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Taking Photos in RAW DNG Format with Mobile Devices

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Note: This post was originally published on January 16, 2017, as the second part of a three-part series on RAW format mobile photography. Some details — particularly the apps' feature sets, Android versions, and the state of mobile RAW photography — have changed considerably since then. I've left the original text in place as a record of where things stood at the time.

Following on from yesterday's post (What is RAW photography format?), today I am going to share with you some ways you can take RAW DNG (digital negative) files using an Android device such as a smartphone or tablet. Currently I am using a Google Pixel XL smartphone running on Android 7.1.1 (Nougat).

If you haven't yet read yesterday's post, I recommend that you take the time to do so to give you an understanding of the advantages of taking your photos in RAW format.

Android Apps That Allow You to Take Photos in RAW Format

Currently, these are the two apps I use on my Google Pixel XL that allow the option to shoot photos in RAW format. Both of them use the DNG (digital negative) open source file format that I spoke about yesterday.

Open Camera by Mark Harman

Open Camera on Google Play

Screenshot of the Open Camera Android app, an open-source camera app that supports shooting in RAW DNG format.
Open Camera Android App — supports shooting in RAW (DNG) format

This app is free, but donations are appreciated by the developer. It's a fantastic app that not only allows you to take photos in DNG format but also has the option to shoot bracketed photos for HDR images. I made a donation soon after I installed this app once I had used it for a few days, as I believe the developer deserves to be rewarded for his great work and to incentivize him to continue to enhance the app and deal with any bugs that may be uncovered.

After you install the app, you will need to adjust your settings, as the default is to shoot in jpeg. To specify taking pictures in RAW format, start the app, touch the settings icon (the gear icon), then go to Photo Settings, touch RAW, and choose "JPEG and DNG." From then on, every photo you take will produce both a DNG file and a jpeg file — which is useful for quick sharing to your social networks if you wish.

Note that under Photo Settings you will also find where you can specify exposure bracketing for taking HDR images, if you are interested in that.

Additionally, under Photo Settings, you can modify the settings for image quality. Note that these only apply to the jpeg files, not the DNG file. A big plus with owning a Google Pixel phone is that you get unlimited storage for full-size photos and videos from Google Photos, so I have all my settings at the highest quality since I never have to worry about exceeding any storage limit.

If you are considering getting a Google Pixel phone, note that they are unlocked, so you can buy them from Amazon and just need a sim card for your particular carrier for it to work on their network. If you wish to buy one through your carrier, the only U.S. carrier offering them is Verizon, and they are sold unbranded and unlocked under the conditions of their agreement with Google.

Note: As far as I can determine, at the time of writing the Open Camera app is not available for Apple devices.

Adobe Lightroom Mobile

Lightroom Mobile from Google Play | Lightroom Mobile from the Apple App Store

Screenshot of the Adobe Lightroom Mobile app, which supports capturing photos in RAW DNG format on Android and iOS.
Adobe Lightroom Mobile

Adobe Lightroom Mobile by Adobe Systems is also a free app that allows you to take photos in DNG format. However, the free version only allows you to take, organize, and share your photos. To be able to edit them, you need a subscription to Adobe's Creative Cloud service, which also allows you to sync all the photos you take with Lightroom Mobile to your desktop version of Lightroom. More about that in my next post.

— John Corney

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

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