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Adobe Lightroom Mobile App Gets New Raw HDR Capture Mode

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Adobe has announced that the latest update to its Lightroom mobile app now allows users to capture HDR images in RAW format.

The upgrade means the app now automatically determines the ideal exposure range of the subject before capturing three photos as RAW DNG files, before applying align, merge, and tone mapping algorithms to generate the final 32-bit RAW image.

Lightroom

We're excited to announce that Lightroom Mobile now has a new raw HDR capture mode that lets you achieve a dynamic range on your mobile device that was previously only possible shooting with an DSLR or mirrorless camera.

[...]

You get a 16-bit floating point DNG, with all of the benefits of both an HDR and a raw photo, which is processed by the same algorithms with the same quality as the HDR technology built into Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom.

In addition to the RAW mode, the update adds an Export Original option, enabling users to to export the original files, including DNGs captured in the camera as well as raw files imported through Lightroom Mobile and Lightroom web. Adobe has also added Gestures to the Rate & Review mode, to speed up the review process.

Lastly, there's a new 3D Touch and Notification Center widget, to make it easier and faster to launch Lightroom's camera.

Lightroom for iOS devices is a free download, but its sync and cloud features require a subscription to Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan, priced at $9.99 per month. A 30-day free trial is available.

Adobe has separate Lightroom apps for the iPad [Direct Link] and the iPhone [Direct Link].

Top Rated Comments

michelepri Avatar
122 months ago
When I use the desktop version of Adobe Lightroom I have to agree with Steve Jobs about Adobe people being lazy. And it's a pity that Apple decided to discontinue the excellent Aperture program. It needed a few improvements but it was excellent. Dropping advanced software like that is a waste of resources, and at the moment only FCPX is keeping some people from migrating to Windows.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H3LL5P4WN Avatar
122 months ago
They are RAW images, not processed.
I understand that, but like I said, the image quality is bad. I can shoot RAW with Manual for example, and there aren't any artifacts in the image. I was originally going to include ProCam in my comparison but despite what it says, Investigator states that the resulting file is a JPEG, not RAW.

However I will say that after further testing, Lightroom's straight up raw .DNG file is sharper and cleaner than Manual's. It's the HDR mode that seems to be adding noise.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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