Last year, Lux, the creators of renowned apps like Kino and Halide, unveiled a fascinating camera tool known as Process Zero. This innovative tool extracts images from Apple’s computational photography adjustments, allowing users to capture pristine photographs.
Upon comparing the current-generation iPhone with the older iPhone 6s, I discovered some drawbacks of computational photography. Although algorithmic processing can produce sharper and more colorful images, the results often lack authenticity, losing their natural charm in the process.
It’s no surprise that vintage camera filter apps and film photography are gaining popularity. Recently, Adobe entered the iPhone camera app scene with Project Indigo, designed to emulate the “SLR-like” look on your iPhone.
What’s Unique About Project Indigo?
Indigo is a streamlined pro-grade app featuring numerous manual controls and the ability to adjust the number of frames to fuse. Backed by Adobe’s advanced computational photography technology, it promises a blend of creative control and technical prowess.
This app exclusively captures photos and includes a dedicated night mode. One standout feature is that it continuously captures images even before you press the shutter button. This means those “extra” frames become invaluable for fusion, ensuring your shots appear sharp and free from motion artifacts.
On the qualitative side, Adobe states that the app performs “mild tone mapping, boosts color saturation, and enhances sharpness.” Importantly, the app does not smooth out images, retaining necessary noise to deliver a more genuine shot.
One of Indigo’s most appealing features is its multi-frame super-resolution, activated when you zoom beyond 2x or 10x. However, when using the iPhone 16 Pro’s 5x telephoto lens with electronic stabilization enabled, Adobe notes a 10% crop of the frame; minor drift occurs, but the image quality remains intact.
Additionally, Indigo employs AI-based image scaling, which can sometimes result in less refined outputs. Yet, when zooming into long-range shots, you may notice significantly less grain compared to images taken with the iPhone’s native camera. Indigo saves all images in a DNG format—offering ample editing flexibility while being lighter than Apple’s ProRAW files.
Now let’s discuss those pro-grade controls. The app features a histogram to track sensor data and allows you to engage options like a timer, composition grids, a level indicator, and zebra striping. You can adjust exposure time, ISO, focus, white balance, and exposure compensation, with Adobe confirming that a feature to lock exposure will be available soon.
How Does Indigo’s Output Compare?
At first glance, the iPhone camera may capture images with greater sharpness and vibrancy. However, when analyzing Indigo’s photos, noticeable differences arise. For instance, iPhone captures might render surface textures a bit unrealistically due to excessive sharpening.
Moreover, the iPhone’s method of rendering highlights and shadows often leads to overly bright images, sometimes sacrificing the natural appearance of light reflections and shadowed areas. In contrast, Indigo tends to present softer shots, with a more authentic representation of noise—even in daylight conditions.
Realism isn’t just about how light behaves; it’s also about color accuracy. The iPhone often opts for higher exposure levels, giving foliage an overly vibrant look. Conversely, Indigo takes a more subdued approach, resulting in more naturally colored visuals.
Indigo captures shots in both JPEG and DNG formats, which allows for easier exporting to Lightroom, enhancing your editing options significantly.
Low-light performance is another area where differences are stark. The iPhone typically defaults to higher exposure settings, struggling with color fidelity, especially in mixed lighting scenarios. Indigo excels here, offering superior management of color in reflections, particularly at high zoom levels.
For instance, in images taken at a 10x zoom, the iPhone tends to display graininess near light sources, muddying the contrast. In contrast, photos captured with Indigo exhibit better separation between bright light and object boundaries, resulting in clarity even in darkness.
How Can Indigo Fix iPhone Camera Flaws?
Another notable comparison is a cloudy day shot. The iPhone rendered warmer tones, with high sharpening on clouds, while Indigo provided a more accurate blue sky with well-exposed foliage. The iPhone excels in sharpness where texture is concerned, making elements like building windows appear crisper compared to Indigo’s slightly grainy background.
Indigo particularly shines when the iPhone hits its limitations. Low-light shots from a dark alley prompted the iPhone to struggle with noise, resulting in fuzzy images. By utilizing multi-frame super-resolution, Indigo was able to merge multiple shots for smoother and sharper images, presenting a significant advantage over the native iPhone camera app.
Finally, when testing macro capabilities, Indigo performed admirably. Unlike the iPhone, which sometimes applies a yellowish tint and loses some finer details in the subject, Indigo captured cleaner textures and vibrant colors, making features like fur and iris clarity stand out.
Should You Make the Switch?
Before diving into Adobe’s free camera app, consider its potential benefits. Indigo addresses some of the iPhone’s most prominent camera criticisms, emphasizing color realism, improved night mode, and professional controls. However, mastering the app requires some understanding of framing and photography fundamentals.
The simultaneous DNG capture enhances editing capabilities, particularly with Adobe Lightroom, filled with powerful fine-tuning tools. Nevertheless, keep in mind that image processing requires considerable time, and closing the app can result in lost progress. It can also be demanding on your device, often prompting overheating warnings during extended use.
If you’re interested in exploring and tinkering with photography, Indigo is worth your time. Yet, if you prefer simplicity, the iPhone camera app might be sufficient for your needs. Either way, stay curious and continue to explore the world of mobile photography.
For more insights and updates, make sure to check out Moyens I/O.