Google Pixel 7 Pro 30x zoom

thanks for the link, I thought pretty great for a phone-camera but the comments on the GSM site seem to think the photos suck. Not me
 
Not sure how much currency Google's various "AI Blog" pieces got, but the one re Super Res Zoom explained the functionality, subject to any recent improvements. The article explains that it tries to optimize the effects of hand movement during HDR+ multi-shots so that counter-intuitively the image quality could be enhanced rather than compromised by it - how far that extends to motion capture especially with the porting of it to a specialized Tensor chip subcomponent, would be there for the testing. (I've been interested in how much porting camera functionality to the proprietary Tensor is going to limit what can be done with GCam mods working with other chips from here on out.)
 
Last edited:
thanks for the link, I thought pretty great for a phone-camera but the comments on the GSM site seem to think the photos suck. Not me
Unmoderated comments? Anyway it's good that DPreview is unpopular so it has very few trolls adding misleading comments.
  • iPhone Pro - 3x optical zoom 15x digital zoom
  • Pixel 7 Pro - 5x optical zoom 30x digital zoom
  • Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra - 10Mp periscope 10x optical, 10Mp telephoto 3x optical
I cannot find comparison photos that demonstrate the zoom feature, but found this, showing really lousy quality at the long end. Periscope zoom = folded optics, I suspect.

https://www.phonearena.com/news/gal...vacy-show-photos-ban-long-range-zoom_id141359
 
Last edited:
Uh, it is trying to eat the lunch of my Samsung S21 ultra... If it has good batteries, i wouldn't mind the pixel.
 
Uh, it is trying to eat the lunch of my Samsung S21 ultra... If it has good batteries, i wouldn't mind the pixel.
Hard to say about lunch.

I searched all of the searchable English language web, finding comparisons between Pixel 7 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro, and Galaxy S22 Ultra.

They all looked pretty good. If there was a clear winner, I didn't see it. My only take-away was that the S22 Ultra sux at maximum zoom, although it zooms a lot further than its competitors.
 
Last edited:
Received my Pixel 7 Pro yesterday, the zoom is quite impressive although i don't think i will use much beyond 10x or possibly 15x. Further than that, the couple of pics i took look a fair bit 'water-coloury' on a big screen. The light wasn't great though. To be honest, i only was only really wanting a decent 10x zoom, never having had a proper zoom on a phone before, so anything above that is a bonus.

I'll maybe take some pics this weekend and post them here if anyone is interested in seeing image quality.
 
Received my Pixel 7 Pro yesterday, the zoom is quite impressive although i don't think i will use much beyond 10x or possibly 15x. Further than that, the couple of pics i took look a fair bit 'water-coloury' on a big screen. The light wasn't great though. To be honest, i only was only really wanting a decent 10x zoom, never having had a proper zoom on a phone before, so anything above that is a bonus.

I'll maybe take some pics this weekend and post them here if anyone is interested in seeing image quality.
Thanks, I'd like to see some Pixel 7 pix.

I'd also like to know the 35mm crop equivalent of the various zoom factors.

Seems like the majority of cellphone users take video and stills primarily in vertical mode, which is an interesting change.
 
Some samples at various focal lengths. Personally i am finding 10x or maybe 15x at a push is as far as i'd go. As an experiment I ran the 20x pic through the de-blur tool and it made virtually zero difference.
4d4897e4abb34aaca98fc2049685758d

0.5x



1x
1x



2x
2x



5x
5x



10x
10x



20x
20x



30x
30x



5x (i think - not really sure because i took this and the next photo without my glasses on, and the text that shows zoom magnification is tiny. Tbh, i'm not a fan of how Google displays current zoom in the app, it's just far too fiddly and small, even on the larger Pixel 7 Pro)
5x (i think - not really sure because i took this and the next photo without my glasses on, and the text that shows zoom magnification is tiny. Tbh, i'm not a fan of how Google displays current zoom in the app, it's just far too fiddly and small, even on the larger Pixel 7 Pro)



10x (i think)
10x (i think)
 
Thanks for posting samples, Rob. Pixel-level quality is quite good, especially 1x and 5x. Not so much at high magnifications. What they tell me is that it's silly to buy ILC for wide angle.

EXIF shows 35mm equivalents, though not always evenly divisible. The wide angle lens is maybe 23.4 and the 0.5x is actually 0.556x. Here are the 35mm equivalents as reported:
  • 0.5x = 13mm
  • 1x = 24mm
  • 2x = 48mm
  • 5x = 117mm
  • 10x = 233mm
  • 20x = 233mm upsampled 2x
  • 30x = 233mm upsampled 3x
Topaz Sharpen doesn't help much, I'd say worsening foliage. But here is your 20x image with Gigapixel 0.5x, which seems like a slight improvement. Lanzcos3+Sharpen is softer but with fewer artifacts that might bother some photographers at 100% actual pixels. Both are a lot better than the 10x displayed at 200%. The 30x image is hopeless IMO.

20x image with Gigapixel 0.5x
20x image with Gigapixel 0.5x
 
Last edited:
EXIF shows 35mm equivalents, though not always evenly divisible. The wide angle lens is maybe 23.4 and the 0.5x is actually 0.556x. Here are the 35mm equivalents as reported:
  • 0.5x = 13mm
  • 1x = 24mm
  • 2x = 48mm
  • 5x = 117mm
  • 10x = 233mm
  • 20x = 233mm upsampled 2x
  • 30x = 233mm upsampled 3x
Topaz Sharpen doesn't help much
No, it really doesn't ... Can confirm that.

Interestingly enough if you look at the RAW files (DNGs) from the same picture you see that here anything above 10x is simply a crop from a 10x image. No "watercolor upsampling" with the DNG as a result, but really nice malleable files (albeit with less MPs) that sharpen up beautifully with Topaz Sharpen. Haven't tried to upsample those sharpened RAWs with Gigapixel yet to compare them with the crude upsampling the Pixel 7 Pro does for the JPGs, but will sure try if I find the time.

Phil
 
Haven't tried to upsample those sharpened RAWs with Gigapixel yet to compare them with the crude upsampling the Pixel 7 Pro does for the JPGs, but will sure try if I find the time.

Phil
Here a full rez example - on the left the 30x JPG directly from the Pixel 7 Pro, on the right the DNG (that sports a resolution of only 952x1268) sharpened in Topaz Sharpen AI and then upscaled in Gigagpixel AI to the same size of the JPG. Not a perfect pic of course (upscaled more than three times), but much better than the Pixel's JPG engine IMO:

68074f04f02e4d1fb70c093615267fe3.jpg

Phil

--
GMT +1
Gallery: http://photosan.smugmug.com
 
Last edited:

Keyboard shortcuts

Back
Top