Holidays are usually a gift moment, but after an update to the camera in early fall, users have recently discovered that Google has removed the ability to use astrophotography mode with the Pixel 5 and Pixel’s ultra-wide cameras. 4a 5G.
When the Pixel 5 i Pixel 4a 5G were first launched, Google Astrophotography mode (which was introduced last year alongside Pixel 4) was available for use in the primary and ultra-wide cameras of phones. Unfortunately, it looks like after releasing version 8.1 of the Google Camera App which added a handful of features to older Pixel phones, the new Pixel 5 and 4a 5G also lost the ability to use Astrophotography mode with their ultra wide angle lenses.
Although Google has not provided any official explanation for this change, Google has updated its version support page Note that “on Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, astrophotography only works with zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x.”
It is currently unclear what caused Google to turn off Astrophoto mode with ultra-wide cams. JoIf you look at some sample captures posted to the Pixel support community, a possible explanation May to be some poor results.
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In a thread on the Pixel support page, a number of users posted parallel comparisons taken before the update showing astrophotographic photographs taken by an ultra-wide Pixel lens that look noticeably grayer or of lower quality (often with an intense green hue) than the photographs taken by main phone cam.
Because before the update it was possible to take photos of Astrophotography with Pixel’s ultra-wide lens, after information of lower-stellar results, Google may have decided to temporarily disable the feature while investigating the issue and could work on a solution. Gizmodo has contacted Google for more information and we will provide an update if we receive news.
Given how long it took to notice this change, the loss of support for Astrophotography mode on the ultra-wide Pixel 5 and 4a 5G cameras is probably not a big deal for most people, but it is a somewhat disappointing change, so here we hope Google can fix it soon.