Unpro Camera App Produces ‘Astonishingly Natural’ Photos

Feb 04, 2025

Jeremy Gray

A landscape showing a mountain in the distance under a clear blue sky, with a large evergreen tree in the foreground. On the right, a smartphone screen displays a photo of the same scene.

A new app called Unpro Camera says it strips away all of the processing typically applied by an iPhone to produce unprocessed-looking photos that the developer says look “astonishingly natural.”

Unpro Camera promises “that unprocessed look” that has become popular lately and is in the same vein as Halide’s Process Zero option.

Cityscape view under a clear blue sky, featuring modern high-rise buildings with glass facades. A few birds are flying in the sky, and a structure with a glass roof is in the foreground.

A large Christmas tree with colorful lights stands tall next to a modern skyscraper under a cloudy sky. A flock of birds flies above, creating a dynamic contrast against the static buildings.

The image shows a tall, modern skyscraper with a sleek glass facade and geometric design elements against a pale blue sky. The building features a series of vertical windows and sections protruding at different angles.

The app works with iPhone models that support ProRAW, providing the developer, Uncorrelated Contents, access to the iPhone’s RAW processing pipeline. From here, Unpro leverages careful development to produce a natural yet detailed output. On iPhones without ProRAW, the app still works, aiming instead to reverse the sharpening and local tone mapping that it cannot disable in the image processing pipeline.

“On iPhones that don’t support ProRAW — the majority of iPhones sold — I do something that is, as far as I’m aware, completely novel. I call it ‘deprocessing.’ The idea is that we want the computational photography benefits of lower noise and greater dynamic range, but we don’t want the sharpening and local tone mapping. Without access to ProRAW, how can we do this?” the developer asks.

A plant with green and purple leaves photographed from below against a white background. The image is framed by a camera interface with buttons for focus, zoom, and flash on the left and right sides. — The Unpro Camera app user interface

A settings screen displays options for camera interface and photo settings. Toggles are available for adjusting shutter button orientation, camera resolution (12-megapixel), sharpening enhancements, and automatic photo adjustments. — The app includes a few settings for users to tweak, but is generally a streamlined camera app.

“I’ve figured out a technique to reverse most of the sharpening and local tone mapping present in images, tackling the problem from the opposite end. This way, we can take a photo from the camera, get the higher dynamic range and reduced noise, but undo the parts that we don’t like. Or, at least, that I don’t like.”

Unpro not only aims to produce a more retro-looking image, free from modern smartphone processing techniques, but the app also channels old-school vibes through its design and user interface. Unpro sports a skeuomorphic design, meaning that it digitally recreates real-world objects. In this case, the app has a shiny-looking virtual shutter release, a faux leather texture like a camera’s grip, and pseudo-illuminated icons for things like AF/AE locking and zoom mode. It is worth noting the buttons in the UI don’t move around — they’re always in the same location — which the developer says makes it easier to learn how to use.

A single tree stands on a gently sloping hill covered with dry grass. A rustic wooden fence crosses the foreground. The sky is filled with large, fluffy clouds under a bright sun.

Sunlight filters through a dense forest, illuminating green ferns on the forest floor. Tall trees surround the scene, creating a serene and natural atmosphere.

A long bridge spans across a calm river, with vehicles traveling over it. In the background, a distant snow-capped mountain is visible under a clear blue sky. Trees and industrial structures line the riverbank.

Longtime iPhone users may recall the skeuomorphic designs of early iOS versions, a design language Apple has long since abandoned.

“Skeuomorphism is long out of style, but I think it’s fun,” the developer tells PetaPixel.

Making Unpro as straightforward to use as possible means that while it utilizes RAW processing itself, it outputs a JPEG final image. This differs from Halide’s Process Zero — which Uncorrelated Contents notes uses RAW, not ProRAW — because Process Zero produces a RAW image for the user to edit to taste.

A collage of six images showcasing a camera app interface on a smartphone. The images feature natural landscapes, a city skyline, trees, and a bridge. Text highlights features like unprocessed and retro-style photos, no editing needed, and modern tech.