Google Pixel 4 could include an astrophotography mode



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Our phones are capturing images in low light every year, but to my knowledge, no phone has been good enough to capture stars in the night sky. If a new leak is to be feared, Google could be the one who will change this

Spanish technological site Android Pro has released a marketing video for Pixel 4. This video shows some of the things we already know, including Project Soli aerial gestures, Google Assistant's precise controls, and Pixel's famous Night Sight.

But then, the video goes even further, claiming that "you even get the stars," showing what appears to be a high-quality photo of the night sky, enough for the Milky Way to take shape. I say "appears" because the video is potato quality. And here I thought we were right about Mr. Blurrycam in 2019.

The original video has since been removed, but 9to5Google has re-uploaded it here:

It would be quite an effort for someone to put together a video of this professional – not to mention one that introduces a new feature as plausible – as a hoax. Given Google's efforts to make Night Sight the de facto standard for low-light mobile photography, it is not surprising to see the company go even further.

If this is true, I would be curious to know if and how Google is able to overcome the classic problems of astrophotography. Does Google, for example, try to fight against light pollution? I would be impressed if it allowed me to capture more than a handful of stars in the night sky of New York. And if you want to include visible objects in the foreground in your shot, you will also need to balance exposures for the sky and the ground differently.

There are even devices specially designed or modified for astrophotography, such as the Nikon D810A, equipped with optimized sensor filters that allow them to better capture some of the typical wavelengths of celestial objects. It is possible that Google tries to reproduce these filters by improving certain colors via the AI, but it is my own hypothesis.

Google usually advertises its Pixel phones in early October. It should not be much longer before we find out.

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Posted on 9 September 2019 – 21:18 UTC

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