I'm not a professional photographer, but I love taking photos of my pets. If they are doing something funny or weird or look particularly cute, I snap a photo. A consistent problem I have is that I can't get a good photo of my black-haired pets. Neither dog nor cat, in good or bad lighting, during the day or at night, no phone has captured them in a life-like way. Even a Google Pixel 6 Pro, can't get the job done. It's 2022, and with all the smartphone camera software and hardware improvements over the last few years, this should be a non-issue. Let's hope new phones, like the Google Pixel 7 series, will do better.
To illustrate this issue, here are photos from three phones: A Google Pixel 4a 5G, a Google Pixel 6 Pro, and a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. Here are the photos of my black-haired cats taken with each phone in a variety of conditions. These pictures were taken at 1x zoom with the main camera in the middle of the day when it was partly cloudy.
From left to right: The Pixel 4a 5G, the Galaxy S20 FE, and the Pixel 6 Pro.
The floor looks great in these photos, but my cat looks like a black blob. There's no detail. You can't see any facial features or limbs except for the inside of the ear. The S20 FE (middle) did the best job showing the ear and outlining the tail, but none of these photos are a proper representation. The Pixels' photos look similar and have about the same amount of detail. The Pixel 6 Pro (right) has much better detail when looking at the bed than the Pixel 4a 5G (left), but I can't declare a clear winner when looking at my cat.
The lighting conditions in this next set of photos are similar to the previous set, except the sun was peeking out from the clouds. These photos were taken at 2x zoom with the main camera.
My cat looked down in the middle photo, which threw things off a bit. Still, these photos represent my issues. The Pixel 6 Pro (right) did the best job since you can see the outline of the head and facial features fairly well. The S20 FE photo (middle) looks darker than the other two, and my cat looks like a void with eyes. This may be because he's looking down, but it's a bad photo. The 4a 5G (left) is similar to the Pixel 6 Pro, but the 6 Pro captured more detail and shows a bit more detail than the 4a 5G.
These photos do a decent job of capturing the eyes, but they lack depth when looking at the cat's body. It's not easy to see where the head meets the rest of the body and the legs aren't well differentiated. These photos are better than the previous set, but I wouldn't call them great photos.
In this next set of photos, it was dark outside, and I had only a lamp on in my living room, meaning it was a pretty low-light situation. These photos were taken at 1x with the main sensor.
These photos are similar to each other. I would give the slight edge to the Pixel 4a 5G (left). It picked up the most detail when looking at the tail and around the face. The Galaxy S20 FE (middle) is close to the Pixel 4a 5G, but it picks up less detail. Neither are particularly good, and I was hoping the Pixel 6 Pro would do better.
The Pixel 6 Pro (right) surprisingly did the worst and my cat looks like a black void. When I took a photo with the Pixel 6 Pro, it turned on Night Mode. Using Night Mode took a better photo.
Night Sight takes longer to capture so that it gets more information, and that extra time paid off. This photo is significantly better than the other three and picks up much more detail. You can see some outlines of the limbs and tail and there is some depth. I still wouldn't say this photo is great because the middle is still a dark blob. Even though it picks up the cat's features better, it doesn't pick them up well.
None of the mid- or low-light photos have been good photos of my cats, but what about when there's a lot of light? I took another series of photos in the morning when the sun peaked over the trees and was shining in the windows at the front of my house. These photos were taken at 1x with the main sensor.
These photos are actually pretty good. You can see my cat and his features very well and there is depth to the photo. If I had to pick one, I'd pick the Pixel 4a 5G's photo (left) because it picks up the most detail and captures my cat the best. The Galaxy S20 FE (middle) and Pixel 6 Pro (right) both have good photos that pick up a lot of detail and depth.
If I had one complaint about these photos, it would be that the eyes look a bit washed out. This is probably due to them reflecting the sun, but his eyes don't look good. Overall, I'd be happy to have any of these photos, and they do a good job of capturing my black cat.
Looking back at this series of photos, it's hard to get a good photo of my cats. Most of the time, I take photos in conditions that are similar to the first three sets of photos, which makes it hard to get a good one. I was able to get some nice photos in the last series, but that's under pretty ideal conditions. Night Sight on the Pixel 6 Pro got a pretty good photo, but it was still not as good as in direct sunlight.
There are physical limitations with light, so I can't expect Night Sight to replicate the sun. I also feel like it shouldn't take Night Sight or another equivalent feature to take a good photo of my cats. I'd love to be able to take a photo under any conditions and get a photo as good as the last set.
I'm happy with the recent strides in smartphone camera technology. I'm glad more people are being represented properly with technology like Google's True Tone. Portrait mode makes capturing great photos of people easier. Taking photos at night is basically a non-issue with features like Google's Night Sight. Yet, here I am, still waiting to take a good photo of my cats. Maybe new phones like the Pixel 7 series or the Galaxy S23 line will solve my problem, or maybe I'll have to keep waiting.
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Google Pixel 7
Google did not reinvent the wheel with the Pixel 7, but there was no need to. With improved cameras, the next-gen Tensor G2 chipset, and Google's wonderfully feature-filled software, the Pixel 7 earns its price tag again this year.
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Google Pixel 7 Pro
Google's Pixel 7 Pro refines the Pixel experience after the 6 Pro's initial stumbles last year, improving stability and taking the camera prowess to new levels with image fusing and 4K60fps video on all cameras. 30W fast charging and Pixel's addictive features like automatic Call screening and Pixel recorder help make the Pixel 7 Pro an alluring phone even as an iterative update.
