My conclusion was that the Pixel camera seems to be working extra hard to fake a white balance that isn’t there, at any cost. In search of a balanced image, it forgets that I’m in an environment that isn’t balanced and tries to force a second reality. This results in flatter photos, lacking depth, color, and punch. Worse yet, these do the opposite of what the Pixel camera has prided itself on for years: showing reality. The end image is not what I’m seeing with my own eyes; it’s just fake.
I included a survey in the article, asking you, Pixel 9 Pro owners, whether you were happy with your phone’s photos. And the results of nearly 4500 votes are, to say the least, interesting.
What jumps out at me the most here is that only 42.5% of 4500 responders said they love the photos produced by the Pixel 9 Pro. Unfortunately, we don’t have similar surveys from previous years, but I’d bet you that if we had asked this question in the golden era of the Pixel 2, Pixel 4, or even Pixel 6 and 7, we’d have seen a much higher number of satisfied users.
On the other end of the spectrum, 22% or more than one in five Pixel users say they’re not happy and were expecting more from their cam. Yikes. In the middle, there’s another big chunk of 35.5% who, like me, are mitigated and say the camera gets things right sometimes but fails other times. Overall, 57.5% of Pixel 9 Pro owners aren’t always happy with their camera. That should make Google go back to the drawing board, right?
More telling than the votes are the comments from similarly frustrated users. I didn’t expect to receive over 100 comments on this article, much less that the grand majority would echo my sentiments, agree with my experience, and validate my results. Usually, the internet is much angrier with me when I dare to critique Pixels…
I’m so sick and tired of these over processed pictures after my pixel 3. So that I end up carrying around my huge dinosaur DSLR because I can’t get photos that look natural with my pixel 9.
Even those who hadn’t noticed it went in to test it and saw this issue right away.
Today I tried to take photos and the result didn’t always match what I saw in the preview. I don’t know when it changed and I don’t take photos that often. I only have this problem occasionally on the P6a and when I took photos a while ago, I can confirm that the photos had more color and warmth and today only some are lifeless and others are fine 🤷🏻. You’re right and Google’s software is to blame and I’m very curious when it will be fixed 🤔.
Many commenters said this issue had made them return the phone and switch to Samsung, Apple, or Xiaomi devices instead.
It’s so true Rita! I had pixel for many years (since the Nexus 6P / Pixel 2XL). Noticed it a little on my Pixel 7 Pro, when I decided to upgrade to a Pixel 9 pro, it was even worse, terrible! I ended up returning the phone and sticking with my iPhone 15 pro max until I got a S25 ultra, best smartphone camera system by far. […]
I really do want to go back to a Pixel, hopefully with the P10 Pro. I will give them another chance, but the colour thing drives me crazy…yes even more than Samsung’s motion blur gaps.
Some also added that the Pixel camera wasn’t giving sunsets and golden hours their due, which is another good example I’d forgotten to mention.
100% been so disappointed with my Pixel 9 Pro – sunsets, and especially landscapes shot at Golden Hour lose all that rich orange and yellow
Wood tones were another example that came up. This commenter even made a report in the Issue Tracker for it.
Same story with my Pixel 6. Anything wooden, the camera strips it out with its appealing warm undertones.
I have reported it in Google Issue Tracker, but then they deemed it as obsolete with no explanation whatsoever. However, they did state that it will be shared with relevant teams.
If you’re interested, take a look at the report here:
I even performed A/B comparisons with the first-generation Google Pixel. Spoiler alert: The Google Pixel 1 wins the night photos with the Pixel 6 showing very desaturated color and dynamics.
And clearly, this wasn’t limited to the Pixel 9 Pro. Pixel 8, 7, and 6 users were complaining about it, too, with some providing similar evidence of the processing issue and swearing not to go back to a Pixel unless this is fixed.
Btw, Pixel cameras have always been unreliable (extremely inaccurate) in terms of white balance, starting from Pixel 1 and continuing till Pixel 5. However, that was limited to night time shots only. From Pixel 6, they changed the camera hardware, and the problem started happening in all lighting conditions not only night time.
Owned 4 pixels thus far. Not coming back unless google fixes this.
Many, like me, had noticed that this problem had been there on previous Pixels, but it had taken an absurd turn on the Pixel 9 Pro. As the previous commenter said, this was mostly a night mode issue before, where the phone would try to add light and remove warmth to get the brightest possible snap in super dark environments. But now it’s happening in decently-lit situations, too, without triggering night mode.
Yea. This is a big problem for me too!
I came from the pixel 7 to the 9 pro.
It was a problem in my P7 but the 9 Pro has taken it to new levels. I hate how washed out low light photos are.
Other people even mentioned that well-lit shots also seem a bit whitish and not as vibrant as what they were seeing in the preview.
Yeah true..
Even photos in sunlight seems whitish. I have pixel 7 and I must say, the photos in preview doesn’t match the output. Also the front camera video quality is awful.
Some, like me, had tried to bring the brightness slider down to force the phone to capture a moodier photo, only to see it refuse and take a bright snap instead. This, to be fair, is one of my biggest peeves now: I shouldn’t need to use a slider, but still, why have a brightness slider in the cam if it’s going to ignore what I set it to?
Same on 9Pro, coming from 2XL that’s sad to slide the brightness slider way down and still see the image getting bright after post processing
The article was also shared on Reddit and in that thread, u/DiplomatikEmunetey shared many examples they’ve captured with their Pixel 4a and other cameras for comparisons. They highlighted purple and green as two big misses for the Pixel camera, and the fact that simply tilting the phone and changing frames results in different white balance and color processing.
I’ve been complaining about this for a long time, so I agree with the author. Pixels seem to bleach photos. They seem to add too much contrast and just whiten up the photos too much, not just brighten, but whiten. Shadows are lifted too much. Some have suggested that Pixels take photos how humans see subjects, but it still looks odd to be personally.
Here are some examples (I recommend you to open them on your PC and view them at 100% size):
Boot – Pixel 4a, Lumia 950 – It definitely did not look like what the Pixel captured. Where is the colour?
Some tried to explain this issue by blaming it on Real Tone for faces and the Pixel’s goal to depict more accurate colored skin, though that doesn’t explain why wood, sunsets, and other non-people photos suffer from the same symptoms.
