How to Shoot RAW Photos on Samsung Galaxy S8

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 20 May 2017

Samsung Galaxy S8 Camera Closeup

Samsung might not have hyped the 12MP camera of the Galaxy S8 much, but that does not take away the fact that the handset still has an excellent shooter. Samsung has further complemented the excellent camera setup on the handset with its redesigned camera app that is feature-rich and easy to use.

Among other things, Samsung also offers the ability to shoot and save photos in RAW/DNG format on the Galaxy S8 and S8+. However, the redesigned camera app makes it not-so-obvious that it allows saving photos directly in RAW/DNG format as well.

So, if you have been wondering how to save photos in RAW/DNG format on your brand new Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Open the default Camera app on your Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+. Tap the Settings button (cog icon) located on the top-right corner of the display.

Step 2: Tap on Picture size and from the menu that opens up, simply enable the ‘Save RAW and JPEG files’ toggle.

Only enabling the toggle will not allow your Galaxy S8 to shoot photos in RAW format, though. To save photos in RAW format, you need to switch the camera mode on the Galaxy S8 to ‘Pro’ mode. Additionally, photos shot in burst mode will not be saved in DNG/RAW format so keep that in mind before you start clicking photos on the S8.

Step 3: To switch to Pro camera mode on the Galaxy S8, swipe to the right from the camera viewfinder and tap the Pro mode.


RAW/DNG photos shot from the Galaxy S8’s rear shooter will allow you to extract a wee bit more in terms of dynamic range and details from the phone’s sensor provided you know your way around Photoshop. Also note that RAW/DNG photos take up significantly more space than JPEG photos, so make sure to have plenty of storage space free on your S8.