My new Google Pixel 7 smartphone (Blog #21)
Thank you for reading my latest blog, which today is about smartphone cameras. This isn't a breakdown of the technical side of various devices, but I hope I can give you some useful information when you're looking to buy a new budget-priced smartphone for your photography.
The Amateur Photographer magazine recently ran a review of 9 mid-price and budget Android smartphones, ranging in price from £350 to £600, specifically looking at their suitability for photographers, in their January 2024 edition. They didn't select a 'Best in class', but I want to highlight some of the things I consider and look for when buying a new Android smartphone.
Don't overlook the look and feel of the phone, how it feels in your hand, its weight, its handleability. I have quite small hands with some stiff arthritic joints, which means a big, unwealdy, chunky phone is out of the question for me. However, a small phone equates to a small screen. It's a trade off.
The next thing I consider is storage, how many gigabytes (GB) of data the phone can store. Since first getting a phone all those years ago I have worked my way from 8GB to my current phone's 128GB. I like to have lots of spare space on my phone as I am sure a 'full' phone must be slower than one that has to work hard processing everything. I make full use of clouds, especially my Google Photos cloud, so my phone is never more than 45% full.
If I am going to be out and about, especially for a full day, taking lots of photographs and uploading them to Google Photos cloud then I will need a phone battery that is going to last with plenty of juice to spare. Battery life is something you should also seriously consider. I know there are power packs you can buy that will effectively prolong you phone battery, but for me, having a phone with a built-in brilliant, long-lasting battery is still a must.
Now to talk about the camera or cameras in the phone you're thinking of buying. Which camera you go for depends on what type of photography you want to do, but remember that your new phone camera will have its limitations compared with a 'proper', say, mirrorless, camera. A good phone camera typically excels in key aspects like sensor quality, image processing, low-light performance, optical stabilization, and versatile software features. A balance of these factors contributes to sharp, vibrant, and well-exposed photos. People think that pixel count is everything, but it isn't. Pixel count (megapixels) is a factor, but it's not the sole determinant of camera quality. While higher megapixels can capture more detail, other factors like sensor size, pixel quality, and image processing also play crucial roles in overall camera performance. A balance between these elements is essential for excellent image quality. I am not that obsessed with the technical specification of a phone, I just want one that gives me what I want in terms of photography.
Midway through last year my wife needed a new phone; hers had run out of storage (it only had 32GB). She settled on a Google Pixel 6a, which came with 128GB, and a host of Google photo tricks, like a magic eraser, and a very affordable price tag. I usually lag a few months behind her when it comes to upgrading my phone, so, as Black Friday hit, I hit the buy button on a Google Pixel 7.
I am not going to get all technical, but suffice to say I am very pleased with the functionality and quality of the camera and the images it produces. There's the Photo option, as you'd expect, Portrait, which blurs the background around your subject, Night photography option with its increased exposure time, a Long exposure option for daytime photography, and 2 Panorama options. Photo and Video modes also give you the option to zoom out and zoom in. The Video function comes with Slow motion and Time lapse options. The camera settings are comprehensive, most of which you'll find on other phone cameras, but the one I like and which I use for every photo I take, is the option to shoot in RAW and JPEG. Shooting in RAW is a game changer for me as it means I can capture my images without the phone's processor editing the image to what it thinks it should look like. Editing a RAW image means I still have all of the raw data from the photograph to work with when I edit, and for anyone who loves editing, then this is a real gift. It also has the Google magic eraser, although I am not sure if that's because I have a Google 1 subscription. I have no complaints about the quality of the images the Google Pixel 7 produces.
Not long after I bought my Google Pixel 7 TV adverts started appearing extolling the virtues of the new Pixel 8, not as a means of sending emails, texts, accessing social media, but as a camera. About the same time I started noticing TV adverts for the latest Samsung, again the emphasis was on its camera. The world of smartphone photography is in overdrive, or so it seems.
So which smartphone cameras did Amateur Photographer think were worth considering? Well, having read the reviews, I have to say that it's very much a case of you pays your money and you takes your choice. (iPhone fans don't have to make such choices, they have to take what Apple decides to give them.) The Google Pixel 7 was one of those reviewed, and there was nothing mentioned that made me think I had made the wrong choice.
What do I like and dislike about my Google Pixel 7? It handles well in my small hands. It's not too heavy but still feels like a well-made, sturdy phone. The battery life is the best of any phones I have ever owned, lasting up to 2-days on a full charge. I tend to stick to 'Auto' for my photography, although I can adjust the exposure and white balance on the Pixel 7, however, I do miss not being able to adjust the aperture, which I did quite a lot on my old Huawei phone.
Overall , the Google Pixel 7 is a great budget-price phone for keen smartphone photographers like me.
© Mike Young 2024.
Comments
Post a Comment