No 50MP RAW capture

mozno

Hi, just a simple question: is it somehow possible to take 50MP RAW images on the Phone 3? Or generally 50MP in expert mode? And if not, why not?

Stereobasic

To be honest as a simple user I absolutely don’t understand why everything is almost 12 megapixels when i want to use it, while Nothing says 50 megapixels for every lens. What the point, what the trick ? So maybe it’s possible i don’t understand how it works but when i’m using, macro, portrait, or zoom more than 3 in the main lens etc… i can’t choose 50mp. It’s because it’s not available, or it’s because it’s already at 50 by default? And if it’s not possible, why ? I know 12 offer perfectly good result and 50 is not really needed, but it’s matter of principle, and to understand.

mozno

Stereobasic In regular photo mode you can change the MP to 50, but in expert mode it’s not possible. Especially in expert mode I think it makes no sense, that only 12MP are available.

Also, this is not relevant, but I love the digital noise that unprocessed images have, and having 50MP would allow me to zoom in and use the grain foe stylistic effect.

Anonymous931

Stereobasic I absolutely don’t understand why everything is almost 12 megapixels when i want use it, while Nothing says 50 megapixels for every lens. What the point, what the trick ?

Different phone but it’s explained perfectly well, pixel binning stuff etc., check the whole vid as it’s fun and informative, and general info is applicable to all phone cameras, not just to Pixel(s):

Edit: 0:33 onwards, if you want to watch just 12 vs 50 MP comparison, but, again, watch the whole vid.

Jeffrey_JPEG

I agree that 50mp in RAW would be a great addition for people that love to capture more detail in the pro mode. I’ve had this complaint with other OEM’s, but I hope that it can become a thing here.

goriunov_mn

I think it all has to do with the physics of the photo process. You can read articles about the Bayer filter. 50 megapixels in RAW format would simply be too heavy and have a lot of noise, but as a result of the algorithms we get a 12.6 MP RAW file with a lot of information about color and light. I think we would not have gotten a better quality and more detailed image if the phone saved all 50 MP monochrome dots.

mozno

Ok I checked this now and if I understood correctly, it’s like this:

It is possible to get the 50MP RAW but only if Nothing “allows” it. In the case of the Phone 3, Nothing only exposes 12MP to the Camera2 Api (which is used by third party apps). So, aside from the official Nothing Camera App, no third party cam app has access to ANY 50MP image using the camera, even for jpegs. So we only get the pixel binned version of the sensor output.

I get it if they are afraid of people filling their phones with 100MB+ raw files through the official camera app, especially since almost no other manufacturer does it, but it would be nice for enthusiasts or insane people to have access to the full 50MP RAW steam through third party apps. But this will probably not happen I think.

Stereobasic

I’m sorry to ask that here but can’t find any information, tried google lens, tried the Phone 3 user guide ( no word about the use of camera on that “guide”) but i’ still don’t know what this option is and the localisation from Nothing have cut the text 😅

Anonymous931

Stereobasic Auto tone, useless feature, keep it off as is just destroys colours altogether (skin tones especially, skin looks literally orange, like Trump’s hair).