Night Sight Launched Officially for All Pixel Phones

Anil Ganti
Google Pixel 3 single primary camera explained

We all knew pretty much everything there is to know about the Pixel 3 well before launch. However, there were still a few tricks up Google's sleeve. One of the most notable ones was their Night Sight feature, which produced incredible looking photos in a near-absence of light. However, developers managed to enable the feature on several devices including the OnePlus 6T and Poco F1 using modified versions of the Google Camera app. Today, Google announced via a blog post that, Night Sight is rolling out for all Pixel devices in the coming days.

Night Sight is a new feature of the Pixel Camera app that lets you take sharp, clean photographs in very low light, even in light so dim you can't see much with your own eyes. It works on the main and selfie cameras of all three generations of Pixel phones, and does not require a tripod or flash.

The post delves deep into the specifics of how the feature works and is an interesting read. Although it's rolling out all three generations of Pixels, it is fine-tuned for the latest Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL. Night Sight is a major selling point for the Pixel 3, so it's reasonable to assume that it won't work as well on its predecessors.  Additionally, the first-generation Pixel also lacks optical image stabilization, so it has to use shorter exposures, which can further compromise the quality compared to more recent hardware.

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Optical image stabilization (OIS), which is present on Pixel 2 and 3, reduces handshake for moderate exposure times (up to about 1/8 second), but doesn’t help with longer exposures or with moving objects. To combat motion blur that OIS can’t fix, the Pixel 3’s default picture-taking mode uses “motion metering”, which consists of using optical flow to measure recent scene motion and choosing an exposure time that minimizes this blur.

Google states that it's rolling out over the next few days via the Google Camera app at the Play Store. There is, however, also an APK that you can sideload. Since it is the official version, the full functionality of the app will only be available for Pixel users.

News Source: Android Police

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