The Pixel 6 Pro has many outlets, but like previous Pixel phones, the big draw is the cameras. All three cameras on the device take great photos and videos out of the box, with one important caveat: Looks like you can’t use your awesome 4x telephoto zoom camera when recording videos. Fortunately, this camera isn’t really off limits to videos, but you need to know the solution to get closer.
Let’s start with what happens when you use your Pixel 6 Pro as designed by Google: Turn on the camera, switch to video mode, and choose the 4x zoom option. Instead of switching to the telephoto camera, which would magnify your image optically, the 6 Pro sticks to the main camera and simply cuts the image digitally to reach the “4x zoom”. What’s going on here?
Optical vs. digital zoom
We’ve discussed the difference between optical and digital zoom before when we talk about the weird relationship between the iPhone and zoom, but here’s the bottom line: this 4x telephoto zoom isn’t really “expanding” the subject, since there are no moving parts in the camera. . Instead, all three cameras have a fixed focal length. The ultra-large camera has a focal length of 16mm (0.7x zoom), the main camera has a focal length of 24mm (1x zoom), and the telephoto camera has a focal length of 102.6mm (4x zoom).
Typically, when you switch from the main camera to the telephoto camera, switch to a camera that can capture a subject 4 times the distance from the main camera. However, when shooting between these focal lengths, or exceeding the 4x zoom, digital zoom takes over. Digital zoom is basically cropping the image to artificially zoom in on the subject. A 3.5x zoom, for example, sharpens the image of the main camera because, remember, there are no moving parts here.
Google’s software does a bit of work to make digital zoom look better than if you cropped the image, but it’s still not as good as using a camera designed to take a zoomed picture. You have more details to work with when using the actual telephoto camera, so it should be available for use whenever you want.
And yet, it is not! At least it’s not out of the box for video recording. As someone with a Pixel 4, I didn’t know about this issue until I read it on Reddit, but it’s real: Google ignores the telephoto camera for 4x zoom when recording video at 1080p, the default video resolution for the Pixel 6 Pro. . However, if you switch to 4K 30 fps, the telephoto camera works as expected. The iPhone also does something similar: shooting in most settings, the telephoto camera only activates when iOS thinks there is enough light for it. However, if you take photos at 4K 60 fps, you will always use the telephoto camera when switching.
It’s not clear why any company does this, but it’s frustrating. You’re spending $ 900 ($ 1,249) or $ 1,000 ($ 1,388) on smartphones with telephoto cameras, but don’t trust that you can use it whenever you want. Google doesn’t even warn you, so it’s one of those quirks that users are supposed to find out for themselves. Fortunately, if you simply switch to this higher resolution to shoot (which, unless you have little storage space, you’ll probably need to do it anyway), you’re ready to go.
If you need to shoot in 1080p, but still want to access the telephoto camera, you’ll need to find a third-party app to do so. FiLMiC Pro is a great, yet expensive, option that offers a significant amount of control over your shooting. You can choose the camera with which you want to shoot at any resolution, but you can also control the ISO, shutter speed, focus, and more. It may cost you in advance, but at least you can use your Pixel’s camera exactly the way you want.