Halide app brings macro photography to all iPhones



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The new Macro mode of the iPhone 13 Pro opens up new perspectives for the iPhone, but limited to those who buy the latest devices from Apple. Halide wants to change that and has announced an update to his app that brings macros to all iPhone.

Halide says that when he saw Apple bringing macro photography to the iPhone for the first time, it got them pretty excited. So much so that the team wanted to get everyone excited about macro shooting and devised a way to allow all iPhones (from iPhone 8 onwards) to take macro photos with the Halide app – no accessories required.

Halide says Macro mode is supported by a new technology he calls Neural Macro. The company says it’s doing a few “smart” things to help take macro photos. First, it checks which of the cameras it has access to can focus closest and switches to that. After that, it gives the shooter what Halide describes as “super-precise” focus control – down to the sub-millimeter – to allow even small subjects to be photographed with crisp sharpness. In the final step, Neural Macro kicks in, and the AI-powered detail enhancement process extracts even more data from a processed image.

The Neural Macro relies on Apple’s Neural Engine, which is why this feature is only available on models of iPhone 8 and later. The photos below are sample images captured in the Halide app from an iPhone 12 mini.

Captured on iPhone 12 mini
Captured on iPhone 12 mini

The image below was captured on the iPhone 12 Pro:

Captured on iPhone 12 Pro

The company claims that while they are impressive, using Halide on the iPhone 13 Pro will enhance the already powerful macro functionality with “incredibly close, microscope-like photos that are even more magnified.” Below are some examples:

Captured on iPhone 13 Pro
Captured on iPhone 13 Pro
Captured on iPhone 13 Pro
Captured on iPhone 13 Pro
Captured on iPhone 13 Pro
Captured on iPhone 13 Pro

One of the main immediate benefits of Halide is that while Apple has announced that manual switching to macro mode will arrive later this year, Halide is already offering this feature in the app. Halide says he only uses the explicitly selected lenses and that Macro mode always uses the macro lens.

Macro mode is available to all existing Halide users and can be viewed in the debug controls. The macro mode update is available from today on the App Store. Halide continues to be available with a subscription price and a one-time purchase, with an option for a 7-day free trial.



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