Google Pixel 5a 5G review

Same camera hardware

There is nothing new about the Google Pixel 5a's camera hardware, and that may or may not be disappointing, depending on your expectations. We'll quickly cover the hardware and jump right into camera samples.

The Pixel 5a's got the same dual camera setup as the Pixel 5 before it. It consists of a 12.2MP 1/2.55" main camera sensor with f/1.7 aperture, OIS, and Dual Pixel phase detection autofocus and 1.4µm pixels. Meanwhile, the second shooter is a 16MP 119˚ ultra-wide with f/2.2 aperture, and 1.0µm sized pixels. The front camera outputs 8MP images, and the sensor sits behind an f/2.0 aperture lens.

What's missing from this camera setup is a couple of things. The Pixel 5 and 4a 5G both had a "Spectral sensor" and an added forward-facing microphone. The former is used for the camera to detect flicker in ambient light sources and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. The mic and sensor were probably removed for cost savings and/or to compensate for the component shortage.

Image quality

The camera on this device is a joy to use; all it really requires you to do is carefully compose the shot and let the software do the rest.

Daylight images

Dynamic range and contrast are excellent, details are rich in daylight, and colors are pleasing to the eye. In some cases, you may find some noise in darker areas of the scene as the software tries to bring out details there. This tends to be the case more so with shots taken indoors.

The ultra-wide camera is capable of some nice shots as well. The 16MP sensor down-samples resulting shots down to the same resolution as the main 12.2MP camera.

Daylight ultrawide

In overcast or indoor situations, you'll notice a bit more noise in the resulting images. In direct sunlight, you're able to get nearly identical image quality between the two cameras. Noise can sometimes appear in darker areas or clipped highlights upon closer inspection regardless of the camera used. Overall, the ultra-wide camera does the job well and is consistent with the main camera's colors, contrast, and details.

2X Daylight photos

Zoomed photos are also possible, but they are cropped from the main camera since there's no dedicated zoom shooter. We are covering these shots because there is a 2X button clearly marked throughout the camera's UI. Still, photos are more than usable, and details are generally good. You may notice a subtle softness to the photo that's a result of the crop but taking photos of anything with fine geometric patterns may cause a moiré effect because of the image processing.

Portrait samples in daylight

Portrait photos shot in daylight look great if the lighting in the background is separated enough from the foreground. The bokeh effect is convincing enough but can occasionally suffer in some situations. This mode can be hit or miss depending on the lighting situation.

Night Sight

Google's Night Sight normally kicks in automatically when it needs to, and you'll know by the little moon symbol that appears over the shutter button. Night Sight works best on still subjects, though it can still catch the occasional person in motion without too much blur.

Night Sight (main camera)

You can take Night Sight photos with the wide-angle camera as well. Details are mostly there, but with the dimmer aperture of the ultrawide camera's lens, ultrawide Night Sight shots are generally softer than those from the main camera.

Night Sight (ultrawide)

8MP selfies with HDR+

The 8MP selfie camera takes selfies with pleasing colors, accurate skin tones, and there's some flattering skin smoothing going on that can be disabled if you prefer.

Daylight Selfies

Like with the main cameras, the selfie camera's dynamic range is excellent, so you shouldn't see shadows crushing or highlights or clipping. Selfies have a distinct softness to them that's a result of the image processing on the 8MP selfie camera and the lack of autofocus. Still, the focus distance is pretty good, and selfies come out sharp enough. White balance and contrast remain consistently accurate between the front and rear cameras.

Despite having a single camera on the front, this 8MP selfie camera is capable of taking some nice-looking portrait selfies without a secondary depth sensor.

Selfie portraits

By default, the zoom factor changes to 1.2X when switching to the portrait mode on the front camera, so we kept it there for these samples. The subject line is generally good for posting to social media, but peeping closer, you'll occasionally find faults in the subject line. The bokeh line is realized well when lighting is ideal.

Night Sight selfies

Selfies can be shot in Night Sight as well. Occasionally, you may come across a nice Night Sight selfie, but that only really happens if you (your hand, and maybe a couple of friends) manage to stay still enough during the capture. Resulting Night Sight shots look softer than regular selfies, but they manage to capture the overall scene with good dynamic range, colors, and contrast, but not without some noticeable noise. It may be a good idea to shoot at least one or two alternative shots when using this mode.

Night Sight selfie portraits

Video quality

The Google Pixel 5a supports 1080p@30/60fps and 2160p@30/60fps in regular video and 1080p@120fps or 720p@240fps slow motion. Although Google delivers solid performance for still images, the Pixel 5a's is anything but consistent when it comes to video recording.

It's not to say the videos are bad, but the range of video resolutions and frame rates don't perform consistently across the board. Let's start with 4K video.

The main camera's video performance for 2160p@30fps looks great for the most part. There's a moment when the exposure is adjusting that you can notice noise in some of the clipped highlights, but nothing major. Details are abundant, and colors are well-represented. Sadly, the dynamic range is not as amazing as HDR+ manages in still photos.

Any video that you take in 2X zoom is a direct crop from the main camera since there is no dedicated zoom camera. Keep this in mind when you decide to shoot a video that's zoomed in. You can see there's a noticeably higher amount of noise at this zoom level, no matter which resolution. While Super Resolution somewhat works for stills, it does not translate into video.

As expected, there's a noticeable dip in details when switching to the ultrawide camera. Remember, there is also no autofocus on the ultrawide camera, so images won't be as sharp as on the main camera. Also, areas closer to the edges and darker parts of the scene are notably softer.