The iPhone 14 Pro has had a huge Camera upgrade this year, with a sensor increase from 12 megapixels to 48 megapixels. The only catch is that photographs are still saved as 12MP by default – not 48. This short and easy-to-follow guide will explain why that is, how to activate the 48MP mode anyway and will compare two images to show the difference in quality with those extra megapixels.
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The cameras on the new iPhone 14 are capable of taking 48 Megapixel pictures, but the software only takes 12 Megapixels of these to give you the best and clearest image it can.
However, there may be occasions when you want to shoot with the full 48 Megapixels – so here’s how you can turn that on to use for those occasions.
Go into the Settings app and then from here you’re going to scroll down to Camera.
On this screen you want to tap Formats.
At the very top on the Formats screen you’re then going to turn on Apple Pro Raw, and you’re going to check underneath there.
With that setting enabled we’ll jump straight into the Camera app and I’ll take two photos of the exact same scene.
The first one is going to be taken with the Pro Raw setting, which means we’ll get the full 48 Megapixels.
And to do that you’re simply going to tap the Raw button in the top of the Camera.
When this is active, take a picture and you may notice it takes a second or too longer to save that picture – but that’s all part of the process.
I’ll then take another one with the Raw mode turned off – which will then be the default camera setting you’ll have on your iPhone at the moment.
I’ve got two photos of the same scene, so let’s quickly jump into the Photos app and compare them.
Now, when I swipe up on the picture I get a full card of information and here you can see that one is taken with the 12 Megapixel camera and the other one has 48 Megapixels of data.
The file size is vastly different – the normal photo is a 2Mb file whereas the Pro Raw one in 48 megapixels well, that’s nearer 67Mb!
The Pro Raw file is actually collecting a ton more data as well than the other 12 megapixel image, which means you can then edit this one afterwards and you can really fine tune what you get.
But to show you the difference the megapixels make, if I zoom into this sign on both of my pictures you’ll see straight away the increase in clarity.
As cool as this is, it’s really not a feature to be using all the time.
The file sizes are huge and you won’t get the processing that Apple tends to do on the photographs to make them look better straight out of the camera.
But if you want to experiment, that’s how you turn on 48 megapixel photography on your iPhone 14.
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