P: Introducing the Project Indigo camera app

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

This post applies to the Project Indigo iOS camera app. 

Adobe Labs is excited to share an early look at Project Indigo, an iPhone camera app we've started to develop, to get feedback from the photography community. The app offers full manual controls, a more natural ("SLR-like") look, and high image quality in both JPEG and raw formats. It also introduces some new photographic experiences not available in other camera apps. For more information on the underlying technology, please refer to this Project Indigo blog post.

Before you start with Project Indigo 

• We recommend using Project Indigo on iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max or newer devices.
  (Also supported are 12 Pro/Pro Max, 13 Pro/Pro Max, and all 14-series devices.)

• You should have at least 1GB of storage space left for the app, the downloadable AI Models inside the app, and for captured photos. 

• Download the app from the App Store. 
• Check out the Project Indigo FAQ, which is updated regularly with new explanations. 

Recipes for success when using Project Indigo 

To get the maximum out of your images captured with the app, follow these guidelines: 

• When reviewing the results, focus on Project Indigo's more natural look (in both SDR and HDR). If you haven’t done this before, try viewing the images on your laptop or desktop device, preferably on an HDR screen. 

• Capture with both JPEG and raw DNGs with file saving enabled. Project Indigo produces computational photography DNG files, which have the same natural look as JPEG images, but much more latitude for editing after capture. 

• Take control of the camera with the built-in Pro Controls, including controls that are exclusive to a computational camera: Frames to Merge and Merge Method. These may be intimidating for beginners, but with Project Indigo, you can try them for free, and nothing will break—you can always reset the settings to ‘Auto’ and let the camera take back control. 

• Go to the Indigo Labs page and play with the latest innovations our team can offer. These are only available on mobile via Indigo! 

• Be patient! Project Indigo is doing a lot of heavy lifting under the hood, and it will reward you with great photos. In return, it may ask you for a bit of time to set up captures when needed, and to wait a few seconds for the image processing to finish. 

Sending feedback 

Please try the app and share feedback in this community forum thread. If you report a problem you encountered, it would help to include details like which device you are running Project Indigo on, what kind of scene you were trying to capture, what you were trying to achieve with the camera, and as much information as possible about what you like or do not like about the resulting photo quality. Our team will continually monitor this thread to track issues and improve future experiences.  

To improve the performance and results of Project Indigo, it is important that examples of images that do not meet your expectations are forwarded to the team via your report.  A large variety of file formats are allowed as attachments in these forum posts. The best option is to attach your image's raw file directly to your feedback post. Note that there is a 50 MB limit on an attachment's file size. If your raw file is too large to attach, the best option is to share the file via a file-sharing service (Dropbox or similar) and then share the link in your feedback post. Thank you for continuing to provide feedback on the Project Indigo camera! 

Boris Ajdin: Product Manager, NextCam 
 
Posted by: 

[dippyshere_]

Incredible app, but about that iOS 18.5 requirement - can this be lowered to 18.0 in a future update? All of the app's frameworks are already targeting 18.0, and as far as I can tell all APIs Indigo uses are available in 18.0.

[BorisTheBlade]

Hello - thank you for trying Indigo and for reaching out. The team will keep the lowest iOS version possible, but often there are under-the-hood changes introduces in new iOS versions which help Indigo with speed, stability, or quality. 

[DF Wilkinson]

Recently downloaded PI and have used it taking a variety of scenics, and comparing the same to IPhone 16 pro camera. At less then half the DNG file size on PI compared to 16Pro the results are impressive. So cudos to the tech team. I know this is still being developed, but a few comments. I basically shoot RAW processed in ACR. Option to also chose DNG only should be there. As it is I import via the Bridge Camera importer and then have to delete all the JPG's. Also tried proccessing in LR Mobile the dng file and jpeg file to see how it works compared to ACR. All edits look fine until you apply them (Done Button). The file turns into a weired looking Magenta mess? This does not occur on my Mac desktop. Also tried through Apple photo camera roll edit and the same thing happens. The "PRO" setting is  buggy in that it isn't holding the setting put in for shutter or focus? Other wise no issues opening the app with side camera button or releasing the shutter, and also works with phone timer. One last comment, Testing the SDR/HDR, I find setting the mode in ACR, to SDR and Adobe Adaptive color seems to give excellent results with onlyslight further adjustments in the Light dropdown menu.

[BorisTheBlade]

Hello - thank you for trying Indigo and for your comments. Some of them are already on our list, and we'll share updated builds as the features are ready.

On the images getting magenta after editing in Lightroom mobile app, I am not able to reproduce the issue. Can you share a DNG file with me which exhibits the issue (compress into .zip first as the forum won't accept DNG file format for attachments), and any additional information about the steps taken to achieve such a result?
On the Pro settings not holding, can you elaborate on that? How are you turning Pro controls on and off, and how are you setting indiidual Pro controls (e.g., focus)?

[nhan_8084]

I found another bug with photos taken with Indigo.  If you use magic eraser or object remover using apple photos or gphotos, the photo becomes extremely reddish magenta when viewed.  Please find a way to fix it so it does not happen @BorisTheBlade 

[BorisTheBlade]

Thank you for reporting this finding. The team will investigate and share a version with a fix as soon as it is available.

[frankherzog]

My question is simple: how are you going to set up your Indigo camera for 4th of July fireworks?

Frank H. 

[BorisTheBlade]

Hi Frank - thank you for reaching out with this question. Our resident photographer, Florian Kainz (who captured many images from the Project Indigo blog) helped me collect best practices for capturing fireworks. Hope you get to try it out and can let us know how the event went.

• Strong recommendation to use a tripod for the whole event.
  • Frame the shot before or at the beginning of the show.
  • Consider using a Bluetooth remote to trigger the shutter.  That way you can watch the show and take pictures without constantly staring at your phone.
  • If you are adventurous, take a picture of the environment before or after the show, and later blend it with the fireworks shots using Photoshop.
• To get sharp, low-noise images, use the 1× lens and find a spot from where the fireworks will fill most of the frame.
  • Avoid digital zooming.
• Before the show starts, manually focus the camera on something “at infinity,” for example, a streetlight or the windows of a building a few hundred feet away.
  • Use the loupe to find the best focus setting.
  • On some iPhone models there’s a noticeable focus shift when the phone warms up, so it’s a good idea to let Indigo run for a minute or so before focusing the camera.
• Use Night mode.
• In Pro controls, use the following settings:
  • Lowest ISO setting (e.g. 50).
  • Set Frames to Merge to 1.
  • Set Merge Method to Long Exposure.
  • Set the shutter speed to Auto.
  • Set Exposure to somewhere between -1 and -2.
  • Set White balance with Temperature around 4000K and Tint 0, as this tends to produce pleasing colors.
• Indigo’s AI look may brighten the background around the fireworks so much that it looks grainy.  You can fix this by opening the DNG file in Lightroom or Photoshop and manually adjusting Exposure, Shadows and Highlights.

[frankherzog]

Great answer. Thank you!
Frank

Sent from my iPhone

[RolandIEmbraceTheBlur]

>Consider using a Bluetooth remote to trigger the shutter. That way you can watch the show and take pictures without constantly staring at your phone.

Which Bluetooth remote do you recommend? Never used a Bluetooth remote so asking silly 🙂 questions like how do I know a Bluetooth remote will work with a 3rd party iOS camera app like Project Indigo?!?

[Ed5E57]

Not why that would change the overheating issue which I have to assume from all the processing. The notes from Adobe said a 15 iPhone or newer but then said it runs on 14.

I will try the remote trigger hopefully the Apple Watch will work.

Get Outlook for iOS<>

[frankherzog]

Bluetooth remote is no problem with Indigo. Your greater concern should be the quality of the remote itself. A cheap one could be erratic while a better Bluetooth can provide uninterrupted service.

Frank H.

Sent from my iPad

[mopperle]

Any experience with a special device? On amazon and others you find tons of them.

[RolandIEmbraceTheBlur]

recommendations for specific bluetooth remotes would be wonderful if anybody has one! there are 1000s and they all look low quality!

[Norman359727959y38]

There are 2 use cases for Bluetooth triggers that you should be considering with this question about Bluetooth: a remote fob, and a grip with Bluetooth shutter release. I can't see the use for a fob if you are handholding the iPhone.

The first use case is very easy: I have been using this very cheap (c$3.50) fob purchased from Amazon for over 2 years and it is perfectly acceptable for use when the iPhone is on a tripod: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B6762C6F?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3

It may be cheap, but it's fit for purpose and always works.

The second use case is more difficult. As far as we can tell, all fobs and most grips use a cheap Bluetooth Profile implementation. However, this has a short but very noticeable shutter release lag that makes them useless for capturing the 'moment', such as an instant situation in street photography.

The only manufacturer that we have found that implements a near instant shutter release from their grip is Shiftcam. They use the Bluetooth Human Interface Design (HID) Profile that is more expensive to implement and typically used for Bluetooth keyboards connected to a PC/laptop, and has near instant response time with no noticeable lag. This was confirmed by the Shiftcam chief designer at the UK Photo show this February.

Hope this helps ...

[RolandIEmbraceTheBlur]

thanks! i'll get the fob! not sure i want to pay for Shiftcam ProGrip which is $CDN209 or the snapgrip pro which is $CDN130 but their products do look amazing! Some day maybe?

[Ed5E57]

I'm on a iPhone 14 Pro.  The app is causing the phone to overheat which then causes it to crash. 

[BorisTheBlade]

Hello - thank you for trying Indigo and for providing your feedback about the overheating issues. We are hard at work to minimize instances of overheating and will be releasing an updated version of the app soon. Once it is out we hope you will give it a spin and let us know whether this new version has indeed helped with overheating.

[Ed5E57]

I will and thank you. It is a very interesting app. One other question is that I doesn’t seem to use the x1 proraw raw 48MP. Will it in the future?

Get Outlook for iOS<>

[BorisTheBlade]

ProRaw is Apple's version of computational photography raw capture. It differs from Indigo, where we use regular single 12MP frame raw captures and combine them together into a single computational photography raw of our flavor. We will explore options for providing higher resolution images in future updates.

[Eli Johanson]

Sharing photos taken in Indigo. Shot in RAW format, edited in Adobe Camera Raw. In my opinion, the most valuable feature of the Indigo app is its 10x digital zoom. Photos taken with the standard 1x lens are barely different from the unprocessed RAW files. I use the Fjorden Camera app, and the results are practically indistinguishable.

Like many others here on the forum, I have a Japanese iPhone 15 Pro Max. The constant shutter sound is really annoying.

[Norman359727959y38]

Have you tried pinch zooming to 25xSR? That's really worth testing ...

[BorisTheBlade]

Sharing photos taken in Indigo. Shot in RAW format, edited in Adobe Camera Raw. In my opinion, the most valuable feature of the Indigo app is its 10x digital zoom. Photos taken with the standard 1x lens are barely different from the unprocessed RAW files. I use the Fjorden Camera app, and the results are practically indistinguishable.

Like many others here on the forum, I have a Japanese iPhone 15 Pro Max. The constant shutter sound is really annoying.

By @Eli Johanson

Hello Eli - thank you for trying Indigo, and for providing your feedback. I wanted to follow up with you regarding the 1x lens captures. You mentioned that in your use cases they are pretty much the same as other 3rd party apps, e.g., Fjorden. Can you add more details about your use cases: are you typically capturing in bright daylight, or do you also capture in darker or night conditions? Also, do you ever use a tripod for your captures? Finally, the same technology that provides the 10x image quality you like is used for 2x images: have you noticed anything with 2x captures which you like, or not really?

Regarding the shutter sound, unfortunately that is how iOS handles the situation when camera apps request raw frames, which Indigo does continuously while running the viewfinder. We are working with Apple on mitigating this issue.

[Eli Johanson]

Hi! I run a blog about my city, so I shoot in various conditions and with different focal lengths. When it comes to the Fjorden app, it produces unprocessed RAW files. My favorite way to edit them is using Iridient Developer for Mac OS. The app lets you apply an iPhone lens profile, which automatically reduces noise and makes the image look more natural—but only for 0.5x and 1x zoom.

As for RAW files from Indigo, I find they’re better processed in Photoshop (though this is just my first impression—I’ve only used the app for a week). Once I’ve shot more photos with Indigo, I’ll share them right away.

Attached is a photos taken with the Fjorden app (0.5x lens) and edited in Iridient Developer

[Eli Johanson]

This photo was shot with Indigo using the 0.5x wide-angle lens. Initial processing in Iridient Developer, then exported as TIFF, with final edits in Photoshop using Camera Raw Filter and layer masks (sky and background). Total editing time: 10 minutes