Can the Pixel 5 camera still compete with the same old aging sensor?

Google’s new Pixel phones are here, as is the annual round of speculation about how its cameras will work. Pixel cameras have been in a strange place for a couple of years; The Pixel 2 in 2017 was an incredible advancement for smartphone photography, but features like Night Sight aside, the 3 and 4 were mostly evolutions on the same hardware and software formula, which was felt at times. as subjective adjustments rather than clear improvements in image quality. . It is to Google’s credit that they have still remained among the best phone cameras you can buy.

It is impossible to make a real judgment on the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A 5G, which share the same front and rear cameras, until we can test them for ourselves. However, from what Google has said so far, they appear to be similar evolutionary updates.

For one thing, Google still uses the same 12.2-megapixel Sony IMX363 primary sensor as in the latest Pixel phones. Google said The edge in summary that this continuity helps their Pixel camera team refine algorithms from generation to generation, and that there was not a piece on the market that would have been better suited to the company’s needs.

The importance of the sensor hardware itself has been downplayed by Marc Levoy, the former Google Distinguished Engineer who led the team that worked on much of the Pixel camera software, including innovative features like HDR +. Last month in an interview with Edge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, Levoy said, “Due to diminishing returns due to the laws of physics, I don’t know if basic sensors are that attractive,” noting that higher resolution parts depend on -mosaizing input from much smaller pixels.

However, those high-resolution phone camera sensors are also physically much larger than what Google has been using for the past four years, and I have to wonder what the Pixel team could achieve with a 12-megapixel sensor from the same size as the 48 megapixel or 64 megapixel pieces that are common in today’s phones. Levoy recently left Google for Adobe, so Google has to make a decision on how long it can rely on the same hardware and software pipeline.

That said, we should still expect some improvements to the basic image quality of the Pixel 5. In the announcement video, Product Manager Soniya Jobanputra said that HDR +, the fundamental technology behind Pixel computational photography, has received a ” serious update “on new phones, combining Google’s algorithms with techniques like exposure bracketing. There are also new features like the ability to take Night Sight portraits in low light, as well as an AI-powered portrait lighting editing tool. We will have to see how the results turn out and if Google has managed to squeeze another generational update from the years sensor.

That is not to say that nothing has changed with the hardware. For the first time, Google includes an ultra-wide lens that replaces the telephoto in the Pixel 4. Google says The edge This is because Pixel phones from Pixel 3 have a Super Res Zoom feature to improve the resolution of digital zoom shots, while ultra-wide lenses can capture entirely new perspectives. That’s … exactly why I thought the Pixel 4 should have included an ultrawide instead of a telephoto a year ago, but at least I’m glad Google is making the right decision now.

(I’ll keep pointing out that many phones only include both lenses, though.)

A perennial flaw with Pixel cameras is their video recording, which is never as impressive as their still image quality. The iPhone in particular does a much better job of capturing smooth images with a balanced exposure. This year, Google introduces three new stabilization modes for Pixel video called Locked, Active and Cinematic Pan. Google also says The edge that the Pixel team spent a lot of time optimizing video recording capabilities based on feedback, so we’ll look forward to it when we get the phones in hand.

What we can say now is that Google continues to place extraordinary faith in its software team to keep Pixel pedestrian hardware at the front of the pack, even in the face of technically impressive competition from companies like Huawei. And so far, that faith has not been lost. Even the $ 349 Pixel 4A is a fantastic phone camera to match the Pixel 4 and easily holds up against much more expensive devices these days, so expectations for the Pixel 5 should still be high. Watch out for The edge to find out how it stands up to scrutiny.