Change advanced camera settings on your iPad

Learn how to manually adjust the focus and exposure, turn the shutter volume on and off, and change other Camera settings on your iPad.

Adjust the focus and exposure

Before you take a photo, the iPad camera automatically sets the focus and exposure, and face detection balances the exposure across many faces. To manually adjust the focus and exposure, follow these steps:

Tap the screen to reveal the automatic focus area and exposure setting.
Tap where you want to move the focus area.
Next to the focus area, drag up or down to adjust the exposure.
To lock your manual focus and exposure settings for upcoming shots, touch and hold the focus area until you see AE/AF Lock; tap the screen to unlock settings.

Use a grid to straighten your shot

To display a grid on the camera screen that can help you straighten and compose your shot, go to Settings > Camera, then turn on Grid.

After you take a photo, you can use the editing tools in the Photos app to further align shots and adjust horizontal and vertical perspective. See Straighten and adjust perspective.

Save camera settings

You can save the last camera mode you used so it’s not reset when you next open Camera.

Go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings.
On supported models, you can also preserve Live Photos settings.

Adjust the shutter volume

Adjust the volume of the camera shutter sound using the volume buttons on the side of your iPad. Or, when Camera is open, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to open Control Center, then drag .

Mute the shutter sound using the volume buttons or the Ring/Silent switch, if your iPad has one.

The shutter doesn’t make a sound when Live Photos is turned on.

Note: In some countries or regions, muting is disabled.

See Adjust the volume on iPad.

Turn Scene Detection off and on

On iPad Air (4th generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation), and iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), the Scene Detection setting can identify what you’re taking a photo of and apply a tailored look to bring out the best qualities in the scene.

Scene Detection is on by default. To turn off Scene Detection, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Scene Detection (iPadOS 14.2 or later).

Turn Lens Correction off and on

On iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation) and iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), the Lens Correction setting adjusts photos taken with the front camera or Ultra Wide camera for more natural-looking results.

Lens Correction is on by default. To turn off lens correction, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Lens Correction.

Mirror the front camera

To take a mirrored selfie that captures the shot as you see it in the camera frame, go to Settings > Camera, then turn on Mirror Front Camera.

Helpful?

iPad User Guide