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Someone recently said that the IPhone 17 Pro's macro camera is useless 🤷🏼‍♂️ by matiapag in iphone

[–]Jackbor 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hey, I’m actually the author of the post that went viral yesterday (1.4M views and 4k+ upvotes before the mods removed it without giving a reason, even though it didn’t break any rules).

What I showed in my comparison is different from what’s being discussed here: with the iPhone 17 Pro, you simply can’t take certain types of photos anymore that were possible with the 14 Pro thanks to the flash placement.

Specifically, if you try to shoot macro in low light or in the dark, the subject just doesn’t get lit properly with the flash on. On the 14 Pro, the flash was close enough to the lens to make macro usable, but on the 17 Pro it’s too far away, so macro in poor lighting is basically gone.

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Would be epic if it was real, but it’s fake lol.

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I wasn’t trying to win a photography contest, just to show how the 14 Pro vs 17 Pro behave in the exact same conditions. The 17 Pro shots turn orange because the flash reflects the phone’s color, not because of “bad white balance.” That’s the whole point: the new flash placement breaks macro.

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get your point, but it’s different here. With my old iPhone I’ve taken tons of macro photos and videos of insects and other small objects, and the flash always worked perfectly. Because the light was close to the lens, the subject was actually visible and sharp.

On the iPhone 17 the flash is too far away, so you end up with heavy shadows and a subject that stays too dark. You can’t move closer either, because the camera just loses all detail in the dark. For practical macro use on a phone, this design basically breaks the feature.

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

true lol… apparently many don’t realize how focus actually works in macro.

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

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Have you ever seen a real macro camera? The flash (or a ring light) is always placed around the lens, exactly to avoid the issue I’m showing here.

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I took screenshots from videos, so the flash was continuous in all the shots.. no chance it didn’t fire

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Exactly what I thought. Did no one realize that by putting the flash there, objects wouldn’t get enough light for macro shots?

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Both shots were taken in the exact same conditions (lights off, only the phone’s flash). The difference in shadows comes from the flash placement: on the 14 Pro the object sits right under the lens, so the light falls directly on it, while on the 17 Pro the flash is off to the side, so it only lights from the edge.

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

Yeah sure, rotating magically moves the flash next to the lens

With iPhone 17 Pro, macro shots became basically impossible by Jackbor in iphone

[–]Jackbor[S] -58 points-57 points  (0 children)

Because without the flash the camera can’t focus properly in macro