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: 

[nhan_8084]

@BorisTheBlade awesome for the release!  I took a before vs after the update, and it seemed to me the jpeg processing has not been changed right?  Just want confirmation since I couldn't see any improvements.  Looks like this update prioritizes more on the stability (fixing overheats, and crashes), enabling separate DNG, selfie mirror and other improvements mentioned in the changelog right? 

Would the next update to support iPhone 17 series also include the processing update improvements that we spoke about, ie.... high frequency objects such as foliages on trees/bushes, less denoise/sharpen ratios?  Also could I make a suggestion to move the stacking of frames out of night mode and to normal photo mode but still reside in the pro mode areas where focus, iso, ss, and temp are located.  The long exposure, I suggest to move it to the top area where the timer, histogram, etc. is located.  I do realize that stacking does require more stability so you guys intended it for use on tripod mode , but since this mode is very often mingled or changed from the normal user point of views, hobbyist and semi-pro like myself would prefer handheld stacking.  Also I think Indigo does have auto discard blurry frames prior to merging right, so that will fix the handheld issue.  

[handbd_0423]

Suggestions for Adobe Indigo

• AI-enhanced final rendering: sharpen details, refine textures, balance highlights/shadows
• Depth maps for post-shot blur, refocusing, and selective edits
• Exposure/focus bracketing with smart AI merges (HDR, stacking, macro, astro)
• Computational video: HDR, low-light, stabilization, motion super-resolution
• AI scene detection with customizable/personalized looks
• Adaptive noise reduction that preserves detail where it matters
• Panorama/stitching and better macro/telephoto handling
• Flash/strobe sync options
• Faster, more efficient AI processing with offline/privacy controls
• Seamless cross-platform support and metadata export

[georgeb73469922]

Will there be a Project Indigo version for iPhone 17 Pro? I'm spoiled! Not eager to go back to working with RAW files...

[BorisTheBlade]

Will there be a Project Indigo version for iPhone 17 Pro? I'm spoiled! Not eager to go back to working with RAW files...

By @georgeb73469922

We are working on a new release and hope to have it available in a week or two at most. Please stay tuned.

[Man_Keyboard4263]

After updating to version 1.0.3 today, when I tried to use 3X and 6X, dark gray circular stains appeared on the screen. I wiped the lens and tried again, but the problem still existed.

   

[BorisTheBlade]

After updating to version 1.0.3 today, when I tried to use 3X and 6X, dark gray circular stains appeared on the screen. I wiped the lens and tried again, but the problem still existed.

By @Man_Keyboard4263

Interesting. It looks to me like a lens smudge because if you take the 3x image and crop the center, the smudge appears exactly where I'd expect it for the 6x image. If you run the native camera app and point at the same scene, do these issues disappear?

[Man_Keyboard4263]

When I took the same photo at 3x and 6x with the native camera, the stain disappeared.

  

[Man_Keyboard4263]

When I took the same photo at 3x and 6x with the native camera, the stain disappeared.  

[Man_Keyboard4263]

There is a high probability that dust has entered the inside of my telephoto lens.

[NickL9783]

Any chance to add a simple timelapse feature please? I would love to capture these lovely DNG files to a short 5-sec videos for my vlog shots. I mean, it's how crazy we can edit DNG files straight on iPhone through Lightroom Mobile, then export image sequences to video editor for RAW video on an iPhone nowadays.