🎨 Image Generation

Fabian's take — "Going from Nano Banana Pro to Nano Banana 2 is the biggest jump I've seen in an image model in a while. The photo editing got a lot better, but what keeps me coming back is that I can ask it for a ready-to-use screen mockup or a detailed infographic and get something usable on the first try. For my day-to-day that makes it the visual tool I reach for first."

Fabian's take — "I used to find the older versions too generic and reached for Google's models instead. Now GPT-Image-2 is my daily driver for editing. What won me over is the editing itself: I can point at one part of an image, change just that, and the rest stays put. The text rendering finally holds up too, which is the job I always used to hand off to another tool."

Fabian's take — "I reach for FLUX-2-Pro when I need images inside a pipeline rather than clicking around in an app. The photorealism holds up and the ~$0.03/image price means I can run a lot of variations without watching a meter. What it doesn't give you is a place to just type and see a picture — that's still Nano Banana 2 for me. If you or someone on your team can wire up an API, it earns its keep; if not, skip it."

Fabian's take — "Grok's image and video engine remains a hit-or-miss tool, but it deserves an honorable mention. If you need physics-accurate photorealism, go elsewhere. But for highly creative, stylized, or abstract motifs where you want to break away from sterile AI looks, Grok often surprises you with the most interesting result. Plus, the June 2026 Video 1.5 update makes animating those stylized images remarkably easy."

Fabian's take — "I used to experiment with Midjourney but never got more out of it than some playful edits. It's likely more suitable for design professionals who can invest the time in prompt craft. For non-designers, Nano Banana 2 or GPT-Image-2 are more approachable starting points."

Fabian's take — "I liked the idea of one model handling the still and the motion, so your image and its video stayed on-model. OpenAI pulled it in April 2026, so there's nothing to try now — reach for an active tool instead."