Last night, Apple pushed out the first update to iOS 10 (there had been a lot of reports of people locking up their phones when updating).  I plugged the phone into the computer, did a full backup, then installed. Flash forward to this morning and it’s time to test the feature I’ve been begging for.  RAW on the iPhone.  It’s not magic, but it sure makes a big difference.

ios10

What you’ll need

  • A phone or tablet that can run iOS 10 and supports Raw
  • One that has a 12-megapixel sensor, like the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPad Pro
  • An app that shoots raw (I tested both Lightroom Mobile and 500px Raw which I found easier).

What happens

Well, it’s still a small sensor, so you won’t get miracles.  But the files are MUCH easier to post-process.  They’ve got a ton more latitude.  Sharpening and noise reduction works world’s better.  But since seeing is believing, here’s a walk through.

Here’s the images too (although shrunk down a bit).  These aren’t trying to win awards… today was very much just a testing day of what happens in low light, mixed light, etc.  I also did some HDR brackets in raw… but that’s for another day.

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