Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Reach for the Stars with Astrophotography Mode
OK team, today we’re looking at the Astrophotography feature of the Pixel 7 Pro. Out of necessity, this will be a two-part review. In this first video I’ll be talking about textbook usage of the feature, and my so-far failed efforts to use it. Don’t skip this part, and you will not fail as I havel. The 2nd part will showcase images of milky ways and gorgeous sky photos (fingers crossed). The city I live in gets a lot of snow during winter and we have been getting winter weather advisories perpetually over the past 2 weeks. If I were still living in the California area, I’d make a visit to Joshua Tree or Death Valley National Park as the weather conditions allow the sky to be more suitable for Astrophotography. Well, since I’m in northern Nevada and on the wrong side of an angry mountain, I’ll continue to keep an eye on the forecast for a long-awaited weather window.
Alright let's kick off Part 1 and pick up where we left off.
You were on the Night Sight mode, hit the setting, enable the astrophotography. You have to be zoomed in x1 at least for astrophotogphy to work. When the shutter button turns to stars, you’re ready to shoot. For that the camera has to be still, and it has to detect a night sky. When you hit the shutter, a 4 minute countdown starts. Make sure to bring a tripod, there’s just no way you can hold the phone steady enough without one for 4 minutes. Also don’t expect amazing results of the night sky if you’re in your neighborhood, with street lights and all. Get out of there, into the country where it’s dark so the stars don’t get washed out with ambient light. Computational photography is good, but you have to help it along.
So where did I fail? In a word, weather.
For the last few weeks, since the snow kicked in, my eyes have been hooked on the sky, and the daily forecast. One late afternoon the clouds looked dispersed enough that I could see openings in the sky. Forecast showed partial cloud cover, which was the best we’ve had so far. It was also the night of the full moon, (thanks TPE!) I had a short window from sunset to moon rise with a possibility to capture the night sky. So, it was time to pick a location. For that, you have to get faaaaaaar away from the city lights. We checked lightpollutionmap.info to find the nearest dark patch.
Light Pollution Map
The other side of Pyramid Lake looked like the best shot. It takes a while out there for your eyes to adjust, see?
The stars were out, but once I set up the camera and took the first test photo, it became clear that a thin veil of haze was covering the sky, blurring the detail and obscuring the fainter stars. After a 4 minute exposure, this is image we came up with.
Northern Nevada
Quite a bit better than what I could see with my naked eye, but just not quite good enough.
Hopefully you can see the like, subscribe, and notification buttons a bit better. We’re not stopping here, in fact, we’re coming for you Milky Way. Let’s give it another week or two until the weather turns. I’ll make the best out of this feature yet. Meanwhile, I’ll catch you on my next video - how to use the Long Exposure function. Any questions, comments, or suggestions, please leave a comment below. I’ll be reading those. Until then have a bright and focused week.
—> Watch this on Youtube by clicking HERE.
