Samsung S23 camera - RAW is so restricted (PRO mode only?)

[peterh337]

It seems RAW is enabled only in their "PRO" mode, but that has no auto exposure so each time needs to be tweaked.

This is really dumb and hard to believe it was intended.

3rd party apps I could find do not support the three cameras it has. For example Open Camera (which I used for years on the S10E, but after some OS or app update it became unreliable) can do RAW anytime but does not support the x3 optical zoom.

If there was an "get auto exposure" button on the PRO mode, that would be a reasonable solution, but I can't see one.

Thank you for any tips.

The camera is really good. I also had a Canon G7X Mk 2 which went on Ebay after I got the S23 because it was hardly better.

 

[Dannydet]

I found this

Make the most of your RAW photos with our favorite mobile editing apps

Android and iOS both support RAW photos -- but what apps will help you make the most of your images? Here are the best RAW photo apps for Android and iOS.

www.digitaltrends.com

 

[peterh337]

That is a ChatGPT reply.

 

[Dannydet]

Nope. I googled it, no chat GPT involved.
Doesn't look like there's much out there that does what you need.

 

[peterh337]

I did actually find the auto exposure options in the factory camera app, in the PRO mode.

Not sure they work correctly, or usefully. But better than nothing. Now I need to sort out why the PRO mode gets auto cancelled after a while.

 

[peterh337]

I got a reply from the ProShot dev. Samsung do not provide an API for the x3 camera, which delivers RAW.

Otherwise, they have the best app.

 

[Hadron]

I did actually find the auto exposure options in the factory camera app, in the PRO mode.

Not sure they work correctly, or usefully. But better than nothing. Now I need to sort out why the PRO mode gets auto cancelled after a while.

I was puzzled when you said that Pro mode didn't do AE, because it clearly does. Of course it mislabels the exposure compensation feature as "EV", which are the units you adjust exposure in but as such both the actual (auto) exposure and any compensation you apply are both in EV and so it's a poor choice of label (if they employed any photographers in their camera team they'd know there is a standard exposure compensation symbol).