Nano Banana 2 vs Qwen Image Edit 2511
Head-to-head across 5 challenges
Nano Banana 2
52.7%
win rate
Ties
5.5%
Qwen Image Edit 2511
41.8%
win rate
Challenge Results
Man and Car in California
Editing“Make a photo of the man driving the car down the California coastline”
AI Judge Analysis
Nano Banana 2
- + Perfect preservation of the specific Rolls Royce car model from the source.
- + High consistency with the man's hair and facial features.
- + Cinematic composition showing the motion of the car on the coastline.
- − The man's outfit is partially simplified compared to the source.
- − The car appears to be right-hand drive while on a right-hand traffic road.
Qwen Image Edit 2511
- + Excellent preservation of the man's specific plaid jacket, scarf, and hairstyle.
- + The perspective creates an intimate 'in-the-car' feel.
- + High-quality rendering of hands on the steering wheel.
- − Failed to preserve the specific car brand/model (Rolls Royce) from the source image.
- − The interior dashboard design changed significantly from the source.
Verdict: Nano Banana 2 is the better edit because it manages to merge both source images—the specific Rolls Royce and the specific person—into a coherent scene. Qwen Image Edit 2511 does a fantastic job of preserving the man's clothing and likeness, but it completely replaces the car with a generic interior, failing the source preservation aspect of the car image.
Bald man challenge
Editing“Give the person a full, thick head of natural hair with realistic texture, density, and a natural hairline. Preserve facial features and lighting.”
AI Judge Analysis
Nano Banana 2
- + Excellent source preservation with no changes to facial structure or background.
- + Highly realistic hair texture that matches the age and facial hair of the subject.
- + Natural integration with the existing sideburns and temples.
- − None identified.
Qwen Image Edit 2511
- + Successfully followed the instruction to add a full head of hair.
- − The hair has a noticeably painterly, digital texture that contrasts with the photographic quality of the face.
- − The hairline and curly structure appear somewhat artificial and 'pasted on'.
- − Introduced subtle distortions to the shape of the glasses frame.
Verdict: Nano Banana 2 provided a near-perfect edit, adding hair that looks completely natural and matches the lighting and texture of the original photograph seamlessly. Qwen Image Edit 2511 succeeded in adding hair, but it lacked realistic texture and appeared more like a digital painting, slightly degrading the photographic realism of the source image.
Night Sky Transformation
Editing“Change the scene to night: a deep, dark sky with subtle, glistening stars visible behind the mountain.”
AI Judge Analysis
Nano Banana 2
- + Excellent source preservation, maintaining the layout and lighting of the foreground village perfectly.
- + Highly realistic starry sky with a natural Milky Way effect.
- + Convincing transition of mountain lighting from sunset to moonlight.
- − None notable; it followed all instructions perfectly.
Qwen Image Edit 2511
- + Successfully darkened the scene to night.
- + Preserved the lower half of the original image accurately.
- − The sky contains a highly unnatural, grid-like pattern of uniform white dots for stars.
- − The stars appear to be a flat overlay rather than a coherent part of the 3D scene.
Verdict: Nano Banana 2 is the clear winner as it created a beautiful, realistic night sky with natural-looking stars and a subtle Milky Way. In contrast, Qwen Image Edit 2511 failed significantly on visual quality by placing a repetitive, synthetic-looking grid of white dots over the sky that lacks any artistic or realistic merit.
Studio Ghibli Anime Style
Editing“Transform this photo into a Studio Ghibli–inspired illustration. Use soft pastel colors, hand-painted textures, gentle lighting, dreamy backgrounds, and a warm, nostalgic mood”
AI Judge Analysis
Nano Banana 2
- + Perfectly captures the Studio Ghibli art style with watercolor textures and soft line work.
- + Preserves the iconic composition and poses while adding Ghibli-esque environmental details like flowers.
- + Excellent translation of facial expressions into an anime aesthetic.
- − The color of the dress was changed from a vibrant red to a more muted pinkish-peach.
Qwen Image Edit 2511
- + Preserves the original colors and character features more accurately.
- + Successfully softens the lighting and applies a clean digital illustration style.
- − The art style is generic digital manhwa/webtoon rather than the requested Studio Ghibli style.
- − Lacks the 'hand-painted' texture specifically requested in the prompt.
Verdict: Nano Banana 2 is the clear winner as it successfully understands and executes the specific 'Studio Ghibli' aesthetic, including hand-painted watercolor textures and cozy background details. Qwen Image Edit 2511 provides a high-quality clean illustration, but it fails to capture the soulful, painterly essence of the Ghibli style, looking more like a standard filter or digital tracing.
Neutral Expression to Genuine Smile
Editing{
"action": "image_edit",
"reference": "uploaded neutral portrait",
"change": "Warm genuine Duchenne smile: lips curved up, slight natural teeth, soft eye crinkles, subtle cheek raise",
"details": "Realistic smiling skin (dimples if present, soft cheek shadows), slightly brighter eyes; keep exact eye shape/color/iris",
"preserve_exact": "Face identity/structure, eyes/nose/lips/eyebrows, hair, skin texture/pores/freckles, makeup, clothing, head pose, background, lighting, shadows, framing",
"no_changes": "No face shape change, no new features, no gaze shift, no hair/clothing/lighting/background edits",
"style": "Ultra-photorealistic 8K portrait, sharp face focus, natural soft lighting, realistic skin glow"
}
AI Judge Analysis
Nano Banana 2
- + Excellent preservation of skin texture and freckles from the source image
- + Natural eye crinkles and very subtle teeth alignment
- + Identical iris color and pupil shape maintained from reference
- − The smile is slightly more subdued than requested
- − Lower face skin texture looks slightly more aged than the original
Qwen Image Edit 2511
- + Perfectly executed Duchenne smile with high authenticity
- + Excellent preservation of the overall facial structure and hair
- + Beautifully rendered dimples and cheek raising that feels natural
- − Skin texture has been slightly smoothed/airbrushed compared to the source
- − Loss of some fine freckles around the nose and cheeks
Verdict: Nano Banana 2 does an incredible job of preserving every detail of the original skin texture and lighting, but its smile is slightly less impactful. Qwen Image Edit 2511 produces a superior smile expression that perfectly follows the instructions, though it slightly softens the subject's natural skin details in the process. Qwen is the likely winner for better conveying the 'Warm genuine Duchenne smile' requested.
Nano Banana 2
Gemini 3.1 Flash with image generation capabilities. High-efficiency image generation model with support for text rendering, reference images, search grounding, and thinking mode. The efficient counterpart to Gemini 3 Pro Image.
Qwen Image Edit 2511
Alibaba's Qwen image editing model for instruction-based image modifications and transformations