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[2024 Guide] How to Use ProRAW on iPhone 15/14/13 Pro (Max)
ProRAW can give you more control when it comes to editing your photos. Read this guide to see how to use ProRAW on iPhone to get a perfect shoot.
By Lena / Updated on December 28, 2023
About Apple ProRAW
ProRAW is one RAW photo format released with iOS 14.3. Most photographers prefer to capture RAW photos when they shoot with their DSLR cameras. Now with an iPhone, you can use ProRAW on iPhone to shoot professional-level photos without an expensive DSLR.
What is Apple ProRAW?
The RAW format is designed to capture every color and detail, however, RAW images are typically pretty large and require a lot of processing power to handle. To enable the iPhone to handle them as well, Apple created the ProRAW format, a format that is fairly close to RAW.
In short, Apple ProRAW combines the information of a RAW format along with iPhone image processing, which can give you greater creative control when editing the exposure, color and white balance.
Which iPhones can take ProRAW photos?
iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max can shoot ProRAW images.
Which cameras can take ProRAW photos?
As long as your iPhone supports ProRAW, then you can take ProRAW photos using any of its cameras, including the front camera. It is able to use ProRAW with Smart HDR, Deep Fusion, Night Mode. However, it’s not possible to use ProRAW with Live Photos, Portrait Mode or Videos.
The advantages and disadvantages of ProRAW photos
The most significant advantage is that you can adjust the details of your photos as you wish. ProRAW is an ideal format if you want to do advanced editing. The huge disadvantage of shooting in ProRaw is the size of the files. ProRAW photos are much larger than HEIF/JPG compressed photos. A ProRAW image will be about 10x larger than a HEIF/JPG.
How to use ProRAW on iPhone
Let’s start to see how to use ProRAW on iPhone 14 Pro (Max), iPhone 13 Pro (Max), iPhone 12 Pro (Max). If you want to shoot ProRAW on iPhone, you should first enable ProRAW in Settings app.
How to enable ProRAW on iPhone
You should first enable ProRAW in Settings so that you can use ProRAW on iPhone. Below are the steps to turn on ProRAW on iPhone.
- Go to Settings app and tap Camera.
- Choose Formats at the top.
- Toggle on Apple ProRAW.
If you are using an iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max, you can choose to capture ProRAW photos in 12 MP or 48 MP. But only photos that you take with the main camera at 1x can be saved in 48 MP.
How to shoot ProRAW on iPhone
Once you have enabled ProRAW in Settings, there will be a RAW icon in the top right corner (or in the top left in landscape mode). You can tap that icon to turn on ProRAW on iPhone and take photos.
- Open Camera app.
- Tap
RAWto enable it for a photo. When it is enabled, the diagonal line will disappear. - Then you can press the shutter to take a ProRAW image.
If you want to preserve the ProRAW setting, you can go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings to turn on Apple ProRAW.
How to edit ProRAW photos on iPhone
We shoot ProRAW on iPhone because we want to edit them to perfection. You can edit ProRAW photos with Photos app or third-party photo processing tools.
🔧 There will be a RAW label in the top left corner to indicate that it is an image taken with ProRAW. You can tap the Edit icon to process the image.
🔧 If you want to make more advanced editing, RAW Power, Lightroom, Dark Room, VSCO, and Snapseed are good choices, and you can get them from the App Store.
🔧 Edited photos will be stored in jpg format. If you want to keep both images, you can duplicate the image before editing. (Related: How to duplicate photos on iPhone)
How to transfer ProRAW photos
Now you know how to use ProRAW on iPhone. Next, let’s see how to share ProRAW photos. The ProRAW images you capture with your iPhone are in .dng format, the industry standard digital negative file format. You can choose to transfer ProRAW images in .dng or .jpg.
► You can share the original ProRAW file from your iPhone to another iPhone/iPad via AirDrop or FoneTool for iOS, one free iOS data transfer tool.
► You can transfer original ProRAW images from iPhone to computer via Windows Photos app or FoneTool for Windows.
► If you want to transfer ProRAW images via email, please note that Mail app automatically converts the ProRAW file to a smaller JPG file.
► You can share an edited ProRAW in jpg via AirDrop, email or send with Messages.
Transfer ProRAW from iPhone to another one
ProRaw photos are usually large in size, and AirDrop may fail if you want to transfer a large number of photos. You can download FoneTool for iOS from App Store and let it help you transfer ProRAW photos from iPhone to another iPhone or iPad. Go to this how to transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone wirelessly guide to get the detailed steps.
Transfer ProRAW photos to computer
FoneTool also has one desktop app for Windows users. It is able to transfer full-resolution photos from iPhone to PC. That’s to say, FoneTool can help you transfer ProRAW photos from iPhone to PC in full resolution without compressing its quality.
- You can transfer ProRAW photos and other photos from iPhone to PC as backup and then delete them from iPhone to free up space.
- In addition, FoneTool can help you transfer ProRAW photos, edited ProRAW images or other pictures to iPhone from computer.
You can click the download button below to get FoneTool and let it help you transfer photos easily.
FAQs about Apple ProRAW
Should I turn on Apple ProRAW?
ProRAW gives you complete control over the editing process. However, photos taken in ProRAW mode can take up a lot of space on your device. You can use ProRAW on iPhone depending on your situation.
It is best to edit your photos immediately after you take them, if you keep a bunch of ProRAW photos then you will run out of space quickly.
If you are just taking everyday photos, then there is no need to waste storage space on the ProRAW photos.
What are the benefits of Apple ProRAW?
The biggest benefit of using ProRAW on iPhone is that you can shoot uncompressed images. This means you have more flexibility when editing. Besides, you will get impressive computational photo processing.
How to get ProRAW on iPhone 15, iPhone 14, iPhone 13?
Well, the list of iPhones that can shoot ProRAW is very short. iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro,iPhone 14 Pro Ma, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, are the only iPhones that support this feature. If you want to take ProRAW photos on iPhone 15, 14, 13, you can use a third-party mobile camera app like Pro Camera to achieve the goal.
Final words
Now you know how to use ProRAW on iPhone 15 Pro (Max), iPhone 14 Pro (Max), iPhone 13 Pro (Max). If you want to shoot ProRAW on iPhone, you should first enable Apple ProRAW in Settings app then turn on RAW in Camera app.
ProRAW photos can give you as much of the pure data as possible to use in editing, however, please keep in mind that they are much larger in size and can easily go through the rest of the storage space. So, you can use ProRWA to take those photos you want to edit to perfection later.