Today’s smartphones have one of their greatest attractions in the Chamber, thanks to the advances in recent years, which have strengthened the gap with respect to traditional cameras thanks to their great ease of use and their versatility, with diverse functions such as stabilization, portrait mode or night mode.
Designed to add more light to night photographs or in conditions of little luminosity, the night mode has become, along with the portrait, one of the few that is present in mobiles of all brands and any price segment.
In my more than 8 years as a technology review, which have given me time to try many camera and have my tricks, I have tried smartphones of all kinds and in all of them I have used all the camera modes to be able to have their operation in the different reviews. The night mode has been one of the ones that I have tried most and that I like the most.
But in recent times, when I try smartphones I am starting to realize a problem when using the night mode that, in my opinion, makes it chaotic and that users lose the incentives to use it.
Let me tell you what happens to the night mode of the mobile camera and why I think it is a problem and that something has to change in brands so that the situation is clarified:
How the night mode works (BA)
Generated by Ia
Until now, the night mode used to be the best option to get the best photos in low light conditions. The improvement with respect to the normal camera mode has always been important, so it was very worth activating.
Technically, the night mode is used for a longer exposure time, with which it allows a larger entry of light than in other ways with faster shutter.
The multiple dark frames are combined to generate a more luminous image, although in exchange for have to hold the mobile without moving for between 2 and 5 seconds. Therefore, the night mode is not usually a good option for people or objects in motion, since they tend to go out blurred.
In addition to the longer exposure time, the night mode usually applies a lower ISO to the image than normal mode, so the luminosity is usually more natural and balanced.
And the other essential element in this image mode is the Use of computational photography to generate a night aesthetic through algorithmsespecially strengthening yellow and blue colors, although sometimes the color of the sky also changes to show it blue instead of black. This technology is what allows you to show intense light spotlights as lampposts without overexposure.
Like most software image modes, the night mode applies to photography after taking it, so a few moments can pass until you see the improvement in the gallery app or even so you can access the forecast .
THE PROBLEM: NIGHT MODES THAT DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING THE PHOTO
When I try a mobile for a review, my custom is to first take a photograph in normal mode with the functions of IA and HDR disabled and another just after in night with the same framing. So I can see how the image changes, something very useful with all image modes.
In the last mobiles that I have tried I have realized something that previously happened only in some isolated models, but now begins to be something almost generalized: The photos in normal mode and in night mode are identical And I find it impossible to find differences between them.
I already told you in the reviews of the recent OnePlus 13r and Honor Magic 7 Pro, both high -end mobiles: both with the night mode and without it, the night photos are the same. They are the most recent examples, but there have been more, many more, in the last 2 years.
Until now it happened to me that in the streets well illuminated at night I did not find very large differences, but in rooms in gloom, where the time of exposure of the night mode, normally longer, could make a difference and reveal hidden details.
But now, as well, as it shows you in the example below. Do you see differences? Because I don’t.
This identical result is not because the night mode has worsened – In fact I think that every time the night photos are better – but to the normal photo mode is the one that has improved.
Everything that before only the night mode did, now does the camera automatically in normal mode thanks to the recognition of scenes and the greatest power of artificial intelligence, which applies not only the same algorithms of AI but also longer opening times.
In most brands, when you take a photo in normal mode at night, an moon -shaped icon appears that indicates that the mobile is applying the night mode by default. You can normally click to enable and disable it, but even without it, the photograph ends up being the same for AI.
Does it make sense to maintain a function that does not change anything?
Right now, with the camera modes that are activated by default in the camera app in normal mode, I begin to have the feeling that the night mode begins to be a expendable element, a remnant of another era in which not everything was automatic in the cameras.
In fact, I wonder if it makes sense to remain there or eliminate completely, despite everything I like and it takes me useful for years. If the same way night is going to activate alone, why keep the night mode as another option in mobile camera applications?
I think the current situation, in which the same function is duplicated, is very confusing and can be something counterproductive for the user experience.
For example, it seems to me a mess because the icon can disable the night mode is always shown in normal mode for a while, but then disappears, it has not given you time to click.
To be everything automatic, it is difficult for me to disable the functions of AI in the camera to get the result I want. It is the risk of automating the camera: it is easier to take photos without thinking and that the shots go well effortlessly, but it limits you much not being able to manually change things.
In other ways, such as the portrait, a big difference is still seen thanks to the blur to bokeh And to the treatment of light simulating a study, something that today there is no brand that automatically applies in normal mode. But who knows, even this can change.
But as things are, I think brands have a problem with the night photos they have to solve to clarify the experience to users.
Luckily, what I tell you in this article is not something that happens in all mobile phones, since in recent models it does produce good and very different, such as the Zte Nubia Focus Pro 5G or the Nothing Phone (2a) plus of mid -range or the high -end Xiaomi Pro, so there is still hope.
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Tags: Photograph