Adobe and former Google Pixel camera developers release Project Indigo photo app

Some Googlers who worked on the Pixel smartphone camera are teaming up with Adobe to introduce Project Indigo, a new photography app that aims to reduce the amount of image processing and give users more control over what and how they shoot.

In the announcement, the developers write that the application offers full manual control, a more natural ("mirror") look, and the highest image quality that computer photography can provide - in both JPEG and RAW formats. It also offers some new photography features not available in other camera applications.

One of the advantages of Project Indigo is that the app underexposes images more than most of its competitors, and it also takes and combines up to 32 frames to create a single photo. This helps reduce overexposure and noise in the shadows.

The developers also note that images created with Project Indigo will look more natural. To do this, they use computational photography and artificial intelligence technologies, including special processing of the sky and other objects.

In addition, Project Indigo provides a wide range of manual settings, such as focus, exposure time, ISO, white balance, etc. During night shooting, users can independently choose the number of frames to combine into the final photo.

Adobe's Mark Levoy and Florian Kainz, the senior scientist responsible for creating Project Indigo, were both former Google employees. After working on the Pixel cameras, Kainz and Levoy are credited with popularizing the concept of computational photography, which led to cameras relying more on software rather than hardware.

Project Indigo is currently available for free in the App Store for iPhone Pro and Pro Max starting with the 12 series, as well as for all non-Pro iPhone models starting with the 14 series. An Android version is planned for the future, but specific dates have not yet been announced.