I've been messing around with the Google Camera app and the new Camera API provided by Android 5. It turns out that you can actually obtain a lot higher quality images by using the DNG (digital negative) of the photo, instead of using the JPEG. By "HDRing" images yourself, you can actually outperform Google Camera's HDR+ functionality.<p>Here's the JPEG, non HDR+ shot on a Nexus 5:
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/So44muL.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/So44muL.jpg</a><p>Here's a similar image shot with HDR+:
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/QFS3ZYd.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/QFS3ZYd.jpg</a>.<p>As you can see, the dynamic range is increased greatly; however there's strange black spots in the shadows.<p>Here's the same photo that I took in DNG format, edited in Lightroom:<p><a href="http://i.imgur.com/VRFsnf5.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/VRFsnf5.jpg</a><p>And here's my HDR photo, combined 5 DNG exposures inside Photoshop HDR Pro's functionality:<p><a href="http://i.imgur.com/RTT6ULz.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/RTT6ULz.jpg</a>
Seems like two people come into this experience and walk away with completely different expectations. One group are people, for whom camera phones have been their only "camera" and they are amazed at how great the pictures are now. The other group are people who argue the details of a phase detection autofocus in the Canon DSLR and the 51 point field autofocus of the Nikon DSLR and can't believe that the handset makers are allowed to actually call these things 'cameras' in their advertisements. Very little input from the folks in the middle.
The automatic alignment helps prevent ghosts from camera shake. But it would be interesting to see how they avoid ghosts from moving subjects like leaves in the wind if they are effectively exposing longer (by taking several photos in a row).
One should remember that writing camera software that is agnostic to the hardware is technically hard, and nearly impossible if you want gorgeous photos (a la iPhone). When taking astronomy images we would characterize the CCD (mostly for noise) each night, and you need that kind of approach to tune your software to your hardware.
> <i>However, bracketing is not actually necessary; one can use the same exposure time in every shot. By using a short exposure HDR+ avoids blowing out highlights, and by combining enough shots it reduces noise in the shadows.</i><p>Does this mean they're using ISO bracketing instead of exposure bracketing?
It's unfortunate that HDR mode in Google Camera remains unavailable for phones other than the Nexus 5 & 6 -- I have a Moto X, and the app is really only useful for photospheres, since normal photos tend look awful without HDR.<p>Has Google discussed any technical reason for this restriction? Seems like lots of third party apps support HDR on a wider variety of phones...
It's worth noting that with HDR+ enabled on the Nexus 5, you can no longer enable the flash or timer. And the processing time can feel frustratingly long. So leaving it enabled all the time doesn't work for everyone.
Does anyone know if this is the same technique that iOS uses for HDR (I know the basic principle of multiple exposures is the same). Are there different algorithms at play here?
I posted this 2 hours ago [1] and both the posts are in home; the URLs differ just by a trailing question mark.<p>How come the duplicate detector didn't trigger?<p>[1] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8515417" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8515417</a>
Yikes. That first picture looks awful. The HDR+ version looks like cheap CGI. Very plasticy. Some of the other pics are nice so that seems like a really weird one to lead with.
The blogspot fails to discuss why Samsung Galaxy S4/S5 HDR results are much better than my Nexus 5's. Also, there are limitations in leaving it on. Besides it being slow, it also has other restrictions like the inability to use Flash while in HDR+ mode. Howsoever good it may be by default, flash is sometimes important not only in dark, but also when facing sunlight while taking the shot.
The blogger wrote SynthCam for iOS first:
<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoy/" rel="nofollow">https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoy/</a><p>Some similar technology, my impression is less "automatic" I think but more control.
Haven't seen either in action so I'm not sure how it compares.
I have an Android phone, but what is described in the post sounds a lot like what the app Average Cam Pro [1] does on my iPad (multiple exposures, average them out) with the refinement that the ACP app also allows you to subtract a "dark image" to combat sensor-specific banding noise, plus the user can adjust exposure after the shot.<p>It takes the cleanest pictures by far, beating out my Canon 7D at times, but for optimal results it does require the device to be extremely steady. I've been waiting for this app to appear on Android too, but it hasn't so far.<p>[1] <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/average-camera-pro/id415577873?mt=8" rel="nofollow">https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/average-camera-pro/id4155778...</a>
Every picture that is on my VSCO Grid was taken with the HDR+ Photo app. Please note: I have manipulated most of the images. After purchasing the N5 last year, I quickly learned that the Nexus 5 camera should always be set on HDR+. Even though the HDR process takes multiple images. Many of the pictures on my VSCO grid were taken in motion. They still have a focus and do not look blurry.<p><a href="http://fantasma.vsco.co/" rel="nofollow">http://fantasma.vsco.co/</a>
Yeah, this is fine. But my Nexus 5 takes half of its pictures out of focus. It is really, really frustrating. Can't they solve that hard problem first? :-)
HDR in my Nexus 4 allowed me to take <i>almost</i> focus photos on live music events, until it started to crash the camera / reboot the phone, oh well.
Not really interesting since other OEMs have had this for years. Good to see Google trying to keep up with their low cost alternative offerings, however.
Meh. The camera software on Android is so bad that a default-setting picture from an iPhone looks as good or better than an HDR picture on Android. People have demonstrated the quality you can get from the sensor on a Nexus 5 if you capture raw and process offline[1]. I realize that these Google[x] researchers are probably not responsible for the mainline camera application, but the organizational details of Android management don't interest me. What would interest me would be an Android camera app that captures decent pictures, has usable auto-exposure and auto-focus algorithms, and doesn't take tens of seconds to start.<p>1: <a href="http://imgur.com/a/qQkkR#0" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/a/qQkkR#0</a>