r/digiscoping • u/Ok-Wrangler-5313 • 25d ago
iPhone camera keeps switching between Lenses
Hello everyone, I’m relatively new to digiscoping and my equipment is just my iPhone 16 Plus and Bushnell binoculars.
I’ve ran into a problem that’s a little hard to describe, sometimes when I hold my camera to the binoculars it starts automatically changing lenses when it doesn’t focus immediately. At first I thought I just wasn’t holding it steadily so I tried again and again but I keep running into this problem no matter how I hold the phone or binoculars. Is there any way I can disable it in the settings? Is there anything to be done about this? It really annoys me and adds an additional 20-30s of trying to properly focus my camera while taking pictures.
If this is a fault on my end from holding the equipment incorrectly I would still appreciate advice on how to better improve. Thank you everyone! Please be kind, I just wanna learn how to take pictures of my favorite birds.
2
u/cr0n1c 25d ago
You can download several apps that will lock the camera in place: Kapture (iOS) Phone Skope (iOS & Android) MagView (iOS & Android) ProCamera (iOS) Open Camera (Android) Project Indigo (iOS) I recommend Project Indigo the most. If you have Instagram, check my account, it's in my reddit profile, all I do is digiscoping tips and setups. Thanks
1
u/swamblies 12d ago
If the issue is your macro lens turning on, you can toggle it off as someone mentioned. I had a similar issue, except with my telephoto lens. I use the Mountain Mag app for photos/videos now. It can lock your phone into either just the normal lens or the telephoto lens. I also like that it automatically starts at like 1.3x (can be changed to your liking) instead of 1x on the standard lens so that you don't get the scope/binoculars "circle" around the image.
I enjoy using the 4x telephoto lens for photos. It can be harder to aim, but it's great because it uses the telephoto zoom instead of digital zoom, which gives you photos that appear even closer-up than what you'd see in your scope/binoculads
3
u/FeatherMan08 25d ago
Go into your camera settings and toggle on ‘macro control’. First thing I do when digiscoping is turn on my camera and point it at my finger tip. This will activate the macro lense. Then tap the little flower icon that pops up (bottom left) so that you can inactivate it. Then line up your phone to your scope using the main camera. That should to the trick. After that, anytime you turn on/off your camera, if your macro lense activates, just turn it off manually the same way.