Ever really feel that bitter disappointment of unwrapping a much-hyped present solely to seek out it isn’t fairly what you anticipated? That sinking sensation when actuality does not match the advertising and marketing? Properly, buckle up, as a result of Midjourney’s newest launch would possibly simply take you on that emotional rollercoaster.
When Midjourney introduced their v7 mannequin, I waited with anticipation. In any case, that is the corporate that modified AI artwork era — the title that grew to become synonymous with gorgeous, detailed, nearly magical picture era. Their earlier iterations set benchmarks that left rivals scrambling to catch up.
And now, v7 promised to boost that bar even larger. Higher understanding of prompts. Enhanced photorealism. Improved context consciousness. Textual content era that really is smart. The promotional supplies painted an image of an AI picture device that will make even essentially the most expert photographers and artists do a double-take.
However does it ship on these lofty guarantees?
Let’s dive into what Midjourney v7 will get proper, the place it falls quick, and whether or not this extremely anticipated replace is definitely value your time and subscription {dollars}.
What’s Midjourney v7?
Midjourney is not simply one other AI picture generator — it is the device that made AI artwork mainstream. Since its launch in 2022, it is remodeled from an attention-grabbing experiment to the gold normal for creating gorgeous, real looking pictures from textual content prompts.
Midjourney v7 is their newest mannequin, launched in early April 2025 with guarantees of nice enhancements. The corporate claimed enhanced understanding of advanced prompts, higher composition, extra correct textual content rendering, and photorealistic high quality that will blur the road between AI era and images.
On paper, it sounds unbelievable. In apply? Properly, that is the place issues get difficult.
Midjourney v7 Pattern Outputs
Portraits
Immediate: portrait, a younger girl, glamour road medium format images, female, shot on cinealta, evening, pastel hues
Immediate: Leica M6 and the Leica Summicron-M 40mm f/1.8, younger man in his 20s trying up the sky smiling, plain white shirt, on a ravishing sunny day in a sunny day, smiling, sporting white linen, silhouette, coloured, Kodak Portra 400
Okay, first ideas: actually good, all issues thought-about.
The factor is, I simply don’t suppose it’s an enchancment. I consider it’s a sidegrade at greatest. One of many issues I’ve all the time praised about Midjourney is that it’s capable of create extremely real looking pictures, however these pictures don’t really feel proper. It’s too easy, too excellent, too… AI.
Granted, that is primarily the primary iteration of their latest mannequin. However so far as first impressions go, Midjourney 7 is leaving a foul style.
Panorama
Immediate: a rugged shoreline eroded by relentless waves, towering cliffs that is been sculpted into dramatic arches and hidden coves, seabirds soar above, mist swirls alongside the horizon
Immediate: mount everest base camp, leica m6, panorama images
Some artifacts in these pictures are blurring collectively (look carefully on the tents) and to not point out that these simply look pretend. It’s bizarre — I’ve some points with their earlier model, however that is means worse. It’s like they took what’s working and broke it.
Film Stills
Immediate: outdated 90s television present nonetheless, three associates speaking on a settee whereas ingesting a beer
Immediate: movie nonetheless, again shot of a lady coming into a bar, symmetrical, muted colours, directed by orson welles
These two pictures present lack of context understanding. The primary one is much less egregious, however you possibly can nonetheless see that these three males are simply the identical character with little modifications. Similar hair, identical jacket sample. To not point out that the one within the center is lacking his proper leg.
My immediate for the second picture specified that the lady is “coming into a bar.” Downside is, she’s already there.
Product Renders
Immediate: product images, a whiskey bottle together with a glass containing the whiskey, cottage core, lovely lighting, earthcore, ultra-detailed
Immediate: business images, a fragrance bottle, pastel blue background, dreamy, comfortable lighting, centered, flowers to embellish the background
The primary one is basically good, however shadows in the second are problematic. So far as high quality, it’s on par with their final mannequin, which isn’t good.
Mimicking Artwork Kinds
Immediate: a sundown on the seaside, vincent van gogh
One factor I’ll say about this new mannequin: it’s higher at imitating Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork model than its earlier iteration. At the very least we will see some enchancment on this regard.
Digital Artwork
Immediate: a God in his most inventive and his maddest, linocut print, silver hair, blue eyes, spiraling into ecstasy, shigeo fukuda, surreal interstellar background, indigo, lovely and colourful cosmos, minimalist
Immediate: a younger girl sitting on a grassy hill at dawn, midnight blue, gold, inexperienced, orange, pastel colours, clear line artwork painted by Ilya Kuvshinov, Ed Brubaker, Apollonia Saintclair, Jack Kirby, Brian Michael Bendis
Digital artwork is one factor that Midjourney has all the time carried out effectively, and I’m glad to see that the development’s nonetheless going that means. These are nice artworks that appear to be it’s been carried out by a human.
Let’s Speak About Context and Textual content Technology
Final month, OpenAI launched their new AI picture mannequin. Other than improved creativity, it was largely thought-about a hit as a result of it was (at the least, in my view) the primary mannequin to indicate true understanding of context, and textual content era or including textual content to AI pictures.
Let me offer you an instance from GPT-4o:
Immediate: A instructor in a classroom. He is in his 60s. He is sporting a checkered shirt. It is 7am. He is writing the next on the blackboard:
“Newton’s Legal guidelines of Movement”
“One: Objects keep nonetheless or transfer except influenced.”
“Two: Power equals mass occasions acceleration”
“Three: Each motion has an equal reverse response.”
It’s not excellent, however contemplating the quantity of textual content I needed to incorporate, this was as near right as we’re going to get from a 2025 AI mannequin. This additionally reveals nice understanding of context since, even with out specifying it, they used “Newton’s Legal guidelines of Movement” because the header.
Now, let’s attempt to use the identical immediate in Midjourney 7.
Immediate: A instructor in a classroom. He is in his 60s. He is sporting a checkered shirt. It is 7am. He is writing the next on the blackboard:
“Newton’s Legal guidelines of Movement”
“One: Objects keep nonetheless or transfer except influenced.”
“Two: Power equals mass occasions acceleration”
“Three: Each motion has an equal reverse response.”
No enchancment on this regard from Midjourney 7. It’s nonetheless simply gibberish, like a two-year outdated attempting to write down by copying the letters.
The Backside Line
With these outcomes, I’m going to make a daring assertion: Midjourney 7 was launched as a response. It’s apparent that it’s not prepared, and the one cause why it’s even being rolled out is as a result of OpenAI pressured them by releasing an AI picture mannequin that’s miles forward of any picture generator we’ve seen.
What’s significantly irritating is that Midjourney had the time (it’s been a yr and a half since v6) and sources to get this proper. As an alternative, they rushed a half-baked product to market.
Look, I am not saying Midjourney v7 is horrible throughout the board. It has its moments, significantly with digital artwork the place it continues to shine. However when a brand new model performs worse than its predecessor in key areas like photorealism and context understanding, we have to name it what it’s: a disappointment, at the least in comparison with OpenAI’s new mannequin.
The AI picture era area is shifting at breakneck pace, and Midjourney cannot afford to relaxation on their laurels — particularly not when their rivals are closing the hole. OpenAI has thrown down the gauntlet, and Midjourney’s hasty response merely is not adequate.
Is Midjourney nonetheless among the best AI picture mills on the market? Completely. Is v7 the revolutionary improve we have been promised? Not even shut.
