‘Night Sight’ enhances the low-light capabilities of Google Pixel phones

A lot of people seem to agree that the camera on Google Pixel phones are generally rather good and now Google is looking to make it even better with a new feature that significantly improves picture quality especially in low light conditions. The new feature is called ‘Night Sight’

Night Sight makes it possible to take low-light pictures without having to use flash, or even a tripod for that matter. Night Sight leverages on Google’s AI knowhow and combines it with the Pixel’s HDR+ processing algorithms to boost the colours and brightness of photos that were taken in the dark.

From what I’ve seen, the results are rather amazing but I can’t say that I’m surprised. Huawei has had a similar feature called ‘Night Mode‘ first in the P20 Pro and P20 that was launched in March, and then in a lot of their other phones since then. The Mate 20 series has it, even a number of the newer Honor phones has Night Mode too and the results in terms of enhancing images taken in low light are pretty much the same as what Google achieved with Night Sight. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just that it’s nothing new.

The method in which Huawei achieves such impressive enhancements in low-light photography with its Night Mode is similar to what Google is doing with Night Sight. It takes a series of pictures in varying increments of exposure and shutter speeds and then use AI to analyse, combine and fill-in the image with details from the whole set of images it has taken to form one enhanced image.

Google is rolling out the update that includes Night Sight to Pixel phones right now. So you might want to check your camera app update status. After you’ve updated the camera app, you can find the Night Sight mode in the “More” section. Night Sight will also appear when the phone detects that you’re taking pictures in low-light conditions and a pop-up will appear right above the shutter button so you do not have to manually turn them on every time.

Night Sight may be amazing when it comes to taking low-light pictures but it is not magic, so you’ll still have to abide by the normal rules when taking pictures in dark environments. For one, subjects must remain as still as possible when you’re taking the shot. You’ll need to keep your hands steady too before and after the shutter is pressed.

Google will be rolling out the Night Sight feature as an update to the Pixel camera app and it will be available on the latest Pixel 3, last year’s Pixel 2 as well as the OG 2016 Pixel.

[SOURCE]