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Three rear cameras and a LiDAR scanner on the iPhone 12 Pro.
The next version of Apple iOS 14 will be iOS 14.3 (unless there is an unexpected surprise that requires something before). It’s already in public beta testing so it might not be too far off, and it includes a cool update for the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max: ProRAW support.
Given that the cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro, and especially the iPhone 12 Pro Max, are the best yet on an Apple phone, this is great news. Apple had revealed that it would arrive before the end of the year, but it could arrive earlier than expected.
So why does it matter?
Ask any avid photographer and they’ll tell you that shooting RAW is the best. RAW is a file format that captures all image data recorded by a camera sensor, unlike JPEG, which loses some data in compression and then more each time you open, adjust, and save it. RAW also works well in workflows like Lightroom and Aperture. That’s not to say that RAW is always better – files are much larger to begin with, and it can take longer to record all that data. So if you’re shooting in burst mode, you can slow things down, for example. For casual snapshots, RAW can be excessive.
But, at the moment, while it is absolutely possible to shoot RAW on iPhone, you cannot do it in native camera app. You have to turn to VSCO, Halide, ProCam, or other apps to be able to do that.
That’s all well and good, but assuming you like the features that the iPhone’s camera app offers, like portrait mode, night mode, DeepFusion, etc. Although some apps have their own versions, the simplicity and fluidity of Apple’s camera apps is compelling.
Apple ProRAW is designed to be the best of both worlds as it is built into the native camera app. In iOS 14.3, you will be able to enable it in Settings, which means there is a button to turn ProRAW on and off.
Apple says the flexibility and control of RAW is combined with the benefits of what it calls “computational photography,” that is, all of the features that manifest in the powerful processor with its neural engine and machine learning capabilities.
Shoot in ProRAW and a new deep image file is created, with all those Apple specialties, like Smart HDR and other multi-frame image processing, which are fed into the moment of image capture, on all four iPhone cameras. 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. , including the front camera.
Images can be edited as usual in the Apple Photos app.
For some users this will be overkill, but it offers an introduction to more advanced photography that will appeal to enthusiasts and, who knows, may tempt others to give it a try.
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