Summary
- The Pixel 8’s camera is experiencing a bug that prevents automatic exposure adjustment when zoom is set to 1x in photo or video modes.
- The issue has been reported by several Pixel 8 owners and replicated in tests, with signs indicating it is likely a software bug rather than a hardware defect.
- This is not the first problem with the Pixel 8, as Google had to stop a system update due to storage access issues, causing frustration among users.
If you don’t consider yourself to be a professional when it comes to photography, you’re not alone. Thanks to the advancements in mobile camera technology, most of us no longer have to worry about that — our phones can help us capture moments as beautifully as possible with a single tap. Those who do know a few things about the art, however, will be quick to tell you that light is everything when you’re taking a picture. For this reason, phone manufacturers are continuing to focus on the improvement of technology to account for lighting variation. On a device like the Pixel 8, for example, you can usually tap on your display within the camera viewfinder to adjust to the lighting in your environment. Now, some Pixel 8 owners are finding that this isn’t the case.
As experienced by several Pixel 8 owners and explained in a Reddit thread, a bug seems to be impacting the camera’s ability to automatically adjust and account for lighting. The function is supposed to work by tapping on an area on your Pixel display while in the camera viewfinder. Depending on where you tap, the camera should either brighten what you see on your display or darken it before you take a picture. However, the feature doesn’t seem to be working at all when the zoom level is set to 1x, regardless of the camera mode. Additionally, it doesn’t seem to be functional within video mode. One Redditor noted that they had reported the problem to Google via its Issue Tracker, but the company has not released a fix at the time of writing.
We did some testing and were able to replicate the issue on multiple Pixel 8 units. As shown in the video above, there’s no noticeable exposure adjustment when the camera is set to 1x zoom. But when the camera is set to 2x zoom, tapping to focus makes an immediate and apparent difference in exposure levels. This behavior was observed on a standard Pixel 8, which uses the same camera sensor for both 1x and 2x shots, so it appears this is a software bug rather than a hardware defect. Like the Redditors and people posting in the Issue Tracker thread, we were using Pixel Camera 9.2.113.585804376.14, the latest version available on the Play Store.
While the Pixel 8 received a lot of hype prior to launch, Google’s flagship line has experienced some issues since its debut. Most recently, the company was forced to stop the rollout of a Play System Update due to a storage access issue — and the problem impacted several generations of Pixel phones. As a result, device users began experiencing everything from app crashes to screenshot glitches. Worst of all, many people could no longer back up the content on their devices. Google acknowledged the problem and offered a temporary fix, but needless to say, the entire debacle rubbed many Pixel owners the wrong way.
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When it comes to bugs, there is only so much that companies can do in terms of prevention. Oftentimes, they are unpredictable and arise with little notice. This can escalate from a minor issue to reputation damage if a business doesn’t quickly release a fix. Google is typically on top of such matters, but its latest Pixel problems prove that no company is invincible — even if it does happen to be a household name.
Thanks: Nick
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