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 p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · iPhone 15 Pro Max ProRAW vs RAW, Editing, and maximizing image quality | |
CanadaMark wrote:
I think the reason you don't see this as a very popular topic is that 99% of users are not shooting RAW images with their iPhones.
The biggest reason is that when you shoot RAW on an iPhone, you lose most of the computational image stacking benefits which reduces noise and gives you a tone-mapped HDR with the click of a button. Samsung is currently the only smartphone manufacturer that offers computationally stacked HDRs in RAW format. The amount of effort it would take to get a RAW iPhone image to look as good as the automatically processed JPEG is quite a lot and that just isn't something most users are going to do.
Another thing to consider is that the iPhone sensors are still extremely small, and there is only so much you can do with the RAW files. The processing leeway, noise performance, and lens quality are nowhere near that of a 'regular' camera and all those shortcomings are brought to the forefront when you shoot RAW.
Finally, the iPhone uses a Quad Bayer sensor, which behaves much more like a 12MP sensor even though it can technically shoot 48MP and has 48M photosites. This is not the same as an increase from 12MP to 48MP on a traditional Bayer sensor that you would find in a MILC or similar. Quad Bayer arrays use blocks of 4 pixels of the same color, meaning the pixels with different colors are farther apart, and demosaicing is less effective. When used in 12MP mode, each group of 4 pixels behaves as one for better low light sensitivity, and they can also take 2 exposures at the same time which assists with the automatic HDR processing and night modes. The reason smartphone manufacturers like Quad Bayer sensors is because it allows them to advertise higher MP counts (which customers love), and the dual exposure capability assists with certain computational photography processes.
In low light, regardless of file format, your best image quality will be in 12MP mode, and in bright sunlight you will see a small increase in resolution using 48MP mode but you might notice that you still prefer 12MP mode if you are pixel peeping and sometimes the 12MP images still have better detail. The higher MP modes work best in very bright light.
The reason programs like DXO/Topaz do not support Apple ProRAW with their RAW models is because it's not really a RAW image, they are already demosaiced, sometimes contain information from multiple frames, and are pre-processed to a certain degree (probably a ton of distortion and vignette correction) despite being labeled a RAW image. They are in a DNG file container so that most third party programs can open them without issue, but they are not actually RAW files....Show more →
Hi Mark,
I understand your point, but given the nature of this forum, I figure there would be an interest in determining which format and mode will yield the highest-quality photo. A quick search on Google doesn't seem to show any detailed articles about the topic. I get that most people won't care. It seems like the discussions on Reddit are mostly opinions. With the advanced software and hardware on the market today, I figure there may be a way to get better results post-processing the files through LR, Topaz, or even DxO.
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