Does the Lightroom app's camera (on iphone) capture DNGs at the iphone's native full resolution?

[TurnstyleNYC]

Hi all, I'm trying to sort out a new workflow, and I'm considering using the Lightroom app on my iphone -- though I mostly use Lightroom Classic on my mac (with RAW photos from a Sony).

I thought I could capture full-res DNGs on the iphone with Lightroom's iphone app -- but from what I've read, the DNGs captured this way are not full res?

Is that correct?

[JohanElzenga]

As you do not mention which iPhone, there is no way to tell you if that is correct. I have read reports that the Lightroom camera app does not always capture in full res on some iPhones with multiple sensors/lenses. My older iPhone XR only has one camera sensor, and the Lightroom app captures DNG images in full resolution on that phone.

[TurnstyleNYC]

My current phone is also older, I think 12MP -- which Lightroom mobile appears to support.

But I'm anticpating replacing it, and I gather those are now 24MP or 48MP -- but from what I little I seem able to find, that setup may still produce 12MP DNGs if I use the Lightroom mobile camera.

Thanks a bunch!

[Charlie.D]

The Lightroom camera captures raw (DNG) images at native 12-megapixel resolution, even on newer phones. 

I'm not sure if the capture APIs Apple uses to computationally generate 48-megapixel images from their 12-megapixel quad bayer sensor/filter are public and available to app developers, or private/restricted to Apple's native apps.  

This article describes how devices like newer iPhones and also Android devices are able to generate 48-megapixel images from 12mp quad bayer sensors: https://www.gsmarena.com/quad_bayer_sensors_explained-news-37459.php 

[TurnstyleNYC]

Thank you, this is very helpful. So if I want to capture a RAW-like format that keeps its original resoltion (presumably more than 12MP) -- I need to use the dafault camera set to ProRAW and import from there into Lightroom on the phone -- meaning, I do that rather than use Lightroom's camera's DNGs?

If so, do I have to use the default camera app, or do 3rd party apps (I don't use one now, but I see some people do) such as maybe Halide produce full res DNG or ProRAW, rather than capped at 12MP?

Thanks again, this is exactly what I was hoping to sort out.

[Charlie.D]

Apple's help page for enabling pro raw/48mpx capture; https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/change-advanced-camera-settings-iphb362b394e/ios 

For questions about other apps, it's best to visit sites for those apps directly.

Kind regards,

Charlie D.

[Jao vdL · Accepted solution]

I have a 16 pro and yes you have to use the native phone app to capture the 48 MP dng files. It can't be done in third party apps that I have found. Also, the proRAW captured using the native phone app are FAAAR better quality than anything you can do in a third party app currently. You can even run these through AI enhance and they are almost indistinguishable from my full frame high MP Z-series Nikon. Quite amazing but you can't get anywhere near that quality using the Lightroom camera widget. Pretty sure that is a restriction imposed by Apple currently.

[TurnstyleNYC]

Thanks -- would be nice if we could get normal RAW at full res (I don't generally want noise reduction or sharpening baked into my files).

My other beef with the defaut camera is lack of manual focus (I often like to shoot looking past something in the foreground, but focused on something in the distance).

If I use some other 3rd party camera that can shoot ProRAW -- will those files be the same as ProRAW I get from the default camera, or is the default camera somehow still producing a better and/or higher res ProRAW file?

Thanks again, much appreciated.

[jnwbr]

Check with the developers of apps like ProCamera or Halide. They might be able to give you thorough answers.