iPhone 16 Pro Max: Why are there DNG, JPG, E.JPG photos?

ShropshireRon wrote: …The jpg without the E shows as 4x3 while the E version is full frame, presumably 16x9. I have not done any editing of the photos so why is there an E version?

The phone's sensor is 4:3, and the pictures are always taken at that aspect ratio. If you set the camera to 16:9, then the camera chops off the top and bottom. The E means this has been edited-- that's why the E goes with 16:9. "Full Frame" is 4:3.

DNG is a "Digital Negative," a version of RAW image. Each manufacturer has its own RAW format that records more information than can be included in an image on a computer screen, sort of like a camera negative has more information than the printed picture. DNG is a format developed by Adobe for its own software, like Lightroom. For other than Adobe software, there is some question of how faithfully it keeps the data from Nikon, Canon, etc RAW formats.

JPG is a compressed format. While compression doesn't have to lose information, most jpgs sacrifice some more or less invisible information for a smaller file size. Apple prefers to use HEIC which is the same sort of thing, but the compression is more efficient so more pictures will fit on a phone with the same quality.

Thankfully my PC is Windows and not Mac!

Thankfully, I use a Mac.

I still have a humble iPhone 8 but AFAIK newer iPhones can shoot .heic (default), or old .jpg or a more editable but bitwise somewhat larger raw .dng. So check your camera settings which one you want. The E means an edited image. All images are shot 4:3 but if you shoot 16:9 that is cropped so it is essentially a cropped E image.

DNG is Adobe Digital Negative format. Adobe intended for it to be a standard format for Raw files – sort of like how PDF is a format that captures the formatting of output meant for a printed page.

Many camera manufacturers (like Canon and Nikon) continue to use their own Raw formats. A few have chosen to allow their cameras to record in DNG format directly.

When you take ProRAW pictures with your iPhone 16 Pro Max, the iPhone stores them as DNG files. These files do not contain pure dumps of raw data off the sensor (like most raw files do), but also record some of the information that the iPhone generates using computational photography tricks.

About Apple ProRAW - Apple Support

Take Apple ProRAW photos with your iPhone camera - Apple Support

Alessandro Michelazzi Studio – Everything About Apple ProRAW: A Full Complete Review

Servant of Cats wrote: …These files do not contain pure dumps of raw data off the sensor (like most raw files do), but also record some of the information that the iPhone generates using computational photography tricks.

Including adjustments is actually pretty normal for RAW files-- the initial image I see from my Nikon NEF files includes the default settings for white balance and other "tricks" that the camera offers, but those can all be changed using the raw data. It looks like ProRAW includes some tricks that we may not ask for, though.

Different camera manufacturers have different sensors and different sorts of pre-sets, so their RAW data may not be fully accommodated in DNG files. I can convert a Nikon NEF file to DNG, but I'm not sure that it would retain all the data. I'm not even sure that Lightroom accesses all the data that Nikon's NX Studio does, but Lightroom is sure easier to use! ProRAW seems to be designed for DNG format, though.

ShropshireRon wrote: …Complexities seem ti be introduced to drive the customer towards other Apple products or paid services, HEIC seeming to be an example alongside iCloud as a primary storage destination for files!

Apple certainly offers great advantages to staying inside the Apple environment.

However, HEIC was developed over ten years ago by Moving Picture Experts Group, the MPEG folks, not by Apple. I doubt that Apple makes money off of it-- the format is just very efficient and is ideal for smart phones.

iCloud is not a "primary destination for files." There are other services for that sort of thing. iCloud's purpose is twofold: iCloud provides a synchronization system so that folks working on their Macs can switch over to their iPads or their office Macs or their phones and not lose a step. The other offering from iCloud is a method of optimizing storage so that accessing large files when your smaller device just doesn't have enough room to hold it all. I don't use that for my Mac, but it's very handy for my iPhone. Neither of these services is required, and they may be superfluous for people who don't use multiple Apple devices.

It is the convenience of such offerings that might indeed induce (not drive) "the customer towards other Apple products."

I hope this can clear up some of the confusion. You can see this:

Understanding iCloud Drive - Apple Community

This article is aimed primarily at Macs, so there's a lot you can skip…

You might want to look at this:

Basic Concepts and Terms About Photos - Apple Community

Again, some of Mac specifics, but it gives an idea of how Photos works differently than an editor or a file manager.