What I Loved, What I Hated, and What I Want From the iPhone 17
After using the iPhone 16 Pro for a full year and filming everything from family moments to sponsored videos, I want to share my honest thoughts on its camera. What did I love? What drove me a little nuts? And what changes am I hoping Apple makes with the iPhone 17?
Alright, let’s get into it.
What I Loved About the iPhone 16 Pro Camera
The biggest win for me is Apple Log.
Yes, Apple Log technically debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro, but it absolutely deserves to be talked about again. Using Apple Log has been a genuinely huge upgrade for me as a filmmaker, and not for the reason you might expect.
It is not just about dynamic range or having more flexibility in color grading. The real magic of Apple Log is that it backs off the aggressive sharpening Apple usually applies to iPhone footage.
That sharpening looks fine on a phone screen, but the second you bring the footage onto a computer, it screams “shot on a phone.” Apple Log fixes that.
The image quality from the iPhone 16 Pro suddenly looks much closer to what you would expect from a mirrorless camera with a larger sensor. It mixes surprisingly well with footage from other cameras without instantly giving itself away. That alone has made me far more comfortable using the iPhone as a serious filmmaking tool.
The Biggest Ongoing Issue: Lens Reflections
That said, there is still room for improvement.
One of the biggest long standing issues with iPhone cameras is lens reflections, especially when filming at night. If you are shooting lights in a dark environment, you will often see tiny reflections and ghosting artifacts in the footage.
Once you notice them, you cannot unsee them, and they are a dead giveaway that the footage came from a phone.
I have watched reviews of Android phones that seem to handle this much better, and I would really love to see Apple reduce these reflections on the iPhone 17 Pro.
Image Quality Across the Lenses
Overall image quality from the main camera is very good. The 10 bit 4K footage looks fantastic and usually holds up well, even in lower light situations.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for all of the lenses.
The ultra wide camera is decent and I do use it fairly often when I want a wider shot. However, once the light drops, it starts to struggle.
The telephoto lens is worse. In low light, it gets noisy very quickly, and zooming in only makes it more obvious. Because of this, I avoid using the telephoto lens unless I am filming in bright daylight. It is a bit of a bummer and really limits when that lens feels usable.
The Front Camera Is Still Behind
The front facing camera has been fine for a while now, especially since Apple upgraded it to 4K. But it still does not come close to matching the quality of the rear cameras.
This is why we are now seeing MagSafe monitors that let you frame yourself while using the back camera. It is a clever workaround, but it also highlights the problem.
I film myself a lot. While the front camera works for Instagram and TikTok, I do not love using it for YouTube. If Apple improved the selfie camera, I would use it far more often.
In a perfect world, Apple would use the same sensor across all cameras and simply pair it with different lenses. They have moved everything toward 48 megapixels, but I am not convinced all of the sensors are truly equal yet. If they were, overall image quality would be much more consistent.
The Camera Control Button: Big Miss
Now we need to talk about the biggest negative by far.
The camera control button.
This was hyped as a massive upgrade to how we use the iPhone camera. After a few weeks, I completely disabled it.
The reason is simple. I kept accidentally pressing it when picking up my phone. The placement is awkward, right around the middle of the device. Grab the phone too low and the camera opens. Because the button is recessed, you often do not even realize you are pressing it until it is already happened.
I have heard plenty of people complain about this, and I agree with them. It feels more like a nuisance than a helpful tool.
Apple talked a lot about future software updates expanding what this button could do, but that never really materialized. Much like Apple Intelligence, it sounded better on paper than it worked in reality. Disabling it made my experience with the phone noticeably better.
The idea is fine. The execution needs a serious rethink, especially the placement.
Software Features I Still Want
There are also several software improvements I would love to see.
First, more control over Apple Log. I would love the option to use Apple Log with the H.265 codec instead of being locked to ProRes. Third party apps like the Blackmagic Camera app already do this.
Second, let us use LUTs in the native camera app. At the very least, give us LUT previews when filming in Apple Log. Even better would be the option to bake them in. And yes, my Apple Log LUTs are linked in the description.
Third, expand Apple Log to more modes. Let us shoot time lapses in Apple Log. And why can we not use cinematic mode with Apple Log? If Apple is already adding artificial bokeh, give us log too. I would use cinematic mode far more often.
Looking Ahead to the iPhone 17 Pro
At the time of writing, the iPhone 17 Pro has not been announced. I would not be surprised if Apple pushes resolution to 6K or even 8K.
As someone who has been filming more in 6K, I can appreciate that. But if it is locked to ProRes, the file sizes are going to be massive. They are already huge in 4K.
Personally, I would rather see Apple focus on improving lens quality and reducing reflections before chasing higher resolutions.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I have been happy with the iPhone 16 Pro, mostly because of the image quality made possible by Apple Log.
That said, many of those gains already arrived with the iPhone 15 Pro. USB-C, external SSD recording, and Apple Log were massive upgrades. The iPhone 16 Pro’s main addition, camera control, feels pretty underwhelming by comparison.
If I could go back, I could have easily stuck with the iPhone 15 Pro without losing much in terms of video quality. But then I would not be making this post, so here we are.
Here is hoping the iPhone 17 Pro brings more meaningful improvements for filmmakers.
Remember, you can download my color presets that work great with Apple Log to get vibrant, true to life colors with just one click.
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day.
