Photo file types/encoding

30 Oct 2025 14:07:49

Richard I

The photos (jpg) on my 2013 bridge camera when displayed on the Mac looked great…until I started using an iPhone with HEIC format photos. Now they look dull in comparison. can someone explain the reason why the HEIC photos look so much better? I assume it has to do with encoding.

Also, if I bought a 2025 camera from say Canon or Panasonic, would they support the appropriate file format? Is RAW format what it should have?
Thanks!

Re: Photo file types/encoding

30 Oct 2025 22:59:46

Tony Still

HEICs are natively HDR, JPEGs are stuck in the SDR world. If you have an HDR display (eg recent MacBook Pros) then your HEICs will look brighter as they can show their full dynamic range (10 bits per channel per pixel rather than 8 in a JPEG).

Canon has good support for HEIC/HIF in their mirrorless range, don't know about other makes. Raw from any make is a whole different ball-game: the highest dynamic range and detail is present but they need post-processing for display (the "camera" does that for you with lossy formats like JPEG and HEIC).

Re: Photo file types/encoding

31 Oct 2025 10:18:38

Richard I

Thanks for that useful information! So HDR (high dynamic range) will record four times the number of brightness levels of SDR (standard dynamic range)-no wonder they look so much better!