P: Export/Extract DNGs shot in Lightroom Mobile App to Camera Roll or Computer

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hello. I would like to request a feature be added to Lightroom Mobile for iOS to export RAW DNG files shot withing the iPhone Lightroom Mobile app as DNGs to the camera roll. I am trying to sync to my desktop app but apparently it's been already been synced to some other catalog I no longer have access to. I cannot proceed without deleting all the images I shot in RAW on the iPhone.

[Jao vdL]

Completely agree. There should be another way to extract the dng files than syncing.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Yup. Agreed.
If syncing is the only way, I will never use the option.

I hope Apple will release an update to shoot in DNG soon, or I will use a third app.

[Jao vdL]

I get good results shooting with ProCam 4 app (called ProCam 4 - Manual Camera + RAW on the app store). Shoots dng and saves them to the film roll. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thanks I will have a look.

[Joshua_Haftel]

Hey Tony, I can help you out. Send me an email to haftel@adobe.com

@Markinho, we are working on a way to export the DNG files from the camera. Since the DNG files are only the raw information, the edits made within Lightroom won't be visible outside of other Adobe products. The benefit of raw is that you can get access to the unprocessed image information and make adjustments directly, but that means you need a raw processor, and each raw processor is going to create different results and not be able to render other processor's tools. That's why it was designed around the lightroom ecosystem. Still, we've heard folks like yourself want the ability to still get access to the original file, so we're working on it 🙂

Josh
Product Manager for Lr Mobile

[Jao vdL]

Josh that is great to hear! One thing to remember here is that most people that want this access actually want to use the dng file in Lightroom or ACR/Photoshop, either on a second machine they have Lightroom on that is not syncing with LR/mobile (think a travel laptop while the main Lightroom syncing machine is at home/work) or because the syncing simply does not work reliably, which seems to be a problem for lots of people.

[Joshua_Haftel]

Understand that! So there's at least two things here that we need to do:

1. Fix our sync problem (speed and reliability)
2. Fix the problem that you can only have one computer connected to the same online account

Fixing these two things would help resolve the issue with getting the DNGs easier / more reliably into Lr/ACR.

There are other scenarios as well which is why we'll ALSO be adding in an export original 🙂

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Josh,
Thank you for your reply.
I like the idea of beeing able to access the DNG directly.
I use mainly the camera roll with my phone connected to the computer.
But also for quick work I use the app "GoodReader" for many cases and I would be happy to be able to "open in..." the DNG with GoodReader, and transfer the files over ftp from there.

[bryn_f]

One of those other scenarios is that with my upload speed (darn you charter cable) it takes forever to go from my phone to my computer (sitting next to each other) via the cloud. I'd like to be able to export them to a file system (partner with photosync app maybe?) so that I can make sure they are backed up immediately, and import them in to lightroom later. If I can get an .xmp file great, if not, I'll deal and sync the very few that I tweak on my phone.

[QueenAdelle]

5 months already. Fixed?

[Jao vdL]

Yes you can now export original (I.e. Dng if you shot that) to the camera roll

[QueenAdelle]

How?

[Jao vdL]

Go into the image. Tap the share icon (the square with an arrow out of it). Hit 'export original'. This should give you a dng file on your photo stream if your file was shot in dng mode.

[Edusign-SE]

Hi, I tried to do that but it was exported as a jpg file
JB

[Edusign-SE]

Another way to do it is to buy an I-Flash Device. A usb with a Lightning connector on one side and an ordinary usb connector on the other side. If you export original from Lightroom to the photo stream you can import it to the usb as a dng file. And then just plug it in to the computer.

[Jao vdL]

Where are you checking this? When I export original I definitely get a dng file in the photos. Note that the photos app on iOS cannot deal with raw files and simply shows you the embedded jpeg, but they will sync to your desktop through iCloud photo library just fine as seen in the screenshot below. Those files will import and work great in Lightroom. I have never transferred images using a USB cable from my iPhone so no clue whether that works but my guess would be yes.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

still not finding how to do it

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

Georg, let them sync up to the cloud, then they can download to Lightroom CC or Lightroom Classic on your desktop. 

[Jao vdL]

If you don't use Lightroom CC on your desktop, you can export to your photo roll on your device. You do this by tapping the share button and selecting "export original". If you are on iOS, you can then select whether to save to the camera roll or to Files. In the first case, the image will show up on Photos on a mac. In the second case, you can save the dng to iCloud, Dropbox, etc. and it will sync up to a desktop that way. But all that said, the very simplest way is to just run Lightroom Classic or CC on your desktop.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

thanks a lot, I use LR CC on Mac and all devices, all connected but the DNGs are not showing up on the Macs LR CC. So I will go with the export to files and then dropbox I think.

[SoNiK]

Sorry, but as of today there's still no way to simply export a DNG photo shot using my phone. It's a total bummer because I don't want to always rely on the sync feature between mobile and CC desktop. Any info about this feature? Thanks a lot in advance

[Jao vdL]

The feature is there. Tap on the export button. Select “export original” and then select Files. You can now select where, which can be iCloud files, Dropbox, google drive, etc. depending on what you have installed on your phone. This saves a dng if you shot that

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Is there an easy way to get those dng  files from an iPhone to an iPad? Can you airdrop Them? The cloud isn’t an option with my terrible home internet. Right now I’m shooting and editing on my phone but I wish I could edit on my iPad Pro. 

[Jao vdL]

You should be able to airdrop the dng files from the photos app. So export your dngs from Lightroom as originals to the photo roll and then airdrop them from there

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I'm trying to work out how to export photos from LR mobile app ( synced from my desktop) into my Google photos on my Android Google pixel phone so I can post to Instagram. Maybe this should be a new thread?