The Pixel Difference
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:48 pm
I got a new phone a little while ago, the Google Pixel 4a 5G, because of its battery life, good camera, and being an Android phone (which makes it easier to sync with my Chromebook).
If you look at a camera's pictures by themselves, it's easy to compare it to what you see, and find all kinds of faults. But when you contrast it with the pictures another camera takes, you can get a sense of how much improvement there has been. It happens that my old iPhone SE (2016) has a very similar camera to the Pixel 4a 5G (other than the aperture), so the key difference is Google's software processing. I'm working on a series of snapshots to help compare the pictures the two can take, and to make me feel better about my choice of phone.
Images are in spoilers.
Each picture has at least three versions - the iPhone SE version, and the Pixel's raw and post-processing photos. For dark shots, there's likely to also be Night Sight/Flash versions from the Pixel.
"Faith bird pictures"
Backyard, dark
Backyard, brightened up
The Bathroom of Doom
The Bathroom of Mild Discomfort
JavaScript
Wisdom
In general, the raw photos are comparable to the shots the iPhone takes. The Pixel has a lower aperture and tends to be better in low light, but it might be slightly worse in some other area which hasn't been clearly demonstrated in these shots. After processing, the pictures generally are far superior to either the iPhone or the Pixel's unprocessed photos.
If there's interest, I may take more pictures of more interesting things. I think this set shows that picture-taking technology has advanced over the last few years, though, and that Google's camera software isn't just hype; it can make your amateur photos look better than they deserve to be for the work you put in.
If you look at a camera's pictures by themselves, it's easy to compare it to what you see, and find all kinds of faults. But when you contrast it with the pictures another camera takes, you can get a sense of how much improvement there has been. It happens that my old iPhone SE (2016) has a very similar camera to the Pixel 4a 5G (other than the aperture), so the key difference is Google's software processing. I'm working on a series of snapshots to help compare the pictures the two can take, and to make me feel better about my choice of phone.
Images are in spoilers.
Each picture has at least three versions - the iPhone SE version, and the Pixel's raw and post-processing photos. For dark shots, there's likely to also be Night Sight/Flash versions from the Pixel.
"Faith bird pictures"
If there's interest, I may take more pictures of more interesting things. I think this set shows that picture-taking technology has advanced over the last few years, though, and that Google's camera software isn't just hype; it can make your amateur photos look better than they deserve to be for the work you put in.