Forget the Pixel 10 camera’s silly pinch-to-zoom, this is the one trick I use instead

As much as I’ve loved using the zoom lenses on my Pixel phones since the Pixel 6 Pro, I’ll admit that it’s a pain to find the exact zoom level I need with Google’s silly camera UI. Pinching to zoom is not as precise as I like it to be, and I like round numbers, so you’ll never see me zoom to something like 6.4x or 12.9x. I’d rather move my hand or step forward/back to get a round number. The other reason is that Google allows for lossless zoom at specific levels; you get a quasi-lossless 12MP 2x shot from the 50MP 1x main sensor, and a 12MP 10x from the 48MP 5x telephoto sensor.

I used to swipe with a finger on the zoom slider to try and find the exact zoom I wanted, but even that is frustrating. You swipe left and right, make tiny movements to adjust the exact level, and just when you think you hit 10x, you lift your finger and see you inadvertently nudged it to 9.2x or 10.5x instead — argh!

The problem was especially annoying on the Pixel 9 and earlier phones, where there wasn’t a dedicated 10x button. Google has fixed that, adding a special 10x button on the Pixel 10 Pro phones, but that’s not enough in my opinion, at least not when the new phones can go up to 100x. I want more precise control, and this is why I’ve been using a simple trick to solve the iffy pinch-to-zoom and delicate zoom slider situation.

Instead of trying to hit the exact zoom level on a touch screen and failing repeatedly, I’ve switched to using volume buttons to control zoom on my Pixel 10 Pro. The buttons are pre-programmed to jump to exact zoom levels in the Pixel Camera app, avoiding any finicky pinching or sliding on the touch screen.

All Pixels have this option; it’s not new, but it becomes infinitely more useful with the advanced Pro Res Zoom levels from 30x to 100x on my Pixel 10 Pro. Here, the volume buttons jump from 0.5x to 1x, 2x, 5x, 10x, 30x, 50x, and finally 100x. That covers the camera’s entire zoom range and gives me a quick way to go up or down a step without having to use the on-screen zoom slider. No more precise pinching or sliding, just a button, and boom, I get to the next zoom level.

This is especially handy for the Pixel 10 Pro’s long-range zoom levels. From 30x onward, the Pixel 10 Pro triggers the Pro Res Zoom feature, where it captures the photo but also produces a second AI-enhanced version. At 100x, it works as well as you expect it to (i.e., it’s a mixed bag), but around 30x and 50x, it gives much more decent results because you’re starting with a more detailed photo from the sensor. And with the volume button jumping straight to 30x and 50x, it makes finding that sweet zoom spot so much easier for me.

Using the volume buttons to zoom works throughout the entire Pixel Camera app, too, in any mode where zooming is available:

• In Action Pan and Long Exposure, they go 0.5x > 1x > 2x > 5x > 10x > 30x.
• In Portrait, they jump from 1x > 2x > 3x.
• In Night Sight, they go 0.5x > 1x > 2x > 5x > 10x > 30x.
• In Panorama, they jump from 1x > 2x > 5x.
• In Video, Night Sight video, Pan video, and Time lapse, they go from 0.5x > 1x > 2x > 5x > 10x > 20x.
• In Slow Motion video, they go 1x > 2x > 7x.

In many of these cases, there are buttons on the screen for most zoom levels, but the highest achievable zoom level isn’t there. So the volume buttons open up a way to quickly jump to 30x in several photo modes, 20x in most video modes, and 3x for portraits.

I’ve been using this trick on my Pixel 9 Pro XL for several months ever since a reader recommended it to me, and it’s been an absolute game-changer for my photography. I take thousands of photos a year, and the vast majority of those are shot with a zoom level of some sort. So being able to dial in the exact zoom I want without fiddling with the touchscreen is a boon; I can’t recommend it enough.

Snapping lossless 10x video of my favorite song’s chorus at a concert without wasting time with the zoom slider, getting a closer 3x portrait of my husband when he makes a spontaneous funny face a few steps away from me, getting a better 7x slow-mo video of the duck flapping and landing in the water on my walk; I’ve done it all. It’s become second nature for me to hit volume up and down instead of using the touchscreen, and that’s why I immediately turned this setting on when I set up my Pixel 10 Pro. The perk of going to 30x and 50x Pro Res Zoom in snap is precisely what I wanted from it, and Google delivered.

And in case you’re wondering, this is also possible on the regular Pixel 10, where it goes from 0.5x to 1x, 2x, 5x, 10x, and 20x, and on older Pixels with varying degrees of zoom levels depending on the phone’s zoom and ultrawide capabilities.

To do this, you need to change the volume button controls once:

1. Open the Pixel Camera app
2. Tap the options button on the bottom left
3. Tap the three-dot settings button on the top right. (On older Pixels, there’s a More settings button on the bottom right)
4. Look for Volume key action. (On older Pixels, it’s under Button shortcuts.)
5. Select Zoom in the pop-up and then Done.

That’s it. From now on, clicking volume up or down while the Pixel Camera app is open will jump back and forth between zoom levels.