Rita El Khuri / Android Authority
I’ve been supportive of a pixel camera for a long time. From my Pixel 2 XL to 4 XL, 5, 6 Pro, 7 Pro, 8 Pro, and 9 Pro XL, I have used my personal phone and a pixel as my primary camera since 2017, taking more than 10,000 images in this process. For years, my pixel phone camera was flawless, at least compared to everything in the market. He took pictures in every situation clearly, accurate and well in detail. Dark or light, movement or stable, near or away, zoom in or ultra -wide, he did everything I wanted. And I used it repeatedly and repeatedly to capture amazing images.
So when I say that I am sick and tired of this one problem with my Pixel 9 Pro XL camera, you should know that I am not saying this, not with love. And beyond the growing frustration to remove every colors and warm tone of the pixel in certain situations, I have been left with a baseless, lifeless picture that is nothing like the real scene that is seeing my eyes. Let me show you some examples.
Are you happy with your Pixel 9 Pro photos?
253 votes
Yes I like the pictures that take!
49 %
Conditions sometimes these things are fine, sometimes it fails.
33 %
Not really I was expecting a lot from this camera.
17 %
Where Pixel Camera is repeatedly failing me
C Scott Brown / Android Authority
The Pixel Camera’s post processing has been bent over for years to immeased, closely to realism, and that is why many of us loved him first. We did not want the maximum saturated effect of the Samsung camera, or the more processed nature of many other chemicals that were trying hard to compensate for poor optics or damaged processing algorithms.
In pursuit of it to capture a very balanced image, though, Google has slowly left behind the accuracy. Or the truth, to be honest. I’ve been considering this for years, but my Pixel 9 Pro XL is the biggest culprit. I am watching it mostly in the dark, warm environment. Comfortable restaurant, black aircraft, yellow/red house. Anything that is moving towards the warmth of color is where my pixel decides to get out of the white balance even if nothing is, and thus take away all the colors from the picture.
In the pursuit of a very balanced image, Google has gradually left behind the accuracy or reality.
This is very clear to me when I see the pictures caught with motion photos. The short video is all hot and full of color. The picture, on the contrary, is cold and sometimes lifeless. For example, look at this picture of a rattoyel plush. The whole picture is still well exposed, but it is cold and less dynamic.
Still from Motion PhotoFinal execution syllable
If the above example is not so clear, there are another couple here. Wood sculpture shot is the most obvious example.
Still from Motion PhotoFinal execution syllableStill from Motion PhotoFinal execution syllable
But the most important difference I felt is with the people. I tend to pull my husband’s picture in random comfortable places, and most of them eliminate flattery than I thought they could do. It is as if yellow, orange and red are the enemies of my oath -taking oath. By turning an interesting, living heart, beautiful scene into washed out, the white balance snap was very sorry to see it repeatedly.
It was very sorry to see an interesting and live scene changing into a cold, flat and washed picture.
Here is a screen recording that puts this problem into practice: I start with Kim View Finder, tap to adjust the white balance and exposure, drag the picture, open to see a good result that resembles my expectation, then, when the “processing” is all flat and final.
And there is another screen recording in the underground theater with many red lights. As a side effect of Ultra HDR being active, it is also very dark (I will reach it later).
And another. In this case, I didn’t even tap to adjust the white balance and the exposure, to prove that my tap was not affecting the shot.
I am sure we can all agree that the final result is nothing literally as the original shot should have been. And in every case, I confirm that what I was watching with my eyes was close to the View Finder preview, and nothing like the final picture was gone.
Is this just ultra -HDR or…?
After repeatedly, I decided to dig and see that the Ultra HDR was messing with these images. Google may be affected by this passionate HDR or its ability to display my phone’s display and ultra -HDR images. So I repeatedly tested it, with Ultra HDR and try the same pictures without. Result? This is not guilty.
Here is another screen recording where I snap my husband’s picture with ultra -HDR, then go and disable it, and take another picture. Both exhibit symbols of more processing flat pin and warmth that I have talked about earlier. Ultra HDR did not play any role in making this effect better or worse.
And there are two shots. Like here, Ultra HDR does not make a difference in most cases.
Ultra with HDRWithout Ultra HDR
So, what is the solution?
Throughout this test, the thing that has made me the most offended – beyond the fact that my Pixel 9 Pro is taking photos from their vibration and color – the fact is that it is not complying with white balance and display preview. When I tap a specific section of the syllable to focus there and ask the camera to adjust my settings around this particular area, I expect the preview and closing result.
Instead, I see one thing on my screen and get a picture that has nothing to do with it. Google pipes the camera directly into the viewpinder but then heavy White Balance, HDR, and color processing apply after targeting your shutter. There is no indication of how this final picture will come out, adjusting its settings through View Finder seems to be basically useless. The only advantage of tapping on my topic is to adjust the focus aircraft, and nothing else.
I’m looking at one thing on my screen, then get a picture that has nothing to do with it.
In the past few weeks, I have tried to adjust the white balance before taking the picture. He did not work much. I tried to edit the photo after the picture to add warm enthusiasm, but it felt very artificial and should have been like the original shot, when my pixel vonder was stuck with the original colors and white balance. I wanted to try third -party camera apps, but I still love the Pixel Camera app and its processing, which most of the circumstances do not want to give up.
I think its only original solution is a refreshment by Google, either for a pixel camera app or the entire phone firmware. Clearly, something has gone wrong with the processing options of the phone and it is not doing what it has to do now, which gives us life shots from life to life. I have not tested it on other pixels, but several reddators have confirmed that this is also a problem in their Pixel 7 and 8 series.
The ball is in your court, Google. You can’t lose the biggest seller of your phones.
