Google has long been a driving force in computational imaging, so it’s no surprise that Pixel Camera are some of the best mobile phone ones you can get. Using machine learning, the camera reveals vibrant colors in low light, gets close from far away, and captures selfies that everyone loves. It also offers HDR, slow-motion and time-lapse video.
There are two main cameras on the Pixel: a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera that defaults to a 28mm-equivalent field of view, and a 13-megapixel telephoto camera that can take 2x zoom shots at the press of a button. Both have optical image stabilization, so photos and videos look sharp even when you’re moving.
Pixel’s camera app is also chock-full of features to help you get the perfect shot. It has a handy portrait mode that blurs the background while keeping the subject in focus, and a beauty mode that adjusts skin tones and removes blemishes. It also has a macro mode that can capture details other phones might miss and Cinematic Pan, which lets you create smooth, flowing video footage.
For low-light shooting, there’s Night Sight, which blends multiple frames to produce a high-dynamic range photo. Google claims this approach is faster than conventional HDR and has better noise reduction. It also allows you to shoot in RAW, which gives you more editing flexibility.
A feature called Zero Shutter Lag means the Pixel can automatically detect and capture a scene without you having to tap the shutter. This is a nice feature for those who frequently photograph fast-moving subjects, like a running athlete or child.
The Pixel’s cameras do an excellent job of capturing detail in challenging high-contrast scenes. The resulting photos typically have good contrast and don’t suffer from excessive tone compression (especially on faces) that plagues some competing devices.
We found the Autofocus performance to be impressive, with the camera quickly identifying and locking on to a subject even in dim lighting. We also like how the Pixel can turn off its LED flash when a face is in focus, preventing the annoying red eyes that often accompany flash photography.
Another cool feature is Super Res Zoom, which combines several photos into a higher resolution photo with more detail than you’d expect from digital zoom. You can also use the app’s Magic Editor to make a cropped photo look less zoomed in by enhancing its details with generative AI.
On the downside, we noticed that the Pixel sometimes fails to properly frame a scene with its ultrawide camera. We tried to correct this by adjusting the camera’s zoom settings, but the issue recurred with subsequent shots until we rebooted the device. We hope Google can fix this bug soon.