The phones from Google have never been stars in the photo, and Google wants to change that : at its meeting yesterday, Tuesday 4 October, california-based company introduced its first real phone, 100% controlled by Google and has placed the emphasis on the building photo of its new terminal top of the reference range, the Pixel.
Our colleague Raphael Grably, present at the screening european in London, was able to take a few photos for comparison with a Samsung Galaxy S7 and if this is not enough for a test, their analysis in the light of the technical data sheet and of the various promises of Google makes it possible to affirm that the Pixel is without a doubt one of the best Android smartphone in the photo.
DxO deposit cocorico
Before talking about the technique, let’s go back on an indicator marking the announcement of the camera part : the score DxO Mark of 89, score-place (theoretically) the Pixel at the top of what is currently being done in the field. DxO Mark is a ranking of quality image published by DxO, a French company located in Boulogne-Billancourt. Specialist of the image, DxO offers many products for general public and professionals alike.
on The consumer side, we are very familiar with its software products, including the famous DxO Optics Pro (currently version 11), solution of RAW development, which has as a strength, the perfect management of optical defects of the majority of couples camera/lens on the market. Photographers of architecture and landscape rent DxO for the extreme quality of image that the software brings, particularly in the correction of perspectives. In addition to other software (Filmpack, Viewpoint) DxO has released the first camera module dedicated to the iPhone, the DxO One, tested last year by our care.
DxO also has other activities (B2B companies), either in the measure of the image quality or, more interestingly, in the development of hardware and software solutions optics correction. The modules photo smartphones are far from perfect and it is easier and less expensive to correct defects in a software way instead of pushing the physical qualities of the components produced by the tens of millions at frame rates up delusional. We know for example that DxO has worked, at the time, with Palm and many other companies of smartphones, even if all of these deals are confidential. Impossible to say if Google has a built-in or not technology DxO in its Pixel, but the ranking is deemed to be serious the French company suggests that it should be an excellent year.
Sony 12 Mpix… and like all the world !
According to numerous and consistent reports received, Google would have used the latest Sony sensor to 12 Mpix, the IMX378. By limiting the definition of sound sensor – we found models with more than 20 Mpix, especially at Sony – Google is making the same bet as Apple (which uses sensors Sony since the iPhone 4) to facilitate shooting in low light. The sensor format 1/2. 3 inch and a ratio of 4/3 has the effect of photosites – improperly called “pixels” – large size, a total of 1.55 micron that capture more light.
One feels here the consensus industrial between Apple, Google, Sony, Huawei, etc, which considers that, given the technology and constraints of current smartphones, a definition of 12 Mpix is more than enough. A point of view that we fully share : it is better now to work the optical qualities, the technologies of stabilization, color rendering, AF, etc, rather than the rise definition.
Optical bright and very wide angle
If we have yet to secure information as to the focus Pixel, the comparison pictures that we have between the Pixel and the Samsung Galaxy S7 would seem to show that the two terminals offer the same angle of view that is about 26 mm in equivalent reflex 24×36. A focal length very wide angle so ideal for landscapes and scenes of everyday life, but hardly suited to the portrait unlike the second camera module of the iPhone 7 More, the equivalent of a 56 mm.
The lens opens to f/2, a little less than the iPhone 7 (f/1.8) and other Galaxy S7 (f1/7). A large aperture is not necessarily a synonym of quality, let’s hope that Google has deliberately limited the aperture to ensure sharpness and uniformity of the image On this plan, the technical specifications of the competition is a notch above.
No optical stabilization, but a built-in gyroscope
Unlike Apple, Samsung and others, Google has no built-in optical image stabilization in its Pixels, but a “simple” electronic stabilization (EIS, electronic image stabilization) supported by a built-in gyroscope. Anything that risky – the stabilizations optical and mechanical are deemed to be better than the mail – this is an interesting approach. In effect, the optical stabilization means that a lens to be movable to the inside of the block. By removing this lens, it simplifies the design, reduces the size of the block as well as the cost of production.
It remains to be seen if the couple gyroscope + algorithms of stabilization works very well, but let’s not forget that Google is a company that is primarily software. And keep in mind that the great power of current processors allows Apple to generate optical effects (bokeh on the iPhone 7 More) in a compelling way.
Pixel, Pixel XL : fighting
Unlike the iPhone, where each version brought additional features to the normal version – optical stabilization in the photo to the 6, optical stabilization also in the video for the 6S and the second camera module for the 7 – Pixel are fitted with the same components and will provide (theoretically) the same performance.
On the few shots comparing the Pixel in the Galaxy S7 that we have reported to the London conference, the level of detail of the terminal of Google seems to be at the same level as that of Samsung, even if the white balance seems a bit absolute.
we will have to put the hand several days on a terminal in the final version to give a definitive verdict, but the first elements seem to be promising. There are two remaining unknown size : the speed of launching the camera application and the speed of development, two key elements of success (or failure) of a smartphone camera.
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