Apple wanted to improve the photographic aspect with the development of the new ProRAW mode. A priori it may be an unknown term for many people but in this article we try to clarify its operation and also the devices that are compatible with this functionality.
The protagonists of ProRAW
Apple introduced in 2020 the new ProRAW photography mode that will allow you to perform a wide customization task on an image you take with your camera. Traditionally there are two great worlds in photography: RAW and JPEG . The second of these is what we are used to in the iPhone ecosystem and is the most basic. In this format, the photographs are processed by the iPhone itself and give you a result that can hardly be modified. The white or color balance, exposure, noise reduction or sharpness among other aspects are decided by the operating system. The user is limited only to apply Smart HDR, Deep Fusion or night mode depending on the photographs he wants to limit in a format already evolved to HEIC. In this way the image that captures certain data but leaves many others in oblivion, compressing the image to the maximum so that the result obtained can be visualized at the moment.
This does not happen in RAW, a mode that will be very internalized in professional photography users. In a very simple way with this mode you get a ‘raw’ photo that is not processed and that can be edited later in other programs. With this crude, the camera captures values determined by the photographer but also takes other data from different situations. This is extremely interesting since a posteriori it can be edited by setting other values that you did not consider at the time of taking the photograph. In this way you will not have to repeat a photo when you are editing it to change data. Obviously this has different problems, such as the fact that it takes up much more space or that the processing takes longer. But at the end of the whole process you will have the perfect photograph in JPEG format as we have commented previously.
ProRAW, the convergence between RAW and JPEG
As we’ve seen before, there are two totally different worlds between JPEG and RAW. But Apple through ProRAW has managed to create the perfect convergence of both modes. In Apple’s words “in the middle is virtue” and this is what they have achieved with this new photographic mode for the iPhone. On the one hand, it offers the possibility of rough editing a photograph by activating the RAW mode, or opting for the traditional JPEG mode so that the operating system decides what is best depending on the conditions of the photograph. This is an option that can be activated or deactivated at will in the native camera application of the operating system.
ProRAW will work on all four cameras on an iPhone and also integrates with night mode. The format obtained is DNG where all the necessary information is stored in 12-bit colors. The problem with these types of files is that they will have a considerable weight as they carry so much information so that it can be edited later. And this is where the importance of ProRAW comes in, that the raw file can be exported to professional external programs for editing of all possible values. This makes it very close to the result of a professional camera of thousands of euros in a photographic studio. Although it is important to note that they can also be edited in the Photos application itself.
When taking a photograph with this mode activated in the camera application, several frames of images are taken maintaining the best data. The person responsible for creating the photographic archive is undoubtedly Deep Fusion, which analyzes the image pixel by pixel to extract all the information. Simultaneously, the processor is in charge of doing an extraordinary job to be able to do the processing and avoid that the shutter is extremely long. We must bear in mind that the time it would take for the photograph to be processed would be extremely long. This has had to be reduced with the work of the processor as a whole. As a whole, Apple specifies that the size of a single photograph is around 25 MB.
ProRAW Compatible Devices
Apple has limited this function to specific iPhones that have the triple camera and the LiDAR sensor. It requires all the ability possible to do such a thorough job to make this type of raw photos. That is why it can only be used on the following devices:
- iPhone 12 Pro.
- iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Besides hardware, software is also very important. That is why you need to have iOS version 14.3 or higher installed (now in beta phase) to be able to activate the possibility of activating the ProRAW options.
Activate ProRAW on iPhone
This is a feature that is not active by default on the iPhones we have specified above. If all the requirements are met, you need to activate the function manually by following these steps:
- Go to the iPhone settings.
- Scroll to the ‘Camera’ section.
- Click on ‘Formats’
- Enter ‘Capture photos’.
- Activate the ‘Apple ProRAW’ option by previously reading the description at the bottom.
Obviously if you do not activate it you will be able to continue taking photographs by default in a JPGE mode with a normal size. By activating this mode, in the camera you can activate if you want the ‘RAW’ or ‘JPEG’ mode just in the upper left corner.
Function dedicated to professionals
With everything we have discussed, it must be borne in mind that this is a function dedicated to people who are imbued with photographic editing. Knowing how to adjust the values of a photograph is essential to take advantage of the raw RAW file in order to get the most out of it. If you are a basic user who is not interested in carrying out an editing task afterwards, you can let the operating system decide for you the most optimal result through post processing to have a final result in compressed JPEG format ready to upload to different social networks.
Compatibility with third-party applications
Apple doesn’t want to limit this option in the native camera app. That is why the API will be public to developers so that it can be integrated into other applications externally. This guarantees the possibility for everyone to take advantage of all the camera functionalities that are allowed.
And as is obvious, professional editing programs will also be adapted to the ProRAW format with the aim that they are edited in the best possible way.
