ASUS’ PixelMaster low-light image enhancement is amazing

Picture taken using the ZenFone 5. Click for full resolution.

UPDATE: We’ve added a video demonstrating the ZenFone’s PixelMaster camera features after the break.

Low light situations are always a challenge for any camera especially when you’re shooting with a smartphone. While manufacturers have come up with a number of solutions to improve smartphone performance when taking pictures in low light conditions, not many are as impressive as ASUS’ PixelMaster technology found on the newly launched ZenFone smart phones.

ASUS’ approach is novel as it uses nearby pixels to capture more light in low light conditions. This results is a claimed 400% increase in brightness with less noise. The trade-off of this improvement is you are not able to shoot in full resolution. For example, the 13MP camera on the ZenFone 6 can only produce 3MP images with PixelMaster Low Light mode enabled while the 8MP camera on the ZenFone 5 can shoot a maximum resolution of 2MP.

Even so, the difference between a picture taken with and without PixelMaster is like day and night, and also, it helps if you have really steady hands.

Check out our hands-on with the PixelMaster camera features after the break.

Don’t forget to check out on hands-on experience on the new ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6 over here.

You can view the original pictures here (PixelMaster Low Light Mode disabled) and here (PixelMaster Low Light Mode enabled)