ℹ️ - Final Fantasy XVI
Whether you've played the full by game now, tried the demo, read a preview, or generally heard anyone mention it, you might know that Final Fantasy XVI has a photo mode. It is a pretty basic one though with minimal features and some unnecessary limitations, but it is still important to know how everything works if you want to get the best out of it.
To help you do that, here is the Final Fantasy XVI photo mode explained from a photographer's perspective with simple descriptions of how each feature works for anyone to understand.
- FF XVI // PHOTO MODE -
Final Fantasy XVI: Photo Mode Explained
The FF XVI photo mode is found in the game's options menu, or to be more precise, on the Attributes tab within the game's menu. To get to it, hit the Options button during gameplay and then press the touchpad.
Sadly, there is no other available button mapping, and you will only find the photo mode access on the that tab, so basically if you don't currently have access to Attributes, like during the early prologue, then you don't have the photo mode at that time either.
- FF XVI // ATTRIBUTES -
Camera
Camera Movement:
The photo mode camera moves with a setup that is able to look freely in any direction, typically known as a free camera. LS moves the camera horizontally forwards, backwards, left, and right, RS allows a full 360° pan and 180° tilt, and L2 / R2 move it vertically up and down for an elevated or low-angle shot. Notice though, that the range of movement if heavily limited with the camera being confined to an area of less than 3 metres around the main character.
Roll:
Rolls the camera in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction around a central axis. Use this to adjust the horizontal angle – sometimes called Dutch Tilt – to flip the image into portrait / vertical orientation, or even to turn things completely upside down by going all the way to 180°.
- FF XVI // FIELD OF VIEW -
Field of View:
Narrows and widens the viewing angle within the camera's frame from a very narrow 10° to a wider 80°. Decrease the angle for a telephoto zoom effect that brings subjects closer and compresses the visible distance between foreground and background. Increase the angle to zoom out for a wider view that fits more of the scene in the frame.
Clive:
A simple toggle that controls the on-screen visibility of the playable character while in photo mode. Set to on by default, this can be turned off to hide the character from the shot, though there are unfortunately no options to hide other characters or enemies.
- FF XVI // CLIVE -
Depth of Field
Depth of Field:
Toggles whether or not the manual depth of field setup is applied to the image while in photo mode. When set to off, the game camera settings are applied and not overridden by the photo mode; when set to on, the manual settings are applied using the following Focus Distance and Blur intensity options.
Focus Distance:
Sets the distance at which the camera is focused, and objects will appear sharp. Decrease the value to move the focus onto objects that are closer to the camera, or increase the value to focus on objects that are further away.
- FF XVI // BOKEH -
TIP: The focus distance setting moves with very large steps that are approximately 1 metre in-game. To achieve accurate focus, first choose the most appropriate Focus Distance and then adjust the camera position using LS to precisely place the point of focus as required. You may then need to adjust the Field of View setting to correct the overall framing.
Blur:
Determines how much defocused blur is applied to the foreground and background on each side of the chosen Focus Distance. Increase the value to create the appearance of a shallow depth of field with more defocused blur and a certain amount of bokeh on distance light sources such as candle flames.
- FF XVI // JOSHUA -
Other Settings
Reset:
Click R3 to reset all photo mode settings and return the camera to its original position.
TIP: The Final Fantasy photo mode has no brightness of exposure compensation settings, so if you find that your shots are excessively dark in some areas, consider increasing the overall game brightness via the settings menu.
- PHOTOMODE UNPLUGGED // EP035 -
Controller Layout
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Photo Mode Feature Set:
Access & Control
Photo Mode Access: Options menu > Attributes Tab > Touchpad Camera Movement: Free camera with <3 m bounding sphere Horizontal Pan: 360° Vertical Tilt: 180° Roll: ± 180°
Camera
Depth of Field
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