But, given that DNG files are larger than JPEG files, it does mean that if you take photos in any volume it’s going to take a while for them to synchronize across devices. You can set Lightroom mobile to sync only over wi-fi networks, so you don’t have to worry about using up data. These are then downloaded by Lightroom desktop or Lightroom mobile on another device such as a tablet. Lightroom mobile uploads photos taken with the camera, to Adobe’s servers.
I understand that Adobe software engineers are working on a solution to this, and hopefully, it will be implemented in a future version of Lightroom mobile.
However – and this is very important – there is no way to save the Raw files to your Camera Roll or get at them without a CC subscription. Please note: If you’re not a Lightroom CC subscriber, you can still download Lightroom mobile for your iPhone and use it to take Raw photos. That means you can’t download your DNG files by connecting your iPhone to your computer using the lightning cable. The only disadvantage of using Lightroom mobile is that the photos you take are stored within the Lightroom mobile app and not in the Camera Roll.
This is brilliant if you’re a Lightroom CC subscriber as it lets you take full advantage of all of Lightroom mobile’s features. Lightroom mobile lets you take, save, and process DNG files on your iPhone. Let’s take a look at some of the choices available. The important thing you need to know is that, at the time of writing, the iPhone’s native Camera app doesn’t have the ability to save your photos in the Raw format. Here’s a black and white version of the opening photo that I made using Lightroom for conversion. Black and white shooters will appreciate the ability to process their own Raw files and not rely on the camera’s software to do it. There is plenty of noise (exaggerated by the increased Clarity needed to get the best out of iPhone files) but no smearing.ĭNG files are also much better for converting to black and white than JPEG files.
I processed the photo using Lightroom’s default noise reduction settings. A smartphone camera is not the best tool for shooting in low light, but I wanted to test the camera under these conditions. This photo was taken at ISO 250 using the DNG format. To me, it looks like someone has applied a filter in Photoshop that is meant to make the photo look like a painting. This 100% magnification from part of the image shows the smearing caused by the iPhone’s processing. This photo was taken at ISO 125 (fairly high for an iPhone, whose lowest ISO setting is 25) using the JPEG format (all other photos in this article are from DNG files). Photos processed by the iPhone and saved in JPEG format often suffer from smearing caused by noise reduction, especially if taken in low light. This gives you much greater control over noise reduction and sharpening, as well as color and tonal adjustments. The advantage of using DNG (rather than JPEG) as the file format is that you can process the DNG files in Lightroom (or your software of choice).
That’s excellent news for iPhone photographers as it means that you can now realize the potential of your phone’s camera.
If you own an iPhone with a 12-megapixel camera (that is an iPhone 6S/Plus, iPhone 7/Plus, iPhone SE or even an iPad Pro 9.7) the operating system now allows third party camera apps to save photos in the DNG format.
The recent release of iOS 10 saw an important update to the iPhone’s operating system for photographers.