Pixel 8 Cameras Tested: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

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The baby brother of the Pixel 8 Pro - the Pixel 8, has some pretty great cameras despite not sharing the "Pro" moniker. Let's test them all out!
Disclaimer: The Pixel 8 was sent to me by Google, but I did not accept payment from them, nor was Google allowed to watch this video prior to its release. My thoughts are my own.
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[@ManojKumar-fu7rp]

A certified model right there @ 4:21

[@jordancooper0944]

I have the pixel 7, as nice as the extra hertz, extra brightness and extra battery and slightly rounder design it has! The day to day use won't be that significant over the standard 7 it's pretty much buying the same phone twice! I'll wait for the pixel 9 or 10 before I upgrade

[@Fanzzum-sc7om]

If you wait till pixel 10 , you might get a way better tensor chip with tsmc

[@young_n._older]

​@@Fanzzum-sc7om2025

[@binkyspoon]

No mention of the some of the features such as long exposure, pan and blur. Would have liked to have seen some examples of the astrophotography feature

[@dutuadav6703]

Although I was thinking of changing, I think I'll stay on P6p this year, it's still a good goal.😊

[@Merlmabase]

I came looking for info on the pixel 8, and got a flashback to my first visit to st-john's back in april. Cobbler's path is a stunner

[@akashsharma-x5q3e]

Great review.. no doubt rear camera is too good for photos but video capability and front camera quality is one of the worst/horrible at this price range.

[@MarkSpurrell]

It’s unfortunate :(

[@TK-dx6qc]

Are these issues the same with the 8 Pro?

[@akashsharma-x5q3e]

@@TK-dx6qc pro model is much better than 8 as you have better control on your shots with pro mode enabled. Camera zoom shift during recording is same horrible in pro ..its not smooth if you compare with samsung s23 or iphone 15pro. Overall picture quality on 8pro is better as you will be able to use full settings of your camera. One thing for sure google needs to work a lot with zoom transition in video and portrait mode edge detection is not good. for only pictures ..pixel is first choice ..but for video..its last pick for me.

[@noahmomin5619]

Could you please provide the wallpaper that is shown on the MacBook

[@CrèmeTropBrûlée]

+1

[@T3CHGY007]

Great video! Wow i did not know that there was an old radar station at that location! Might go check it out sometime!

[@mrsks5399]

I'm upset that my pixel 3 takes better selfies than my new pixel 8 😭 I guess it's because the 3 has two selfie cameras ugh

[@kanserusplay5051]

What's the point of 50Mp camera if it will change to 12.5MP after taking the shot?

[@kengerfil]

I have become a Pixel 8 (base) owner, and my front camera is so so so bad! Did anyone experience an awful and blurred selfie pictures?

[@tonynamnguyen2893]

Just got my pixel 8 TODAY, very excited about it, spent an hour setting it up. Then I called my gf using the pixel to test out the camera. HOLLY SHIT it was bad, the pixel 8's front camera is even worst than my 6 years old oneplus.

[@docholliday1811]

Thanks Mark, awesome review.

[@NavyProfessional]

Anyone know what the camera lens material is? Gorilla Glass? Sapphire? Etc?

[@lorenzonigro1473]

So if you zoom on the pixel 8 the camera will automatically use all the 50mp trying to avoid loss of resolution?

[@2ballu239]

Great video! New subscriber here! Clearly it doesn't seem to be the best option when it comes to video if I don't want an iphone. Is there any other device you would recommend that comes closer to the iphone 15?

[@MarkSpurrell]

The S23 has better image quality in video, but it still doesn't quite match the iPhone 15. It is much closer than the pixel though.

[@2ballu239]

@@MarkSpurrell thank you so much for replying!!

[@Yos115]

​​​@@2ballu239Ben's gadget reviews has a great video showing the Oppo Find X7 Ultra which may be the new camera king!

[@travisjefferson2306]

Video on the pixel 8 looks really good

[@travel2usoon]

I was listening but wasn't seeing what he was and that was on You tube,,,

[@conorrunner3728]

Any thoughts on the ultra HD effect that is added when you open each pic but then is missing when sent to other people or apps. It's very frustrating on my pixel 8

[@KgzStylez]

The closest I got was sharing through Lightroom then save to device

[@GamingMate]

i am gonna order this soon as possible ❤

[@penspinner_lw]

What is pixel bidding and why are the photos only in 12mp. If they build in a 50mp sensor then why are they not using it you also said the photos lack detail if you zoom in they could have just build in a 12mp sensor.

[@Damarious25]

Great video

[@tuapuikia]

You are not testing the Google camera with Google photo ultra hdr feature fully. 😅😅😅 Android 14 is using jpg xl and pixel 8 pro enabled it by default. 😊

[@kmigellano]

Camera is amazing as always!

[@jodimuse18]

Oh no, I just purchased one so I could get good video of the Rolling Stones in July. My samsung s21plus is awful night video😢. Have I made a mistake?

[@akramk3442]

Hola quiero saber tu opinión ¿Debo comprar un Pixel 7 o un Pixel 8? ¿Hay mucha diferencia en la cámara?

[@edcipriani8873]

To be honest, I have been considering switching back to Android after a few years and getting a Pixel, I really wanted to try this over an iPhone. But the reality is that my better half owns a Pixel 6, and that phone has proven to be extremely unreliable, and the phone will be 2 years old in February 2024. I only hope that the pixel 7 turns out to be much more reliable, being that a few other family members have this phone and chose it over anything that Samsung was offering. I guess I will stick with iPhone, because there's no way in hell I would ever give Scamsuck any more money and buy another phone from them ever again.

[@NCSheriff7]

lol ? scamsuck. you had bad experience and calll a whole company scamsuck :DD

[@antonbjrnpaulin926]

is it possible to change the pixel bidding from 12,5 to 50 mp?

[@MarkSpurrell]

As of right now, no.

[@antonbjrnpaulin926]

@@MarkSpurrell thank you for answering

[@antonbjrnpaulin926]

​@@MarkSpurrell does that give it good reason to take an other phone or isnt it that importent

[@koammudo43]

That pixel 8 cant dock to that amd cast to the tv . It only cast on chrome cast and certain docking devices thats the only thing i dont like

[@TECHNIKMM]

ngl...thats the reason i gave the pixel 8 back and went for the more expensive iphone 15 instead...4k on pixel just literally doesnt look like 4k...it looks like 1080p. I dont get it...even with perfect sunny day condition videos just will not get sharp anywhere near to 4k...dont even get me started on the front cameras 4k...thats almost like 720p when you watch the selfie video later on the phone (cant even imagine how bad it must look on computer screen)....thats really said cause other then that the camera is freaking awesome!

[@RiasatAbir]

have you tried with HDR on?

[@TECHNIKMM]

@@RiasatAbir how exaclty does hdr improve sharpness ?

[@corbinarmstrong7419]

You could've also went with the s23 ultra for that price range. The front and back cameras for both photos and videos are excellent

[@akshayde]

I love this phone design. its everything that I wanted from a pixel 6a or 7 or 7a. I guess I can finally afford to buy the phone I want in 2025

[@zakaryajahin2019]

Brother if i had to chosen between pixel 7a or iPhone 12 which one should i buy? I got to know that pixel 7a have heating and network issues, so totally confused. Which one should i buy?

[@raskarl]

iphone 12.

[@rglaredo]

At this point there are no slow chips on phones. Pixel phones are a testament to that. Most phone regular usages does not require fast chips. What makes a phone better is... 1- A better battery. We all hate to regularly charge them mid day ! Lie if is not true ! 2- Camera lenses and post editing software for photos. You can have a 100 MP cameras but if software sucks pictures suck!! And we like that thing called social media ! 3- Nice and bright screen! Great my phone has a XYZ chip but games look horrible, reading lines and social media videos suck at 60 frames lol !! Cant see under the sun ahhh! 4- Audio quality! Yes many of us want nice HD audio from those 200+ buck earpieces LOL Cant run well on horrible audio sounding like 90's MP3s LOL Android

[@rglaredo]

The last category is app catalogue but is never talked about it !! Android wins but Apple Has the most polish and reliable apps but cost more is many cases.

[@pepealonso7846]

S23 or pixel 8 in terms of camera?

[@patrick.771]

Pixel 8 produces more natural photos, S23 very (over)saturated pictures

[@lenacheney]

I just got my pixel 8 as I own an s23 already and I must say the pixel is dissapointing. Samsung feels so much more refined. Plus for whatever reason the pixel seems to be way dimmer than my s23 even though technically it gets brighter. On the pixel I have to have the brightness to 80% to he able to read the screen as on my s23 I don't even put it to half.

[@84jordie]

​@@lenacheney Samsung are masters in the display department. That's why their TV are top sellers too. But I really want to like the Pixel 8 for the camera ability.

[@ayushpatel1176]

My pixel 8 captures worst photos compared to P6P

[@FabricateFrog]

Photos look amazing but the video quality of the phone is horrendous

[@Indrikmyneur]

Great you reviewed the non-pro version!

[@Winterfang]

This phone camera is freaking trash. I'm an artist and I cannot take a freaking picture of anything in my desk without being mostly blurry. Doesn't even has autofocus is completely useless.

[@RioRio-kg9kc]

This phone really is great. Just sucks in photography. If that's what you're looking for, just downloaded Pro camera apps and you'll be fine.

[@Winterfang]

@@RioRio-kg9kc I end up changing for the pro version and the camera is better. Has a lot of the same issues but the camera seems better at getting more things in focus. And Is not as tiny

[@RioRio-kg9kc]

@@Winterfang Yup. I hear you. I'm also quite disappointed regarding the camera potential. Not to mention it wasn't cheap at all and you're better off with a classic camera. But that aside, Pixel really charges fast, colour grade is great. If you're looking forward to take good shots, just look either at free or paid photography apps

[@blueciffer1653]

The 2x times crop actually isn't digital crop. Google crops in on the 50mp sensor to produce 12mp lossless 2x shots.

[@MarkSpurrell]

It's technically a sensor crop, but semantics aside the point I was getting at is that it is not an optical zoom since there is no telephoto. It's also not lossless - the 50mp sensor in a 1x shot is the full 50mp oversampled down to 12.5mp. If the center of the image is cropped in to get the effect of a zoom, you're no longer getting the full 50mp oversampling. If you were to shoot a 2x shot of a subject, then move closer to get the same FOV of that subject with the 1x, there is a noticeable degradation in sharpness between the two photos.

[@tomsbondars]

​@@MarkSpurrellgood comeback 👍🏻

[@adarshsingh4606]

Its still better than normal 2 times zoom. You can shoot in raw and really make it look like 2 times tele lens in post

[@subgivtara]

How do you know if a phone does lossless zoom?

[@phr3ui559]

you are wrong

[@KirtiGautam-f4y]

In this pixel 8 create cinematic videos...?plz reply

[@yaseralwili]

My pixel 8 has only 12.5 mp only ,I wonder why

[@dekumdiwanjana1262]

Please bro reply what u recommended google pixel 8 or 7 pro please please reply

[@MrCarloxherrera]

8 pro

[@JynxedKoma]

The Pixel 8 now supports DP3 photos. Have you tested this mode in the advanced settings?

[@PankajTayade]

Make the video on iPhone 15 vs pixel 8 videography and photography and which is best in photos and videos also and add the sample side by side...?

[@harshitsharma-wn9jv]

Whai is your business Gmail I'm from India

[@deivytrajan]

Why do you need it