iPhone 15 Pro What is the difference b/w ProRAW 12MP vs. ProRaw MAX?

[MK25toLife]

Hello, aside from the megapixels, I am trying to understand the difference b/w ProRAW 12MP vs. ProRaw MAX. I have a 15 Pro. I am going to be taking a trip abroad and instead of bringing my DSL, I was going to use my phone.

ProRaw MAX takes up a ton of space obviously, but I am ok with using it as my default setting on the trip if there is a good reason to. Is it that there is more data stored within the MAX file which in turn, will allow for more dynamic range in my post-processing? Can anyone really tell the difference with the naked eye?

Your assistance in helping me understand the differences is appreciated.

 

[mariuskv]

Hello, aside from the megapixels, I am trying to understand the difference b/w ProRAW 12MP vs. ProRaw MAX. I have a 15 Pro. I am going to be taking a trip abroad and instead of bringing my DSL, I was going to use my phone.

ProRaw MAX takes up a ton of space obviously, but I am ok with using it as my default setting on the trip if there is a good reason to. Is it that there is more data stored within the MAX file which in turn, will allow for more dynamic range in my post-processing? Can anyone really tell the difference with the naked eye?

Your assistance in helping me understand the differences is appreciated.

Thats the setting i am using

 

[schnitzel-pretzel]

ProRAW MAX is a 48MP image. Or at least, most of the time, it will take a 48MP image, light permitting. Yes, it will have significantly more detail. You should see this when zooming in on an image or displaying it on a panel larger than your phone. The 12MP ProRAW might as well not exist, IMO.

I am not sure I would confidently think it can take the place of your DSLR. ProRAW has a lot of noise reduction baked in, giving things an unnaturally smooth look. If you would have done less noise reduction yourself, you can't undo it, since setting noise reduction to 0 in the DNG file you get doesn't remove the baked-in NR (edit: this is more obvious in low light shots, where the NR causes a smoothed look -- in broad daylight it's less noticeable). Also, the exposure stitching just isn't very good IMO. I don't know how Apple has managed to get worse at this over time, but when the camera merges multiple exposures to get more dynamic range, haloing occurs quite often.

For example, this timestamped YouTube link shows a comparison between the 15 Pro ProRAW MAX shot and a Canon R5. Note that the iPhone seems to get great colors and exposure, but you can pretty clearly see a bright halo outline where the ground meets the sky, especially towards the right hand side of the image, which is a typical HDR exposure stitching artifact. The mirrorless R5 doesn't have this artifact.

At risk of sounding like ChatGPT... I'd say, in summary, definitely use ProRAW MAX over 12MP, but expect artifacts. If I may, I would suggest looking at using Halide. Somehow, their photo app with "enable smartest processing" toggled OFF seems to get great 48MP JPEGs with lots of dynamic range but none of these artifacts. I honestly think what "enable smartest processing" OFF does, is disable Deep Fusion and Smart HDR, but still keep the basic HDR multi-exposure.

 

[MK25toLife]

ProRAW MAX is a 48MP image. Or at least, most of the time, it will take a 48MP image, light permitting. Yes, it will have significantly more detail. You should see this when zooming in on an image or displaying it on a panel larger than your phone. The 12MP ProRAW might as well not exist, IMO.

I am not sure I would confidently think it can take the place of your DSLR. ProRAW has a lot of noise reduction baked in, giving things an unnaturally smooth look. If you would have done less noise reduction yourself, you can't undo it, since setting noise reduction to 0 in the DNG file you get doesn't remove the baked-in NR (edit: this is more obvious in low light shots, where the NR causes a smoothed look -- in broad daylight it's less noticeable). Also, the exposure stitching just isn't very good IMO. I don't know how Apple has managed to get worse at this over time, but when the camera merges multiple exposures to get more dynamic range, haloing occurs quite often.

For example, this timestamped YouTube link shows a comparison between the 15 Pro ProRAW MAX shot and a Canon R5. Note that the iPhone seems to get great colors and exposure, but you can pretty clearly see a bright halo outline where the ground meets the sky, especially towards the right hand side of the image, which is a typical HDR exposure stitching artifact. The mirrorless R5 doesn't have this artifact.

At risk of sounding like ChatGPT... I'd say, in summary, definitely use ProRAW MAX over 12MP, but expect artifacts. If I may, I would suggest looking at using Halide. Somehow, their photo app with "enable smartest processing" toggled OFF seems to get great 48MP JPEGs with lots of dynamic range but none of these artifacts. I honestly think what "enable smartest processing" OFF does, is disable Deep Fusion and Smart HDR, but still keep the basic HDR multi-exposure.

Thank you for your thorough and detailed response! I am definitely not expecting my 15 Pro to produce the level of quality my DSLR does but at this point in time, the benefits of the size of the phone far outweigh (no pun intended) how heavy and bulky my DSLR is. I know with post production I can make a very good photo but at the same time, I know I won't be able to get the same quality as my DSLR but I'll just have to live with that. I will look into Halide, thanks again!