Smartphones have evolved in the past couple of years in different areas including the camera department. One feature that has become a sort of constant in modern smartphones is Night Mode or Night Sight or whatever the manufacturer has decided to call it which allows users to capture better photos in low-light without the need for the camera flash.

With this new feature, the way we take photos in low-light conditions has changed such that certain hardware – the flash – now gets less use, which brings us to this week’s poll.

Do you still use the flash on your phone when taking photos or do you just switch to Night Mode when taking photos in low light? So, please take the poll below and also share how new camera features have changed how you take photos.

UP NEXT: Google Camera Go now allows users to click HDR pictures

The post Poll of The Week: Do you still use flash while taking photos? appeared first on Gizmochina.

When the Nokia 1.3 launched in March, it came with a new camera app called Camera Go that is specially designed for Android Go devices. Today, the app is getting a Night Mode feature that allows supported Android Go devices to take better images in low-light without flash.

A minute and a half video released by Google via the official Android Twitter account today reveals that the Night Mode feature for the Camera Go combines several photos (burst photography) “to produce a bright, sharp photo”.

Low light, camera, action ! With Night Mode on Camera Go, take high-quality photos on your Android phone, no matter what time of day it is. pic.twitter.com/UooQhAm9tF

— Android (@Android) October 5, 2020

The video also reveals that the camera app has been built for specific camera modules on affordable phones. So it is not just software but a combination of software and hardware. This also explains why it is not available for all existing Android Go phones.

It was also revealed that Camera Go will get an HDR mode later this year that will increase the quality of photos taken on these budget devices at any time of the day. Evidence of an HDR Mode was found in the Camera Go app as far back as April. We believe the pandemic is responsible for the delay in rolling out the feature.

Night Mode on Camera Go has begun rolling out to the Nokia 1.3, Wiko Y61, and Wiko Y81 smartphones.

UP NEXT: Google will disable default selfie retouching with new Pixel phones

The post Camera Go app gets Night Mode; HDR coming soon appeared first on Gizmochina.

The whole smartphone ecosystem is evolving around the camera lenses. Especially, the ability to capture stunning photos even in a low-light environment is a new trend in the smartphone industry. Various smartphone manufacturers are working to make smartphone cameras effective even during the night. Already, companies like Samsung, Google, and Apple have integrated the Night Mode capability in their smartphone cameras to facilitate user with extra benefits.

Some manufacturers achieve better results either by improving on the hardware with better aperture value or by processing it software-wise. The OEMs like Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei always try to improve Night mode capability by instilling better hardware, whereas Google relies more on the AI and software for improvements.

The major giants polish their high-end devices with flawless features but mostly forget to bring those feature on mid-range or low-end smartphones. Similarly, Night Mode camera ability is limited to some high-end and mid-range smartphones in the market. The under-budget device owner has to resort to the third-party apps or other MODs for similar functionality.

We have gathered a list of third-party Night Mode camera Apps for these devices. Any user can download and install these apps to capture better photos in the low-light environment.

List of best Third-Party Night Mode Camera Apps

Gcam MOD

It is dwelled out of the Google Pixel’s camera app which is the most advanced camera software. It is developed by Google to capture beautiful photos by fully utilizing hardware resources. The popularity of the Google Pixel camera app led developers to port it for other smartphones also.

The interested users can download the Gcam mod of your respective smartphone and can utilize the inbuilt night mode to capture stunning photos in low light. These mods always carry some bugs, so make sure to try the Gcam Mod which carries minimal bugs.

Related: Download Best GCam Port for Xiaomi Poco F1

Camera FV-5

The Camera FV-5 is a professional camera app through which users can easily adjust ISO, Aperture, Focus and all other elements of the camera to shot a better photo. Along with manual controls, the viewfinder also shows important EXIF data including exposure time, aperture, etc.

To capture a photo during nighttime, the user can use its long exposure mode in the app. It can really capture detailed photos even in the low-light environment. The user can save photo in different formats including JPG, true 16-bit RAW DNG, or lossless PNG. The app comes in two different modes – Camera FV-5 lite (Free) and Camera FV-5 (Paid).

Lite Download

Standard Download

A Better Camera

As the name suggests “A Better Camera” is designed to offer manual controls which are not available in the default camera app on most of the smartphones. It is the most useful camera app with HDR support making pictures look like a professional camera shot. It can also shot 360-degree panorama along with enhanced video recording. The app comes with support for a group portrait, sequence shot, removing unwanted objects with one click.

A Better Camera app also supports Night Mode which can capture detailed photos even in the night time. It can capture RAW photos with other manual tools such as ISO option, multi-focus, shutter speed, etc.

It is a free app and can be downloaded from the Play Store. It will carry in-app advertisements.

Download

Open Camera

A fully-featured camera app engrossing all the major features of the camera app. It is an advanced camera app with the support for manual controls such as exposure, video recording, configurable volume keys, optional GPS location tagging, Panorama, HDR, etc. It is overwhelmed with support for Camera2 API which can manually control various aspects of the device.

It also comes with low light night mode with noise reduction and dynamic range optimization modes for quality. Other features are as follows:

• Focus bracketing mode
• Support for Mi Band Selfie
• Small File size
• support for external microphones
• Zoom via multi-touch
• Disable shutter sound

It is available for free without any advertisements in the app. It is an open-source camera app.

Download

Footej Camera

A purely simple and bloat-free camera app with manual exposure and ISO control.  It also utilizes Android’s cmaera2 API for amazing photo and video quality while capturing burst mode and animated GIFs. It supports slo-mo video recording and timelapse interval of 10 seconds. It also includes HDR+ camera support for Pixel 2 devices.

A user can easily snap a detailed photo during nighttime by lowering the exposure time and making the smartphone stable. As per need, the user can adjust ISO to reduce graininess by degrading it.

It is available for free but offers in-app purchases. It is a good alternative for users to try.

Download

Manual Camera

Manual Camera app provides various DSLR based controls on your smartphone. It is the best app which harnesses the Camera2 API to aggregate manual powers of the smartphone’s camera hardware. It also features inbuilt customization features to refine the photos by giving the final touch.

Apart from the usual features, it also has the ability to shot detailed picture during the night time. Its user interface is loaded with all the manual controls.

Download

These are some best camera app with Night Mode support. Any user with the low-end or high-end device can utilize the above camera apps to snap detailed photo even during the low-light environment.

Up Next: Ultimate guide to enable Dark Mode in Google Apps – Google Chrome, Calendar, Photos, News, Discover, Keep and others

The post Best third-party Night Mode camera Apps for Android appeared first on Gizmochina.

DXOMark has steadily come to be the major benchmark platform for phone cameras. The firm has updated its review process with the addition of two new scores. One of the scores is for ultra-wide-angle cameras and the second one for night mode.

Night mode and ultra-wide-angle cameras are relatively new features onboard phone cameras. The first phone to feature a wide-angle camera is the LG G5 that was launched in April 2016. Since the G5, there have been several other phones with a wide-angle lens. The same thing applies to the Night mode which became popular on smartphones such as the Huawei P20 Pro and Google Pixel 3 even though the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime released in 2014 features night mode.EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi’s bezel-less Mi TV Pro will come in 43”, 55”, and 65” models

DXOMark has tested several phones using the new test protocols and as such, the reviews of phones with either of the features have been updated. The scores have also been recalculated, altering the standings. You can check out the updated scores from the table above. We should emphasize that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ continued its dominance of the top spot after the recalculation.It’s score sawan increase of 4 points from 113 pints to 117 points. In terms of specific score, it tied with the Huawei P30 Pro and Galaxy S10 in the Night mode test. For the ultra-wide-angle camera test, the Galaxy Note 10+ sood apart from the pack.

You can get more details from DXOMark website.

UP NEXT: Full Specs of the Mate 30 Pro revealed ahead of Official Launch

The post DxOMark updates its testing procedures with Wide angle cam and Night mode tests appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Mi MIX 2S is one of the Xiaomi phones that has received the Mi MIX 3‘s Night Mode camera feature. Chinese photographer, Cai Shi, already got the update and decided to give it a spin. Below are camera samples that were taken with night mode on. The ones directly below is compared with another one taken with the normal mode.

The picture above does show there is a significant improvement when you shoot with Night Mode on. You can see the scales on the dragon statue and even the grooves inside its mouth. However, night mode isn’t perfect. For example, in the third image below, the photo seems overexposed.

Nevertheless, Night Mode is a welcome addition and will come in handy in a lot of situations. Hopefully, future updates will improve the results. Also, photo editing apps can be helpful if you want to edit pictures that are too bright.

READ MORE: Xiaomi teaser hints at a new phone launching tomorrow, might be the Mi MIX 3 Lite?

The Night Mode feature has also been released for the Mi 8, Mi 8 Pro, and the Mi 8 Explorer Edition albeit as a beta update. A stable version will be available later.

(Source, Via)

The post Mi MIX 2S camera samples after Night Mode upgrade appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Mi MIX 3 has a camera mode called Night Scene which allows users to take HDR photos at night that appear super bright even if lighting is poor. It is their own version of Huawei’s Night Mode. Xiaomi did confirm that the feature will be made available to its older flagships and it appears the Mi 8 Pro is first in line to get it.

According to AnTuTu, they found the feature has been added to the phone’s internal firmware. The discovery was shared on their official Weibo account and they believe it will arrive with the next beta update and then later be released along with a stable update.

The Night Scene mode takes several photos at different exposures and combines them into a single image that is bright and with as less noise as possible. The camera is able to do it by combining 8 different technologies including HDR, AIS, 4-axis OIS, and multi-frame noise reduction.

READ MORE: Xiaomi Mi 9 could be first Snapdragon 8150 fueled phone, claims report

The Mi 8 Pro has a 6.21-inch S-AMOLED screen, the same Snapdragon 845 processor as the Mi MIX 3 and MIX 2S, up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It also has the same dual 12MP cameras on its rear as the Mi MIX 3. There is a 20MP selfie camera sitting in its notch along with an infrared face recognition system. There is also a fingerprint scanner under the display. The Mi 8 Pro packs a 3,000mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 4.0+.

(Source, Via)

The post Firmware reveals Mi MIX 3’s night scene coming to Mi 8 Pro appeared first on Gizmochina.