Extended Dynamic Range (EDR)

Extended Dynamic Range (EDR) lets you see the full highlight detail captured in an HDR photo. On a display that supports EDR/HDR, bright areas — light sources, skies, reflections — appear brighter and hold more detail than a standard photo can show, giving highlights a natural glow. EDR is display-only: it changes how a photo looks on screen, never the file itself, so you can switch it on and off freely without losing any data.

Viewing a photo with EDR

In the Media Library, photos that contain HDR information are shown with their Extended Dynamic Range — highlights look brighter and glow. When you open such a photo in single media view, a dedicated EDR button lets you toggle that enhanced version on or off.

EDR works only when the image actually carries HDR information, which happens when you shoot:

• with Smart HDR, which adds an HDR gain map (the extra brightness information) to the photo, or
• in RAW or ProRAW, which capture high bit-depth data directly.

You will see EDR only on a display with HDR headroom — room to push brightness above the standard range, which is what lets highlights shine brighter than the rest of the image. How much headroom is available depends on the display's peak brightness and your surroundings: early HDR-capable iPhones had little headroom, so the effect was subtle and easiest to notice in dim light, whereas newer iPhones and iPads, with much higher peak brightness, show it more strongly and even in bright conditions.

The EDR button only changes how the image is displayed at that moment. Turning it off does not modify the file, so you never lose any HDR data — it simply previews the image with or without the HDR information.

Adjusting EDR in the Editing Studio

When you open a RAW or ProRAW photo in the ProCamera Editing Studio, the EDR parameter lets you control how strongly the HDR information is applied on an HDR-capable display. Move the slider to set the brightness and "glow" of the highlights:

• Lower intensity — a more natural, SDR-like look with less pronounced highlights.
• Higher intensity — a stronger HDR effect with brighter, glowing highlights.

In RAW and ProRAW files the EDR parameter can produce different results — see How EDR behaves across file formats below.

Keeping EDR when you export or share

The EDR button is display-only — it doesn't change the file. Whether the Extended Dynamic Range survives when you share a photo depends on the HDR gain map staying intact:

• Share the original at full resolution. Most apps strip the gain map when they resize a photo, which removes the HDR information — so send the full-size original, not a resized copy.
• Or export to a true HDR file format, which stores the dynamic range directly rather than in a gain map.

To export a true HDR file in ProCamera:

1. Open the image in the Editing Studio.
2. Tap and hold the Save button.
3. Tap Save New Image As…
4. Select a true HDR format — HEIC HDR 10-bit (HLG, Rec.2020 / BT.2100) or TIFF HDR 16-bit.

To use an HDR still in an HDR video project, export the selected image as an HDR video clip. This embeds the still in 10-bit HDR, so its Extended Dynamic Range stays visible in the clip — useful because some video editors can't import HDR photos directly.

How EDR behaves across file formats

How EDR works depends on how each format stores its high dynamic range:

• JPEG and HEIC (shot with Smart HDR) store the HDR content beyond the standard 8-bit range in a separate embedded gain map; EDR combines it with the SDR image to reconstruct the HDR version. Standard TIFF can't store a gain map.
• RAW and ProRAW capture their dynamic range directly in high bit-depth sensor data, so they don't need a gain map. Plain RAW doesn't support HDR fusion — which is why the Smart HDR toggle disappears when you shoot in RAW — while ProRAW shot with Smart HDR gives EDR the most to work with.

In practice, the difference shows up most in bright scenes — a sunlit window, a glinting reflection, a bright sky. With HEIC and ProRAW photos, enabling EDR makes those highlights brighter and adds a natural glow, so a photo can suddenly come alive on an HDR display. Plain RAW mainly recovers detail in blown-out highlights and looks more subdued; ProRAW shot with Smart HDR gives the most natural, balanced result.

Note on TIFF

Shooting in TIFF: TIFF can't store a gain map, so even with Smart HDR enabled the HDR information isn't saved — the EDR button has no effect on these files.

TIFF HDR 16-bit (export): this export-only format stores extended dynamic range through 16-bit depth rather than a gain map, so EDR works with it.