Google’s new camera app brings Photo Sphere and Lens Blur to Android devices
While Google has continued to toss new features into the camera app shipped on its Nexus devices, many Android phones replace it something else. But just as we revealed a few weeks ago, now it’s available in the Play Store, ready to run on any phone or tablet using Android 4.4 KitKat. Beyond bits like Photo Sphere that we’ve seen before, Google is filling in the blanks on its new “Lens Blur” option. Meant to emphasize the subject while blurring the background for an impressive depth of field effect, it uses algorithms to simulate the large camera lens and aperture your phone / tablet doesn’t actually have. Google’s Research Blog has details on how its done, including a Lytro-like ability to change which object is in focus after you take the shot.
Tired of tilt-shift effects after years of Instagramming, no matter how much math is at work? There’s more to the new camera app than that, it has all the other features we’d heard about too, like a “100% viewfinder” that makes sure you can see everything that will be in the picture on your screen before the shot is taken with no “dropped pixels” and a larger capture button. Panorama shots are better now too, with higher resolution, and Google’s 360-degree Photo Spheres can be captured at up to 50 megapixels.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Google
Source: Android (G+), Google Research Blog, Google Play
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