We made an extensive test benchmarking some of the best and most popular AI models in order to restore 6 old photographs. We then compared each one and gave points to each model to create a ranking and determine which is the best for this task.
We used the AI Image Editor and the Generate tool to restore and enhance the original old photographs. For all restorations we used the prompt below, and most of the time we also used the AI Upscaler to further enhance the images with the setting "Limit input size (MP) = 0.4" and "Output resolution = 2K".
The Prompt
We found that using the upscaler almost always provides better results, but sometimes the image won't be as close to the original as one may like.
The Models
We tested the following 7 models: Flux 2, NanoBanana, ChatGPT, Flux Klein, Qwen, Grok, and Seedream.
Test Results
Test 1
Original photograph
Ranking:
- Flux 2
- NanoBanana
- ChatGPT
- Flux Klein
- Qwen
- Grok
- Seedream
Test 2
Original photograph
Ranking:
- Seedream
- Flux 2
- Flux Klein
- NanoBanana
- ChatGPT
- Grok
- Qwen
Test 3
Original photograph
Ranking:
- Flux Klein
- Flux 2
- ChatGPT
- NanoBanana
- Qwen
- Seedream
- Grok
Test 4
Original photograph
Ranking:
- Flux Klein
- NanoBanana
- ChatGPT
- Seedream
- Grok
- Qwen
- Flux 2
Test 5
Original photograph
Ranking:
- Flux Klein
- ChatGPT
- NanoBanana
- Grok
- Flux 2
- Seedream
- Qwen
Test 6
Original photograph
Ranking:
- NanoBanana
- ChatGPT
- Flux 2
- Qwen
- Seedream
- Flux Klein
- Grok
Overall Results
Here is the overall ranking calculated using a 7-to-1 point system per test, where 1st place gets 7 points and 7th gets 1 point.
| Rank | Model | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1st (Tie) | NanoBanana | 32 |
| 🥇 1st (Tie) | Flux Klein | 32 |
| 🥈 3rd | ChatGPT | 30 |
| 🥉 4th | Flux 2 | 28 |
| 5th | Seedream | 19 |
| 6th | Qwen | 14 |
| 7th | Grok | 13 |
Final Standings
Our Takeaway
An actually unexpected result — Flux Klein is on par with NanoBanana while costing 4 times less! With that said, we have to admit we have a bias for more saturated images, and Flux Klein delivers exactly that — a lot more vivid and colorful photos. Meanwhile, NanoBanana and ChatGPT were more true-to-life and probably closer to what the original image actually looked like.
Flux 2 struck a nice balance between high saturation and true-to-life rendering, but sometimes fails badly. Seedream performs average most of the time but occasionally shines. Grok and Qwen were not very good for this task.
From our test we can conclude that some of the models solve this task exceptionally well. Even though we cannot say there is one that always works the best, we can pinpoint 3 clear winners: NanoBanana, Flux Klein, and ChatGPT.
Bonus: From Restored Photos to Video
Of course, the fun doesn't stop at restoration. You can further edit and combine your restored images, then animate them into cool videos using our AI Video Generator. Here's what we made from the restored photos in this test:
Restored old photographs brought to life with AI video generation.
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