Be the first - Pre-order the Galaxy S25 Ultra today! Follow us on Google news!

SamMobile has affiliate and sponsored partnerships. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn a commission.

News For You
News For You
Notifications

How the awesome Expert RAW app came to be, explained by its makers

Camera
By 

Last updated: April 13th, 2022 at 18:51 UTC+02:00

Expert RAW is one of the best apps Samsung has released for its Galaxy phones, arguably in years. It soups up the Galaxy S22 series and S21 Ultra's cameras with capabilities similar to what you'd find on DSLR shooters.

This new mobile photography app resulted from a tight collaboration between different Samsung branches united by the same goal of giving expert and enthusiast photographers more creative control over their photos.

Today, Hamid Sheikh of Samsung Research America MPI Lab and Girish Kulkarni of Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore (SRI-B) came together again for an interview to discuss the thought process behind the creation of Expert RAW.

What is Expert RAW capable of, and what was the inspiration?

Samsung's default Camera app relies on sophisticated computational photography algorithms to deliver its often-astonishing results, but the trade-off is that users have limited control over how their images will be rendered.

In the interview, Hamid Sheikh and Girish Kulkarni explain how Expert RAW combines that same ease of use offered by Samsung's Camera app with DLSR-like capabilities. It's a mobile photography app that gives more creative control to the photographer.

Expert RAW captures images with more comprehensive data and its integration with Adobe Lightroom turns the phone into a mini studio for professional photographers. It also enabled Galaxy S21 users last year to control parameters such as shutter speed and ISO value on the zoom camera(s), something that was not possible in the Pro mode in Samsung's main camera app until the Galaxy S22 series came along.

As to how it came into existence, the idea was to please DSLR camera users who were looking for a similar experience on mobile phones. And thus, Expert RAW was inspired by the expert and enthusiast photographer community.

A tight-knit collaboration of Samsung MPI Lab and SRI-B

Samsung Research America's Mobile Processor Innovation (MPI) Lab and the Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore (SRI-B) have worked closely to develop Expert RAW, which was “a complex R&D project.”

Today, Samsung went into detail as to how these two teams, MPI Lab and SRI-B, contributed to making Expert RAW possible.

In essence, MPI Lab brought to the table its expertise in computational imaging and the multi-frame pipeline building blocks implementation. SRI-B leveraged its skillset and resources to develop the necessary software, AI blocks for the Expert RAW pipeline, and the app's UI.

Developing Expert RAW 24/7

The MPI Lab and SRI-B teams used their 12-hour time zone difference to their advantage, and Expert RAW was essentially in development 24/7. Accounting for the time zone difference, MPI Lab and SRI-B bounced the project back and forth 24/7 to finish development on Expert RAW “in record time.”

And, according to Samsung, the journey continues, which is good news for us, Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone users (more models will support Expert RAW later). MPI Lab and SRI-B say that “in the future, we would like to continuously enhance Expert RAW with a focus on creating a new ecosystem for pro photography that fully utilizes pro-grade camera capabilities.”

Indeed, Expert RAW continues to be improved and got an update for better low-light photography last week.

Expert RAW was put to the test by professional photographers capturing wildlife earlier this year, and we also tested this pro-grade app in December using the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Click the links for more details, stay tuned for future updates, and check out the full interview on the Samsung Newsroom website.

Join SamMobile’s Telegram group and subscribe to our YouTube channel to get instant news updates and in-depth reviews of Samsung devices. You can also subscribe to get updates from us on Google News and follow us on Twitter.

CameraPhone Galaxy S21 UltraGalaxy S22Galaxy S22 PlusGalaxy S22 Ultra
Galaxy AI summarized

Scroll for more related content
News For You

You might also like

Galaxy S25 Ultra vs S22 Ultra: Massive upgrades and a downgrade

Galaxy S25 Ultra vs S22 Ultra: Massive upgrades and a downgrade

Samsung announced its new Ultra phone at Unpacked 2025 earlier this week, and it's looking like a decent upgrade over the previous models. If you're rocking the Galaxy S22 Ultra from 2022 and want to upgrade to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, you're in for a treat. There are lots of improvements to look forward to, […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 6 hours ago
What is the newest Samsung phone? – January 2025

What is the newest Samsung phone? – January 2025

It has often been difficult to keep track of the newest Samsung phone given that the company releases so many throughout the year. Samsung has dozens of models across different series which cater to all price ranges. This page will be updated on a monthly basis to ensure that you can always know what is […]

  • By Adnan Farooqui
  • 8 hours ago
Samsung updates Galaxy S22 with January 2025 security patch

Samsung updates Galaxy S22 with January 2025 security patch

Samsung is going to hold a Galaxy Unpacked event tomorrow where it will launch the Galaxy S25 series. While the company is occupied with that, it hasn’t forgotten about older devices. The South Korean tech giant has released a new software update to its flagship smartphones from 2022, the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and the […]

  • By Abid Iqbal Shaik
  • 4 days ago
One UI 7 lets you blur any wallpaper for that extra artistic look

One UI 7 lets you blur any wallpaper for that extra artistic look

Everyone likes a nice wallpaper, and some of us change the wallpaper on our phones more often than others. But choosing the right wallpaper can sometimes be a chore, particularly for those who put a lot of app shortcuts and widgets on the home screen. A busy wallpaper can interfere with the app icons and […]

  • By Abhijeet Mishra
  • 6 days ago
Prepare your Galaxy device for the One UI 7.0 (Android 15) update

Prepare your Galaxy device for the One UI 7.0 (Android 15) update

One UI 7.0, based on Android 15, is the first big operating system upgrade of 2025 for Galaxy smartphones and tablets. For those who have been living under a rock, yes, the latest version of Android and One UI is arriving later than usual. One UI 7 is the biggest One UI update since version […]

  • By Abhijeet Mishra
  • 1 week ago
Galaxy S21 is getting January 2025 security update

Galaxy S21 is getting January 2025 security update

Samsung’s flagship smartphones from 2021, the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra are getting a new software update, and it brings the January 2025 security patch to these devices, making them more secure than before. The South Korean tech giant has released the update for the carrier-locked variants of the three devices, which […]

  • By Abid Iqbal Shaik
  • 1 week ago