Adobe’s demonstrated Photoshop for iPad with RAW support that works with both RAWs from DSLRs and Apple’s ProRAW files taken with the iPhone 12 Pro and 13 Pro cameras.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Photoshop for iPad is getting Adobe Camera RAW support
- You’ll be able to edit RAW files imported directly from cameras
- The app will also support Apple’s ProRAW format and DNG files
- This is a big deal for photographers who use iPad as part of their workflow
Photoshop for iPad is getting RAW support soon
In the video below, Ryan Dumlao, who is Adobe’s Senior Product Manager for Photoshop on iPad, demonstrates editing RAW and DNG images directly imported from a Fujifilm camera. The feature also works with Apple’s ProRAW format that’s available on Pro-branded iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models with the iOS 14.3 software or later.
The Verge has more:
Camera Raw is a long-standing plugin that allows for advanced RAW image editing within Photoshop, and it’s also the technical basis of Lightroom’s processing engine. Dumlao’s video shows how you can edit various settings and exposure parameters within Photoshop, including importing the RAW file as a smart object for non-destructive editing that can be carried over to the desktop version. In his demo, Dumlao uses Photoshop features to perform tasks like removing individual tree branches and adjusting the color of a specific rope in his photo.
Adobe says RAW support is “coming soon” to Photoshop for iPad so keep your eyes peeled.
Regular RAW vs. Apple ProRAW
RAW files were designed to store data from a camera’s image sensor with only minimal processing. When you tap that shutter button in the Camera app on your iPhone, Apple’s AI-powered computational photography algorithm has already figured out what’s on the image and applied various edits that cannot be reversed.
Because RAW files contain minimally-processed image sensor data, precise adjustments can be made to, say, pull detail out of the shadows you never knew existed, like the Milky Way on night sky shots. As for Apple’s ProRAW format, it provides a combination of the information of a standard RAW file format along with iPhone image processing.
According to a support document on Apple’s website, ProRAW gives you more flexibility when editing the exposure, color and white balance. You can edit ProRAW images in Apple’s Photos app and compatible third-party software, like the upcoming version of Photoshop for iPad.