Take Pro-Style IPhone 13 Macro Shots on Older Phones With This App
With a new ultra-wide-angle sensor, the cameras on the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max can now take stunning close-ups without sticking anything to the phone. When you get close enough to your subject, your camera will automatically switch to a cropped version of ultra wide view, resulting in amazingly stellar macro shots.
Unfortunately, non-Pro iPhones 13s do not have this feature and they forget about older models. But don’t be discouraged: there is an app for that. Halide , a third-party paid app, has figured out how to get close to macro functionality on older iPhones – all the way up to the iPhone 8.
How Halide Macro Mode Works
Halide is a popular third party photography app for iPhone. Its intuitive design is suitable for both novice users and professional photographers. This app is not free – it will cost you $ 2.99 per month or $ 11.99 per year after a two-week free trial. If you like what it does and would rather opt out of the monthly fee, you can also buy the license straight away for $ 49.99. Considering it will take four years of use to justify the full cost, it probably doesn’t make sense to buy it, but at about $ 1 a month, the annual plan is well worth the money if macro photography is important to you.
Here’s how Halide macro mode works, according to the Halide developers :
“Halide examines the cameras you have and switches to the one with the closest closest focusing distance. It then locks focus at the closest point. You can tap anywhere on the screen to adjust focus; unlike our standard camera mode, we tune the focusing system to only find objects very close to you. “
Halide macro mode is something special. After taking a photo, Halide uses the iPhone’s Neural Engine to automatically increase the resolution. You end up with a 3024 x 4032 image even zoomed in and cropped.
We’ve taken some really great macro shots in the last couple of days – with the caveat that images look best when there is a lot of light (preferably natural light).
How to Shoot Cool Macro Shots on Old iPhones
Halide’s macro mode is hidden behind the autofocus menu. To get there, open the Halide app and click the ” AF ” button in the lower left corner. Then select the flower icon to switch to macro mode. Now let Halide do its thing by automatically switching between the appropriate cameras on your device. Press the 2X button to switch between 1X, 2X and 3X magnification levels.
While Halide locks focus on an object, you can still move focus by tapping on the screen. You can also move the focus dial at the bottom to fine tune the focus. When you’re happy, hit the shutter icon. Halide will take a second or two to process the photo and save it to the Photos app. If you remember that the app will never be able to match what the camera system can do on the new $ 1,100 iPhone, you should be very happy with the results.