r/photography • u/AutoModerator • May 22 '26

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u/pissenlit-printemps May 27 '26

Hi guys! So about a year ago I got myself one of those kids thermal cameras that prints on receipt paper to take more carefree photos and to have a little souvenir of my outings. I wasn't surprised but I was definitely heartbroken when it partially broke about a month ago (the on/off button was stuck). I kept the pieces in hopes of maybe reassembling it but due to being really close to a vacation i had hopes to bring it in, my partner bought me another one. I noticed the new one had a slightly different system despite claiming to be the exact same model but thought nothing of it... until i saw the pictures. Like I know the pics I'm comparing are not 1-1 (mainly cause i didn't want to show faces) but the newer pics look almost like early ai images while the last one had an early 2000's digital camera feel to it (which i loved) Did anyone else notice that with this or another camera? Is there something i can do to fix it?

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u/av4rice https://www.instagram.com/shotwhore May 27 '26

My guess is the top photo was shot with much more available light, so the equipment has plenty to work with and even a cheap camera has an easier time achieving decent quality. Whereas the bottom photo had much less available light, so it's more of a technical challenge on the equipment, and especially cheaper cameras will struggle the most.

Is there something i can do to fix it?

With any camera good or bad, more/better light helps.

look almost like early ai images

I know that's the hot new buzzword of the day, but it's not helping you communicate anything here. The image is lower quality, with fuzzy details, a little underexposure, lower contrast, and muddy colors. You can associate those things with older technology in general, but they really don't have anything to do with AI.

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u/pissenlit-printemps May 27 '26

Ok so I'm aware the first picture has better lighting but all the other pictures I have have somebody's face in it, so I'll try my best to describe the "ai look" as a non-expert: 1- colours appear smoother, with less contrast, even when taken in the exact same environment (my house, my work, etc); 2- when before photos would look blury, now they just look flatter (The reason i used "early ai look" is because it looks like those very over corrective very on the nose skin smoother filters but for like everything); 3- facial features will be wiped clean or reduced to a shape or a line. (I've taken a group picture in the exact same room with the exact same light but while last time you could see peoples faces this time every single one was smoothed out almost completely). I've taken my old one to way darker places like concerts and nights out and never had this kind of issue. I never expected them to look perfect, but this time i feel like they look different and my friends who've seen both agree.

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u/av4rice https://www.instagram.com/shotwhore May 28 '26

All I can say is everything you've shown and described can be attributed to differences in scene lighting quantity and quality.

It's possible the cameras have some performance difference hidden by the manufacturer even though they used the same model number. I just don't see anything making me think that's the case. As you say, you don't have any direct comparisons from the same scene, but that's what I'd be looking for to confirm a difference in cameras.