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now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
10,567
22,032
Noise reduction by definition is the smoothing of pixels. Anyone who's worked with Photoshop knows this intimately. The Median filter in Photoshop is a classic example of this, and the XS selfies have the same look.
Call it "noise reduction" if you want. But "smoothing" is an equally accurate term, with "Beauty Mode" not far off the mark.
 
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Coconut Bean

macrumors 6502
Jul 21, 2011
400
380
Wait. This proves android fanboyism and that iPhone XS selfies can look detailed. But ppl are comparing how the new phones in general wash out the pictures more.
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,069
30,944
The minute someone was told the photos were from the Google Pixel everyone immediately thought they were better. This is why blind camera tests are best so there’s no influence from the tech media bubble.
 

spockwasanaspie

macrumors newbie
Apr 3, 2016
16
32
Don’t understand why Android fans have so much hate for Apple fans. This just proves it.

Just use the devices you prefer, no need to bring people down for what devices they use.
I read an interesting article on the fact that tribalism and common belief groups are built into our DNA. It helped us survive in the past but now it just divides us.
 
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Scooz

Suspended
Apr 9, 2012
339
348
Noise reduction by definition is the smoothing of pixels. Anyone who's worked with Photoshop knows this intimately. The Median filter in Photoshop is a classic example of this, and the XS selfies have the same look.
Call it "noise reduction" if you want. But "smoothing" is an equally accurate term, with "Beauty Mode" not far off the mark.

But median is supposed to be a spacial filter. Here it might indeed just come from multiple exposures over time having micro shifts due to hand and face movement between the quick suceesions shots. This would result in a similar effect (processing nearby pixels but from different shots) if the movement couldn‘t be fully compensated. Compensation of the movement might be hard since the face also is in the area of highly variable lens distortion.

which does not mean that Apple didn‘t apple an additional smoothing filter on top :)
 

Defthand

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,351
1,712
Does the iPhone’s screen serve as a flash when making a selfie in low light conditions?

Considering how important flattering selfies are to a significant subsect of phone users, I’m surprised someone hasn’t developed a phone with a screen-facing camera and flash that is the equivalent of the back camera.
 

5105973

Cancelled
Sep 11, 2014
12,132
19,733
Whether or not you get the “beautygate effect” depends on your ambient lighting. Due to the way the iPhone camera handles noise or really challenging situations with a bright light source coming at the camera over your shoulder, you’re going to see a lot of smoothing and a boost to the color of your skin tone in less than optimal lighting. Sometimes this can make your selfie look a bit like a watercolor painting.

That’s just bad photography. For goodness sake, if you want a good selfie, learn to work with the lighting and position yourself to your advantage.

The Pixel 2 will take the details it can detect and make “guesses” about what’s really there. While they are highly educated guesses and it does a really good job of making stuff up and giving you back the details your bad lighting took away, it can go too far and exaggerate every flaw and blemish and show things worse than they really are. But because this is so unflattering, people mistake it for “reality”. My goodness, if I were really as ugly as my Pixel 2 selfies make me out to be, I’d wear my pantyhose over my face.

If you don’t believe me about the Pixel 2, look around the net for some reviews that show what the Pixel 2 HDR software does to “remanufacture” the sky. Most of the time this remarkable camera software does pull off miracles to reproduce what you see despite horrible photography skills in action. I do love my Pixel 2 camera. But be informed and understand what you’re really seeing at work.
 

chucker23n1

macrumors G3
Dec 7, 2014
8,475
11,199
I used to be a working professional musician and studio engineer. I always laugh when I hear people whining about how bad lossy formats sound compared to CDs (which are themselves lossy when compared to master recordings.)

Time and time again true ABX testing shows that it is extremely difficult to tell the difference and it can only be done on reference quality equipment with certain high dynamic range material like classical music.

This is exactly what the article made me think of. You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who can distinguish 128 kbit/s AAC, much less 256 kbit/s.

My dad one time humbled me when I said I can certainly tell the difference between margarine and butter. He got out 10 saltine crackers with either butter or margarine and gave them to me randomly. Damned if I couldn't consistently identify which was which.

I don't know about crackers, but I find margarine to have a more neutral flavor on bread. (Sometimes, that's good. Sometimes, it's boring.)

Don’t understand why Android fans have so much hate for Apple fans. This just proves it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice-supportive_bias

After you've made a choice, you want to justify to yourself that you've made the right choice, especially when it comes at a cost (in this case, literally).
 
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Nunyabinez

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2010
1,758
2,230
Provo, UT
I agree with you completely. Other than the margarine and butter. I can definitely tell the difference. But then again, I do tend to have more margarine or butter than spread on my sandwiches.

What I have discovered is that if you give someone a cracker with margarine and one with butter, most people can usually tell which is which. But if you give them only one, or multiple without disclosing anything, it becomes difficult. I absolutely detest Pepsi, yet I struggled in a true ABX test even there. But some people may have more discerning palettes.

Another example is that I bought some fake Beats in China because they were really cheap. They turned out to be fairly good copies. If I were blindfolded and someone put them on me, I wouldn't be able to tell you if they were real or fake. If I switch back and forth (I also have a legitimate pair), I can tell which is which, but I would likely be unable to tell from listening to one set alone, and I have very sensitive and discerning hearing. And yes, I know that there are Beats bigots out there, but sometimes I enjoy a good pounding bass. It's not like I'm mixing on them.
 

Kabeyun

macrumors 68040
Mar 27, 2004
3,407
6,346
Eastern USA
Love this! Love love love love love this!! There’s simply nothing to say. Dispassionate evidence is the force for truth! They got busted! Taken! Film flammed! Duped! Next project it to see if any of those user names match any trolls here!
 

0947347

Suspended
Aug 29, 2015
456
499
“Beautygate” just sound too beautiful to me.
I am a tough man, come on, give me some “uglygate”
That is all I want and that is all I need
Make a hunchback of me, with a hideous mole, make my head shiny bald
 

Kabeyun

macrumors 68040
Mar 27, 2004
3,407
6,346
Eastern USA
I read an interesting article on the fact that tribalism and common belief groups are built into our DNA. It helped us survive in the past but now it just divides us.
Smartest, most apropos comment I have read in any form in a long while. Unfortunately, it’s why the human race is doomed to fail, but at least we can understand it as we go down in flames.
 

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,328
4,716
Georgia
All Apple really needs to do is have a setting in the camera app to disable automatic noise filtration. Then purists can filter it themselves in Photoshop.
 

chucker23n1

macrumors G3
Dec 7, 2014
8,475
11,199
All Apple really needs to do is have a setting in the camera app to disable automatic noise filtration. Then purists can filter it themselves in Photoshop.

Not really practical to disable noise reduction altogether, but a slider that reduces it slightly might be.

(That said, if you want that much control, third-party camera apps do exist.)
 

Speechless

macrumors 6502a
Mar 5, 2015
664
912
Non-gentrified Brooklyn.
I love seeing Apple haters get exposed.

0d846fd72787a273d2f19b5aff38e2b2.gif
 

lazyrighteye

Contributor
Jan 16, 2002
4,089
6,302
Denver, CO
Whatever is happening, I’m hopeful it can be addressed via software update. The current color and texture reproduction is awful.

I prefer photos taken with my X over my XS. My first few XS shots, I thought HDR was ON (which I always keep OFF as I don’t like the effect it has on color and texture). So I was surprised to see HDR was OFF on my XS.

Time will tell.
 

bladerunner2000

Suspended
Jun 12, 2015
2,511
10,478
This is the best thing I've read in a while. Will we see many Android users jump ship to get that DSLR quality? :rolleyes:

What are you talking about?

Any moderately tech savvy person knows no cell phone comes close to dSLR quality.... well, maybe not you?
 

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2013
3,090
1,944
My dad one time humbled me when I said I can certainly tell the difference between margarine and butter. He got out 10 saltine crackers with either butter or margarine and gave them to me randomly. Damned if I couldn't consistently identify which was which.

IDD. Everybody always swears that they can taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke. One time at work (it was a slow Friday) I purchased Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max and served it up to 14 people in plain plastic cups. Not a single one could reliably pick the difference between brand and diet beyond what you would expect due to a lucky guess.

Try it sometime.
 
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