Gadgets
Inexplicably, Google bans wide-angle astrophotography from Pixel phones
Pixel 5 and 4a 5G users can no longer use their ultra-wide cameras to take pictures of the stars: Google evidently deleted the astrophotography functionality of the lens with the Google Camera 8.1 upgrade. The feature was a Pixel 4 selling point, which was available on both standard and telephoto cameras. When the 4a 5G and 5 were released with new wide-angle lenses, they were also added to the feature. It's been taken down now.
The astrophotography functionality lets users catch the night sky by pointing their phone up and holding it steady, either balancing it on a nearby target or setting it on a tripod. The functionality is still available on other cameras on your computer, but if you go to Night Sight mode and turn to an ultra-wide scope, you will now get an alert saying "Zoom to 1x for astrophotography" before the upgrade, it will mean "Astrophotography on."
Google didn’t respond to our request for comment asking why it had made the change, but it did update its low-light photography support document to add the following caveat:
- Important: On Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, astrophotography only works on zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x.
Looking at the Wayback Machine, we can see that this transition happened some time between November 1st and November 7th. It's a little strange timing, considering that the update wasn't released until a few days later.
You should check out this thread on the Google Pixel Phone Support forum for an explanation as to why the functionality could have been cut. It has samples from two users showing the effects of the astrophotography mode provided on the Pixel 5 standard camera compared to the ultra-wide lens. I'm going to let you judge the images for yourself. The forum article, though, is another piece of scheduling oddity—it was made days after the update removed the functionality had already begun to roll out.
Given that the update had been out for a month and a half before most users really began realizing that the feature had been disabled, it may be understandable that Google felt it might get away without listing it in the changelog. And if it's a function that won't be missed for anyone, it's always a warning that the tech features you get used to on your phone may be subject to shift.
