By JACOB FRIDLUND
Staff Writer
Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max has already proven itself to pack one of the best cameras it’s possible to get on a phone. The addition of ProRaw takes it further, though, and makes this phone camera an even bigger rival to professional DSLRs. I’m a professional photographer, and I spent some time with ProRaw in beta form on the 12 Pro Max before it officially launched in iOS 14.3. I shoot in raw all the time in my professional work, and Apple’s ProRaw, even in its beta form, has allowed me to work with images from my iPhone exactly as I would with images from my pro DSLR. I’m very impressed.
ProRaw is Apple’s version of the raw files that pros typically use on DSLRs. They’re called raw because unlike JPEG images they don’t save information about color, sharpening or other effects applied by the camera. They usually result in a more natural base image to post process in software such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. ProRaw works in much the same way, but unlike DNG raw files you can take in third-party apps, ProRaw makes use of Apple’s computational photography for deep fusion HDR. The result is a better-looking base image that still gives a lot more flexibility for editing than you’d get with JPEG images.