What is Apple's ProRAW photo format on iPhone?

The Iphone 12 Pro and Pro Max are the first iPhones to support ProRAW, Apple's version of the RAW image format. In professional photography, RAW files are a must to get the most out of your images, but what does it mean for the iPhone?

What is ProRAW?

ProRAW is Apple's implementation of the RAW image format, available on iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max and probably future iPhones. The RAW format is commonly found in mid to high-end cameras, allowing photographers to capture as much information in a scene as possible. While lossy formats like JPEG and HEIF will discard the information “unnecessary” when you press the shutter, RAW formats retain most of.

These files are essentially raw data, hence the name. This data is processed by an image editing application such as Photoshop or Apple's own Photos application.. When modifying certain parameters, you can change the way the photo is processed after taking it. RAW files are perfect for editing like changing the exposure, where a large amount of raw data preserves more detail in shadows and highlights.

It might be helpful to think of RAW photos as film-age negatives.. The format is not used for exchange photos, but rather to edit them before exporting them to more efficient formats like JPEG. This is why RAW files are commonly used by professionals and photography enthusiasts who spend more time carefully studying their edits in applications such as Photoshop and Lightroom..

Apple's ProRAW uses the ubiquitous digital negative .DNG file format, which means you can (theoretically) open a ProRAW image in any editor that supports .DNG files. This is different from camera manufacturers like Sony who still use proprietary formats., which can make it difficult to edit images in older software. Apple recommends using editors that explicitly support ProRAW, so if you see unexpected results, you may want to try a different app.

You can use ProRAW with all your iPhone lenses 12 Pro o Pro Max. The format is also compatible with features like SmartHDR, Deep Fusion and night mode.

Don't confuse it with the similarly named ProRes RAW, which is a lossless video codec used in high-end cameras. ProRAW is used for still images only and does not support video.

Possible drawbacks of shooting in ProRAW

The biggest drawback of shooting RAW with any camera (iPhone 12 or other type) is the size of the files it produces. While lossy formats like JPEG discard as much data as possible to reduce file size, RAW files take up much more space. Apple claims that ProRAW files are “from 10 a 12 times larger” than HEIF or JPEG files.

A ProRAW file has an average of about 25 megabytes, which results in 40 photos per gigabyte of phone storage. If you have a smaller capacity iPhone Pro, you may need to manage your files to avoid running out of space. Even if you opt for the option 512 GB, you probably don't want to keep many ProRAW files on your iPhone indefinitely.

If you are using iCloud Photos, you may need to increase your storage plan from 50 GB a 200 GB o 2 TB to make room for your lossless images. You may also want to move them elsewhere for archival purposes while keeping HEIF or JPEG in your library for sharing. This will require a bit of manual administration on your side..

When you choose to shoot in ProRAW, you shoot only in ProRAW. This is different from many cameras that support JPEG shooting. and CRUDE. This makes it easy for you to quickly share a JPEG when needed while preserving RAW files for more flexibility in your editing suite later.. With the iPhone, you will need to create JPEG files from your ProRAW files once you have edited them.

When you capture an image in ProRAW, is forgoing much of the processing Apple applies to HEIF snapshots / Standard JPEG. This is not a problem for photographers who want to control editing., but it does mean that a ProRAW shot will often look worse than even a JPEG straight out of the camera (no editing applied). Tests performed for GSMArena prove this.

It is also worth noting that Live Photos are not captured in conjunction with ProRAW and that you cannot take ProRAW photos using Portrait mode..

As a last resort, your intention should dictate the format: Is this photo to share on Facebook or Instagram? Choose HEIF / JPEG. Are you planning to spend time editing your photo later or need the best possible quality to print or for more purposes “Professional”? ProRAW could give you the edge.

Then, Why choose ProRAW?

There are some cases where you may want to choose ProRAW to open up new possibilities in terms of photography. to get started, You may not have a mirrorless or digital SLR camera that supports RAW capture, so the iPhone 12 Pro can take you into the world of lossless image editing.

But let's look at a more specific example. You are at the beach with your family and you want to take a photo to share with everyone at a later date. You may want to print and frame the photo later, so you have to press the RAW button on the viewfinder.

When shooting ProRAW, will limit the amount of compression visible in the image. There will be more shades of blue in the sky than if the image had been compressed to the point of introducing bands. It will also capture much more information in terms of highlight and shadow detail..

This allows you to remove reflections and make the sun (and its reflections) be a little less blinding while preserving color information. If any subject in the photo is a little dark, you can extract more detail from shadows without affecting image quality. You should be able to do more edits without the image falling apart, as would happen with a highly compressed JPEG.

You may need to do more work on the image in the post to make it up to the standard, since iPhone processes non-RAW images sharply, noise reduction and more, according to the conditions. Nevertheless, as a last resort, you will have more control over the finished image and a nicer image in the end than if you had relied on HEIF or JPEG.

And since enabling RAW in the Camera app is just a tap away, you can always shoot some non-RAW photos anyway to compare.

How to enable ProRAW on your iPhone

To use ProRAW, you will first need to enable the ProRAW feature in your iPhone Settings. Go to Settings> Camera> Formats and enable Apple ProRAW.

Remember, at the end of 2020, this is an iPhone function 12 Pro that requires iOS 14.3 the later. If you have an iPhone model 12 Pro and don't see the option, try updating your iPhone software. Future iPhones released in 2021 or later also support ProRAW, but the feature may only be available on Pro models for a few years.

With ProRAW enabled in Settings, launch the Camera app from the home screen, via Control Center or by asking Siri. In all supported modes, you will see a button “RAW” near the Live Photos lever. When idle, will have a line through it. Tap it to activate and shoot in RAW.

With RAW shooting enabled, now you can take photos as you normally would. Remember to turn RAW off again to save space.

RELATED: How to take photos in ProRAW on an iPhone

Can't use ProRAW? These applications also record RAW

At the end of 2020, ProRAW is only available on the iPhone 12 Pro y Pro Max. Won't hit older iPhones, but it can reach future iPhones.

If your iPhone is not compatible with ProRAW, you can still shoot RAW with a compatible iPhone app. There are many iPhone camera apps that can do this., from gifts like VSCO and Adobe Lightroom to paid apps like Manual ($ 3.99) and freemium applications like Halide.

Unfortunately, you will not get the same RAW file quality from these apps that you would get from an iPhone 12 Pro using the standard camera app. CNET tested this and found that ProRAW helps eliminate noise and improve color reproduction compared to similar apps. You also lose access to features like night mode and SmartHDR.

RELATED: How to take RAW photos on your iPhone

Good to have ProRAW, but it is not essential

ProRAW is not a game changer for most people. It will be difficult for Apple to convince the average iPhone user to upgrade to the Pro level based only on ProRAW. It's hard to recommend the upgrade even to photography enthusiasts who probably already own cameras with bigger sensors that already take better photos.. With that in mind, it's a nice feature to have access to if you already own a device that can.

We expect ProRAW to reach non-professional users as Apple's systems-on-chip becomes more powerful and efficient in the future.. Let's not forget that functions like multiple cameras, Portrait mode and even Face ID were once reserved for the more expensive iPhones, and now they are in practically all models.

For an update of iPhone photo formats, learn more about the difference between JPEG and HEIC.

RELATED: What is HEIF image format (o THIS)?

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