"Photo Scanner" - a smart application from Google for digitizing old photos

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Unlike the overwhelming majority of competitors, the development from the Google Photos team does not just take a snapshot of an already finished image, but transfers it to a digital medium exactly as if it were taken on your smartphone.

A distinctive feature of "PhotoScanner" is the underlying machine learning technology, which contributes to better image capture. To do this, the application requires capturing a picture from several angles, automatically processing fragments and combining them into a single picture.

Thanks to the use of proprietary technology, the system independently gets rid of artifacts, glare and other imperfections that appear in the image. Interestingly, the developers not only do not discourage the use of the flash while shooting, but even recommend it. The neural network automatically adapts overexposed fragments or replaces them with more natural ones.

The process of digitizing itself will hardly seem more complicated to you than creating panoramic photos. When you point the camera at a picture, the application will place virtual points on the viewfinder, guided by which you transfer the physical image to your smartphone. It is assumed that the digital photo will look as if you just took it.

However, despite the high "intelligence" of "PhotoScanner", the developers recommend digitizing in natural light and on a flat surface. Otherwise, it will be quite problematic to achieve natural colors in the final image. In this case, the application is best given small photographs of 6 × 4 and 5 × 10 formats.

"Photo Scanner" is distributed completely free of charge and is already available for download in the App Store and Google Play. There is no information about the release of the version for Windows Phone yet.