So you got a Google Pixel 3 because you heard such great thigs about its camera- Now what?
Use this guide to navigate through the best features that the Google Pixel 3’s camera has to offer, and you will be taking pictures like a pro in no time!
I should note that the cameras and software on both the Google Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL are identical, so this will be helpful to owners of both devices.
Let’s start with the camera on the back where there is only one lens, but it more than gets the job done. You have a 12.2 megapixel sensor with a sharper wide-angle lens- this allows for quality zooming. You’ve also got an f/1.8 aperture and support for phase detection and laser autofocus. All the portrait mode stuff is taken care of by the main camera so there’s no need for a second. On the front, you’ll find a dual-lens camera, with wide angle lenses that allow you to adjust the zoom, each rated at 8 megapixels.
In theory, these numbers may not sound the most impressive, but numbers are not everything. The photos taken with this camera turn out simply stunning! The secret is in Google’s software. Google’s image processing capabilities are second-to-none. The pain processor, called the Pixel Visal Core packs a powerful punch. It can handle HDR jobs, merge multiple photos for zooming and low-light situations and and can select the best photo from a sequence. The range between dark and light colors is amazing, and the result is a photo with depth where nothing looks flat. The colors all pop and look vibrant without coming off too unnatural, or looking like the result of a bad Instagram filter.
Let’s talk about Night Sight. One of the features that you’ve probably heard the most about, it definitely lives up to the hype! Use Night Sight and you no longer have to worry about choosing between a photo with so little light that you can’t make anything out, or using the flash and having everything get washed out. No more gross, grainy photos here! Night Sight takes multiple photos, thereby reducing the graininess that usually comes in dark photos and then uses that aforementioned Google image AI to stitch them together, resulting in image so great, you won’t believe it was taken by a phone! The small drawback is that in order to use Night Sight, you do have to hold the phone still for a few seconds, but it’s an incredibly small price to pay for what you get in return!
The Pixel 3 camera also ups the selfie game! Thanks to those dual front cameras we mentioned earlier, you can take a selfie with a field of view that’s 184% wider than the normal mode. Got a large group you want to selfie with? No problem! Simply switch to the front facing camera (Something you can easily do without pressing any buttons, just give the camera 2 quick shakes and it will automatically switch between the front and rear cameras!) and used the slider on the bottom to zoom in or out as needed. This also works great when you’re trying to capture a selfie in front of some impressive scenery. Make your Grand Canyon selfie that much more impressive by zooming out and capturing all of its scenic glory behind you, rather than just the small bit directly behind you.
The Pixel 3’s portrait modes is one of the best out there, and not only does it manage to do it with just one camera instead of two, I personally think it looks better because of it! Google’s AI does a great job of applying the blur to the correct areas, and it does it in a subtle enough way that it doesn’t look too fake or photoshopped. Don’t like the amount of blur in the photo? You can adjust it easily using a slider on the photo in question. Not sure you love the look of portrait mode on a photo? Fear not, for every portrait mode shot taken, the Pixel 3 saves both the edited photo and the original, so you can choose which you like best.
These are just a few of the amazing camera features on the Google pixel 3. We recommend taking an afternoon and just playing with all the settings and options on the camera to find out what you like the best. There is something for everyone, and as always seems to be the case with Google’s pixel lines, whatever camera options or effects you decide to use, the resulting photos will come out simply stunning! “