Jul 30, 2020 2:50 PM

Pixel 4A Camera Samples

Featured in this article

Image may contain Clothing Shorts Apparel Human Person and Back

Image may contain Plant Daisy Flower Daisies Blossom Pollen and Asteraceae

Image may contain Office Building Building City Town Urban Architecture and Tower

Image may contain Animal Dog Mammal Pet Canine White Dog Plant Grass Bush and Vegetation

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
01
Pixel 4A, main camera. This phone captured a bleak morning at a quiet beach well. There's good detail, accurate colors, and nice contrast.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
02
Pixel 4A, Portrait mode. Phone cameras are still a ways off from mimicking the classic DSLR-style bokeh effect, but the Pixel 4A does a solid job here. The blur falloff around the subject isn't as effective here, but the subject is well exposed and filled with strong detail. You can see the stem on the left and right are a little messed up, though.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
03
Pixel 4A, main camera. Sunny scenes are never over-saturated or over-sharpened as they are on many other budget phones.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
04
Pixel 4A, Portrait mode. I love this photo. Yes, the blur outline isn't perfect (it messes up around the ears a little), but the 4A does a pretty great job overall. This is one of the few phones that maintains a healthy amount of detail in portrait mode.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
05
Pixel 4A, main camera. The underside of these leaves are exposed incredibly well against the bright backdrop. It also has natural colors and great clarity.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
06
Pixel 4A, Night Sight. Compare this photo to the following one, and you'll find far better white balance here and sharper details.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
07
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, Night mode. This photo isn't bad, but the color temperature is all wrong and detail isn't as sharp as it should be for a $1,200 phone.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
08
Pixel 4A, Astrophotography mode. When you place the Pixel 4A on a tripod and go to Night Sight, you'll automatically trigger astrophotography mode if the phone is pointing toward the sky. If you're in a dark enough place, you'll be able to snap wonderful photos of the stars, but this is the best I could do in New York City.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
09
Pixel 4A, main camera. This was initially a Portrait mode photo, but the image without the blur effect ended up looking nicer. Colors are really nice here as is exposure.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
10
Pixel 4A, Night Sight. This scene was much darker than this photo lets on. I'm under a bridge on a dark street at 40 minutes past minute, with a nearby streetlamp as the only light source. The Pixel 4A lights it all up and retains good white balance, detail, and color.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
11
OnePlus Nord, Nightscape. It took me a few tries to get a non-blurry equivalent with the slightly more expensive OnePlus Nord (which is not being sold in the US). You can see how much better the white balance is on the Pixel, though props to OnePlus for faring relatively well.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
12
Pixel 4A, Night Sight. I cropped this photo a little bit, and it still looks great. Compared to the photos I took on some other phones, the 4A holds a lot of small details throughout the photo, especially with the ripples on the water and texture on the rocks.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
13
Pixel 4A, Night Sight. The sky is very grainy here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think the white balance could be a tad better here, but this is still a very nice photo.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
14
Pixel 4A, Portrait mode. Here's a photo where portrait mode excels on my dog. The falloff toward the back of my dog's head is wonderful, and everything just looks *so* sharp. He is a very good boy.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
15
Pixel 4A 5G, main camera. The 4A 5G has the same main camera as the smaller 4A. Here, it captured this overcast day pretty well, maintaining a lot of details and color. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
16
Pixel 4A 5G, Portrait Night Sight. The 4A 5G can combine Portrait mode and Night Sight for a nice portrait that works in low-light or night. The blur effect isn't as strong here, but hey, it's a sharp shot.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
17
Pixel 4A 5G, ultrawide camera. The 4A 5G has an extra camera over the regular 4A, allowing it to take in more of a scene like this dog park on an overcast day. There's not much lens distortion, and detail is solid if you zoom in. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
18
Pixel 4A 5G, ultrawide camera. I couldn't have taken this picture without the ultrawide. It's a bit grainy in some spots, but the colors are pretty close to what the church is like in real life.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
19
Pixel 4A 5G, Portrait mode. It's not perfect, but Portrait mode lets you snap photos with a nice blur (bokeh) effect behind a subject. The Pixel does a reasonable job here without clipping too much hair, though you can spot an error in between my girlfriend's arm and her body. 
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
20
Pixel 4A 5G, main camera. This picture is so wonderfully detailed. It's well exposed, the colors are nice, and you can see all the individual strands of fur on my dog.

Comments

The Best Phones You Can’t Buy in the US

Avoid phone FOMO with our favorite smartphones that aren’t officially sold stateside but are available in markets like the UK and Europe.

Simon Hill

The Best iPhone 17 Cases and Accessories—We’ve Tested More Than 100

Protect your expensive iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone Pro, or iPhone 17e with our favorite cases and screen protectors.

Julian Chokkattu

The Best Qi2 and MagSafe Wireless Chargers for Your Phone

Top up your Qi2 Android phone or MagSafe iPhone with a magnetic wireless charging stand, pad, car charger, or power bank.

Simon Hill

Which GoPro Hero Camera Should You Buy?

You’re an action hero, and you need a camera to match. We guide you through all the models, plus accessory recommendations and hidden software tricks to try.

Scott Gilbertson