PhotoRaw

I'm a semi-pro photographer and shoot in RAW format 99% of the time. Currently I use Apple's Aperture for my RAW conversion and post processing. Although I find Aperture an excellent photo processor, it can be a little confusing at times with all of its capabilities. I saw this app while browsing the app store and decided to download after reading the developers web site. I was pleased to find it did what is advertised and does it well. Further, it is very simplistic to use and gets down to the basics of post processing. I wish it had an histogram view but not a major issue, just would be a little helpful. Performance is not bad but be prepared to wait a little during up loads. The controls are good but can be hard to make very minor changes with the sliders (a little tweaking could fix this), should be just a little smoother but, again not a major issue. For basic post processing work it is excellent; easy to use, all of the basic adjustments are available. I use this app in the field for quick post processing on my New IPAD, then up load into my MAC Mini or MAC PRO to use Aperture for extra fine detail work, then print or save to JPEGs. This app will get a lot use during my photo sessions. Nice job! Recommend to any photographer shooting RAW format.

I reported a problem via email and they immediately responded. Together we diagnosed the problem and they had a fix in place within 24 hours. Now that’s customer service!

This app decodes my Canon RAW files better than Filterstorm, Photogene, or PiRAWnha—the images are appreciably sharper, more detailed, somewhat less noisy, and have superior dynamic ranges, most of the time. It's the one RAW decoder app that consistently delivers the advantages of working with RAW files and without much more latency than I'm used to running Aperture on my i5 MacBook Pro. On my iPhone 5S, it's impressively fast—batch import/export ends up being very useful. In terms of workflow efficiency, the problem is the user interface needs work: sliders are hard to move accurately, there's no ability to save or load presets, etc. With a little bit of polishing, this app could be a game changer for photojournalists on the go. I can't wait for the day this thing is able to import a batch of files, apply a little bit of processing to them, and dump them into Photogene.

I have used PhotoRaw on an ipad2 for 1 1/2 years to convert Leica M9 DNG and Canon 5D RAW files while traveling. The earlier versions were slow but the current version of PhotoRaw is acceptable in speed on the iPad2 for converting a few RAW photos to email to friends while I'm travelling. Once home, I would use Lightroom to make the final RAW conversions. It does not substitute for Lightroom or Photoshop on a full fledged computer. It is limited by the iPad's limitations,such as inability to calibrate the screen to provide precise color management, the limited processor capabilites, and relatively small amount of RAM. I don't use PhotoRaw for most photos that I take, just the few that my friends would like to see before I return home. Users who complain about the program crashing may want to make sure that other programs running in the background are shut down, in order to free up additional RAM. For someone who takes RAW photos and would like to email (or upload onto social media sites) a few photos while travelling without a full-fledged computer, PhotoRaw provides a solution.

I am using the March 16, 2012 version with Nikon (D300) and Sony (NEX-5N) raw files and find the app works flawlessly. The Sony files are much larger than the Nikon files and take longer to open. This app is the only one I have that lets me see the raw files in a raw+jpg couple. Once the image is open, the live view while making adjustments is instantaneous. The image is large and the controls unobtrusive. The adjustments are the essentials that you need to get information from the raw files and are easy to use. The app has the nicest way of saving jpgs that I have seen. You turn cylinders, like setting times on the iPad calendar, to select the jpg size and quality. The app displays ample technical metadata. It would be nice if it also displayed IPTC (XMP version), because one Nikon model allows the writing of IPTC into the image and presumably more will follow. This app preserves the original filename. The time it takes for the iPad to open a raw image precludes mass production, but it is a very nice app for selected images.