Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I have long been a proponent of the Pixel camera. From my Pixel 2 XL to the 4 XL, 5, 6 Pro, 7 Pro, 8 Pro, and 9 Pro XL, I’ve used a Pixel as my personal phone and my primary camera since 2017, taking over 10,000 photos in the process. For years, my Pixel phone’s camera was near flawless, at least compared to everything else on the market. It took clear, accurate, and well-detailed photos in every situation. Darkness or light, in movement or steady, up-close or far away, zoomed-in or ultrawide, it did everything I wanted it to. And I used it to capture stunning photos again, and again, and again.
So when I say I’m getting sick and tired of this one issue with my Pixel 9 Pro XL‘s camera, you should know that I’m saying this out of love, not hate. And out of a growing frustration with the Pixel’s propensity to suck every color and warm tone out of my pics in certain situations, leaving me with a bland, lifeless photo that is nothing like the real scene that my eyes are seeing. Let me show you some examples.
Are you happy with your Pixel 9 Pro's photos? 18 votes Yes. I love the photos it takes! 56 % Kinda. Sometimes it gets things right, sometimes it fails. 33 % Not really. I was expecting so much more from this cam. 11 %
Where the Pixel camera is failing me, repeatedly
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
The Pixel camera’s post-processing has leaned heavily towards desaturated, closer-to-reality photos for years now, and this was the reason many of us fell in love with it in the first place. We didn’t want the over-saturated effect of Samsung’s camera, or the over-processed nature of many other cams that were trying too hard to compensate for bad optics or bad processing algorithms.
In its pursuit to capture the most balanced photo, though, Google has slowly left behind accuracy. Or reality, to be honest. I’ve been noticing this for years now, but my Pixel 9 Pro XL is the biggest culprit. I see it mostly in dark, warm environments. Cozy restaurants, dark airplanes, yellowish/reddish indoors. Anything that veers towards the warmer spectre of color is where my Pixel decides to even out the white balance no matter what, and thus strip all the color out of the photo.
In its pursuit of the most balanced photo, Google has slowly left behind accuracy or reality.
This is very obvious to me when I see pics captured with a Motion Photo. The short video is all warm and full of color; the still photo, in contrast, is cold and sometimes lifeless. Check out this photo of a Ratatouille plushie as an example. The entire still photo is better exposed, but it’s also colder and less vibrant.
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