Jul 20, 2022 4:08 PM

Google Pixel 6A Camera Samples

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
01
Google Pixel 6A, main camera. The train was passing overhead so I pulled out the Pixel quickly and snapped this. It's remarkable that you can still get such a crisp-looking shot despite all that handshake. Remember, this phone is $449. But the old camera hardware is starting to show. Everything below the train platform is blanketed in noise, and some of the shadows are lifted. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
02
Google Pixel 6A, main camera. You might think the sky is blown out here, and it is a little, but it was pretty bright yet cloudy on this day. The Pixel managed to do a good job exposing all the trees and leaves, with colors that look natural.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
03
Google Pixel 6A, Portrait mode. There are some strands of hair that have been clipped here, but this is an otherwise pretty great portrait shot. The blur effect looks nice, the skin tone looks natural, and there's good enough detail. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
04
Nothing Phone (1), main camera. Nothing's new phone, which costs the same as the Pixel 6A, is a capable camera system. Compare this image with the following photo and it's easy to see the Pixel takes the cake. The exposure is just not quite right, and the colors here don't look as natural.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
05
Google Pixel 6A, main camera. There's better contrast here and nicer colors, though this photo isn't necessarily sharper than the Nothing Phone's photo.  
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
06
Samsung Galaxy A53, Night mode. It's in low light where you start to see the improvements of having a larger camera sensor like in the Galaxy A53. There's more noise in this photo, compared to the following Pixel image, and much of it is quite dark. However, look at the tree and the leaves in this Samsung image are significantly sharper than what's in the Pixel photo.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
07
Google Pixel 6A, Night Sight. Yes, the overall image is brighter, but the level of detail missing compared to Samsung's image is quite astonishing. Look at the leaves first, and you'll notice you can see them individually quite well, whereas they're all quite blurry on the Pixel photo. Next look at the tire—there's so much more visible texture in the Samsung image. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
08
Samsung Galaxy A53, Portrait mode. The room I took this photo in wasn't super bright, yet Samsung's larger camera sensor was able to capture quite a crisp image. You can see individual pet hair strands on my dog, and the outline around him is accurate, with a pleasing blur effect.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
09
Google Pixel 6A, Portrait mode. The white balance here is a bit more accurate to the scene in real life, though my dog is nowhere near as sharp as the Samsung image. There's some noise throughout the image, and a part of his ear is clipped by the blur effect. It's still a good photo, but it doesn't look as great as the A53's image. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
10
Samsung Galaxy A53, main camera. Here's another example where Samsung managed to pull finer details out of the A53's larger image sensor. Look closely at the tires, the barcode label near the tires, the grate, walls, heck, even the flowers, and you can see that Samsung's image is sharper overall.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
11
Google Pixel 6A, main camera. The Pixel photo has slightly more natural colors, but look closely and the image almost looks slightly blurry. It's just not as sharp. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
12
Samsung Galaxy A53, selfie with Night mode. Samsung's selfie camera isn't all that great. It's filled to the brim with noise and had trouble producing a sharp image.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
13
Google Pixel 6A, selfie with Night Sight. It's frustrating that Google keeps using a fixed focus on its selfie cameras, which means the image is rarely sharp, but this is still a better photo than what Samsung's A53 produced, even if much of my hair is blurry and the focus is soft. My skin looks much more natural thanks to Google's Real Tone image processing. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
14
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, ultrawide camera with Night mode. Most ultrawide cameras aren't all that great, and this similarly priced Samsung phone doesn't have much to offer. This image is grainy, much of the surrounding is shrouded in shadow, and the colors are sapped away. Compare it with the following Pixel photo.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
15
Google Pixel 6A, ultrawide camera with Night Sight. Google doesn't offer as wide of an angle as Samsung's phone, but you can see more details and colors in the surroundings and, while there's a similar level of grain in both shots, the Pixel image is a bit clearer. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
16
Samsung Galaxy A53, main camera. This didn't really look like the scene in real life. The trees were nowhere near as dark; it was actually quite bright. This Samsung phone is having trouble exposing the whole high-contrast scene.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
17
Google Pixel 6A, main camera. This photo looks almost fake compared to the Samsung image, but it's actually more akin to what the area looked like in real life. The Pixel manages to expose the foreground and the background correctly.