A look at Pixel 6 and 6 Pro’s cameras: main sensor takes in 150% more light, Real Tone can more accurately capture skin tones, Face Unblur, Magic Eraser, more (Antonio G. Di Benedetto/The Verge)
A look at Pixel 6 and 6 Pro’s cameras: main sensor takes in 150% more light, Real Tone can more accurately capture skin tones, Face Unblur, Magic Eraser, more — New cameras and sensors aim to put the Pixels back on top of mobile photography — Today at its Pixel Fall Launch event.
As well as new camera hardware, Google’s Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro also bring new software for the camera
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were unveiled officially today at Google’s Pixel Fall Launch event in New York City, after many preannouncements and leaks before the event. Google has just launched a new line of flagship phones that include updated camera modules, which are some of the biggest changes. There has been no doubt that the Pixel phones are among the best smartphones where it comes to camera quality, however Google has long rested on its laurels and used the same 12.2-megapixel Sony IMX363 sensor from the Pixel 3 to the Pixel 5 and 5A for quite some time now.
As a result, the main camera of the Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6 are equipped with a 50-megapixel sensor that is bigger than its predecessors and that bins the images down to a 12.5-megapixel output providing a much clearer image. According to Google, the Pixel 5 is capable of capturing 150 percent more light due to its size of 1/1.31″ and its f/1.85 aperture, which is 150 percent larger than that of the Pixel 5. Taking a page from Apple’s book, both Pixel phones come with ultrawide lenses equipped with 12-megapixel sensors, whereas the Pixel 6 Pro adds a third telephoto lens equipped with a 4x optical zoom paired with 48 megapixels of internal imaging. In terms of the selfie cam, the Pixel 6 comes with an 8 megapixel sensor and an 84-degree field of view, whereas its bigger brother the Pixel 6 Pro has 11.1 megapixels and a 94-degree field of view for easier group selfies.
The rear camera setup of the Pixel is a departure from what Google used to do with its Pixel cameras, when the commodity hardware allowed it to concentrate solely on software optimization. The Pixel iterations have added or removed an extra lens in some of them, but they have all relied largely on computational features in order to function.
The Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro have also been updated with new software features as a result of those software developments. The redesign of Portrait Mode, dubbed Real Tone, is Google’s claim that the feature can better render the skin tones of a wider and more diverse group of people. In order to create more diverse portraits of people of color within the image datasets of its camera models, Google partnered with photographers and cinematographers of color. The company says that it has even taken the trouble to correct some aberrations that can harm people with darker skins more harshly, such as implementing a new algorithm to decrease the amount of stray light that affects how dark skins appear on screens. In order to improve the ability to provide a more equitable experience across its camera and imaging products, Google has announced plans to build a more equitable experience that it hopes will be a welcome change from past omissions within its algorithms.
