It wouldn’t be a new Pixel phone launch without Google debuting a slew of new camera features. Most of these are done with AI, which is a surprise surprise. But these all seem to be pretty useful features versus the usual AI gimmicks that we see with many smartphones. So here’s what’s new with the cameras on the Pixel 9 series.
Add Me
You likely saw this feature on display in some of the leaks leading up to the Pixel 9 launch event today. But Add Me is essentially a way to take a group photo with the photographer also in the photo. So, this works if you take one photo with everyone else in the photo. Then a second photo with the photographer in the photo. Google’s AI magic will merge those photos, so everyone is in the photo. This means that you will no longer need to hand your phone off to a stranger to get the group photo you want.
Add Me companies AR with 15 on-device AI models that are running on the new Tensor G4 processor. It will be launching in preview this year.
Zoom Enhance
While Zoom Enhance isn’t actually new – it was announced last year – it’s actually going to be available at launch this year, with Pixel 9 Pro (XL) and the Pixel 8 Pro.
Zoom Enhance allows you to zoom in on any photo after the fact. And you can crop in on what you want the focus of your photo to be. This feature uses generative AI to intelligently fill in the gaps between pixels and predicts the fine details. This opens up more possibilities when it comes to framing and flexibility to focus on the most important part of the photo.
Video Boost up to 8K
Video Boost is getting a nice update for the Pixel 9 series, which will allow you to get 8K video. Google says that it can do AI upscaling to 8K resolution, taking your 4K videos and turning them into 8K. Google will also allow you to grab 30-megapixel HDR stills from Video Boost.
Additionally, Google says that Video Boost has been upgraded, making video rendering twice as fast, when compared to last year. Google claims that this allows the Pixel to have the “Best Video on a Phone”.
Additional updates
Google also rebuilt the entire HDR pipeline, which brings in some pretty nice improvements across real tone and other features. This also makes HDR imaging faster. These rebuilt HDR pipeline will affect basically the entire camera experience, as almost every camera feature uses this HDR pipeline.
Google has also updated panoramas and now claims that the Pixel 9 can produce the best low-light panoramas. This includes a brand new UI that can intuitively stop you from capturing along the horizon. This also runs on the HDR pipeline mentioned above.
Magic Editor has been expanded with two new experiences, the first of which is available on Pixel. Auto Frame has also been added to Magic Editor, allowing it to recompose the shot for you, and this is trained on known photographic techniques. Thanks to that training, Magic Editor will give you a few options for reframing. Finally, Reimagine is now part of Magic Editor. Reimagine allows you to use prompts to reimagine the entire photo. This is very similar to what Adobe rolled out to Photoshop recently.
