Astrophotography has been a favorite with Pixel users since its launch in 2019, and continues to improve as Google’s camera software evolves. When the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G were launched with an ultra-wide camera, many were excited to see what they would be able to do in astro mode. Unfortunately, the quality was lacking, and now Google has disabled its use on this lens.
After upgrading to Google Camera 8.1, you will not be able to activate astro mode unless you are using the main camera. Zooming out to ultra-wide will show a “Zoom to 1x for astrophotography” banner at the top of the screen.
It is a pity to see this restriction, although it is not surprising, since the resulting images were very bad. Hopefully, Google will continue to work on it and bring it back in a more polished state someday. Make sure the regular night mode still works as before with the ultra-wide-angle lens, so you won’t miss it.
The latest app update was released around December 9th, so you’ve probably already received it through the Play Store. Otherwise, you can get the latest version (or revert to a previous one) in APK Mirror.
