Final Fantasy 16: How to Unlock and Use Photo Mode

The Final Fantasy 16 Photo Mode feature helps you capture moments, whether you’re marveling at distant sights or duking it out with foes in the middle of combat. Our Final Fantasy 16 Photo Mode guide talks about how you can make use of this function, as well as various options.

How to Unlock and Use Photo Mode in Final Fantasy 16

How to Activate Photo Mode

The FF16 Photo Mode function becomes available early in the campaign, as soon as you’re able to pause the game to look at the menu. Check the Attributes tab, then press the touchpad to activate Photo Mode.

This works in most situations, even while Clive is casting various Eikon abilities in battle. The clear exception, though, is during cutscenes, as the game will simply be paused and you can’t open the menu at all. In some combat situations, such as Cinematic Strikes, Evasions, and Clashes, this, too, can’t be used.

Photo Mode Options and Controls

Here are the controls for Final Fantasy 16‘s Photo Mode:

• Left thumbstick — Move the camera.
• Right thumbstick — Rotate the camera.
• L2 — Raise camera.
• R2 — Lower camera.
• R3 — Reset camera position.
• L1 and R1 — Switch between functions/options.
• Triangle — Hide the user interface (UI).
• Share button — Take a screenshot.

Likewise, there are a few options that you can tweak. In the Camera tab, you’ll find:

• Roll — Tilt the image at an angle.
• Field of View — Adjusts the FOV to make things appear closer or further (i.e., fish-eye lens).
• Clive — Toggles whether or not Clive’s character model appears in the scene.

And in the Depth of Field tab, you’ll see:

• Depth of Field — Enables or disables this feature.
• Focal Distance — If enabled, you can set the focal distance to see which spots in the image will appear blurred.
• Blur — Sets the level of the blurring effect.

I can definitely say that the game’s Photo Mode manages to capture vivid scenes and spectacular moments, especially with dazzling effects all around. Unfortunately, I also think it’s a bit too lacking. There’s no free cam command, and you can’t even change Clive’s pose or facial expression in non-combat situations. As such, he looks like he’s moping around when he’s idle.

And that’s it, that’s everything you need to know about Photo Mode in Final Fantasy 16. For more tips and strategies, you can visit our FF16 guides hub.