Choose the best low light option
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We offer several different ways to capture moments in low light. This document
helps you choose the right one for your app's needs.
Low light options
There are several different options for low light capture. It's important to
pick the right one for your app's needs.
- To capture high-quality still images in low-light conditions, use the night
mode camera extension.
This extension produces the highest quality results, but it can't stream
images in real time. That's because night mode takes a burst capture, combines
all of the photos together, and processes the result to capture more details.
If you've ever taken a photo in a dim scene, and your phone asks you to hold
still for a few seconds, this is what's happening.
- For real-time use cases, like a camera preview in low light, use low light
boost. This mode produces a lower-quality capture than night mode; for
example, you may see more artifacts and more motion blur than you would with
night mode. There are two low light boost options available:
- Some devices support Low Light Boost AE Mode. This mode fine-tunes
the exposure control and applies additional processing in the ISP pipeline.
- Google Play services provides the software-based Google Low Light
Boost library, which can run on many devices that don't
support Low Light Boost AE Mode. Google Low Light Boost applies
post-processing to the stream produced by the camera hardware. The results
aren't quite as good as Low Light Boost AE Mode, so you should use Low Light
Boost AE Mode if the device supports it.
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Last updated 2025-05-12 UTC.
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