Comparing iPhone camera exposure adjustment options

Can someone tell me if/what the difference is between the two ways I can adjust exposure on iPhone? I’d imagine everyone is familiar with tapping on the screen to focus and seeing the small sun symbol that appears. But there’s also the option to press exposure and scroll a horizontal wheel to adjust it too. Is there any difference? Should I really be using one over the other?

Posted on Sep 20, 2026 7:49 PM

1 reply

Jeff Donald

Level 9 (64,078 points)

Sep 20, 2026 10:54 PM in response to CJ0883

Are you referring to exposure compensation, or EC? EC is the +/- symbol. They basically are the same control, just different interfaces. Both EC controls adjust the ISO and shutter speed. The exposure algorithm decides how much to adjust each setting using various parameters including available light, is flash on/off, ability to handhold steady and other measurements. Variable aperture could be manipulated too, if the camera has variable aperture and it’s in Automatic mode, and the 1X lens is selected.