The Pixel Difference

Old camera vs new one

If there's something on your mind that just doesn't seem to fall into any of the other categories, well, it quite likely belongs inside Joe Finneman's marketplace. Think of it as a general store for general discussions!
Post Reply
User avatar
Bob
Catspaw Rocks!
Posts: 705
Joined: September 2006
Location: The Metroplex
Gender:
Contact:

The Pixel Difference

Post by Bob »

I got a new phone a little while ago, the Google Pixel 4a 5G, because of its battery life, good camera, and being an Android phone (which makes it easier to sync with my Chromebook).

If you look at a camera's pictures by themselves, it's easy to compare it to what you see, and find all kinds of faults. But when you contrast it with the pictures another camera takes, you can get a sense of how much improvement there has been. It happens that my old iPhone SE (2016) has a very similar camera to the Pixel 4a 5G (other than the aperture), so the key difference is Google's software processing. I'm working on a series of snapshots to help compare the pictures the two can take, and to make me feel better about my choice of phone. ;)

Images are in spoilers.

Each picture has at least three versions - the iPhone SE version, and the Pixel's raw and post-processing photos. For dark shots, there's likely to also be Night Sight/Flash versions from the Pixel.

"Faith bird pictures"
These shots were taken with high zoom. You can see interpolated detail very clearly on the Pixel's processed shot. My impression, on closer physical inspection, is that the real item matched up appreciably well with the Google version here.
iPhone
Image
Pixel (raw)
Image
Pixel (processed)
Image
Backyard, dark
This picture set is probably best viewed in a dark room. There's not much light here to work with, and both of the unprocessed shots are pretty hopeless. You can see the most detail (like the ground) in the processed shot, although it still isn't quite a 'good picture'.
iPhone
Image
Pixel (raw)
Image
Pixel (processed)
Image
Backyard, brightened up
This is the same perspective and time, but with the devices' means of trying to take lit 'night shots'. For the iPhone, that's the flash mode. The Android prefers 'night sight', but also has a flash mode. I used both, in two sets of pictures.
iPhone
Image
Pixel (raw, Night Sight)
Image
Pixel (processed, Night Sight)
Image
Night Sight seems to have the unfortunate tendency of making night shots look like they were taken during the day, but I can't knock it too much in this case since you can at least see things in the picture.
Pixel (raw, Flash)
Image
Pixel (processed, Flash)
Image
The Bathroom of Doom
This is a shot of my bathtub/shower, in the dark. In either case it looks like a shot from a horror film, but the Pixel seems to let a little more light in, and can do more tricks with it afterwards.
iPhone
Image
Pixel (raw)
Image
Pixel (processed)
Image
The Bathroom of Mild Discomfort
Same as the previous set, but with the phone's preferred night-mitigation techniques applied. With the flash, the Pixel image looks almost like the room lights are turned on.
iPhone
Image
Pixel (raw, Night Mode)
Image
Pixel (processed, Night Mode)
Image
Pixel (raw, Flash)
Image
Pixel (processed, Flash)
Image
JavaScript
A simple shot of a bed in our house, with a JavaScript book lying on top of it. The iPhone image is a little yellower than it actually is, the raw one is a bit too bright, and the processed Pixel shot seems a little dramatic considering it's an ordinary house scene. I think the processed Pixel shot is still the best one, though.
iPhone
Image
Pixel (raw)
Image
Pixel (processed)
Image
Wisdom
This shot uses the zoom camera, at about 1.5x-2x.
iPhone
Image
Pixel (raw)
Image
Pixel (processed)
Image
In general, the raw photos are comparable to the shots the iPhone takes. The Pixel has a lower aperture and tends to be better in low light, but it might be slightly worse in some other area which hasn't been clearly demonstrated in these shots. After processing, the pictures generally are far superior to either the iPhone or the Pixel's unprocessed photos.

If there's interest, I may take more pictures of more interesting things. I think this set shows that picture-taking technology has advanced over the last few years, though, and that Google's camera software isn't just hype; it can make your amateur photos look better than they deserve to be for the work you put in. ;)
User avatar
snubs
Future Catspaw
Future Catspaw
Posts: 8551
Joined: March 2008
Location: Loserville
Gender:
Contact:

Post by snubs »

The comparison shots are cool to see. I would like to see some more outdoor photos, particularly during the "golden hour." That might give some fun comparisons.
snubs is not dumb as he really is very smart. — Bmuntz
Image
| Odyssey Chat | Odyssey Moments | OM Podcast | #NotAIOMerch |
Post Reply