Google’s Pixel smartphones have long been known for their great camera systems, but in recent years the company has taken to juicing its imaging platform with artificial intelligence features that expand its capabilities. Taking a photo is no longer just about tapping a shutter button and getting a nice picture. Now there are ways to erase undesirable objects, move subjects in your photos and let AI fill in the background, and even remove annoying sounds like sirens from videos. This year’s Pixel 9 series goes even further with more generative AI capabilities that can alter, improve, and generally goose your photos.
Google says it has completely rebuilt the Pixel 9 series’ HDR+ pipeline—the image processing algorithm that ensures your photos have the right levels of contrast, exposure, colors, and shadows. But new features like Add Me, Reimagine, Autoframe, and Zoom Enhance go past the capture stage and make it easier for anyone to perform tasks that previously required a little technical know-how in a photo-editing app. Here's the breakdown.
And for a deep dive on how these features were developed, read my exclusive interview with members of Google's Pixel camera team.
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You've probably been in a situation where you want to take a selfie with your partner or family in front of a subject, like the Eiffel Tower, but someone has to take the picture, right? Instead of handing your $1,000 phone to a stranger, Add Me accomplishes the same task.
This is a special mode in the Pixel 9 phones that first asks you to scan the surrounding area briefly. Then you'll snap a picture of your loved one in front of the subject, and then swap places. When they take over photo-capture duties, they'll see a faded-out image of themselves in the camera preview, and the camera app will suggest a place for the second person to stand. Once they press the shutter button, it'll superimpose the images so it appears as if both people were standing right next to each other, even when they weren't.
It worked well in my brief testing, and naturally, I tried to see if I could duplicate myself. This worked once, but every other attempt failed. That's because Google says it was not designed for the same person to show up twice. Maybe if you change your shirt or try to look different enough, it might do the trick. I'll need to do more testing to see how well it works when you want to put your hand around another person's shoulder.
Reimagine is the latest addition to Google's Magic Editor, which currently lets you move subjects around a photo or erase objects. This new tool lets you select an area of a photo and then a text prompt pops up, where you can type in what you want to see as your end result. This can be anything ranging from turning the photo from daytime to nighttime, adding stormy clouds, or, like I tried, adding a UFO over the Empire State Building.
谷歌於10月推出了收購手機Pixel 7 Pro，這是其最新的高端旗艦智慧型手機。收購手機Pixel 7 Pro是在蘋果推出的新iPhone 14 Pro Max幾周後問世的，所以我們想比較兩款智慧型手機的攝像頭，將高端iPhone與高端Pixel 7對立起來。
在介紹上，iPhone 14 Pro Max和收購手機Pixel 7 Pro具有類似的攝像頭系統。iPhone配備了1200萬像素超廣角鏡頭、1200萬像素長焦鏡頭和4800萬像素廣角鏡頭，蘋果稱之為「主」攝像頭。收購手機Pixel 7 Pro具有1200萬像素的超廣角鏡頭、4800萬像素的長焦鏡頭和5000萬像素的廣角鏡頭。收購手機Pixel 7 Pro在原始百萬像素方面獲勝，特別是長焦鏡頭。
...多年來，我們從相機比較中學到的是，高端智慧型手機都拍攝了相似的照片，而且結果都很棒。在大多數情況下，您將在iPhone 14 Pro Max和收購手機Pixel 7 Pro上獲得令人驚嘆的圖像，儘管有一些差異需要注意。
...使用標準照片，iPhone圖像中的陰影更暗，收購手機Pixel 7 Pro使東西變亮了一點。收購手機Pixel 7 Pro的圖像不那麼飽和，我們從iPhone上看到更鮮艷的顏色。在某些情況下，直接來自收購手機Pixel 7 Pro相機的圖像看起來更清晰，儘管這可能是軟體效果，也可能是谷歌在幕後編輯的不同。
...廣角和超廣角圖像的結果都類似，但收購手機Pixel 7 Pro的長焦功能比iPhone提供的長焦功能要好得多。谷歌增加了5倍光學變焦，而iPhone 14 Pro Max增加了3倍光學變焦，這與眾不同。事實上，有一個30倍的Super Res數字變焦選項，非常清晰。
...在人像模式下，收購手機Pixel 7 Pro提供了更多的景深，以獲得更多的背景模糊，有些人會更喜歡這一點。有時很難將主題與背景分開，而且它對人比對對象更有效。
...至於夜間模式，兩款智慧型手機都有優點和缺點。收購手機Pixel 7 Pro更適合夜間人像拍攝，因為iPhone在臉部周圍往往太柔軟，但iPhone更擅長包括天空在內的照片。收購手機Pixel 7 Pro在更多圖像上更清晰，在天文攝影方面獲勝，但一些圖像中的偽影存在問題。
...通過視頻，iPhone 14 Pro Max做得更好，這是我們多年來一直看到的主題。iPhone的視頻更清晰，儘管谷歌在穩定方面取得了一些進展。iPhone上的電影模式在2022年有所改進，支持24和30fps 4K視頻，而Pixel的Cinematic Blur限制為30fps。
...總而言之，收購手機Pixel 7 Pro在照片方面具有優勢，iPhone 14 Pro Max在視頻類別中獲勝，但兩款智慧型手機都拍攝了出色的圖像，通常很難決定哪一款更好。你覺得收購手機Pixel 7 Pro怎麼樣？請在下面的評論中告訴我們。