
Night Sight: Seeing in the Dark on Pixel Phones - dsr12
https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/11/night-sight-seeing-in-dark-on-pixel.html
======
dang
A big recent thread about this:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18301745](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18301745)

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ZeroCool2u
This feature is honestly amazing. I had serious doubts about Google's claims
with Night Sight, but The Verge has a great article[1] that uses the pre-
release APK and the results are nothing short of spectacular.

On a side note, I hadn't bought a new phone in 4 years and decided to spring
for the new Pixel 3 XL. Very satisfied so far.

[1] [https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/25/18021944/google-night-
si...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/25/18021944/google-night-sight-
pixel-3-camera-samples)

~~~
Wowfunhappy
If the Pixel had a headphone jack, I would probably buy one as well. But
that's the thing...

~~~
jonknee
You might as well get used to no headphone jack, they're not going to make a
come back.

~~~
power78
Seriously. This argument is getting old. Bluetooth headphones aren't that
difficult to find cheap now anyways. Are people really that attached to their
old wired headphones?

~~~
tjoff
* Bluetooth headphones are VASTLY more expensive compared to wired equivalents.

* Bluetooth headphones are a _nightmare_ to temporarily pair to devices.

* AUX is a standard available on all devices in decades.

* Bluetooth headphones needs to be charged.

* Blueetoth headphones have a very limited lifespan because you can't replace batteries in them.

* AUX is quick, pairing to your friends car for a 15 minute drive - nope.

* Bluetooth is quite buggy. AUX is not.

As someone who has bluetooth headphones, bluetooth in car, wifi casting at
home - lack of 3.5mm is still a deal breaker. I'm so happy my new phone has it
(last one had an adapter that I couldn't bring with me constantly (oh and it
started to glitch on me after a year...).

~~~
Sohcahtoa82
You know the Pixel 3 comes with a USB-C to Aux adapter, right? You can still
use wired headphones.

Admittedly, you still lose the ability to charge your phone while listening
with headphones unless you use wireless charging or find a USB-C splitter.

~~~
tjoff
That just makes it even more infuriating. In what universe is bringing an
adapter _with a phone_ a valid thing?

You could "pair" it with your headphones, which works ok if you only use them
with your phone (and don't have to decouple them ever) - big if. Also assumes
you only have one pair that you use.

But the headphone jack shines for temporary and unexpected situations. Where
you don't have your headphones you are out of luck.

Just no, seriously. NO.

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docbrown
Without pushing the cost astronomically high with f/1,4 lenses, it seems as if
Night Sight somehow algorithmically allows the standard f/1,8 camera to shoot
two-thirds up and allow for these low-light, long-exposure shots.

It’s honestly an amazing challenge they accepted and quite possible they
accomplished their goal.

~~~
jakecopp
What do you mean by shoot two thirds up?

I don't think it's physically possible for an f1.8 lens to pretend to be f1.4,
it's the physical dimensions of the iris. The only way is by bringing up the
ISO which is what every camera does when adjusting exposure.

~~~
docbrown
The lens itself is never going to be able to change, correct.

When we get into implifying the problem by “bringing up the ISO” though, this
is where you’ll run into problems. Anybody can raise ISO from 800 to 3200 but
then you run the risk of inadvertently producing massive amounts of noise on
your photo. This is why Google introduced HDR+ to reduce noise. [0]

So, what Google did, or at least it seems like, is they were able to take an
algorithm that will automatically adjust ISO, reduce noise, and allow for low-
light conditions that f1,8 glass would never be able to produce cleanly.

[0] [http://ai.googleblog.com/2014/10/hdr-low-light-and-high-
dyna...](http://ai.googleblog.com/2014/10/hdr-low-light-and-high-dynamic-
range.html)

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deckar01
I read that some people have gotten the APK to work on non-pixel devices with
decent results.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/9u7srh/pixel_3_cam...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/9u7srh/pixel_3_camera_with_night_sight_works_on_nexus_6p/)

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technofiend
Yup, works fine on my Pixel 2.

~~~
bobbean
I think you may have misread his post.

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SketchySeaBeast
Google continues to really take their cameras to the next level. It's just a
shame the rest of the hardware doesn't follow suit.

~~~
smlacy
When you say "rest of the hardware" are you referring specifically to Google's
Pixel phones? From a hardware perspective, they seem pretty great.

Or, are you referring to the phone industry in general, and how they're unable
to make cameras that match the quality of the ones in the Google Pixel line?

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
I'm referring specifically to Pixel phones. They made weird choices with
awkward notches, small storage and RAM, as well as a mediocre at best battery.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Also, removing the headphone jack for no reason except that it's fashionable
right now.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
The conceit that it makes it slimmer is ridiculous. Give me a thicker phone to
fit in that headphone jack, and while you're at it, fill the rest of the space
with battery.

~~~
reaperducer
And a floppy disk. An an IEEE-488 interface.

~~~
pickdenis
This argument is disingenuous. I hope people would stop spouting it.

There will ALWAYS be an advantage to wired headphones over wireless:
reliability and versatility.

Bluetooth headphones can be VERY finicky about who they'll connect to and with
how much hassle. They also cannot be plugged into a separate DAC/Amp setup.

Perhaps if it were standard for headphones to allow the user to bypass the
bluetooth DAC and run the drivers on our own signal, but I haven't really seen
this on affordable headphones.

~~~
gizmo385
This argument is equally disingenuous because you're implying that you simply
can't use wired headphones of any kind. You can still get wired headphones
without a headphone jack and just use the USB-C port.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
And demolish any supposed gains in size and weight from removing the jack in
the first place.

The thing that gets me is, removing the headphone provides no benefit
whatsoever for the vast majority of users. A few grams and some fraction of a
millimeter aren't enough for you to feel the difference in your hand. If you
don't use wired headphones, you gain no advantage from removing the jack. If
you _do_ use wired headphones, there's a substantial disadvantage to removing
the jack. So if it doesn't benefit anyone, why do it?

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lambdadmitry
I wish there was an app combo to stack images in post on the laptop. There are
choices to be made (dynamic range for one), and when done in such a way there
is almost unlimited computing power.

There are a few astrophotography apps, but they don't use accelerometer data
and aren't particularly suited for uneven motion blur AFAIK.

~~~
mrunseen
IIRC Astrophotography stacking app is DeepSkyStacker for if anyone interested

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Animats
That's with a tiny cell phone imager. Combined with a real color night vision
imager [1] the results should be as good as daylight.

[1] [https://www.x20.org/color-night-vision/](https://www.x20.org/color-night-
vision/)

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mikepurvis
The final example picture is from downtown Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo region.
I wonder if some of this work was done at the Kitchener engineering office?

Here's the same angle on Maps:
[https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.3598564,-80.3149752,51a,35y,2...](https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.3598564,-80.3149752,51a,35y,226.21h,65.16t/data=!3m1!1e3)

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aantix
Is anyone doing the equivalent for the iPhone?

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celeritascelery
No reason they couldn’t. It would just involve some fairly advanced
algorithms, so it is not trivial. But the hardware is there. Apple could
release this in a update if they wanted. Doubt it will happen till next year
though.

~~~
hactually
It's been the case since the Pixel 1 that if you want the best in class camera
- buy Pixel.

If you are happy to wait, sure maybe it'll come to iOS - Google are unlikely
to stop their efforts though.

~~~
celeritascelery
Night vision is best in class for sure. But it is quite a stretch to claim
that pixel still has the best camera. The anandtech review of the Pixel 3
consistently said that in daylight the iPhone Xs and Galaxy S9 produced better
photos. They just have better hardware. As amazing as software is, you can
only do so much to make up for lower class hardware.

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piinbinary
Do the links to the full resolution images result in a 401 for anyone else?

