Great closeups, nice selfies, general goodness
The Pixel 10a’s camera hardware is another thing that has been carried over from the Pixel 9a. It’s relatively modest hardware too, but it covers the basics, and it covers them well – certainly well enough for the ‘a’ badge.
Google doesn’t like to list sensor makes and models, but the basic data is still available – some of it on the official pages, other bits through hardware scanning apps. So the main camera on the back is using a 48MP Quad Bayer-type sensor with 0.8µm pixels, and its lens has a 25mm equivalent focal length (going by the official 82° field of view) or 24mm if you trust the EXIF data. It’s an optically stabilized lens with an f/1.7 aperture and very close focusing – as close as 45mm from the back of the phone.
The ultrawide camera on the back and the selfie camera on the front are based on what could quite probably be the same sensor – the specs are the same. The lenses, while both fixed-focus (a bit of a bummer), have different focal lengths – 14mm on the rear ultrawide and 20mm on the selfie camera.
Wide (main): 48MP (1/2.0″, 0.8µm-1.6µm); 24mm, f/1.7, OIS, dual-pixel PDAF (4.5cm – ∞); 4K60 video recording.
Ultrawide: 13MP (1/3.1″, 1.12µm); 14mm, f/2.2, fixed focus; 4K30/1080p60.
Front camera: 13MP (1/3.1″, 1.12µm); 20mm, f/2.2, fixed focus; 4K30/1080p60.
Google being the software company that it is, it’s added some software tweaks to set the 10a apart from the 9a, borrowed from the other Pixel 10 devices. We now have Camera Coach, which gives you step-by-step suggestions on how to take pictures, and Auto Best Take, which automatically chooses the best expression from photos taken around the same time. The Pixel 10a also gets Display P3 support for captured images, though we’ve been shooting in the usual (and also default) sRGB mode.
Daylight photo quality
Main camera
The 10a’s main camera captures photos that are somewhere between good and very good – depending on the conditions and who’s looking. In good light, you can expect detailed images with a slightly digital rendition. Contrastier scenes will tend to have softish shadows and dimmer conditions will also mean less sharpness, but it’s all very reasonable. The white balance is accurate and colors are generally likeable, if not particularly saturated. Dynamic range is excellent.
Daylight samples, main camera (1x)
At 1x, you can only shoot people in Photo mode, not in Portrait mode. The photos are good, with well rendered facial detail, and skin tones are accurate, but somewhat lifeless.
Human subjects, main camera (1x): Photo mode
Moving on to 2x zoom, we get decent detail, particularly with regular shapes and straight lines, though even random textures aren’t the worst we’ve seen. You might encounter the occasional missed white balance – we didn’t get that on our review unit in our usual scenes, but it’s been known to happen – it did in our earlier hands-on.
Daylight samples, main camera (2x)
Human subjects are rendered well at 2x too, with those slightly conservative but still accurate colors, and alright detail. We’re not particular fans of the Portrait mode action – the transitions between sharp and blurry areas can be wonky.
Human subjects, main camera (2x): Photo mode • Portrait mode
Portrait mode defaults to 2x zoom, but has a 1.5x button too, and if you tap on that and go back to Photo mode, the 10a will maintain that same zoom level, as all Pixels do. Detail looks somewhat coarser at this level – we’d stick to 2x.
Human subjects, main camera (1.5x): Photo mode • Portrait mode
Ultrawide camera
Having any ultrawide camera is better than no ultrawide camera at all, as the 16e and now the 17e iPhones can testify, and the Pixel 10a checks that box.
The ultrawide camera here doesn’t have autofocus, so you’d better stick to subjects that aren’t immediately in front of the camera. If you keep that in mind, you can expect mostly good shots.
Shadows are typically soft and noisy, and the occasional color accuracy mishap is also not unheard of, but with plenty of light in your scene, you can expect good detail and likeable colors.
Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)
Close-ups
One of the main virtues of the Pixel 10a’s main camera is its ability to focus close – very close, at 4.5cm. That does present its own problems, like how exactly are you going to angle the phone so that you don’t disturb your subject or throw a shadow on it, but with enough luck and fiddling around you can get some pretty great shots.
Closeup samples, main camera (1x)
You can, of course, choose to shoot at 2x zoom to either increase the magnification by as much or increase the working distance. You will lose some absolute pixel-level quality, but you could find the right balance for your particular situation somewhere in there.
Closeup samples, main camera (2x)
Selfies
The Pixel 10a’s selfies aren’t half bad either. You can give up on weird-looking selfie closeup attempts, because the fixed focus won’t get you sharp results in that case, but at normal arm’s length shooting distances, everything’s fine. We’re looking at good detail, nice colors and wide dynamic range, and low-light results are pretty great too.
Selfie samples
Low-light photo quality
Main camera
In the dark, the main camera is doing quite alright. It gets its exposures right and captures a wide dynamic range. Colors could use a saturation nudge, but the white balance is typically on point. Detail is good in the better lit areas, while shadows can be noticeably softer, but it’s pretty decent as a whole.
Low-light samples, main camera (1x)
The Night sight mode can help out a little, adding a bit of definition in the darker areas. For casual shooting the full auto performance is easily good enough, but you might wanna switch to Night sight if you want to get the absolute most out of a scene.
Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Night sight
In our experience at 2x zoom, the Night sight shots are virtually identical as the full auto ones, so there’s not much point in worrying about switching modes. The photos do show some watercolor effect in certain subjects, there’s a fair amount of noise, and detail has a distinctly digital look, but all things considered, these are better than many other renditions we’ve seen at this zoom level, even from more expensive handsets.
Low-light samples, main camera (2x)
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide camera’s low-light results are also great in terms of exposure and dynamic range, and colors are also good. They’re not the sharpest photos, and there can be a significant amount of noise in the sky for example.
Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)
Many of the scenes benefit from the dedicated Night sight mode, which cleans up the noise and gives a bit of a sharpness boost.
Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x), Night sight
Photo quality verdict
The Pixel 10a does a lot of things right with what’s hardly a remarkable hardware setup. We’re getting consistently good results from all three cameras in most conditions. The main camera is pretty great at its native focal length and does alright at 2x as well – that’s both in daytime and at night. Its standout close-focusing capability is most appreciated too. The ultrawide can’t focus close, but it isn’t too shabby with distant subjects during the day and it holds up adequately after dark too. Selfies are also very good, as long as you hold your hand out far enough (no AF on it either).
Video quality
The Pixel 10a can record video up to 4K60 with its main camera on the back, while the ultrawide and the selfie camera can do 4K30 or 1080p60 depending on whether you want to prioritize resolution or frame rate. There’s no 24fps option.
You get to choose between the h.265 (HEVC) codec and h.264 with the more efficient h.265 being the default option. There’s no HDR recording capability.
There’s a toggle in settings to disable all electronic stabilization, but if you keep it on, you get three modes, selectable from the viewfinder context menu. There’s ‘Standard’ video stabilization for general shooting, and also available is a ‘Locked’ tripod-like mode for 2x and 5x zoom (all of it digital, obviously) when shooting from a fixed spot, as well as an ‘Active’ mode for action shooting (1080p30 only, 1x and 2x).
You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.
Daylight video quality out of the Pixel 10a’s main camera is pretty great. Dynamic range and colors are excellent, and detail is very good (identical at 30fps and 60fps too). 2x zoom results are so-so. The ultrawide’s footage is also excellent from afar and alright in terms of detail.
Video stabilization is nothing short of remarkable. The road bridge clips, shot in the regular Standard stabilization mode handheld, are essentially shake- and tremor-free, as if taken on a tripod. Walking shake is also expertly ironed out and pans are nicely smooth too.
Google Pixel 10a video screengrabs, daylight: 0.6x • 1x • 2x
Low-light results aren’t too hot, with the main camera showing pretty muddy shadows and the ultrawide’s clips being relatively soft overall. It’s usable stuff, after all, just not particularly great.
Google Pixel 10a video screengrabs, low light: 0.6x • 1x • 2x
Video quality verdict
The Pixel 10a’s video recording feature set is fairly basic, with no HDR capability or 24fps mode. The phone does impress with its video stabilization, and offers pretty great daylight video quality and acceptable low-light footage.