Versatile
Samsung has several professional camera features and apps.
Expert RAW is Samsung’s camera app for those who want to shoot in RAW format, but even if you don’t, there are benefits to the app.
Samsung’s Expert RAW is a separate camera app, but it still has a shortcut in the regular camera app, among the camera modes under More. If Expert RAW is not installed, it will be installed on your mobile the first time you select it.
Expert RAW is quite similar to the pro mode in the standard camera app. For example, you choose camera instead of zoom level, you have a histogram that shows the light conditions of the image and you have a menu where you can change camera settings such as exposure time, white balance and more. But there are several settings here that are missing in the pro mode.
The main but far from the only reason to choose Expert RAW is if you want images in RAW format. RAW is the digital camera’s equivalent of the analog camera’s negative. In theory, it’s the raw content from the camera’s sensor. That image is neither enjoyable nor saved in a format readable by apps or web pages, and you end up with a very large image file. But if you like to sit in a photo program and process an image so that it turns out exactly as you want it, RAW is the best format because you get all the information that the camera delivered.
In practice, it is not really true that the image is unprocessed. Samsung’s RAW images consist of multiple exposures that have been combined to get less noise and more detail in the image, and then saved in the DNG RAW format. You can also choose whether the images should be in 12, 24 or 48 megapixels, and that is also a form of processing. But the truth is that the image is uncompressed and contains more data than the images you get out of the regular camera app.
In Expert RAW, you can choose whether the images you take should be saved in both jpeg and RAW, only in RAW or even only in jpeg. So you don’t have to be interested in the RAW format to use the Expert RAW app.
One reason for choosing the app may be precisely the 24-megapixel mode. The iPhone now saves images as standard in 24 megapixels, which is a really successful compromise between file size and detail. Samsung doesn’t have that option in the regular app, but in Expert RAW it does.
The Expert RAW app also has a series of lab features that feel more like testing new features for the regular camera app than anything related to RAW photography. Here, for example, there is an astro mode for shooting stars, and an astro portrait mode for taking a portrait with a star background, and an underwater mode meant to be used together with a waterproof case, where you can control the camera without using the touch screen.
There’s a lot to explore and discover in the expert RAW app, even if you’re not interested in post-editing images on a computer.
This is an excerpt from a longer series of articles with camera tips for Samsung mobiles, which were previously published exclusively for Plus members on Mobil.se. Here you can become a Plus member and thus get direct access to all articles on Mobil.se. As a plus member, you get collected tips and many other in-depth, guiding articles. You can find the full two original articles here and here.