Apple ProRAW vs HEIF files with regards to size and post processing.

[swandy]

I just got my first Pro iPhone (the iPhone 15) and have been playing around with the different file types - ProRAW and HEIF (and a bit of normal JPEGS).

I have realized that the ProRAW - especially if using the 48MP version of the sensor - are huge. (The 48MP HEIF files are a lot more reasonable in size.) And I was wondering if the ProRAW files are really worth using. I do some post processing with various apps - more so on my iMac than on my iPhone - and I always remember reading that "RAW is much better than JPEGs especially if you post process" and understanding why. Does that also hold for iPhone ProRAW files as far as the way they handle post processing? Just can't see - for my purposes at least - if it is worth keeping these huge files on my iPhone, having them sent to my wife's iPhone (we have a shared library) and my iPad mini (same Apple ID).

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[r.harris1]

I don't quite understand ProRAW in detail, but from what I can gather, it's got raw data plus some scene specific information on color, exposure, the computational photography stuff and a few other things that can be brought into the image - by appropriate software - for later processing. You get raw flexibility and "then some". I'll be getting my first raw capable iPhone in a month or so (currently on X), and will play with it a bit more. Phone images for me are fairly rare and not sure how much I'd shoot raw given how I use any images I take on the devices, but it seems intriguing enough if I really want to spend time getting the most out of them. We'll see. You're right, it is a lot of storage though.

 

[r.harris1]

This may or may not be of interest to you, but I'll post it here for others too. I ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole yesterday trying to learn more about ProRAW as there's not a tremendous amount of good information on it. I found a very informative YouTube video interview with Ben Sandofsky, one of the founders/developers of the Halide camera app (which I've used and do like). It's a good watch if you have 20-ish minutes and there are other resources like the article Ben wrote on it.

https://www.lux.camera/understanding-proraw/

 

[Treebark]

This may or may not be of interest to you, but I'll post it here for others too. ..

Glad you did, it was a great video. I did see on Halide's latest blog post that they, and presumably other third party devs, don't have access to the 24MP Heif process Apple is doing. Some apps are downsampling 48MPs but that isn't quite the same as the pipeline Apple is using from the main camera to get the 24MP Heif.

I can see in good conditions (lighting, etc.) switching to Pro default (either ProRAW Max or HEIF Max 48mp) to make sure one captures the most clarity, but it almost feels like you better be very, very sure you can post process better than whatever 24MP HEIF pipeline in the camera processing can do.