Adobe Lightroom for iOS now supports RAW shooting on iPhone 7, 7 Plus

Posted:
in iPhone
Two weeks after Adobe brought DNG image file format support to iOS with Lightroom for mobile, the company on Thursday updated its app to take full advantage of Apple's new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.









Lightroom for mobile version 2.5.2 adds to an already impressive set of features debuted earlier this month, the most important being the ability to capture RAW digital files in-app.



With today's update, Adobe incorporates lens and sensor profiles for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, bringing Apple's latest flagship handsets into the fold. Along with in-app shooting, Lightroom has been optimized for iPhone 7 hardware, including the dual-lens array on iPhone 7 Plus, and features improved color, lens, and noise profiles for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus DNG files.



RAW file formats like Adobe's DNG incorporate all image information taken from a camera's sensor in a process that delivers higher quality results than compressed JPEG files. Further, RAW offers users greater post-production flexibility because all sensor information is left intact.



In addition to in-app RAW capture, Lightroom version 2.5.2 supports the DCI-P3 wide color gamut display included in iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.



Adobe with today's release also took the opportunity to squash some bugs and enhance performance.



Adobe Lightroom for Mobile version 2.5.2 can be downloaded for free from the iOS App Store.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    I setup my new iPhone 7Plus yesterday and with excitement started to use the new camera.  I took a photo and emailed it to one of my accounts so I could see what the software on my MBPro thought about it. In the Camera app there is no way to set the format to RAW or DNG.  I even looked in the phone's settings and found some video format settings but no reference to this new raw setting.  Further research showed you can get this new raw format if you download Adobe LightRoom 2.5 and take photos from within LightRoom.  So I did and emailed myself a photo but it was a 1.4 mb jpg.  My next try got me a jpg a little over 4.1 mb - now you're talkin!  However, I still have not figured out exactly how to take a photo in raw format and save or export the photo in that raw format to use it on my Mac Pro / Thunderbolt Monitor setup.

    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?

    Having been using computers since they were called micro computers, and having been a photographer for 60 years, I have an idea how these things work - how is a person without my expertise supposed to use something like this?
  • Reply 2 of 10
    JinTechJinTech Posts: 1,020member
    gersteas said:
    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?
    I imagine when 10.1 comes out, they will stat discussing the RAW format. It would also be nice if you could shoot RAW video. 
  • Reply 3 of 10
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    gersteas said:
    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?

    Having been using computers since they were called micro computers, and having been a photographer for 60 years, I have an idea how these things work - how is a person without my expertise supposed to use something like this?
    It's quite a bit easier to figure out than developing film and using an enlarger. 

    I went to a Lightroom user group for a hands-on demo the day after the new LR App dropped.

     I'd suggest the Adobe Lightroom blog as a starting point. 
  • Reply 4 of 10
    JinTech said:
    gersteas said:
    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?
    I imagine when 10.1 comes out, they will stat discussing the RAW format. It would also be nice if you could shoot RAW video. 
    Doubt a phone could handle raw video, unless it is at a low frame per second speed.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    liejorooliejoroo Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    gersteas said:
    how is a person without my expertise supposed to use something like this?
    press the "JPG" icon at the top and switch to "DNG" It's not your fault. It's pretty bad UX, but it is free and fun to use.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    foggyhill said:
    JinTech said:
    gersteas said:
    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?
    I imagine when 10.1 comes out, they will stat discussing the RAW format. It would also be nice if you could shoot RAW video. 
    Doubt a phone could handle raw video, unless it is at a low frame per second speed.
    Black Magic made a relatively cheap video camera a few years ago that captured RAW at 2.5K resolution. I'd imagine that with a cropped capture it would be possible to capture RAW video. 

    I wouldn't hold my breath for Apple to make it happen. Maybe Black Magic will make an App for RAW video like Adobe made the RAW still capture App for iOS. 
  • Reply 7 of 10
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member
    gersteas said:
    I setup my new iPhone 7Plus yesterday and with excitement started to use the new camera.  I took a photo and emailed it to one of my accounts so I could see what the software on my MBPro thought about it. In the Camera app there is no way to set the format to RAW or DNG.  I even looked in the phone's settings and found some video format settings but no reference to this new raw setting.  Further research showed you can get this new raw format if you download Adobe LightRoom 2.5 and take photos from within LightRoom.  So I did and emailed myself a photo but it was a 1.4 mb jpg.  My next try got me a jpg a little over 4.1 mb - now you're talkin!  However, I still have not figured out exactly how to take a photo in raw format and save or export the photo in that raw format to use it on my Mac Pro / Thunderbolt Monitor setup.

    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?

    Having been using computers since they were called micro computers, and having been a photographer for 60 years, I have an idea how these things work - how is a person without my expertise supposed to use something like this?
    I'm a bit behind the power curve not having an iPhone 7 Plus yet, but If Lightroom Mobile is the choice for RAW output, then my expectation is that we should start seeing complete iPhone to OS X workflows within LR with the release of the upcoming Mac Book Pro's. We'll need a little patience and persistence to get to that point.

    As an aside, DPReview has a studio test up for the iPhone 7 and they ended up have to redo the one for the iPhone 7 Plus; testing a dual lens system where there are two focal lengths, two fields of view, and two sensors sizes is yet to be figured out. Throw in the computational imaging that is controlling the ISO/Shutter speed and it isn't too difficult to imagine that studio tests on 2D targets as a means of grading IQ is a complete fail. Ignore these for the most part, and follow the real world photographers that are getting mostly exceptional results from the beta based on their real world images.

    polymnia said:
    foggyhill said:
    JinTech said:
    gersteas said:
    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?
    I imagine when 10.1 comes out, they will stat discussing the RAW format. It would also be nice if you could shoot RAW video. 
    Doubt a phone could handle raw video, unless it is at a low frame per second speed.
    Black Magic made a relatively cheap video camera a few years ago that captured RAW at 2.5K resolution. I'd imagine that with a cropped capture it would be possible to capture RAW video. 

    I wouldn't hold my breath for Apple to make it happen. Maybe Black Magic will make an App for RAW video like Adobe made the RAW still capture App for iOS. 
    Black Magic does have some economical cinema cameras in either 2.5K or 4K that output RAW or ProRes to an SSD.

    https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/cinemacameras
  • Reply 8 of 10
    gersteas said:
    I setup my new iPhone 7Plus yesterday and with excitement started to use the new camera.  I took a photo and emailed it to one of my accounts so I could see what the software on my MBPro thought about it. In the Camera app there is no way to set the format to RAW or DNG.  I even looked in the phone's settings and found some video format settings but no reference to this new raw setting.  Further research showed you can get this new raw format if you download Adobe LightRoom 2.5 and take photos from within LightRoom.  So I did and emailed myself a photo but it was a 1.4 mb jpg.  My next try got me a jpg a little over 4.1 mb - now you're talkin!  However, I still have not figured out exactly how to take a photo in raw format and save or export the photo in that raw format to use it on my Mac Pro / Thunderbolt Monitor setup.

    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?

    Having been using computers since they were called micro computers, and having been a photographer for 60 years, I have an idea how these things work - how is a person without my expertise supposed to use something like this?
    I was trying to figure out the same thing when I received my iPhone 7 Plus the other day. I guess I missunderstood Apple. I was thinking there would have been a setting to turn on RAW, but there isn't. As of now, RAW is only supported by using third party apps. Besides Lightroom, you can use ProShot, Camera+, ProCamera, ProCam, and others to shoot in RAW. Inside those apps, you can e-mail yourself or AirDrop the file to your Mac Pro. 
  • Reply 9 of 10
    gersteas said:

    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?

    I think Apple gave Raw format to the developers, not to the end users, so there's no Apple UI for it. Third-party apps can access the Raw output from the camera and use iOS functions internally to process it. See the 2016 WWDC videos for more info.

    Incidentally, it is unwise of the article to describe DNG as a Raw format. DNG is intended to be able to retain all the information from a typical Raw format (there are many) but is designed to be portable amongst processing systems. Raw formats are generally proprietary, usually closed (unpublished) and tied to a greater to lesser extent to hardware in the camera that produced them. DNG is (will be) an open standard that does more processing on the data to get it into a standard format but aims to retain all the information. Contrast this to 'end-product' formats like JPEG or even TIFF that generally contain information-losing processing (e.g. colour profiles), compression etc.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    command_f said:
    gersteas said:

    Question: why is it that Apple gives us an upgraded camera with 2 lenses and decent sensor with the ability to produce a raw format image, and then virtually no instructions on how to actually use it?

    I think Apple gave Raw format to the developers, not to the end users, so there's no Apple UI for it. Third-party apps can access the Raw output from the camera and use iOS functions internally to process it. See the 2016 WWDC videos for more info.

    Incidentally, it is unwise of the article to describe DNG as a Raw format. DNG is intended to be able to retain all the information from a typical Raw format (there are many) but is designed to be portable amongst processing systems. Raw formats are generally proprietary, usually closed (unpublished) and tied to a greater to lesser extent to hardware in the camera that produced them. DNG is (will be) an open standard that does more processing on the data to get it into a standard format but aims to retain all the information. Contrast this to 'end-product' formats like JPEG or even TIFF that generally contain information-losing processing (e.g. colour profiles), compression etc.
    That is not how DNG works. I've been processing proprietary RAW formats and DNGs for years. I'm not a programmer, so how the ines and zeros work is beyond me, but Adobe's Camera RAW processor is the canonical DNG application. It is capable of converting ALL supported proprietary RAW formats to DNG format. These converted files are indistinguishable from the original proprietary RAW files as I edit them. 
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