Pixel 3 XL Night Sight

Update: I took the featured image above, using Night Sight, on movie date night at the mall.  Wow! 

 Yesterday morning, my new Pixel 3 XL camera app was updated with Night Sight.

Not one to let a new app go untested, I “patiently” waited for nightfall last night to take a few pictures. I would love to say that results were phenomenal, but, (ho-hum) I think I have just come to expect great camera work from Google.

Oh, hey, ok…….this pixel night sight stuff is PHENOMENAL! 🙂

Taking a Picture

When the light is low enough for the camera to detect that you might benefit from a phenomenal feature, it gives you the following:

Push “Try Night Sight” and you get this:

See the half (3/4 ?) moon where you snap the camera?  That’s nice.

When you push the half moon, it tells you to hold the camera still and a circular timer appears that, when it reaches the end, snaps the picture, or, in fact, completes taking many pictures.

How does Night Sight Work?

I copied the how Night Sight paragraphs from this blog entry by Google, because, after all, who knows better than Google.

“Night Sight constantly adapts to you and the environment, whether you’re holding Pixel or propping it on a steady surface. Before you press the shutter button, Night Sight measures your natural hand shake, as well as how much motion is in the scene. If Pixel is stable and the scene is still, Night Sight will spend more time capturing light to minimize noise; if Pixel is moving or there’s significant scene motion, Night Sight will use shorter exposures, capturing less light to minimize motion blur.

If your subject moves during the capture, Night Sight can adapt to prevent a modest amount of motion from ruining the shot. Instead of capturing one bright and blurry photo, Night Sight captures an equal amount of light over a burst of many photos that are dark but sharp. By merging this burst, Night Sight prevents motion blur and brightens the photo, giving you a bright and sharp photo.” 

Go to this Google blog entry for more TECHY information as to how the AI (Artificial Intelligence) software for the Pixel 3 Night Sight works.

Pictures

OK, whatever…..here are some really bad pictures I took last night.  I ventured only a few feet from home (given all the smoke and the worst air quality in the WORLD due to the fires), but here are a few “no night sight” vs “with night sight” pictures.  Enjoy.

Blaze at twilight without night sight (I manually started night sight from the camera menu)

Blaze at twilight with night sight

Backyard no night sight

Backyard with night sight

Watertower no night sight (lots of smoke particles ;-(

Watertower with night sight

Moon no night sight (I love to take moon shots, until now, they all came out shitty)

Moon with night sight

Summary

The Pixel 3 XL Night Sight feature is amazing!

I am 67 years old, so the camera’s AI, in night sight mode, monitored my shakiness, then combined multiple pictures to come up with what the AI software thought was the best night sight picture given the circumstances.

I’d say it works pretty darn well.

Concerts…….that will be the big test and the one we needed the most in the past 30 plus years.  Cant wait!  🙂

GEEK on!

By the way, go here to see the 2018 GEEK Christmas Gifts.  (I moved it to ForCarol.com)