Help me with RAW files

[Wando64]

I have recently acquired an iPhone 12 Pro and I am trying to understand to which degree I can rely on it for serious photography on those occasions I don’t have my camera with me (I.e. most of the time).

I find the JPGS generated by the camera to be hit and miss.
They are usually over sharpened. Sometimes to a point where irrimediabile damage is done to the image.
In these cases the RAW is a lifesaver.

However sometimes the in camera sharpening is so surprisingly good that it appears to add real detail compared to the RAW image.
I know this is an illusion, but on those occasion I am simply unable to recreate the same level of apparent detail by manipulating the RAW.

I have been using the Photos App to edit the RAW file, with mixed results but mainly poor (see detail/sharpening comment above).
I have also tried developing the RAW with Affinity (on iPad), which works considerably better with detail but requires a lot of work with colours, saturation and contrast.

What do you use to develop your RAW files? And how do they compare with the in camera JPGS?

EDIT: Specifically pertaining to iPhone 12Pro RAW files development on iOS and/or iPadOS.

Thanks

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Think of a JPEG as a cake from a store. It's done, and it is what it is. A RAW image, though, is the ingredients of the cake. You're the baker, and with RAW you bake the cake you want, not the one the store selected for you.

I use Lightroom to develop my RAWs - which are from a DSLR, not a phone - and they are better than the JPEGs the camera outputs. I can finely correct the exposure, fine-tune the color balance & saturation, etc. And I can manage the sharpness based on what size I will export the image. Different size exported images need different amounts of sharpness. Also different kinds of images (landscapes vs astrophotography vs portraits vs sports photos) demand a different "look," and therefore different sharpening.

We perceive digital photographic sharpness in part due to the edges of pixels. JPEG processing tends to etch those "edges," sometimes even oversharpening them. So JPEGs look sharp right out of the camera, but the image can also be overcooked to get that sharp look. With RAW images, the detail is there, but you need to bring it out with software. An unprocessed RAW image looks flat and dull. But it doesn't take much to make it look vibrant and sharp.

So when processing in RAW you need to do your own sharpening, and you have better tools available on your Mac or iPad than your camera does. This article may help. I don't use Photos and I don't have Affinity, but I'm sure there are people here who can be more helpful with those specifics than I am. Good luck!

 

[carylee2002]

I use Infinity and Divinci

 

[Wando64]

I use Infinity and Divinci

Are you talking about RAW video by any chance?

 

[Wando64]

Think of a JPEG as a cake from a store. It's done, and it is what it is. A RAW image, though, is the ingredients of the cake. You're the baker, and with RAW you bake the cake you want, not the one the store selected for you.

I use Lightroom to develop my RAWs - which are from a DSLR, not a phone - and they are better than the JPEGs the camera outputs. I can finely correct the exposure, fine-tune the color balance & saturation, etc. And I can manage the sharpness based on what size I will export the image. Different size exported images need different amounts of sharpness. Also different kinds of images (landscapes vs astrophotography vs portraits vs sports photos) demand a different "look," and therefore different sharpening.

We perceive digital photographic sharpness in part due to the edges of pixels. JPEG processing tends to etch those "edges," sometimes even oversharpening them. So JPEGs look sharp right out of the camera, but the image can also be overcooked to get that sharp look. With RAW images, the detail is there, but you need to bring it out with software. An unprocessed RAW image looks flat and dull. But it doesn't take much to make it look vibrant and sharp.

So when processing in RAW you need to do your own sharpening, and you have better tools available on your Mac or iPad than your camera does. This article may help. I don't use Photos and I don't have Affinity, but I'm sure there are people here who can be more helpful with those specifics than I am. Good luck!

Thanks. I appreciate the time you took to write this which is all absolutely correct. I am already familiar with RAW shooting and development from my Canon DSLR equipment.

In this case I am specifically asking about the development of iPhone 12 Pro RAW on iOS or iPadOS.
Sorry if that wasn’t sufficiently clear.

 

[macsound1]

While I often do develop RAW photos, it's often too much work when shooting on iPhone. I believe it's because the iPhone is doing way more than a DSLR is doing to get a JPG shot looking the way it does. It'll do multiple exposures, deep fusion, partial image grading when it detects bright background vs foreground.
All of that adds up to an hour tweaking by hand.

When I take photos with my DSLR, I'm paying more attention to those details, choosing the right lens and exposure and ISO to get the shot I'm looking for, and really only process the RAW to line up the black levels without getting the macroblocking visible in shadows on a JPG.
iPhones do soooo much processing, I don't think it's a device fit to process the raw image of.

 

[Wando64]

While I often do develop RAW photos, it's often too much work when shooting on iPhone. I believe it's because the iPhone is doing way more than a DSLR is doing to get a JPG shot looking the way it does. It'll do multiple exposures, deep fusion, partial image grading when it detects bright background vs foreground.
All of that adds up to an hour tweaking by hand.

When I take photos with my DSLR, I'm paying more attention to those details, choosing the right lens and exposure and ISO to get the shot I'm looking for, and really only process the RAW to line up the black levels without getting the macroblocking visible in shadows on a JPG.
iPhones do soooo much processing, I don't think it's a device fit to process the raw image of.

I think you are right.
Some of the processing visible in the JPG version is very very good and quite difficult to recreate from the RAW file (Hence my original question)
However, in some cases the JPG file contains some serious faults, usually from extremely aggressive sharpening.
In those cases, the manual processing of the RAW file is worthwhile, even if only to recover the damaged parts of the image, but this type of selective merging of two images can only be done on a full desktop or laptop computer.

 

[Wando64]

I do wish one could turn down the JPG in camera sharpening to more acceptable levels.

 

[arkitect]

I do wish one could turn down the JPG in camera sharpening to more acceptable levels.

This is true.
Sometimes it feels as if I had run a cheapo Watercolour Filter over my image…

There used to be a setting to toggle it on/off — I think with iPhone 12 it disappeared.
One of those "Apple Reasons".

 

[Laird Knox]

I only process the images in the Photo app on the phone so no real processing.

What method are you using to sharpen your images in Photoshop?

 

[Fishrrman]

"I do wish one could turn down the JPG in camera sharpening to more acceptable levels."

My answer is specific to Canon, because that's what I have.
Can you not do this by modifying your picture style settings?
Red menu in setup;
Choose a "Picture Style" (from the available options);
Click "INFO Detail set".
Make adjustments as necessary and save changes.