Top 10 new camera features on the new Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones

Today, Google announced their next generation flagship smartphones, Google Pixel 8 and Google Pixel 8 Pro. Apart from the usual improvements you expect from a new gen smartphone, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro come with several new camera features and some of them being industry-first. Let’s look at them below.

Top 10 new camera features of Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro:

1. Superior Camera Hardware: Both phones boast a flagship 50-megapixel (MP) main camera, offering 21% more light sensitivity than the Pixel 7 series. This enhancement ensures the best low-light photos and videos ever seen on a Pixel. You’ll experience faster autofocus in low-light settings. The Pixel 8’s ultrawide camera now includes autofocus. The Pixel 8 Pro selfie camera now has autofocus for the best selfies. The 48 MP ultrawide lens in Pixel 8 Pro gathers 105% more light and focuses 30% closer for improved Macro Focus shots with stunning aesthetic blur. The 48 MP telephoto lens in Pixel 8 Pro delivers cleaner zoomed-in shots in low-light settings even at 10x with optical quality.
2. Dual Exposure on Main Camera: The new main camera in both models features Dual Exposure technology, which captures sharper and less grainy videos in challenging lighting conditions, such as a sunset backdrop. Dual Exposure takes two images simultaneously — one optimized for low-light and the other for high dynamic range, resulting in natural-looking videos with vivid color and low noise.
3. Real Tone for Image Equity: Real Tone accurately represents a wide range of human skin tones, especially darker ones, in photos and videos. This year, Real Tone is now supported in video with Night Sight technology for natural-looking skin tones even in flash photos.
4. Magic Editor: The Magic Editor is an experimental editing experience in Google Photos that uses generative AI to help you make complex edits easily. Want to resize or reposition your subject? Just tap or circle the object you want to edit, then drag to reposition it or pinch to resize it. You can also use contextual suggestions to improve the lighting and background.
5. Audio Magic Eraser: Much like unwanted photobombers in your photos, distracting background noises in your videos pull focus from what you’re trying to capture. Using advanced machine learning models, Audio Magic Eraser can identify sounds — like people talking in the background, music, or wind — and sort them into distinct layers that you can control. Then, with just a few taps, you can reduce distracting noises, so your video sounds the way you want.
6. Zoom Enhance: The Pixel 8 Pro introduces Zoom Enhance, a feature that allows you to zoom in on any photo after the fact and crop to your desired focus. Using generative AI, Zoom Enhance intelligently fills in the gaps between pixels and predicts fine details, offering more flexibility in framing and focusing on the most important part of your photo.
7. Video Boost with Night Sight: The Pixel 8 Pro uses HDR+ algorithms to enable a new approach to computational video. Combining the efficiency of Tensor G3 and the power of Google’s data centers, HDR+ video becomes a reality. The Video Boost feature also makes Night Sight Video possible for the first time on Pixel, allowing you to create memories in low-light situations.
8. Best Take for Group Photos: The new Best Take feature in Google Photos uses a series of similar photos taken close together to automatically create a blended image with everyone’s best expression. If you prefer another expression, you can manually select another look from the other photos you took to get the group photo you want.
9. Pro Controls on Pixel 8 Pro: Pro Controls provide even more control of your camera settings on Pixel 8 Pro. In addition to white balance, exposure, and shadows brightness controls, you’ll now be able to manually adjust focus, shutter speed, and ISO. New Pro settings let you take 50MP photos throughout the zoom range while still enabling all of Pixel’s HDR+ computational photography.
10. Guided Frame: Guided Frame uses a combination of audio cues, high-contrast animations, and haptic (tactile) feedback to help people who are blind and low-vision take photos. This feature now works on both the front and rear cameras.