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Adobe Lightroom for mobile adds RAW support to iOS, improves camera on Android

By Daven Mathies Published July 13, 2016

Adobe today released updates to both flavors of Lightroom for mobile, bringing the iOS app up to version 2.4 and the Android app to 2.1. The bulk of the changes happened with the iOS version, which, among other things, gets a RAW technology preview.

Mobile Lightroom users were previously limited to importing and working with JPEG files on iOS, but the new technology preview opens the door to the full power of RAW image editing. Adobe claims complete parity between desktop and mobile versions of the app in terms of RAW file support, so if you’ve been importing RAW files from your camera to the desktop version, it’s guaranteed to work on mobile, too. Adobe even tested it with a 50-megapixel Canon 5DS file on an iPhone 6.

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This is great news for travel photographers, who now have control over white balance, highlight recovery, and all other standard RAW adjustments.

In addition to RAW support, Lightroom for iOS gains local adjustments thanks to new linear and radial selection tools. These tools were the second most requested feature after RAW support, according to Adobe, and let photographers draw attention to specific elements of a photo.

For power users, Adobe has also added hotkey support when a physical keyboard is connected to an iPad. This is a small addition, but could potentially save a lot of time.

Related: Adobe CC Update Makes it Easier to Straighten Lopsided Buildings

The Android version didn’t receive quite the same love as its iOS counterpart, but Adobe did significantly bump up the functionality of the Lightroom Camera to take advantage of the power of end-to-end DNG capture that’s unique to Android devices. The camera’s new Pro mode grants full manual exposure and focus control, so users can get the most out of their mobile device’s camera. It is also easier to access, with a widget that lets users launch the camera directly without first opening Lightroom.

Additionally, Lightroom for Android can now also export full-resolution files, even if they aren’t stored locally on the device.

Both iOS and Android versions are available now as free downloads. For more information, see the Lightroom blog.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Daven is a contributing writer to the photography section. He has been with Digital Trends since 2016 and has been writing…

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