Post your iPhone RAW image edits here

[CE3]

Really happy to see RAW support on iOS 10 (and that it's not exclusive to the 7)! I believe Lightroom is the only app that currently supports DNG capture with their camera, but I'm sure more will follow soon. Post your RAW captures and thoughts here. I know many have complained about the noise reduction of the 6 & 6S JPEGS, so it'll be interesting to see if RAW is different.

 

[whtrbt7]

This should be interesting. I'll post some shots after I process. I have a feeling that we will see shadow and highlight area posterization fairly early on since these are smaller sensors with a still fairly high number of pixels. The other thing I would expect to see with the raw images from the sensors would be chromatic aberrations but probably not as bad as most of the android photos I've been seeing due to extremely low quality glass on android phones. I'm also wondering if Apple is going to employ lossless compression on the DNGs in order to preserve storage space. If Apple bakes in too many changes to the DNGs, we won't be seeing as much lateral editability as RAW images from other cameras. I'm really hoping for no compression on the DNGs and a focus on higher dynamic range with the new cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus. We also have other RAW editors available on iOS so I'm really interested to see how the different apps stack up.

 

[CE3]

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with @whtrbt7

I'm not expecting the files to be uncompressed, but I'll be pleasantly surprised if they are.

 

[LERsince1991]

I've been shooting raw for a while now on the iOS 10 betas with ProCam beta. It's about ready (and SKRWT) so can't wait for the official releases, both worth keeping an eye out for! From what I have seen ProCam is better as a standalone camera compared to LR as its faster to open

 

[whtrbt7]

Yeah, this might be the point where we have really great RAW editing capabilities with iOS. I really wish they made DxO Optics Pro for iOS. SKRWT is awesome for fixing lens distortions but it's pretty basic and takes time still. I've been using it to fix Fisheye photos I've been shooting and editing in iOS.

 

[LERsince1991]

FYI, ProCam 4 released yesterday with raw DNG shooting. Snapseed was also released a while back with raw editing and lossless png output.

 

[CE3]

Edit: Deleted.

I got a few shots tonight.. but apparently I can't upload them to MacRumors even when they're well under 4.9MB.. and it's not displaying external links properly either.

 

[Spybreakjj]

Took a few pics yesterday. I like this one a lot. First pic is from the iOS camera app, second is RAW processed in iOS Lightroom.

 

[procamapp]

WOW! These are great comparison shots!

We'd love to feature them in a tutorial we're working on. If you're interested, pls drop us a line. support@procamapp.com

 

[mollyc]

oh, that's awesome! the raw format is really the only reason I care to upgrade to ios10, but I'm still going to wait a few more days to make sure the DL kinks are worked out.

 

[daymouse]

How do you change Lightroom to take raw instead of jpeg?

Can't see any setting anywhere.

 

[BenGieCruz]

How do you change Lightroom to take raw instead of jpeg?

Can't see any setting anywhere.

 

[daymouse]

Ah take it this isn't available on iPhone 6!? As I don't get that option!

 

[bzavala]

So this is only with Lightroom app, but not with the standard Camera app?

 

[ohmyggg]

Took a few pics yesterday. I like this one a lot. First pic is from the iOS camera app, second is RAW processed in iOS Lightroom.

Nice comparison. The difference is staggering in terms of capturing highlights along with the rest of the scene's tonal range.

Curious, what was your metering point on each image? I'd be curious to know how much the native app version could be improved by exposing for the highlights in the sky and then attempting to brighten the shadows in post. That might be a better comparison given that the DNG version was tinkered with (edited vs. edited).

Also, the native camera could have probably done a better job on this scene if HDR mode was triggered (assuming it was not, given the blown highlights).

 

[CE3]

I just updated ProCam. Lightroom is a great editing option for iOS (it's improved a lot since I last used it), but ProCam gives you actual control over the camera + access the DNG files in your camera roll for easy transfer to desktop. Hopefully Lightroom adds this option soon (a little bummed the DNG shots I took last night are locked in the app).

One initial impression is that the camera seems more sensitive to shake in RAW mode, so you'll need a tripod/monopod in many scenarios if you want to get the most detail out of a shot.

 

[upritbass]

Ah take it this isn't available on iPhone 6!? As I don't get that option!

Apple camera raw is only available on iOS 10 for any iOS device that can take Live Photos, so basically iPhone 6s and later. So the iPhone 6 is still stuck with that horrid noise reduction.

 

[Jumpie]

The pics I wanna upload are too big. I don't know how to downsize them. Harrumph

 

[whtrbt7]

So here is my basic dynamic range and edit range test.

IPhone 7 Plus on auto JPG:

IPhone 7 Plus DNG with AEL on the brightest spot on the bulb:

IPhone 7 Plus DNG after the following edits to test the editable range:
+5 Contrast, +1 stop Exposure, -50 Highlight, +50 Shadows

So here's what I think: When the iPhone 7 Plus is in full auto mode, it tries to even out the scene and the jpg compression along with noise suppression gives some artifacts. The highlights are blown in this intentionally high dynamic range scene and the shadows are also better exposed since the exposure is tuned to be even. The RAW file was intentionally shot to preserve highlight detail so the background is under exposed by about 2 stops. When pushed a stop up in exposure with -50 highlights and +50 shadows, we can start seeing a lot of chroma noise and also grain in the shadows. Lightroom on iOS tries to control the chroma noise and ends up creating a general grain across the shadows. The highlights are nicely maintained with only a small touch of chromatic aberration. So yes, the DNG was processed in Lightroom on iOS so the entire process can take place on iOS. It's not the best DNG edit that you can do but it does give some additional room to recover highlights and shadows without doing HDR photography. Again, I'm wishing that DxO Optics Pro could be on iOS and even the Photos version like on OSX would be great since it's more automated and can generally create a decent enough image for immediate use. If you then needed to add creative edits, you can then push it into Lightroom, or Pixelmator, or any other filter/photo edit app to make those edits. Overall, since the sensor is still quite small, I see that the grain on the photos will be larger in recovered shadows and we have wider depth of field even with the f/1.8 lens when compared with Micro four thirds cameras, 35mm format cameras, and even 1 inch sensor cameras. It's just a physics limitation. Overall, the iPhone 7 Plus cameras allow for even better photos than before due to the DNG format inclusion, faster aperture, and just faster processing ability. If I don't have my other cameras on me, the iPhone is my go-to solution.

Edit:
Hmmmmmm, photos aren't loading? Crud, might need lower resolution.
Here's a link in the meantime:
http://prints.alexanderchiu.com/p195117461

 

[M. Gustave]

So here is my basic dynamic range and edit range test.

...The highlights are blown in this intentionally high dynamic range scene...

Lit lightbulb filaments aren't "highlights", i.e., there's no detail in them to bother retaining. Your scene actually isn't high dynamic range, and the Apple jpeg is far better looking, IMO.

Shoot a subject wearing white clothing with detail, in bright sunlight, with shadow detail somewhere in the scene.