Highly disappointed with Pixel 8 Pro camera

747tan

Hey there.

Each time I take a photo with my Pixel 8 Pro(with Graphene) it feels so disconnected from reality. I just returned from a beach where I was shooting with both S23 Ultra and Pixel and while S23 did a very bright and shiny and overall "positive" image, the Pixel's image was some kind of "negative", as I was shooting at rainy day.
And it's like that with everything. I'm very disappointed and honestly think I just wasted money and energy.

I was preparing to switch to Graphene a very long time, because I did a whole privacy move all together, ditching all the services I was used to etc. It was very hard.
But now I don't know what to do frankly, because I did a privacy move for a reason, yet I'm not a tech person and I can't go with two phones just to use camera with the other one.

Am I the only one who feel so or is it actually common and there's a fix of some kind?

I used GCam with standard settings. Without internet access.
I like Graphene very much to be honest, but the camera issue is very serious issue for me.

Best,
Tan

GrapheneOS

747tan Pixels take very high quality images and videos, especially with Pixel Camera. You should make sure to compare the photos on the same display. Ideally, compare both on your GrapheneOS device. GrapheneOS uses Natural display colors by default while Samsung has very artificially inflated color saturation by default. You can switch GrapheneOS to using an artificially saturated color mode if you want but we chose to make the default provide closer to accurate display of colors rather than the stock Pixel OS setting part of the way to what Samsung does for displaying colors.

DeletedUser495

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera&hl=en_US

Open Camera at 1/100th of the size of Pixel Camera takes better photos with right settings.

ThisOldGuy

DeletedUser495
What are some of the right settings you prefer?

DeletedUser495

ThisOldGuy after further comparison I have to backtrack on my statement. Pixel camera performs best since it provides hardware acceleration and enables you to take full resolution photos at 50MP resulting in way more detailed photos. (Pixel 9 Pro XL here)

ThisOldGuy

DeletedUser495
Since I'm new, is this the default GOS camera app or the Google camera app needing play services? I am using a 9xl and my photos are not as good as they used to be.
Better if I use night but it takes too long and come out blurry if I hold it freehand.
I'm glad I saw your comment.

Murcielago

ThisOldGuy

Pixel Camera (previously known as Google Camera) can take full advantage of the available cameras and image processing hardware as it can on the stock OS and does not require GSF or sandboxed Google Play on GrapheneOS. Direct TPU and GXP access by Google apps including Pixel Camera is controlled by a toggle added by GrapheneOS and doesn't provide them with any additional access to data. The toggle exists for attack surface reduction. Every app can use the TPU and GXP via standard APIs including the Android Neural Networks API and Camera2 API regardless.

source: https://grapheneos.org/usage#pixel-camera

ThisOldGuy

Murcielago
I've read that before but I am not sure how to executed /use/apply it? I know it's obvious to so many but I'm not sure if I'm missing a setting, a toggle, something else to install. It's like looking at a coconut green shell and all and knowing whatever is in it is delicious but not know how to get it open :)

nologo

ThisOldGuy you just have to install Pixel Camera, since it is not by default installed on GOS. Make sure to install the right one, not some "Gcam" mod but the app called "Pixel Camera" on the Play Store (or Aurora). No special action required to make it work on GOS. Do check the in app settings though, you may want to use full resolution for example. and Camera Settings > Advanced (within the Google Camera app) also has some settings you may want to change.

ThisOldGuy

nologo
Why do I install from play store if the usage doc says it's not required?

Murcielago

ThisOldGuy

This could be interesting, for example, if you want to use Owner Profile as an app pusher:

You could install Sandboxed Google Play in the Owner Profile, download Pixel Camera app there and then push it to your main profile (a secondary user profile) in which Sandboxed Google Play is not installed.

Some people in the forum use this setup. You can find more information here:

https://seprand.github.io/articles/best-user-profile-setup/#owner-as-an-app-pusher

nologo

ThisOldGuy Google Play Store is indeed not required to use Pixel Camera. I use Pixel Camera without Google Play Store and without Google Play Services. I do not even have a Google account. However, you have to install Pixel Camera from somewhere. Google Play Store is an option, but there are alternatives. Personally, I used Aurora Store for this purpose. Whether or not you want to use such an alternative is entirely up to you, I do not want this thread to turn into yet another 'Google Play versus Aurora' discussion.

xxx

ThisOldGuy
You can extract the gcam setup from the pixel factory image. So there's no need for PlayStore / Services.But you need a PC.