Lightroom Mobile is far and away my most used app on my phone and iPad, and Adobe have just suped it up even more. The latest version of the app adds power to the integrated camera by unlocking the ability to shoot RAW HDR from within the app. That means you’ll have greater control over the colors and tones of the pictures captured on your mobile device. And yes, this is for both iOS on Apple phones and for Android (affected models are listed below).

The thing that blows my mind is that this app continues to be included with your Creative Cloud subscription at no additional cost.

RAW HDR

Your phone probably already has an HDR mode, which takes two pictures and blends them into a single jpeg with better control over extreme tones. However, this new setting in Lr Mobile’s camera will take three pictures at varying exposures, align them, and then blend them together and automatically tone map them. Even better, the resulting image file is still a .dng, which is RAW and allows you full white balance control in your finishing. Since Lr Mobile is the fastest way to get great pictures on Instagram, this update is going to make a big impact on that platform, and I’ve no doubt many people will find ways to maximize their phones and create stunning photographs worthy of sharing anywhere.

Here’s a quick tutorial from Adobe’s Russel Brown:

DNG Syncs With Your Computer

The biggest benefits to using the Lr Mobile camera are that it shoots in DNG, and it syncs back to your computer automatically importing to your Lightroom Catalogue. That’s great because you completely skip the step of importing and you get all the benefits of a RAW HDR file. I suppose you could sync your phone pictures with your iCloud account and create an auto-import rule in Lightroom…or you could just use Lr Mobile, which also has all the editing tools you’re familiar with from Lightroom.

Android Gets Local Adjustments

By the way, along with this update, Android users now get the Radial Filter and Gradient Filter. These are wonderful tools for finishing on your phone, and the settings even sync back to your computer, too. This auto syncing truly makes life easier.

Affected Models

All users can download the update, but only these models get the full HDR capability. It’s almost enough to make me update my trusty iPhone 5s.

iPhones:

iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, iPhone SE, or iPad Pro 9.7″

Android:

Samsung S7, S7 Edge, Google Pixel, and Pixel XL

Click here to subscribe to the Creative Cloud.

Click here to see the complete press release from Adobe.