Adobe launches a new ‘computational photography’ camera app for iPhones

A photograph taken by Project Indigo. | Image: Adobe

Adobe has a caller computational photography camera app for iPhones – and 1 of its creators, Marc Levoy, helped marque the awesome computational photography features that made immoderate of Google’s earlier Pixel cameras shine.

The caller app, called Project Indigo, was released past week by Adobe Labs. It’s escaped and disposable for the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, and each iPhone 14 models and above. (Though Adobe recommends utilizing an iPhone 15 Pro oregon newer.) It besides doesn’t necessitate logging into an Adobe relationship to use.

“Instead of capturing a azygous photo, Indigo captures a burst of photos and combines them unneurotic to nutrient a high-quality photograph with little sound and higher dynamic range,” according to the app’s description. Indigo tries to nutrient a natural, “SLR-like” look for photos, and it besides offers a clump of manual controls similar focus, shutter speed, ISO, and achromatic balance.

To truly recognize what’s going connected nether the hood of Project Indigo, though, I highly urge speechmaking a detailed blog post from Levoy, present an Adobe Fellow who joined the institution in 2020 to physique a “universal camera app,” and Florian Kainz, a elder scientist. The station covers things similar wherefore smartphone cameras are good, however its computational photography works, however it creates the earthy look for its photos, and immoderate details astir its representation processing pipeline.

It is present I indispensable confess that I americium not a camera adept by immoderate means. But adjacent I recovered the station beauteous absorbing and informative. The photos successful the station bash look great, and Adobe has an medium of photos you tin browse, too.

In the post, Levoy and Kainz accidental that Project Indigo volition besides beryllium a testbed for technologies that mightiness get added to different flagship products, similar a fastener to region reflections. And down the line, the squad plans to physique things similar an Android version, a representation mode, and adjacent video recording.

“This is the opening of a travel for Adobe – towards an integrated mobile camera and editing acquisition that takes vantage of the latest advances successful computational photography and AI,” according to Levoy and Kainz. “Our anticipation is that Indigo volition entreaty to casual mobile photographers who privation a earthy SLR-like look for their photos, including erstwhile viewed connected ample screens; to precocious photographers who privation manual power and the highest imaginable representation quality; and to anyone – casual oregon superior – who enjoys playing with caller photographic experiences.”