RAW Support for Pro Users: Upload, Convert, and Keep Your Image Data

For many photographers, the RAW file is sacred — the digital equivalent of a negative. It is the closest one can get to what the camera actually saw: unprocessed, high-bit-depth data that preserves every subtle gradient of tone and color. It’s the file you rely on when re-editing a favorite shot years later, or when you need absolute fidelity for print.

With this release, Exposera brings that same respect for the master file to the cloud. Pro users can now upload RAW and DNG files directly, up to 500 MB each, while Exposera automatically handles the conversion to a high-quality JPEG for viewing on the site. Your originals remain stored exactly as you uploaded them, and your audience sees a web-optimized rendering that reflects your work with clarity and accuracy.

Why RAW Support Matters

Shooting in RAW gives photographers control. Unlike JPEGs, which are compressed and processed in-camera, RAW files contain the full dynamic range captured by the sensor. They preserve fine highlight and shadow detail, and they allow non-destructive re-editing across different software generations and color engines.

But those same advantages have historically made RAW files cumbersome to manage online. They are large, proprietary, and not universally viewable. Until now, many photographers have relied on local storage and exported JPEGs just to share their work — creating redundancy and potential inconsistency between versions.

Exposera’s RAW support bridges that gap. When you upload a RAW file, we create a high-fidelity JPEG conversion suitable for display across browsers and devices, while the original file remains intact in your account. You no longer need to maintain two separate upload paths — the master and the web copy are both handled in one step.

What’s Supported

Pro users can upload RAW and DNG files up to 500 MB per image, covering a wide spectrum of modern cameras and file types:

• Canon (.CR2, .CR3)
• Nikon (.NEF, .NRW)
• Sony (.ARW)
• Fujifilm (.RAF)
• Panasonic / Lumix (.RW2)
• Olympus / OM System (.ORF)
• Leica, Pentax, Hasselblad
• And all standard DNG formats

Our backend conversion pipeline is built on professional-grade image processing libraries, the same core technology used in desktop RAW developers. Each file is demosaiced, tone-mapped, and color-balanced using manufacturer-accurate profiles before the resulting JPEG is stored for display. The process is automated, but the philosophy is simple: fidelity first.

Designed for Photographers Who Value the Original

RAW support was created for those who treat their archives as an extension of their craft. If you maintain a Lightroom or Capture One catalog, shoot tethered, or manage large libraries of unpublished work, this feature allows you to centralize both the master and the derived image in one place.

Your RAW upload remains safely stored for download or re-editing later, while the generated JPEG appears seamlessly alongside the rest of your gallery. The result is a cleaner, more efficient workflow: you no longer have to create export batches just to post online.

For many, this also serves as an additional layer of backup. Your RAW masters live both on your local drives and in the cloud, protected by the same global infrastructure that powers Exposera’s image hosting.

What Happens After Upload

Every RAW upload follows a transparent, two-stage process:

1. Archival Storage The original file — your untouched RAW or DNG — is stored securely and remains downloadable at any time. We never rewrite, compress, or strip metadata.

2. High-Quality Conversion A full-resolution JPEG is generated using a color-managed pipeline. We apply appropriate camera profiles and lens metadata to produce a web-ready rendering that reflects the original scene faithfully.

This conversion allows the photo to appear instantly on your Exposera profile, in your Circles, or in your public galleries, without you needing to upload a separate export. What others see is a balanced, true-to-source interpretation of your capture — while you retain the underlying RAW data for future work.

Metadata and Integrity

All embedded metadata is preserved. You can view EXIF data such as camera model, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO directly on Exposera. This information is often essential for study and comparison, and it remains linked to the original file throughout the conversion process.

Our approach prioritizes integrity at every step: no recompression beyond what’s necessary for display, no alteration of timestamps or color tags, and no watermarking unless explicitly added by you. Your archive should remain exactly that — yours.

Need a Format Added?

RAW standards are famously inconsistent. Each manufacturer (and sometimes each model) implements its own variant, making full compatibility a moving target. If you encounter a format that isn’t recognized or a camera that isn’t yet supported, let us know at [email protected].

A Simpler, Safer Workflow

Before this release, photographers often exported JPEGs from their desktop tools just to share images on the web, duplicating effort and risking quality mismatches between versions. Now the process is unified: one upload, two results.

The original RAW remains as your master, available for download or re-editing. The derived JPEG becomes your shareable, web-safe version — automatically created, color-accurate, and ready for viewing.

It’s a workflow that mirrors how photographers already think about their work: a single source of truth, rendered appropriately for the medium in which it’s seen.

The Broader View

At Exposera, we believe that photography deserves infrastructure built for photographers, not just social media convenience. Supporting RAW uploads isn’t about chasing technical checkboxes; it’s about preserving the creative process end to end.

By allowing you to store and display your RAW files together, we reinforce that continuity — from capture to curation to presentation. The result is an archive that remains both practical and honest, a digital equivalent of keeping your negatives in order even as you hang finished prints.

In Closing

RAW files are the purest expression of your intent behind the lens. They represent choice, flexibility, and permanence. With full RAW support for Pro users, Exposera now gives those files a permanent home online — complete, preserved, and displayed beautifully.

Upload your masters once, let Exposera handle the conversion, and know that your originals remain safe. Whether you’re archiving years of work or sharing your latest shoot, your creative process now lives seamlessly from capture to cloud.

Thank you for trusting us with your photographs — and with the data that makes them possible.