ProRAW doesn't disable image processing, in fact it even says as much in the link you provided.
> Apple ProRAW combines the information of a standard RAW format along with iPhone image processing to offer additional creative control when you make adjustments to exposure, color, and white balance.
ProRAW is regular DNG raw files. In the DNG format you can store metadata like tonemapping masks etc but those are non destructive adjustments, it’s like a layer on top of the raw data. You can open the ProRAW files on any app that reads RAW files and undo any processing without loss of information and do your own processing.
I still think has denoise, and sharpening added as well as some magic from the other camera sensors. I would like to see a true raw from a single sensor.
They are DNG files, but I don't think they're truly raw like one might expect from other cameras[1]. I just downloaded the DNG posted in the article and took a look in Photoshop with all post-processing turned off. Definitely looks a bit processed in some of the background details, but I could be wrong.
Specifically, the out-of-focus shadow details look like a smoothing or denoising algorithm has been applied. Maybe it's just something about the optics Apple is using (e.g. different lenses can have distinct characteristics in bokeh, softening, color, distortion, etc) vs other dedicated cameras, but it's something I see in almost all photos coming from an iPhone.
are they regular DNG files, or linear DNG files? I remember Apple explicitly mentioning linear DNG, which means they at least have demosaicked the image, probably a lot more
You are right that they are demosaiced raw files but that’s about it
> Instead, ProRAW stores results of computational photography right inside the RAW. This is another reason they need to store demosaiced data, as these algorithms operate on color, not RAW data. Once you demosaic, there’s no going back. I mean, what would you even call that, remosaic?
> Smart HDR does this in the least destructive way. Apple worked with Adobe to introduce a new type of tag into the DNG standard, called a “Profile Gain Table Map.” This data gives your editor everything it needs to know to tone map your photo image and end up with results identical to the first party camera. Because it’s separate data, you can turn down its strength, or turn it off completely.
