The devil is in the details (camera question)

[teamnowak]

What is Google doing with the details processing in this phone? I haven't really seen it brought up in any camera reviews how badly this phone accentuates every single minute detail, to the point of creating photos that aren't close to reality. Here is an example:

Photo taken with Pixel 2, no editing:



Here is the same photo edited in Snapseed. Lowered structure by about 60% and made some white balance and other changes:



And just for comparison, here is the iPhone X shot, no editing:



I've seen this same thing with fabric a lot too. The camera sees lint and things the human eye doesn't notice.

So, what on earth is Google doing? I understand theoretically why one might want to collect as many details as possible, but for a camera marketed and reviewed as the ultimate "just point and shoot" camera, way too many shots require serious editing to use. Anybody else annoyed by this? Any workarounds besides doing a lot of editing?

 

[PowrDroid]

Well, this is a new problem--camera is too accurate. <sigh>

 

[teamnowak]

Well, this is a new problem--camera is too accurate. <sigh>

Re-read! Not too accurate. It ACCENTUATES details, making an unrealistic shot. Seriously, I wrote those exact words. Don't be an a$$

 

[osubeavs728]

I don't understand why anyone would complain about detail. That's why people buy nice cameras and 4k TV's etc, for detail, sharpness and clarity.

Like the great Kendrick Lamar once said: "I'm so ****** sick tired of the Photoshop...show me something natural like *** with some stretch marks."

 

[PowrDroid]

Re-read! Not too accurate. It ACCENTUATES details, making an unrealistic shot. Seriously, I wrote those exact words. Don't be an a$$

I "see" an appointment with an opthalmologist in your future.

 

[teamnowak]

Clearly my point was missed. I agree that details are good. This is not producing ACCURATE details. It is adding to the details. The first shot I posted looks nothing like real life. Not at all. The edited one is way closer. Our eyes don't hone in on every little detail and brighten them. This camera does. It's bad computer generated details. Maybe people like that. I think it's crazy inaccurate.

 

[osubeavs728]

Clearly my point was missed. I agree that details are good. This is not producing ACCURATE details. It is adding to the details. The first shot I posted looks nothing like real life. Not at all. The edited one is way closer. Our eyes don't hone in on every little detail and brighten them. This camera does. It's bad computer generated details. Maybe people like that. I think it's crazy inaccurate.

Just because the eyes aren't sensitive enough to pick it up doesn't mean it's not there...

You can't see UV light, but it still exists. So, to you, it may be "accentuating" because your eyes don't pick it up, but in reality it's as accurate as it gets. At least that's the way I look at it.

 

[teamnowak]

Just because the eyes aren't sensitive enough to pick it up doesn't mean it's not there...

You can't see UV light, but it still exists. So, to you, it may be "accentuating" because your eyes don't pick it up, but in reality it's as accurate as it gets. At least that's the way I look at it.

While I appreciate you thoughts, I totally disagree. There are cameras that take pictures of heat signatures or different bands of UV, etc. Those things are there, yes, but not visible to humans. You wouldn't want your camera to shoot them. I think I can confidently say most people want their camera to photograph what they are seeing. Not UV or heat or any number of things. The things a human eye sees. I'm not seeing a lot of the stuff that shows up in shot 1. If my camera started showing all kinds of other things that are beyond human vision, I wouldn't want those things either. And honestly, no one else, including you would either.

 

[CVisk]

What is Google doing with the details processing in this phone? I haven't really seen it brought up in any camera reviews how badly this phone accentuates every single minute detail, to the point of creating photos that aren't close to reality. Here is an example:

Photo taken with Pixel 2, no editing:

View attachment 273981

Here is the same photo edited in Snapseed. Lowered structure by about 60% and made some white balance and other changes:

View attachment 273982

And just for comparison, here is the iPhone X shot, no editing:

View attachment 273983

I've seen this same thing with fabric a lot too. The camera sees lint and things the human eye doesn't notice.

So, what on earth is Google doing? I understand theoretically why one might want to collect as many details as possible, but for a camera marketed and reviewed as the ultimate "just point and shoot" camera, way too many shots require serious editing to use. Anybody else annoyed by this? Any workarounds besides doing a lot of editing?

I see exactly what your referring to. I don't have this phone yet, but waiting for a hopeful Black Friday deal. Others are referring to the dust and scratches on the desk that it is seeing. Those are really there so that is fine. My question is, what color is that desk actually supposed to be? More red like in the first picture, or more brown like in the second picture? What does your eye actually see? I would want the picture to show what color the desk actually is.

 

[teamnowak]

I see exactly what your referring to. I don't have this phone yet, but waiting for a hopeful Black Friday deal. Others are referring to the dust and scratches on the desk that it is seeing. Those are really there so that is fine. My question is, what color is that desk actually supposed to be? More red like in the first picture, or more brown like in the second picture? What does your eye actually see? I would want the picture to show what color the desk actually is.

The edited shot was as close as I could get it to what I see. I had to adjust the color a lot. It's brown, not red.

 

[nelamvr6]

OP, I have to say your complaint is entirely baseless in my opinion. Looking at the photos you posted, I think the only one that is acceptable at all is the one that the Pixel 2 took.

 

[Almeuit]

Are you seeing it with all photos or just this one particular example? When I look over photos I took when at Disney they look just like they did when I saw them with my own eye. They aren't blown out of proportion or anything.

 

[PowrDroid]

Now that I'm on my PC and not my phone I can see that the photo appears to be oversaturated. It's as if the HDR+ setting was amped up. The wooden desktop seems to glow with an orange hue that looks unnatural. I'm going to take a look at each photo more closely in Photoelements.

 

[teamnowak]

OP, I have to say your complaint is entirely baseless in my opinion. Looking at the photos you posted, I think the only one that is acceptable at all is the one that the Pixel 2 took.

I must be in bizarro world. I'm the only one who is actually at the location where the picture was taken. I am telling you the one the Pixel took straight out of the camera looked NOTHING like the scene I was looking at. Why would someone actively want a photo to not represent real life? I don't get it. Seems like people are simply being apologists (or have really really bad eyesight).

 

[teamnowak]

Now that I'm on my PC and not my phone I can see that the photo appears to be oversaturated. It's as if the HDR+ setting was amped up. The wooden desktop seems to glow with an orange hue that looks unnatural. I'm going to take a look at each photo more closely in Photoelements.

I've noticed this thing goes crazy oversaturating orange, so that wouldn't surprise me.

 

[teamnowak]

Are you seeing it with all photos or just this one particular example? When I look over photos I took when at Disney they look just like they did when I saw them with my own eye. They aren't blown out of proportion or anything.

Most pictures are honestly pretty good. At low light I often get a yellow tinge. But the biggest problem is closer up shots with details being way overrepresented.

 

[booboolala2000]

Re-read! Not too accurate. It ACCENTUATES details, making an unrealistic shot. Seriously, I wrote those exact words. Don't be an a$$

I'm sure the camera is still going to be tweaked. For me, it uses the flash much more than the original Pixel did. But the pictures are still great. Just nit a fan of flash photography on a phone.

 

[PowrDroid]

It helps to see them side-by-side. I cropped the Apple photo to be the same size as the Pixel 2 photo, resized both photos to 480X640 and dropped them side-by-side on a blank file. I didn't do any processing. To my eyes the Pixel 2 does look to be oversaturated and a bit sharpened compared to the iPhone X. Besides the fairly "glowing" wood of the desktop take a look at the floor. I don't think the floor is that orange shade in real life, but only the OP knows for sure.

It helps to click on the image (below) to enlarge it and see it better.

 

[PowrDroid]

I "see" an appointment with an opthalmologist in your future.

Having examined the photos more closely I would like to apologize to teamnowak for this comment. It was uncalled for.

 

[e30ernest]

The color part could easily just be an error in white balance
This has happened to me in a few shots, mostly indoors or with artificial lighting. It happens occasionally on every digital camera I've owned. I just switch to a different white balance setting.

As far as details are concerned, a few tweaks I can think of is manually selecting the focus area. That generally brings the phone's image in line to what I want.

If it is a processing issue on that particular shot, then I'm glad it errs on the side of details though. That's easier to fix post process than a shot that lacks details from the start.