![]() This led to some blurry photos which you'd hope the software could have corrected. Unfortunately, this led to some focus issues - even if you get the focus just perfect for the first shot, you don't have the same level of control over the four subsequent shots taken while moving the phone to the white dots. On the other hand, there are some issues - although the app is quick and easy to use, we found that the images were dark with the flash on, and looked much better with the flash switched off. You could of course try photographing the image directly using the camera app, but we've done that in the past, and it could involve multiple attempts to get the focus right, the lighting right, and the framing right, and ends up taking almost as long as scanning would. Photoscan is a lot faster than using a scanner, if you have one to begin with. You can go through a full photo album in just a few minutes, if you want to. The process is straightforward, and 'scanning' an individual picture takes under 20 seconds. Tap the shutter, and it takes the first shot - then it paints four white dots on the screen, and your job is to point the camera at each of those dots, in much the same way that the Google Camera app guides you to take 360-degree photos. Photoscan is pretty barebones, but that makes sure that you can quickly get scanning. ![]() When you launch the app it asks for permission to use the camera, and then the main screen is a simple camera view with the text "Position photo within frame" on top, and a big shutter button at the bottom, with a small flash icon to the left and a help icon to the right. Using Photoscan is extremely simple - something we've come to expect from Google's homegrown apps. Faded old black and white photos sounded like the perfect test for the app, and we went about snapping a few clicks. We didn't have too many pictures at hand, apart from some very old black and white photos that accompanied a journal of Beatrix Potter. It sounds like a great idea, and we wanted to see how well it would work, so we decided to put Photoscan to the test. ![]() According to Google, Photoscan also makes minor adjustments to restore colour in faded photographs, and to align corners if the photo is bent. Google's answer to this problem is simple and impressive - it takes four pictures and then stitches them together to provide a single composite image. The lighting needs to be just right, otherwise you're going to deal with unwanted glare over some part of the photo. Expecting the average user to click a single image and properly save an old photograph may not be the best idea. The idea is simple, but the problem itself can be a little tricky to solve. On Tuesday, Google launched Photoscan, an app that helps you quickly digitise your old, printed photos you may have lying around. ![]()
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