You may want every pixel, but when it comes to photography, that means shooting in RAW. Professional photographers do this all the time, but for the rest of us JPEG is fine – at least I think so.
The reality is that most of the smartphone photos we see and share are a far cry from the capabilities of the sensors in the best smartphones or even the best digital cameras. The main camera sensor on my iPhone 16 Pro Max is 48 megapixels, but I usually shoot at 24MP or 12MP, and images are usually saved as JPEGS. On smartphones, this is done to maximize compatibility and reduce file size.
Professionals shoot in RAW for maximum control over their images. They want all the detail they can get in an 8,000 x 4,000 pixel image at least 300ppi. The average consumer doesn’t need RAW files because each image file can be huge, up to 60MB, while a typical high-quality JPEG is between 1MB and 3.5MB in size. plug. Shooting in RAW is similar to shooting video in 4K or 8K rather than the more common 1920×1080 resolution.
Virtually all flagship smartphones can now shoot in RAW format. This means an image that uses every pixel and does little or no compression or modification of the original image. What if you took a photo in RAW mode with an iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, or Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and compared it to a RAW image taken with a Canon EOS RP? 26.2 MP full frame CMOS sensor DSLR with 35mm kit lens. What can you see? Will you be disappointed, pleasantly surprised, or somewhere in between?
We were looking for a modern main sensor in the 50MP range, so we traversed the smartphone category. Here’s the breakdown of my test group:
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: 48MP Fusion: 24 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture
- iPhone 15 Pro Max: 48MP main: 24 mm, f/1.78 aperture
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: 50MP ƒ/1.8 aperture
- Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: 48 MP ƒ/1.7 aperture
- Canon EOS RP: 26.2MP f/1.8
As you can see, there’s some parity here, and if you don’t rely on special lenses or fancy compression techniques, but rely on the capabilities of the sensor, you’ll probably see something similar to what Apple, Samsung, Google, and Canon sensors are seeing. You will be able to see the world. . I understand that not all smartphone companies are developing these sensors. Most reports claim that the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s main camera sensor is the Sony IMX903, although Apple hasn’t confirmed it. Samsung may be using Isocell GNJ. Most people believe that the foldable part of the Pixel 9 Pro uses Sony IMX858. Canon makes its own sensors.
Your smartphone is not natively configured to shoot in RAW format. My Canon was set to shoot and save in JPG and RAW at the same time (2 files per image). On my Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, I opened the Camera app, selected the Settings icon, opened Pro Settings, and selected the RAW + JPEG option. Like my Canon, the Pixel also saves RAW and JPEG of all images.
The process for the iPhone 16 Pro Max and 15 Pro Max is nearly identical, but the former phone has more ProRAW options. first,[設定]in[カメラ]Open the[ProRAW と解像度コントロール]Turn on. I then went to the Pro Default settings and selected ProRAW Max (up to 48MP) and JPEG-XL Lossless as the format. 15 Pro Max didn’t have an additional “PRORAW FORMAT” option.
Samsung includes a number of Pro controls in the main camera app, but omits RAW and instead dedicates it to a completely separate app, ExpertRAW. I downloaded the app to my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, set the megapixels to 50, and saved as JPG and RAW.
Another problem was getting the photos onto the Mac for analysis. Uploading DNG files to Google Drive from the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 6 was mostly painless, but the iPhone was a little more complicated.
When I tried to AirDrop them, the iPhone automatically changed the format to JPEG and lowered the PPI from 300 to 72. I finally discovered that I could drag and drop images synced to iCloud from Photos on my desktop directly into an open Photoshop file. Maintained resolution and PPI.
what i found
Before I elaborate on my findings, I need to make some preparations. Below are some image comparisons. These are not original RAW images, as they are impossible to display on highly compressed websites. Instead, I set each image view to 100% and cropped the untouched parts of the image to show where I saw significant differences between the RAW image captures.
I didn’t take many images, but instead focused on a few images taken within a few minutes of each other, with roughly the same perspective, distance, and lighting conditions. No exposure or focus adjustments were made. I had two sunny days, which gave all my main cameras the best opportunity to capture beautiful RAW images.
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Cutting to the chase, Canon RAW images are generally better than all the images I’ve taken with my smartphone collection. The difference isn’t huge, but on measures of detail, color accuracy, and willingness to leave deep shadows deep, Canon wins.
When it comes to the RAW battle of smartphones (foldables and otherwise), the iPhone 16 Pro Max stands out, followed by the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Sharpness is about the same, but the colors in the 16 Pro RAW images could be a little more accurate. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold offers very vibrant colors, but due to the long depth of field (by default) it lacks a bit of three-dimensionality.
Samsung’s RAW images are sharper (8160×6120 resolution is slightly higher than iPhone’s 8064×4536), but colors aren’t as vibrant. Also, because the bokeh is weak, it doesn’t have the same sense of depth as the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Shadow management is better than the iPhone, as it doesn’t try to brighten dark areas too much.
image 1 of 3
When I opened the RAW images on my MacBook Air’s screen, they all looked great. However, for the analysis, each image was created at 100% so that details could be seen. In each case, the advantages and disadvantages of the RAW image capture feature were revealed.
For the photo of pumpkins and flowers on the porch, no smartphone could match the combination of slate step detail and color accuracy captured by the Canon.
In the Rocket Trumpet flower photo, the iPhone 16 Pro Max (and iPhone 15 Pro) shows a ton of detail, right down to the veins in the petals. However, compared to Canon, it lacks nuance when it comes to shadows and has a frustrating habit of trying to brighten everything up. The result is probably more visual information than you’d get in canon (or in real life), but it usually lacks the contrast that helps with details like petal scratches.
I still prefer Apple’s approach to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. The colors lean too far into a vibrancy that doesn’t match the real thing. Samsung doesn’t handle the transition from sunlit to shadow very well, making it look unrealistic.
Like Pumpkin Stem, the iPhone 16 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 beat the Canon in sharpness and detail in some cases, but the Canon EOS RP can’t beat the Canon EOS RP in terms of color accuracy.
Overall, the iPhone 16 Pro Max excels at most basic RAW smartphone photography, followed closely by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold follows. Its colors aren’t the most accurate (highly saturated and lacks nuance), and it lacks the sharpness of its competitors, perhaps because its RAW photo resolution is about half that of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
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It’s no surprise that Canon EOS RP outperformed all smartphones. A larger lens, greater physical distance between lens and sensor, and an approach focused on matching what was previously possible with analog film result in the most beautiful RAW images. It also means that smartphones still have a long way to go before they can match DSLR RAW image capture capabilities.
