Google spent years selling the Pixel on the premise of its camera but nowadays, it just doesn’t stand out to the same degree. Earlier this week, I was looking back at some old Pixel photos and couldn’t help but miss the days when the Pixel camera really shone at its brightest.
The camera on a Pixel phone, to be clear, is still excellent. It’s reliable and consistent, but as I discussed in a previous post, it’s also kind of “boring” now.
Looking back to 2021’s Pixel 6 Pro, though, I remember just how vivid and alive the images from that camera felt. That’s why reminded me of “the good ol’ days.” I was referencing back to my Pixel 6 Pro review and was reminded how good that camera was and how many stunning images I captured from it. In the years since, I just haven’t felt the same about my Pixel’s output.
Just take a look at some of these samples, compressed as they may be:
Nostalgia and the time of year those shots were taken certainly play a role in looking back with rose-colored glasses, but I just miss the time where I felt like every shot coming out of my Pixel was so stunning. I miss the contrast, the color, and the vibrancy of years past. The Pixel camera is still solid – as mentioned, there’s nothing I’d rather carry – but I can’t help but wish we could go back to its best years.
That’s even more true this week following the reveal of Adobe’s “Project Indigo,” a new iPhone camera app (coming to Android eventually) that was built by the brains behind the original computational photography push that made the Pixel camera so great.
Top comment by Connor DC
Pixel 2 for me. As other have mentioned I find the more recent models over sharpen, over HDR etc. looking back at old pixel 2 photos I’m still impressed by how they look.
That team was responsible for making the Pixel camera stellar for the first four generations, and I think the main reason that I look back so fondly on the Pixel 6 camera is because it contains the last remnants of that era. It still had the influence of that prior team, just with new hardware to supercharge it.
In the time since, Google has continued to tweak the formula with the Pixel camera, and I’m not convinced that’s been for the best. Newer generations just don’t have that same punch, that same look.
But that’s where I’ll open the door to you. When did you like the Google Pixel camera the most? Was it back at the beginning? Are you still happy with it? Let’s discuss!
More on Google Pixel:
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- Google updates Pixel Magnifier with real-time text search
- Gboard can now generate stickers with Pixel Studio, starts rolling out
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