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iPhone 14 Pro Max Enable ProRAW 48MP or just normal photos?

BeatsEU

BeatsEU

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 7, 2018
43
20
Bulgaria
Hi,

Do I need the 48 MP option for better quality photos or I stick to the 12MP auto processed photos?

Also, which one is better for low light photos (for example, in a club)?

I won't be editing and all that stuff, just social media etc.

I don't care about the size of the photos, just the quality and detail.
 
Neither. Use Halide or a third party app to take 48MP HEIC photos. For low light? The default camera app with night mode at 12MP will give you the best results. ProRAW is primarily useful for editing, that's what all the extra data capture is for. When most people compare ProRAW photos to regular HEIC photos taken with the stock camera app (even if both are captured at 12MP) the major differences they are seeing are mostly due to the aggressive image compression of the stock camera's HEIC processing.

Again, for low light it's important you switch back to the 12MP default camera app because that will give you the best low light capability.

For reference:

Option 1) 12MP stock camera HEIC: 1-2MB, worst quality. still good, but nowhere near the detail of options 2 and 3. however this is best for zero-edit low light shots.

Option 2) 48MP third party HEIC: 7-8MB, you get essentially all the detail of option 3 without the enormous file sizes, albeit edits are limited to basic minor adjustments (not a big deal for 99% of ordinary point and shoot photos you might take).

Option 3) 48MP ProRAW: 40MB+, mostly the same detail as option 2 except you can make more aggressive edits without destroying the image completely. If you're not going to edit why bother with this option?
 
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zakarhino said:
Neither. Use Halide or a third party app to take 48MP HEIC photos. For low light? The default camera app with night mode at 12MP will give you the best results. ProRAW is primarily useful for editing, that's what all the extra data capture is for. When most people compare ProRAW photos to regular HEIC photos taken with the stock camera app (even if both are captured at 12MP) the major differences they are seeing are mostly due to the aggressive image compression of the stock camera's HEIC processing.

Again, for low light it's important you switch back to the 12MP default camera app because that will give you the best low light capability.

For reference:

Option 1) 12MP stock camera HEIC: 1-2MB, worst quality. still good, but nowhere near the detail of options 2 and 3. however this is best for zero-edit low light shots.

Option 2) 48MP third party HEIC: 7-8MB, you get essentially all the detail of option 3 without the enormous file sizes, albeit edits are limited to basic minor adjustments (not a big deal for 99% of ordinary point and shoot photos you might take).

Option 3) 48MP ProRAW: 40MB+, mostly the same detail as option 2 except you can make more aggressive edits without destroying the image completely. If you're not going to edit why bother with this option?
Click to expand...
Thank you for the detailed explanation.

So, if I understood correctly:

1. Use stock 12 MP for best low light photos.
2. Use Halide Mark II with the 48MP HEIC option for best photos in all other scenarios.

In this case, will the photos from the third party application sync to my iCloud photos just like from the normal stock camera app?
 
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BeatsEU said:
Thank you for the detailed explanation.

So, if I understood correctly:

1. Use stock 12 MP for best low light photos.
2. Use Halide Mark II with the 48MP HEIC option for best photos in all other scenarios.

In this case, will the photos from the third party application sync to my iCloud photos just like from the normal stock camera app?
Click to expand...

Yep! The moment you take them in Halide they will appear in your Photos app and upload to iCloud. It works great.
 
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I use ProRAW and convert the pictures I need to heic with a Siri shortcut I found on reddit. I don't like apple's processing on normal pictures. ProRAW + shortcut is the way to go for me.
 
I use ProRaw and lightroom to edit anything that is important, everything else I just either use Halide's 48MP HEIC files or the regular 12MP processed files from the stock camera app.
As good as the Halide 48MP files are, they still aren't as good as if you edited the ProRaw files, as long as you know how to edit that is.
 
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I love the 48mp resolution!! Amazing details. I shoot ProRAW all the time, edit in Lightroom mobile. The video I shared above is a great way of conveying how well the files actually look. On his YouTube channel, he offers four or five files you can download and play with yourself. I have a second iPhone 14 pro max on order.. hope it arrives soon.
 
BeatsEU said:
Hi,

Do I need the 48 MP option for better quality photos or I stick to the 12MP auto processed photos?

Also, which one is better for low light photos (for example, in a club)?

I won't be editing and all that stuff, just social media etc.

I don't care about the size of the photos, just the quality and detail.
Click to expand...
To use pro raw 48mp you will need to edit. Doesn’t take long though

I tend to use pro raw and edit in Lightroom
 
If you don't edit and mostly just take photos for social media etc then just leave it at 12MP. Play around with photographic styles, learn to use night mode, and the built-in "auto" touch up and that might be all that you need. Why create more work for yourself and use up more storage for no good reason?
 
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