noon. Try reducing the exposure.

I am having the same problem since iOS26. When I tap the moon to take the exposure there and reduce the exposure time as far as possible, the the image will still be overexposed.

Last year I could get pictures of the Moon, handheld, but now it is no longer possible:

A picture from last August 2024, taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max in Night Mode:

What is still possible is to take a photo of the Moon while the sky is still blue, without Night Mode: This picture has been taken in the early afternoon, using iOS26:

On the other hand, pictures of the starry sky are now better, at least when I switch the image format to RAW:

léonie wrote:

I am having the same problem since iOS26. When I tap the moon to take the exposure there and reduce the exposure time as far as possible, the the image will still be overexposed.

Have you tried if 3rd party Camera apps behave any better?

Yes, Matti, I have tried a few third-party apps on the older system versions- Halide, Spectre, and Night Cap. But not yet tested them on iOS 26 - I have to wait for the next full Moon to see, if it will give better results. Night Cap is great for star trails. I d not like the user interface of Halide and Spectre. I am rather slow when using these cameras. It takes too long to learn where everything is hiding.

i am not sure, Richard. It is unlikely, that it is a HDR issue, because even the RAW photos I have taken are shown as HDR, when I am checking with Metapho.

For example, the Raw photo of the northern lights I posted above is showing "Gain Map HRD".

My guess is, that the sample area, where the iPhone is sampling the image for the exposure is simply too large, and so the Moon will be overexposed, to brighten the black sky. It would explain, why it is working well in bright daylight, bur not when the sky is pitch black.

Richard,

can you still see the pictures I posted? I can currently see only blue question marks.

When I took the topmost photo in August 2024, (still using iOS 18.1), I tapped the Moon to take the exposure. The iPhone composed a HDR image in night mode, taking seven separate images, as I can see, when I open the image in Metapho. My iOS version of Metapho is now running on my Mac as well.

I used to like the Night Mode. It saved me the trouble to carry a tripod with me.

léonie wrote: … can you still see the pictures I posted? I can currently see only blue question marks.

When I took the topmost photo in August 2024, (still using iOS 18.1), I tapped the Moon to take the exposure. The iPhone composed a HDR image in night mode, taking seven separate images, as I can see, when I open the image in Metapho.

The three pictures are still there. I get incomplete pages from this site, sometimes, also.

As you say, blue skies are easy

And HDR makes sense, and wow-- it worked really well on a difficult exposure! The last time I used HDR on my Nikon, I got multiple images-- so I've stayed away. But I didn't try very hard, and it was a moving object. I'll have to try again…

léonie wrote: …My guess is, that the sample area, where the iPhone is sampling the image for the exposure is simply too large, and so the Moon will be overexposed, to brighten the black sky.

Right-- it should be smart enough that, when it sees big contrast, it would adjust accordingly.

So how did you do that gorgeous moon and harbor picture? I'm thinking you can't get both of those luminosities in the same exposure. It's quite phenomenal!

léonie wrote: …I am having the same problem since iOS26.

Is this an HDR issue? Or is it that the exposure is determined with overall brightness rather than spot or brightest point?