Google’s former camera king is gone and is now developing new camera software for another company. But it is no other smartphone manufacturer.
Four months ago, Google lost a particularly important person who, among other things, was responsible for the powerful cameras of the last Pixel smartphones. At Google, the fear must have been great that Marc Levoy might even hire directly from the competition. It is also quite possible that contractual clauses may contain a non-competition clause. In any case, it is now known where Levoy ended up and what his new tasks look like.
Among other things, we learn from his LinkedIn profile that Levoy has been employed at Adobe as “Vice President and Fellow” since June of this year. A colleague reports in even more detail on the new position. Levoy will now be responsible for the Photoshop Camera, among other tasks. The new Ps Camera for Android smartphones was released just a few weeks ago. Insofar as there was no non-competition clause, one should breathe a sigh of relief at Google that the formerly own camera legend is not now strengthening the competition.
Competition for Adobe’s Google Camera?
As the leaked information also reveals, Levoy is said to be working on a universal camera app for Adobe. Anyway, this could be a particularly interesting project. In our opinion, it is at least exciting to see whether Adobe can develop a camera app that provides very good results on different smartphones. You now have the right staff on board for this.
Holy hell.
Just got word that Marc Levoy, who previously led Computational Photography at Google has just joined @Adobe as a VP and fellow to work on CP initiatives, as well as a “Universal Adobe Camera App” 👀
He’ll be working on the Photoshop Camera, research and sensei teams
— David ImeI (@DurvidImel) July 20, 2020
Levoy had managed several projects for Google that had made the Pixel camera so “outstanding” in recent years. HDR +, night vision, astro and portrait mode are said to have been developed under his direction. Reflecting on that for a moment only underlines how much Levoy is missing from Google and could now bring Adobe forward in the smartphone sector.
Photoshop Camera: creative app released for Android smartphones
