Google Camera revives ultrawide astrophotography, but only on Pixel 8 Pro

Ben Schoon | Dec 19 2023 - 6:20 am PT

Astrophotography has been a fun part of Google’s camera experience for the past several years, but the feature lost support for ultrawide shots a while back. Now, ultrawide astrophotography is returning, but solely on the Pixel 8 Pro.

Google first debuted support for astrophotography in the Pixel 4 back in 2019, but continued to improve of the feature over time. The 2020-released Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G both added support for taking astrophotography shots via the ultrawide camera, an option that’s not appeared on any subsequent Pixels. In fact, Google removed the option from those two devices back in Google Camera 8.1, released at the very end of 2020.

Now, it’s back, at least in limited capacity.

As noted by Android Authority, ultrawide astrophotography is back on Pixel 8 Pro. When astrophotography mode is triggered (by having the phone still while in a dark scene), the Google Camera app displays options for taking shots at the default 1x mode as well as 2x, but also at 0.5x.

Somewhat oddly, the Pixel 8 Pro is the only device that supports this currently. We checked a Pixel 8 as well as a Pixel Fold, and neither device offers 0.5x while in astrophotography mode.

Why only the Pixel 8 Pro?

Presumably, at least part of the reason is due to the Pixel 8 Pro using a different hardware sensor for the ultrawide shooter. The Pro has a 48MP sensor at f/2.0, which captures more detail and more light than the 12MP sensor at f/2.2 used on the regular Pixel 8.