Google Pixel camera: Great but not revolutionary
VENICE BEACH, Calif. — Google says its new Pixel smartphone camera is the highest-rated smartphone camera ever.
Ever?
Naturally, we set out to discover whether that's true.
First, some housekeeping. Google bases its advertising claim on an early review on the mobile smartphone site DxOMark, the lens- and camera-testing research arm of the DxoLabs camera company.
DxO, which says on its Facebook page that no money exchanged hands for the early review heavily touted in Google’s advertising, gives Pixel an all-time-high ranking of 89. That compares to 88 for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and 86 for the iPhone 7.
But the rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt, because DxoMark hasn’t reviewed the iPhone 7 Plus. The larger, pricier version of the latest iPhone has the stronger two-lens package that the iPhone 7 doesn’t have, and that's been considered best-of-show since its September release.
The Pixel has been available in pre-sales and will be in Verizon and Best Buy stores Thursday, starting at $649 for the 5-inch model, or $769 for the already sold-out 5.5-inch XL.
USA TODAY took out the XL for a shootout, along with the iPhone 7 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, attached to a tripod so we could get similar, back-to-back results. We shot in great light (midday) so-so (dusk) and terrible (pre-dawn). We shot video while walking and bike-riding to test the image stabilization for video, and shot panoramas, slow-mo video, quasi-360 “photo spheres” and “lens blur” portraits that use software to produce a “bokeh” effect that puts the background out of focus.
The victor? Well, the results from all three are so stellar, they’re a testament to just how good small lenses and software have become. All three make the $200 point-and-shoot camera with limited zoom now irrelevant. They’re that good.
That said, I would indeed give the nod to the Pixel by a small hair: 9.8 out of 10, to the iPhone 7 Plus’ 9.77 and the Galaxy’s 9.76. It’s that close.
It comes down to software and usability.
So let’s dive in:
• The Pixel has a 28mm-equivalent rear wide-angle lens with a f2.0 lens opening. That compares to 28mm f1.9 for the iPhone 7 Plus and 26mm f1.7 for Galaxy. The camera has a 4x digital zoom (software-speak for cropping the picture instead of truly zooming in) compared with the 10x digital zoom of the iPhone 7 Plus and 8x for S7. (Like with other digital zooms, the Pixel digital-zoom quality is lackluster.)
• The camera icon is front and center on the Pixel home screen, and there’s no need to search for the Camera Roll, or Gallery app to find your stored photos, as they automatically go to Google Photos, the popular Android and iPhone app for archiving photos.
The app offers free unlimited storage for non-Pixel users at a lowered resolution, but on the Pixel, they’re stored at full resolution.
(If you take photos when the phone is offline, they still go to Google Photos and get uploaded to the cloud when you’re back online.)
• HDR+. Like the iPhone and Galaxy, Pixel also offers HDR, the ability to take three shots in a row, one at normal exposure, and the other two under and over, and then combined for one perfect shot. The + stands for “low light” supremacy, Google says.
• Software tricks: They’re found by swiping right to go to video mode, where slow-motion (for video) panorama, photo sphere (quasi-360) and lens-blur settings are found. Lens blur again puts the center in focus, and you achieve by shooting vertically, and tilting the camera upward while shooting. This is hard to pull off in a horizontal shot. Burst mode (like the iPhone) lets you hold your finger down on the shutter and get multiple (I picked up to 50) shots at one time, which is great for action. An added bonus: Google automatically produces an animated GIF from the files, which you can share easily. See the example below.
• Selfies: A switch next to the shutter button lets you flip to the front-facing camera for selfie shots.
• Manual overrides: White-balance adjustments are at the top of the screen, along with a tab to turn the flash on and off. On-screen you can adjust focus and exposure pretty effectively.
The goods:
I’ve posted 30 back-to-back shots on my http://jeffersongraham.net website. I invite you to go in and check out the complete results.
• Under the Manhattan Beach Pier: At roughly 6:11 a.m., before the sun came up, I went under the Pier to shoot these shots in basically no light, just moonlight reflection on the water. The results are all bad, but the Pixel has slightly more detail. Advantage: Pixel.
• Ice cream cones: A mock multicolored cone hangs from the Cowboy Cairo restaurant in Venice Beach. We shot it three times, with the Pixel just slightly underexposed and the Galaxy and iPhone closer — with the iPhone closest to the desired results. Advantage: iPhone.
• Venice skate park: We met a skater named Dudley at the park in Venice Beach. Look at the three images, and the Galaxy has the brightest blue sky, the iPhone is a little muted, and the Pixel just about right on. Advantage: Pixel.
• Manhattan Beach lifeguard stand. Again, around 6 a.m, before the sun came up, in near total darkness. All three shots are poor, what you would expect from a smartphone camera in the middle of the night, but the Pixel outperformed the competition here substantially, with the Galaxy the runner-up. Advantage: Pixel.
• Ourselves: We photographed USA TODAY photographer Robert Hanashiro photographing us in bright, amazing sun. The results are all great, with the iPhone color a little washed-out, the Pixel about right and the Galaxy a little richer. Advantage: Galaxy.
Despite the hype, the Pixel isn’t a revolutionary camera that will change the way you look at photography and make pros want to ditch their DSLR cameras. It is another slight step forward in what can be done with a tiny point-and-shoot lens and software. But most of you won’t be shooting in the middle of the night. For average, daytime snapshots, group photos at restaurants and homes and the like, you can’t go wrong with any of the choices here. And the iPhone 7 Plus adds the secondary portrait lens, which you don't get with the Pixel or the Galaxy.
The results for all three are so close, but the victory has to go to Pixel by a hair for the low-light software tricks that Google has brought to the party.
Have questions about smartphone photography and the review? Let's chat about it on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham. I also invite you to follow me on Facebook, and listen to the daily #TalkingTech podcast on Stitcher and iTunes.