iPhones, and iOS devices in general, have a reputation for taking decent photos but as you already know there is always room for improvement. This is where Microsoft Pix comes in. It’s a dead simple app for iOS. It unleashes your device’s true photo taking potential without you having to put in much effort. With that being said, let’s delve more deeply into this powerful but simple app. What is it that makes it such a strong contender?
Microsoft Pix
Microsoft Pix has a variety of ‘smart’ features which makes it appealing to the user who is just looking for a simple point and shoot solution. Lets take a closer look at these features.
1. Smart Settings
Smart settings refers to the ability of the app to automatically adjust the camera’s settings based on the prevailing conditions between camera snaps. Pix’s smart settings kick in as soon as you open it. Settings like ISO and the level of exposure are automatically adjusted in order to produce the best shot possible. See below for the level of compensation automatically taken by Microsoft Pix (photo on right) based on the lighting conditions as opposed to a photo taken with the stock iOS camera app on an iPad Mini 2 running iOS 9.3.4.
2. Face Recognition
This feature tweaks the camera settings, on detecting faces in order to help you and your friends to look your best!
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3. Best Moment/Best Images
The app is taking photos even before you press the capture button. After pressing the capture button, a series of photos are also taken in order to capture the best moment. The app then selects up to three of the best shots; hence best images. In Addition: For example, in the image below, Apple’s stock camera snaps a picture of a little boy and it’s okay but the Pix image was selected based on his broader smile and the effect of light on everyone’s skin, resulting in an overall better picture. You can even view the difference between the image you took and the image that was chosen by the best image selection process as seen below.
4. Image Enhancement
Although the majority of the photos taken by the app in the process of capturing a scene are discarded, data from these discarded photos is used in order to enhance the quality of the best images. The tech behind this is quite smart and won’t leave you disappointed.
5. Live Images
When motion is detected by the app, it automatically creates a Live Image which is a short video loop. This is similar to Live Photos which is a feature the iOS stock camera app offers. However, Microsoft Pix’s image stabilization allows for almost eerily still Live Images as compared to Apple’s offering where any shaking of the camera is visible.
6. Hyperlapse
Hyperlapse allows for automatic image stabilization. This feature also allows for a time lapse effect to be added to recorded videos. The speed of the lapse can be adjusted.
Ready to Switch?
After all of the artificial intelligence magic has been worked, you should have access to what is hopefully a beautiful best image. Below is a comparison of a scene taken with both the stock iOS camera and Microsoft Pix on an iPad Mini 2 running iOS 9.3.4.
As you can see the Microsoft Pix version looks a little more crisp as compared to the stock iOS version. The beauty of Microsoft Pix is that it allows anyone to take gorgeous photos with minimal effort. It automatically picks out optimal settings for you. Although this is probably awesome news for a large number of users, there are those of you out there who will desire a little more control over their pictures and would like to individually tweak various settings. Pix is probably not the type of app for that class of user as Microsoft purposely left out any trace of manual controls to tweak settings. Overall the app works well and it is ideal for everyday photo snapping. ALSO READ: 3 Superb iPhone Apps to Turn Your Photos into Art Work
