Pixel 2 camera: massive disappointment

[TraderGary]

I have a couple of rooms where I've installed those really cool antique yellow/orange bulbs. Manual White Balance is a requirement!

 

[Zendroid1]

Here's a pic of my x mas a party. You could really blame lighting not knowing the circumstances of the picture. I'm telling you this is a crap picture though. I can't side by side it w a good one because it's the only one I have, but this pic is terrible and it's definitely the camera not the user or lighting or focus. It was actually warm light in there, not harsh florescent light.

That's a hard scene to capture accurately. Smart phone cameras and cameras in general aren't good at knowing your intent when composing a picture. The bright light appears to be causing issues and making the rest of the pic darker and messing up the white balance.

 

[Morty2264]

I don't know too much about camera specifications and such, but the Pixel 2's camera looks really good to me. However, I do concede that the iPhone is the king of photos - alongside the Galaxy phones as well. I think it's hard to pinpoint which camera is best all the time though; as different variables, lighting, etc can all affect the quality and production of shots.

 

[Mike Dee]

That's a hard scene to capture accurately. Smart phone cameras and cameras in general aren't good at knowing your intent when composing a picture. The bright light appears to be causing issues and making the rest of the pic darker and messing up the white balance.

I could be wrong but I think you mean the bright light would through off the exposure.

 

[Mike Dee]

Off topic, that's a metro North train isn't it? Lol sit on one every day.

On topic, the iPhone looks too warm and oversaturated. It's what people like. Also you cannot judge a picture based on an internet post as everyone has a different screen, phone, calibration setting etc.

You may have a bad camera but only way to know is a true apples to apples comparison. Sam le pic, same time, same lighting viewed on the same screen.

Yes it's a Metro North train and a quite old one at that.

 

[Zendroid1]

I could be wrong but I think you mean the bright light would through off the exposure.

I meant it's throwing off the exposure and the white balance.

 

[Mike Dee]

Thank you all so much for weighing in. I really appreciate all your opinions. I'll post more photos as soon as I have a chance.

I guess I should of thought of it earlier. Are you using the auto white balance setting? If yes, try setting it to the type of lighting you are using.

 

[DesertTwang]

Thanks for the tip. I played around with the WB settings before, but not lately. I'll try that. Although I still expect a camera to be able to auto-adjust its WB settings in this day and age, especially in well-lit outdoor situations...

 

[mwb1957]

OK, I realize that I seem to be only person out there who seems to have this issue, and that's why I'm looking for answers. I love everything about the Google Pixel 2 and am very happy I made the decision to switch to Android (coming from an iPhone).

That said, I can't believe why the Pixel 2's camera has received so much praise, because it has yet to produce a photo I consider adequate. I'm not a pro photographer, but I'm not a doofus either. I'm a hobby photog who knows his way around apertures, exposure times and composition. I know enough to use my dSLR exclusively in manual mode and get the results I want.

Last weekend, I took photos with my Pixel 2 on a backpacking trip. They looked decent on the screen, and I was excited to show them to my wife (who wasn't able to join me on the trip) by casting them onto my smart TV. The results were such that I didn't bother to show the shots to my wife. The colors were drab, the resolution awful - reducing the stark, beautiful landscape of the Arizona desert to pixelated mush.

yesterday, I compared the Pixel to my old iPhone 6 Plus by taking a macro shot of a beetle. The attached photos speak for themselves, I think. The iPhone kills the Pixel, no contest. Both photos were taken at the same time, from the same angle and not edited in any way.

Upper image (portrait) is Pixel 2: no depth of field, colors cold and harsh, contrast too hard, lack of sharpness. Lower image (square) is iPhone: nice depth of field, warm, realistic colors, good detail and sharpness.

So, given that everybody seems to think the Pixel 2 camera is the best of any smartphone, I'm wondering if I'm missing something. Does this camera need to be set up in any way, or calibrated, or does it need some kind of software tweaks to produce the results it is being hyped for?

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Try using the camera in auto mode instead of manual.
One of the few compliants I read about the camera is the photos can suffer in quality outside of the auto mode.

 

[e30ernest]

Thanks for the tip. I played around with the WB settings before, but not lately. I'll try that. Although I still expect a camera to be able to auto-adjust its WB settings in this day and age, especially in well-lit outdoor situations...

Even high end pro cameras can get white balance wrong from time to time.in my experience it's actually harder to get proper White balance in warm (tungsten) lighting.

Where was your focus point in this photo?

 

[Mike Dee]

Try using the camera in auto mode instead of manual.
One of the few compliants I read about the camera is the photos can suffer in quality outside of the auto mode.

The Pixel 2 doesn't have a manual mode except for white balance, flash and HDR.

 

[ImTurningViolet]

I find auto white balance doesn't always get it right.
Here's a sample in auto

Every picture I took was off. I took a bunch and compared them to previous photos I had taken with my first pixel 2. I took pictures indoors, outdoors, in low light and perfect light. I took pictures similar to ones I had taken with my first p2.
When I got my replacement pixel 2, I didn't have to make any adjustments and I pretty much use it in auto all the time. The pictures are like night and day.
What I'm saying is, and I said this when I posted that picture, you can make a lot of excuses for why it's a bad picture, but I'm telling you it was the camera.

It's going to be hard, if not impossible, for the op to convince you it's not him.

I think op got one with a bad camera bc I had the same thing happen. Pictures weren't terrible but they weren't good either.
But I digress!

 

[Mike Dee]

Every picture I took was off. I took a bunch and compared them to previous photos I had taken with my first pixel 2. I took pictures indoors, outdoors, in low light and perfect light. I took pictures similar to ones I had taken with my first p2.
When I got my replacement pixel 2, I didn't have to make any adjustments and I pretty much use it in auto all the time. The pictures are like night and day.
What I'm saying is, and I said this when I posted that picture, you can make a lot of excuses for why it's a bad picture, but I'm telling you it was the camera.

It's going to be hard, if not impossible, for the op to convince you it's not him.

I think op got one with a bad camera bc I had the same thing happen. Pictures weren't terrible but they weren't good either.
But I digress!

No excuses here... Just trying to help rule out any possibilities. The OP asked for help and as part of the volunteer team here, that is what I and the rest of the team members do. Sorry that you feel we are trying blame the OP for poor results.

 

[ImTurningViolet]

No excuses here... Just trying to help rule out any possibilities. The OP asked for help and as part of the volunteer team here, that is what I and the rest of the team members do. Sorry that you feel we are trying blame the OP for poor results.

I don't think you're blaming him, I just think without being there it's easy to find a lot of reasons for a shot to be bad.
Edit sorry if I'm coming off as argumentative, I'm just trying to explain myself lol. Not sure I was doing a good job of it.

 

[Mike Dee]

I don't think you're blaming him, I just think without being there it's easy to find a lot of reasons for a shot to be bad.

Granted that some posters may be searching for reasons, however, that's not my intent...someone posts a problem and we attempt to troubleshoot. We can't tell from one sample image what the root cause is. No one can.
In any event, I don't want to steer this thread from it's course.

 

[garak0410]

I've had the Note 7, Pixel XL, Note 8 and Pixel 2 XL and the Pixel 2 XL's camera has wowed me the most...so much so that it is worth keeping over the Note 8, which I found to be an amazing phone.

 

[e30ernest]

Granted that some posters may be searching for reasons.

I'll be honest, I am looking for reasons... Reasons why the camera would always take bad photos as the OP stated. It's either the camera hardware has a problem, bad shots due to user error or the camera's imaging characteristics isn't what the OP wants. I'm looking for which of the above would be the issue.

 

[idiotekniques]

Thanks for the tip. I played around with the WB settings before, but not lately. I'll try that. Although I still expect a camera to be able to auto-adjust its WB settings in this day and age, especially in well-lit outdoor situations...

IT should be fine in outdoor situations but indoors, even my pro level cameras can struggle with correct white balance at times and need a bit of tweaking

 

[KWKSLVR]

Here's two I just took side by side. The first is my iPhone 6s. The second is my Pixel 2. The iPhone is slightly off on white balance and the wall in the background looks a little pink, but I think both are sharp. The Pixel 2 does pick up more detail in the aluminum but on my Macbook, neither picture is crappy.

Low light is a rough thing. The Pixel 2 does a good job, but you're gonna lose detail and even the slightest shake is still going to make a difference.

 

[KWKSLVR]

Here's some dark shots. I mean, they're not professional quality but they seem good to me, overall.