Photosynthesis
Creative
photo editing
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Photosynthesis
iPhone app takes simultaneous images from 2 lenses, fuses into 1 photo
photosynthesis.camera#iphone camera#multi lens photo#image fusion#telephoto detail#computational photography
How HN took it
10 positive, 43 neutral or asking, 6 mixed, 48 critical, out of 107 comments about the project. Thread score -0.29.
Idea: 4 for, 13 againstPricing: 1 for, 14 againstExecution: 0 for, 13 againstDesign: 3 for, 1 againstPerformance: 0 for, 4 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Website demo and design are well done
From 2 comments
Not just the app idea … but the WEBSITE — is VERY WELL DONE. I immediately signed up. (And offered to help bring users to this thing.)
EGreg on HNImpressive! And I love the comparison tool on the website. One more thing should be added as an overlay on each photo are the EXIF data, I want to see that comparison as well.
dan_man on HN
Interesting idea that could improve phone photos
From 2 comments
Very cool stuff, I've long thought there must be some fancy ways to get extra information for better image resolution by taking advantage of the other cameras. That said, I must…
eigenspace on HNThis is interesting. I'm just curious to know how long will it survive until Apple adds something like that to their software. Do you have a fallback plan for this? But I must…
libertas_quae_s on HN
Name is good
From 1 comment
That is a fantastic name.
niek_pas on HN
Objections
Subscription pricing is not wanted for a camera app
From 4 comments
subscription camera app seems like peak comedy to me
trashcan2137 on HNHow can you in good conscience charge a subscription for this? It would be one thing if the app relied on infrastructure, but it's a one and done algorithm that's entirely local…
copper-float on HNThat demo looks like Minority Report level enhancement. Amazing if it really works, but I'll be damned if I'm paying for a SaaS camera app.
bigwheels on HNThis whole thing feels wrong. OP should be working for a phone manufacturer, not trying to sell this as a subscription. How much is it worth to be able to squeeze a little more…
teaearlgraycold on HN
Results look no better or worse than the standard photo
From 3 comments
I cannot see a meaningful difference at all in any of the example photos, so not really seeing what the point of this is.
EDEdDNEdDYFaN on HNIs it just me or do the original photos look better overall?
Noaidi on HNI am co fused, 50% of photos look better in standard zoom and 50% of them look better woth photosynthesis. This is like an anti campaign for the app hinting "in the end it…
cantalopes on HN
Visible seam or blur edge around detailed area
From 2 comments
I'm confused. So this is just producing a single photo that is clearer in a middle rectangle and blurrier outside that rectangle? Of course the extra detail in the middle is…
crazygringo on HNThis appears to use a naïve masking approach (using ML to find the edges of the mask) which seems to suffer from slight uncorrected differences in lens distortion. There's a…
LoganDark on HN
Possible Apple copying or built-in phone features already do this
From 3 comments
If it works, Apple copies it soon enough...
swah on HNTo be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple isn't already doing this and just doesn't say so explicitly. There is a crazy amount of image processing going on behind the scenes…
jrflo on HNI'm so confused. Does the dev not know that this is what iPhones do by default?
dmd on HN
Requests
Free tier with more photos per month
From 2 comments
I like the idea of this app and the website is well done. Subscription isn't for me, but for folks who take a lot of photos and need this sort of thing, I can see it. Free tier…
joe-dakroub on HNNeat work, but the free tier lets you export 3 images a month and the alternative is a subscription? No thanks.
anigbrowl on HN
Android or Pixel version
From 1 comment
Anything like this for Android or Pixels?
Fe2O3 on HN
Show EXIF data in comparison
From 1 comment
Impressive! And I love the comparison tool on the website. One more thing should be added as an overlay on each photo are the EXIF data, I want to see that comparison as well.
dan_man on HN
Lifetime price instead of subscription
From 1 comment
you don't need subscription model, just one price for lifetime - that will be fair and convert better. don't do trials - do refund within 28 days
levanlevi on HN
Questions
How parallax is handled between lenses
From 1 comment
How is parallax error solved? The two cameras don't share the same optics center.
xiaoyu2006 on HN
Whether sensor fusion or native resolution is used for the zoomed part
From 1 comment
Anyone know if they’re using the native camera resolution for the zoomed part or doing sensor fusion to get better quality than either alone?
zellyn on HN
Why colour temperature and contrast change from the native camera
From 1 comment
very cool app, a few questions: why does the color "temp" of the image change between traditional iphone photography vs your app? it appears to both warm and cool the images.…
hnthrowawayacct on HN
Alternatives named
Deep Fusion and night mode on iPhone
From 2 comments
I believe that's true for most/all night capture, but they take sequential frames from the same lens rather than combining multiple lenses.
sajomes on HNI believe that's a similar idea to Apple's Deep Fusion which also takes multiple frames from the same lens then intelligently combines them for higher detail. As ipsum2 said…
sajomes on HN
Adobe Project Indigo
From 1 comment
Project Indigo from Adobe does that too https://apps.apple.com/us/app/project-indigo/id6742591546
b__d on HN
Light L16 camera
From 1 comment
Similar idea to the discontinued Light L16 camera https://petapixel.com/2017/12/08/review-light-l16-brilliant-braindead/
lattalayta on HN
Lytro light-field camera
From 1 comment
I believe this is something similar to what Lytro aimed to bring to market. Lytro, Inc. was an American company founded in 2006 by Ren Ng which developed some of the first…
gurjeet on HN