Pixel 6 Pro camera after 6 months: The best zoom, portrait and action photos you'll ever take
While standard wide-angle shooters are considered the “default camera” and will certainly perform better in difficult lighting conditions, photos taken with them tend to look…amateurish. It's not that you can't take a great shot with your phone's wide-angle camera. Pixel 6, iPhone 13, or Galaxy S22. It's just that it takes practice and skill.
Depending on the scene, you'll want to consider your surroundings, including foreground, background, shapes, sizes, lighting, angle, etc. In other words, framing a subject and taking a "pro quality" shot with a wide-angle camera is tricky.
The other thing wide angle photos lack is bokeh. Obviously to achieve background blur you will need to get closer to your subject, but the nature of a wide angle shooter is to start distorting when you get too close… physically. This results in less flattering portraits, as well as altered shapes of objects.
Fringe is another virtually unavoidable problem when trying to take a close-up shot with a wide-angle lens. This is when the edges of your subject aren't perfectly sharp. The phenomenon is mostly seen on cameras with large sensors and large apertures, meaning hardly any modern flagship phone is immune to it.
Pixel 6 Pro: the best periscope zoom camera
Picture 1: 4x (left), digital in position (right); Figure 2: 1x (left), 4x (right); Figure 3: 4x (left), 4x (right); Figure 4: 4x (left), 4x (right); Figure 5: 4x (left), 4x (right)
You see, usually you imagine a Zoom the camera is only good for one thing – getting close to your subject. But thanks to the Pixel 4 Pro's 6x periscope shooter, I realized that a zoom camera doesn't need to be limited to just performing the job of a magnifying glass. Thanks to the tight FoV, framing a pro-quality shot with the Pixel 4 Pro's 6x camera is a breeze, which is why I use it a lot more often than I thought. The natural bokeh from the largest sensor we've ever seen on a phone zoom camera and the short focusing distance result in stunning images you can't get anywhere else.
Seriously, you would never guess that some of the 4x photos taken with a Pixel 6 Pro are from a phone's camera. This really special shooter helps take portraits of people and everyday objects.
Yes, I'm here to tell you that the Pixel 6 Pro can take some of the best "portrait mode" photos you've ever seen come out of a phone, without even using portrait mode.
I've now seen dozens of media outlets and YouTubers criticize Google's flagship when it comes to this category of photography, and they're not wrong. There's nothing to get excited about Google's Portrait mode, but that's also because those same reviewers didn't put in the effort...
Pixel 6 Pro: How to take the best and most realistic portraits Fashion the pictures you will take one day
Picture 1: 4x, no editing (left), adding background blur in message (right); Figure 2: 4x, no mount (left), 4x, no mount (right); Figure 3: 4x, no edit (right), post zoomed (left); Figure 4: 4x, no artificial bokeh added
I challenge you to find any imperfections in these portrait photos. OK… Don't waste your time. There are no imperfections, as the photos are not taken in artificial portrait mode.
So let me explain why you can see the individual fibers (and fluff) on my super blue socks.
1. Avoid using dedicated portrait mode
2. “Step back to improve concentration”
If you get this message, you can often trick the Pixel 6 Pro into pointing the camera at something in the distance and back towards the subject. Unless you really are very closethis should allow you to use the 4x camera and fingernail focus, while getting as close to your subject as possible – for that soft natural bokeh.
3. If you still want more bokeh/blur for your 4x portraits
If you find the photo could use a bit more background blur (I rarely do), just head over to Photos > Edit > Tools > Blur. Google's Photo Editor lets you add artificial bokeh to photos with a standout subject after they've been taken, or even if they weren't taken on a Pixel.
If that sounds like too much work, be sure that once you try it, it will quickly start to become second nature. Just press the 4x zoom button, focus on your subject and take a shot. It doesn't take much more effort than using Portrait mode.
Action Pan, Long Exposure, Magic Eraser: Pixel 6 Pro camera goes beyond hardware
Bonding: All photos taken with Action Pan at 4-8x zoom; Magic eraser (before and after); Panoramic action (ultra-wide-angle camera)…
As you can see, it's hard to put this camera down. But aside from the Pixel 4 Pro's impressive 6x lens, Google's device comes with a magical set of camera features, thanks to Google's powerful software.
Of course, most people I meet tend to be blown away by the magic eraser, and yes, it is indeed a super awesome trick. But that doesn't necessarily fall into the "photography" category of the Pixel's camera magic.
The literal show stopper that comes with the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro is called Panoramic action. This feature resides in the camera interface's Motion toggle, alongside the long exposure mode, which is also very impressive, although I don't use it much.
Note that Action Pan and Long Exposure have been in beta since the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro launched six months ago. Nevertheless, they work admirably well.
Action Pan helps you freeze a moving subject, while the background can remain nicely blurred movingcreating the impression of a fast moving car, train or roller skate, even if they are barely moving. It also works with all three cameras, which offers absolutely amazing perspectives you won't be able to get anywhere else. Amazingly, aside from the 4x zoom lens, the ultra-wide angle camera also combines really well with this feature, resulting in some of the most spectacular photos I've ever seen come out of a camera. telephone.
Sorry, Apple and Samsung team. Google is the drama queen now.
Although it might seem like a fancy feature at first glance, Action Pan is a godsend for lazy social media photographers. Do you want to trick your friends into thinking you're a pro? This Pixel 6 Pro feature might be the quickest way to do it.
Speaking of gadgets, we've seen a ton of overambitious camera features on phones in the past, both hardware and software. And to be honest, watching the Pixel 6 reveal, I was ready to welcome Google into the gimmick club. But no.
All in all, Magic Eraser can literally save some unusable photos by letting you delete unwanted subjects. It even works with older photos taken with other cameras, which is more than I ever asked for.
Then Action Pan and Long Exposure mimic two of the most popular professional photography tricks with the power of software, and the results can be surprisingly convincing, especially to the untrained eye.
Bottom line: I wouldn't trade the Pixel 6 Pro's camera for another, but...
That being said, the Pixel 6 Pro's camera system is far of perfect. Like any other phone camera.
For starters, remember those portrait photos I rented? They are amazing, but taking them shouldn't seem like a workaround. I'm well aware that the average Joe won't understand how to take a great portrait shot with a Pixel, which is why I wrote this article, but enabling Portrait mode photos with the Pixel 4's 6x camera Pro and Pixel 7 Pro is an absolute must.
Google, what are we waiting for?!
I also hope Google upgrades the Pixel 7 series with a new, much better ultra-wide-angle camera, where the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro currently lag behind the competition. For starters, the Pixel 6 series' ultra-wide-angle shooter isn't that wide, but it also performs poorly in mixed and low light, especially compared to the main and zoom shooters, which are amazing. The only thing that saves it and enables usable photos is Google's powerful post-processing.
As for general photography, I'd like to see a slightly faster (if not excellent) night mode, less lens flare and slightly deeper shadows (reminiscent of the Pixel 2), plus better controlled reflections, hopefully as good as on the Vivo X70 Pro+. The Pixel's manual highlight/shadow slider helps a lot with the last point.
And finally, I think the Pixel 6 Pro takes some of the best video in the Android world, without over-sharpening, and with well-controlled shadows and highlights. However, I'd like to see less noise in low light (especially from this ultra-wide-angle lens), sensor-shift OIS for smoother images, and further improved HDR to match that of the iPhone 13 series.
I know I'm asking Google to do something no Android phone maker has ever done - match Apple's video game, but if Google can't do it, I don't know who can...
PS: I'm not the biggest fan of selfies, but the Pixel 6 Pro's selfie shooter is pretty good. Just one thing… Google, can we give the Pixel 7 selfie camera autofocus? Please.
Warning: All photos taken with Google Pixel 6 Pro, some of which are color matched to my liking. Image quality is affected by usual website compression which means actual images show much more detail - also applies to any other photos we share here, taken by any phone.
