What is it? An experimental camera app from Adobe
Who is it for? iPhone photographers looking for DSLR-like results
How much does it cost? Nothing!
What makes it special? Multi-exposure capture for high-detail, low-noise images
Adobe has put its smartest boffins to work making an experimental pro-grade camera app for iPhone, currently in early access: Project Indigo. It’s powerful, free, and showcases a positive use case for AI – assisting human creativity rather than replacing it.
Project Indigo does something very clever in an attempt to capture highly detailed shots with a DSLR-like feel. Every time you hit the shutter, the app captures multiple exposures and combines them into one finished shot using AI. It’s similar to the automatic processing Apple performs in the default Camera app, but Adobe goes a step further by under-exposing more strongly to preserve highlights, and combining up to 32 frames per shot to dramatically reduce noise and capture more detail.
That’s not all the app can do though – it also offers extensive manual controls reminiscent of professional cameras. Photographers can adjust focus, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and more. Project Indigo also lets you select the number of frames it captures per shot, so you can balance image quality and processing speed. It even includes a specialized Night mode for low-light environments, automatically adjusting for hand shake to achieve sharper, cleaner photos. The comparison shots below were taken in near darkness.
One standout feature is its multi-frame super-resolution capability. Unlike conventional smartphone digital zoom, Project Indigo silently captures multiple images when you pinch-zoom. These shots are then combined, producing genuinely higher-detail images rather than merely scaling up existing pixels.
All this is fantastic for free and is a valuable tool in any keen photographer’s arsenal – but it’s not going to replace your everyday shooter just yet. For one, the AI processing is intensive, meaning you’ll get better results on newer hardware and should expect significant battery drain when using the app. It also has a tendency to overheat your iPhone quickly, forcing you to pause between shooting bursts. In warm weather during testing, I only managed four shots before the app threw up a heat warning. Not great.
Still, it’s worth remembering this app is in early access and will undoubtedly get better and more reliable with time. Even in its current state, it’s excellent for specific scenarios such as capturing detailed landscape shots, low-light photos, or creative projects involving long exposures. Adobe also promises exciting future updates, including a dedicated portrait mode, panorama shots, and even computational video capabilities.
It might be rough around the edges, but Project Indigo is well worth checking out if you’re interested in the future of photography.