Night photography with iPhone 17 Pro, iOS 26; how can I do this well?

Have you tried to shoot in RAW? I avoid the night mode for the Moon.

I don't have yet an iPhone 17, but when I try to take a photo of the full moon at night, I am getting the best results when switching the Camera.app to take RAW photos. And testing the exposure for the Moon, then reducing the exposure as far as possible, for example (this is not a master piece, but I hope you can get the idea):

Adjust your focus and exposure with AF/AE lock feature. Adjust zoom for your composition. Press and hold your finger on the screen where the moon is. You’ll see a yellow AF/AE lock appear towards the top of the screen. A yellow box will appear around the moon. Hold your finger along the right edge of the box and drag your finger slowly downward. This will make the moon and surrounding sky darker. Pushing your finger up along right edge brightens the image. When satisfied with exposure and composition press shutter button.

My iPhone does only have a 5-times optical zoom, so we cannot get a large picture of the Moon, unless we use the digital zoom, and then the images will be slightly blurry - you should be able to get better results with the iPhone 17.

With digital zoom and under exposure -0.6 ev:

Both images were taken without a tripod, handheld.

[Edited by Moderator]

The brightness of a full moon is the same as the brightness of a desert on the Earth at noon.

If not a masterpiece, that picture is nonetheless quite lovely! The exposure of the moon is terrific!