If you have a Google Pixel, you have a treasure. For various reasons, in addition, although there is one that particularly stands out and that is the photographic section. Google phones are distinguished by their good camera, but also by your native app to take photos and videos withwhich in a “natural” way is only available in these terminals, although there is a trick to have it in others.
So, I take advantage of this article to tell you about the most important settings that, according to my personal experience, I recommend changing. Go from changes to take better photos to tips for saving space if storage is an issue.
1. Activate the grid to improve framing
that a photograph is very square and straight it is important. And however good an eye you may have, there’s nothing like establishing the grid to already have a guide during the shooting process to take advantage of a shot that respects the rules of composition.
To activate it you must be in ‘Camera’ mode, click on the settings icon at the top left, then go to ‘More settings’ and in ‘Grid type’ choose the one that suits you best. personally that of gold number It’s the one I see as the most appropriate, but here I don’t get involved in it anymore.
By the way, in ‘More Settings’ you can also enable the ‘Framing tips‘ for tips on how to position your phone so your photos are perfectly level.
2. Receive notifications if the lens is dirty
We think the camera is flawless, we take what we think is a great photo and when we look at it, we see a spot. And yes, there are always photo editors to fix it, but better if you realize it before. To do this you must go to ‘More settings’, then to ‘Advanced options’ and activate the first option that appears called ‘Dirty lens warning’.
3. Adjust resolution to save space or improve quality
It’s clear : the higher the resolution, the higher the quality and the more space photos and videos take up. You will see that you want to prioritize, always depending on whether your mobile has a lot of free space or not. Personally, I favor quality, but in any case it can be modified.
Just go to ‘Camera’ or ‘Video’ mode, access quick settings and enable or disable the RAW format in photos and choose the resolution and frames per second in the case of video.
In the same way, you have to check the option ‘Camera resolution‘ in ‘More settings’ choosing if you want it to be full resolution or half resolution in order to optimize storage. For video you will find the option ‘Efficiently store your videos‘ in the advanced options.
4. Take mirror-free selfies
It depends on taste, but if you want to give a natural look to a photo taken with the front camera, it may not be the most practical to see it in mirror mode. Fortunately, you can disable this option in “More settings”, by going to the photo section and making sure the “Save selfie as preview” tab is unchecked. Otherwise, they will come out with this mirror effect.
5. The trick to quickly record a video
On more than one occasion you have surely wanted to record a quick scene and between opening the camera app and switching to video mode, you lose the opportunity. Well, this trick is not as well known as I thought, but it is very interesting. It’s basically hold the shutter button in camera mode to start video recording. When released, it will stop recording. It works the same way as Instagram Stories.
6. Zoom in with volume buttons
It is not always easy to use your fingers on the screen to zoom, always depending on the position of your hands. So use these buttons to zoom in or zoom out be interesting.
To do this, you must enter “More settings”, then “Gestures” and choose the action you want these buttons to perform. In addition to zoom, there are other options as they replace the shutter.
Bonus track: how to install this camera on another Android
If you don’t have a Pixel mobile, you won’t have this camera app natively. However, you can install it on other devices. It’s called “Gcam” and is available as an APK. To do this, you must have enabled the possibility of installing third-party applications and downloading them from the browser. In Celso Azevedo’s blog you can download the file.
Cover image | xataka
In Xataka Android | This is the “pixel binning” technology used by Google, Samsung and Xiaomi to improve mobile photography
Table of Contents
