In 2020, Google removed the astrophotography feature using the ultra-wide camera from the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5. Google did not explain the reason for this decision, but there were complaints from Pixel users about the quality of these photos.
Users who are interested in astrophotography, point the rear camera of their phone towards the sky and keep it completely stable using a tripod or any other method. When it’s done right, with the astrophotography feature, the resulting photos turn out to be very attractive.
Apparently, the ability to record ultra-wide astronomical photos has returned to the Pixel 8 Pro. The Pixel 8 Pro uses a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera with the ability to combine pixels, and the Pixel 8 is equipped with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera.
By incorporating 4:1 pixel merging into the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s ultra-wide camera, information from four adjacent pixels is combined into one larger pixel to improve low-light image quality while reducing noise.
Maybe by bringing this feature back to the Pro model, Google wants to push people to buy the more expensive model.
When you hold the Pixel 8 Pro up to the night sky, it has the option to shoot at 1x (standard), 2x, and 0.5x (ultra wide). Google Support description Google has updated the camera software to say: “On Pixel 4a 5G and later, astrophotography only works at 1x zoom or higher.” Ultra-wide mode shoots at 0.5x, which is less than 1x, so ultra-wide astrophotography is likely to be limited to the Pixel 8 Pro.
Since the ultra-wide lens was present in both the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 6 Pro with 12-megapixel cameras, we shouldn’t expect ultra-wide astrophotography to be available for these phones.
