iPhone IOS 13.1 low light camera improvements

[joedan76]

Not exactly sure if this came in with 13.1B1 or today with B2 but very low light photos have been improved on my XR.

This is an interesting development as it indicates Apple is working on low light photography or at the very worst just improving the existing algorithms, at least for us on 2018 phones.

I noticed under IOS13.1 B2 when taking a photo in very low light the camera appears to flicker twice very quickly like it’s taking two photos, it’s quite subtle and easily missed. Flash is set to off.

Photos appeared brighter than I was used to.
Compared with my wife’s XR running IOS 12.4 there is an improvement.

See my two photos below these are untouched straight from the stock camera from IOS12.4 and IOS13.1 on an XR.

Took many photos side by side and there is no question it’s better. Apologies my sample is a little blurry as I moved slightly but the catch is you have to be very still on IOS13.1 as it appears to take multiple frames.

Exif data is below; note the file size for IOS13.1 is larger.

Can anyone see what I am seeing?


——————
f/1.8
0.250000 - ( 1/4 seconds )
4 mm
26 mm (35 mm format)
ISO 3200
Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
05-09-2019 20:43:01
0.00 Kilometer per hour
26.300000 meters above sea level (+/- 0.00)
2.27 EV
Auto Exposure
Normal program
Auto White Balance
Pattern Metering mode
Apple
iPhone XR
13.1
Apple
iPhone XR back camera 4.25mm f/1.8
File Size 1.12 MB (1,116,477 bytes)

—————-


f/1.8
0.250000 - ( 1/4 seconds )
4 mm
26 mm (35 mm format)
ISO 3200
Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
05-09-2019 20:43:04
0.00 Kilometer per hour
32.100000 meters above sea level (+/- 0.00)
2.27 EV
Auto Exposure
Normal program
Auto White Balance
Pattern Metering mode
Apple
iPhone XR
12.4
Apple
iPhone XR back camera 4.25mm f/1.8
File Size 728 KB (728,282 bytes)

 

[jacg]

Both pictures are mostly either black or noise but I guess for social media this is a positive move.

 

[bydandie]

I'm actually wondering if iOS 13.0 is being held back because of cadges to be announce next week. Computational photography is going mainstream now, and having this in the X series would be a big announcement.

 

[Miska82]

Noticed something like that on latest beta at iOS 13. Not sure is it the same than it is in 13.2 or 13.1.

 

[Miska82]

All thought app like NeuralCam still does pixel like nightshot quality compared to brighter picture by iOS 13. Good if Apple steps up their game but still long way to go.

 

[Miska82]

Here is comparison shots between the 3dt party app and iOS 13.0 beta stock camera. Scene was extremely dark and here the brighter one is the 3dt party app mentioned.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I'm probably one of the few beta users most excited about camera-specific updates and improvements lol.

 

[JPack]

Here is comparison shots between the 3dt party app and iOS 13.0 beta stock camera. Scene was extremely dark and here the brighter one is the 3dt party app mentioned.

Not bad, but agreed that Apple still has a long way to go.

Real night mode quality involves more than just brightening the scene. The image details in P30 night photos are as sharp as daytime ones. Perhaps the iPhone 11 hardware will catch up in this area.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Here is comparison shots between the 3dt party app and iOS 13.0 beta stock camera. Scene was extremely dark and here the brighter one is the 3dt party app mentioned.

What 3rd party app?

 

[Miska82]

What 3rd party app?

NeuralCam.
But yea I’m excited about camera updates as well. Seems Apple updates the camera software without making it big number.

 

[masciam]

I’m expecting Apple to release some sort of competition to Google’s night sight, but even if it’s 100% software I doubt they will make it available to older iPhones. I would love if they did, but I can’t remember a flagship feature of a new model being released to older devices (portrait mode, animoji, hdr, dynamic wallpapers, etc).

 

[alpi123]

The 'improved' photo for me just looks like the original one but brightened up. If it was real night sight, it wouldn't look so much soft. I don't see a difference in clarity, it's still as blurry as on on iOS 12.

 

[Miska82]

I’m expecting Apple to release some sort of competition to Google’s night sight, but even if it’s 100% software I doubt they will make it available to older iPhones. I would love if they did, but I can’t remember a flagship feature of a new model being released to older devices (portrait mode, animoji, hdr, dynamic wallpapers, etc).

Might be just so. But..as I have owned on android side Huawei pro phones, I know what the night mode can do. In my opinion if I want to capture the scene in night or dusk, there is a reason for it. What I don’t want is the photo to look like photo taken in daylight.
So I think whole night mode is useless to users who can appreciate how beautiful pictures you can take without any dedicated night mode.

 

[digitalexplr]

The enhanced photo app is probably the least talked about part of iOS 13. The editing changes are quite remarkable.

I use my iPad for all my photo editing and I’m really liking what can be done in iOS 13. These features don’t replace several other apps I use, i.e. Lightroom, but they are very nice.

 

[eyeseeyou]

The enhanced photo app is probably the least talked about part of iOS 13. The editing changes are quite remarkable.

I use my iPad for all my photo editing and I’m really liking what can be done in iOS 13. These features don’t replace several other apps I use, i.e. Lightroom, but they are very nice.

doesn’t replace Lightroom but can get a lot done within the stock photo app. Now only if Apple would enable a “manual” mode that let shoot in raw if we wanted to.
[doublepost=1568045773][/doublepost]

NeuralCam.
But yea I’m excited about camera updates as well. Seems Apple updates the camera software without making it big number.

So I’ve purchased the Neural cam app.

I’m not sure how often the night mode is used on a pixel and how useful it is in real life usage but after a few days of usage with the neural cam app I’m not sure I’m missing anything.

I know it’s only $3 but I’m not really seeing a consistent “night and day” difference between what the neural cam produces and just adjusting and editing the lighting in a pic taken with the stock photo app.

 

[eoblaed]

I'm probably one of the few beta users most excited about camera-specific updates and improvements lol.

Camera improvements is one of the most anticipated feature every year for many, many people. Given that our phones are most people's primary camera these days, and given that people take far more photos now than ever before, it stands to reason that spec bumps to the cameras or better software processing will be a huge plus for many users (I think it's safe to say 'majority').

 

[gwhizkids]

The enhanced photo app is probably the least talked about part of iOS 13. The editing changes are quite remarkable.

I use my iPad for all my photo editing and I’m really liking what can be done in iOS 13. These features don’t replace several other apps I use, i.e. Lightroom, but they are very nice.

I'm with you on this. Simply the ability to de-noise in the dedicated app is a welcome addition.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Camera improvements is one of the most anticipated feature every year for many, many people. Given that our phones are most people's primary camera these days, and given that people take far more photos now than ever before, it stands to reason that spec bumps to the cameras or better software processing will be a huge plus for many users (I think it's safe to say 'majority').

Well, I made my post based off of how many articles and posts and mentions I've seen dedicated specifically to the camera on the iPhone which aren't many compared to every other feature update in ios 13.

For me personally, since I'm not switching to android, I really wouldn't mind if they copied or at least did a good job of mimicking the pixel camera software. The night shot is magical.

 

[joedan76]

Some more testing has revealed under IOS 13.1 using an XR that..

Holding phone steady for a few seconds in low light will help the auto exposure adjust correctly and take a significantly better low light image than IOS12. It appears to take multiple shots that’s visible to the user anyway by the means of a double camera shutter flash.

Shooting under low light works so much better when detecting humans in the photos. I suspect more algorithms kick in at this point.

Only works under normal photo mode not portrait mode.

Seems to detect pet faces also and improve the photo under low light conditions (noting iPhone 11 just announced has pet portrait mode) there must be some algorithms used to detect my dogs face (Staffy) under normal photo mode on the XR. Have not seen this type of non human face detection under IOS12.

Curious if there are any more incremental improvements flowing down to older phones.

Can’t wait to see what the next iOS 13.1 PB2 contains.

 

[pshady]

Some more testing has revealed under IOS 13.1 using an XR that..

Holding phone steady for a few seconds in low light will help the auto exposure adjust correctly and take a significantly better low light image than IOS12. It appears to take multiple shots that’s visible to the user anyway by the means of a double camera shutter flash.

Shooting under low light works so much better when detecting humans in the photos. I suspect more algorithms kick in at this point.

Only works under normal photo mode not portrait mode.

Seems to detect pet faces also and improve the photo under low light conditions (noting iPhone 11 just announced has pet portrait mode) there must be some algorithms used to detect my dogs face (Staffy) under normal photo mode on the XR. Have not seen this type of non human face detection under IOS12.

Curious if there are any more incremental improvements flowing down to older phones.

Can’t wait to see what the next iOS 13.1 PB2 contains.

do you have some examples of the difference you can post / share?

 

[joedan76]

Sorry gave up my XR for an 11 Pro Max which arrived today. Just for laughs took a picture in the same spot using the new night mode.

The lights were very dark exactly the same as the two shots at the top of this thread.
Tried get the same position.
As you can see the small differences for the XR between IOS 12 and 13.1 are nothing compared to this...

 

[gwhizkids]

This is an incredible shot from my back yard. I can’t even see half of these stars with the naked eye (and, yes, I realize some of that is noise).