This is a new photographic function that improves image processing in low light conditions.
With each release of new iPhone models from Apple, they implement new photography features to improve the performance of the hardware against the cameras of their devices. It happened with photography styles and with cinema mode on the iPhone 13 and it happened again with action mode and the function Photonic engine in models iPhone 14.
In this article we will explain in detail what Photonic Engine is and how this novelty of the new Apple iPhone 14 devices works. Learn how this feature, introduced in the September special event, improves photo quality.
¿Qué es Photonic Engine?
Introducing Photonic Engine at the September Special Event
The photonic engine is a computer photography
Basically, the Photonic Engine function is responsible for using the algorithms present in the operating system software for increase image processing efficiency and improve results in low and medium light environments.
Thanks to the Photonic Engine, the Apple iPhone 14 offers photographic images with better color fidelity, more detail and higher brightness.
How does the photonic engine work?
Image layers during Photonic Engine processing
Photonic Engine delivers twice the low-light performance of photos taken by previous generation iPhone models. However, the results depend on the camera used. It’s not the same to use the Photonic Engine feature on an iPhone 14 as it is on an iPhone 14 Pro Max. For example, using the ultra-wide camera on some iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models yields three times better results.
One of the coolest features of the Photonic Engine feature is that runs in the background. It can’t be turned on, off or configured from the settings, but is something of an image processing extension of the Deep Fusion technology introduced in 2019 with the iPhone 11 range.
The operation of the Photonic Engine relies, like many of the most spectacular features of iOS 16, on Apple’s excellent fusion between software and hardware. The new iPhone 14 smartphones use the artificial intelligence and iOS 16 algorithms to dramatically improve the resulting images of photos in low light conditions.
Photonic engine process images pixel by pixel select the best elements from a total of 9 photos collected by Deep Fusion to optimize textures, details and noise in the images.
“Through deep hardware and software integration, Photonic Engine improves mid- and low-light performance for photos on all cameras: up to 2x on the Ultra-Wide Camera, 2x on the TrueDepth Camera, and an impressive 2.5x over the main camera Photonic Engine enables this dramatic increase in quality by applying the computational benefits of Deep Fusion to deliver extraordinary detail, preserve textures, deliver better colors and retain more information in a photo. “
iPhone models compatible with Photonic Engine
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
Photonic Engine technology leverages the strengths of Deep Fusion to provide iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max users with vastly superior image quality in environments where ambient light is not the more suitable for capturing photos.
As mentioned earlier, the Photonic Engine functionality of the new iPhone 14 models can’t turn it on or off to consumer taste as well as other photographic functions such as night mode. This is because the feature works automatically in the background.
Therefore, if you plan to take a picture in lighting conditions that are not dark enough to activate night mode on your iPhone 14, you won’t have to worry about enabling the Photonic Engine feature.
What do you think of the introduction of the Photonic Engine feature in the new iPhone 14? Do you think it was a good idea to implement this novelty?
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