Typically holidays are a time to give, however, after a camera update in early autumn, users recently discovered that Google has removed the ability to use astrophotography with ultra-wide cameras on the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G .
When the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G were launched for the first time, Google’s astrophotography mode (which was introduced last year along with the Pixel 4) was available for use on the phones’ main and ultra-wide cameras. Unfortunately, it seems that after releasing version 8.1 of Google Camera app which added a handful of features to older Pixel phones, the newer Pixel 5 and 4a 5G have also lost the ability to use astrophotography with their ultra-wide-angle lenses.
Although Google has not provided an official explanation for this change, Google has since updated its support page note that “On Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, astrophotography only works at zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x.”
It is currently unclear what made Google disable the astrophotography mode from working with ultra-wide cams. IIf you look at some sample photos posted to the Pixel support community, a possible explanation May be some dull results.
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Inside a topic on the Pixel support page, several users posted side-by-side comparisons taken before the update, showing astrophotography photos taken by an ultra-wide-angle Pixel lens that look noticeably grainy or of inferior quality (often with a strong green tint) than the photos taken by cam device.
Since it was possible to take astrophotography photos with an ultra-wide-angle Pixel lens before the update, after reports of less than stellar results, Google may have decided to temporarily disable the feature while investigating the problem and potentially working on a fix. Gizmodo has contacted Google for more information and we will provide an update if we hear back.
Given the time it took for this change to be noticed, the loss of support for Astrophotography in the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G ultra-wide cameras is probably not a big deal for most people, but it is a somewhat disappointing change. , so I hope Google gets a fix soon.