If a filmmaker captures a high-contrast scene that results in slightly underexposed shadows in a ProRAW file, what specific advantage does ProRAW offer over HEIC when attempting to recover shadow detail in post-production?

ProRAW offers a significant advantage over HEIC for recovering slightly underexposed shadow detail because it retains substantially more raw image data, particularly within the darker tones, before destructive compression and in-camera processing are fully applied. ProRAW is Apple’s proprietary RAW format that combines the extensive data capture of a traditional RAW file with the intelligent computational photography enhancements that improve dynamic range, noise reduction, and detail. This means that a ProRAW file, typically captured with 10-bit or 12-bit color depth, stores millions more tonal variations compared to the 8-bit HEIC format, which captures thousands. The higher bit depth in ProRAW allows for a much wider *dynamic range*, which is the total range of light intensit....