Google Pixel 7a review

Entirely new camera setup, same app

The Pixel 7a has camera hardware that we haven't seen on a Pixel phone - not as a whole, and, as best as we can tell, not even the individual modules have been seen on Google's lineup before. The setup is headlined by a 64MP main unit, the first Quad Bayer-type sensor on an a-series phone, joined by a 13MP ultrawide camera. Over on the front, another 13MP camera is in charge of selfies.

Google specifies that the primary camera's 64MP sensor is Quad Bayer with Quad PD autofocus and that's a strong indication it's a Sony sensor, even though it's not listed explicitly and hardware apps don't report which one it is precisely. It's got a 1/1.73" optical format and 0.8µm pixel pitch, resulting in 16 million of 1.6µm effective pixels.

The lens has an f/1.9 aperture (Google specs say f/1.89) and a specified field of view of 80 degrees, which translates to an equivalent focal length of just under 26mm, but the EXIF data reads 25mm. This lens is stabilized.

The ultrawide camera relies on a similarly unnamed sensor with a 13MP nominal resolution and 1.12µm pixel size. That translates to a 1/3.06" or thereabouts optical format that Google chose not to list in its specs. Google says the field of view is 120 degrees on this one and the aperture is f/2.2. There's no autofocus, which is to be expected since the 7 doesn't have it, leaving only the 7 Pro with close-up shooting capabilities.

The front facing camera is using a very similar sensor but, by the looks of it, it is a different one. It, too, has 13MP resolution and 1.12µm pixel size, but some of the other numbers don't quite check out. The lens has a 95-degree FoV, or a 20mm equivalent focal length and an f/2.2 aperture. No autofocus here either, but it's not like the 7 or 7 Pro have it.

The camera app on the Pixel 7a is the same as on the 7 and 7 Pro, though there may be a feature or two missing. Tapping somewhere in the viewfinder will make a bunch of sliders show up - for white balance, shadow, and light. You can disable the lot of them, if you prefer.

A cog button in the far corner opens up a menu with the most important settings (Auto Night Sight, Top Shot, self timer and aspect ratio), and from there you can access a more extensive settings menu. It's in there that you'll find the option to shoot RAW. There's no setting or mode to make the Pixel 7a shoot at the main sensor's native 64MP resolution, just as there wasn't on the other models.

Viewfinder • Sliders • Quick settings • Settings • More settings • Advanced settings

The app will always default to the 'Camera' photo mode. From left to right, the shooting modes are: Night Sight, Long Exposure, Portrait, Camera, Video, and Modes, which lets you access the Panorama, Photo Sphere, and Google Lens modes. You can't rearrange the modes, which is an annoying limitation.

You'll note that Long Exposure is in place of where the 7 and 7 Pro had Motion mode, which included Long Exposure and Action Pan. So there's no Action Pan on the 7a. Also missing is the 7 Pro's Macro mode, on account of the 7a's lack of autofocus on the ultrawide.

A long press on the gallery shortcut next to the shutter release lets you decide whether to save photos and videos to the Photo Gallery or the Locked Folder. Just above the gallery circle, an arrow will pop up after you take a shot, letting you quickly share what you just captured.

Portrait mode • Auto Night Sight • Night Sight • Long Exposure • Modes • Storage location

Daylight photo quality

Photos taken on the Pixel 7a's main camera in good light are excellent, as expected. 7, 7a, or 7 Pro, you can count on a certain specific rendition of scenes that transcends the label on the box. The way the Pixels capture color is both vibrant and true-to-life and it was giving us consistently accurate white balance. Dynamic range is wide, but there's that reluctance to boost shadows that makes for a particularly contrasty aesthetic - in a good way.

Detail is presented in a mature way without excessive sharpening. In that respect, in can be argued that the 7a is actually superior to its more expensive stablemates thanks to the extra resolution - 16MP vs. 12.5MP is not a negligible difference.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

The 7a does a fine job of zooming in digitally with that 64MP sensor - to the modest 2x that its viewfinder controls suggest, at least. Viewed at 1:1, these aren't the sharpest results you get, but as phones without dedicated zoom cameras go, they're above average.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x zoom)

The ultrawide doesn't disappoint either - well, other than its lack of AF, but that was already clear from the specsheet. Its images have excellent sharpness and detail, some of the best you can get at this level, and that's coming from hardware that's not in any way impressive on paper. Global parameters are very consistent with the main camera's output so you get the same colors and contrasty but well developed tonal rendition.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)

Low-light photo quality

The Pixel 7a, as every recent Pixel and the bulk of midrangers and up, applies Night mode (Night Sight in this case) in the regular Photo mode (well, Camera mode here) when it deems it necessary. There are nuances in that there are scenes where it doesn't kick in for the main camera, but does for the ultrawide, or instances where the phone doesn't trigger it and you think it should.

But those are rare occurrences and the phone knows very well what it's doing. Plus, you do get the option to override its decisions by either going to the dedicated Night Sight mode when you want to ensure you get it, or disabling the Auto behavior in Camera mode when you want to avoid it.

Main camera

With that said, the results we got on the main camera were essentially identical between Camera mode with Auto Night Sight enabled and the dedicated Night Sight mode. The 7a follows in the footsteps of the 7 and 7 Pro and doesn't apply its Night Sight magic too liberally - you'll note that point light sources still get clipped and shadows are on the darker side of average. If we had to choose, we'd probably opt at least for better developed shadows, but there is the (valid) counter argument that the Pixel's approach is more photographic and true-to-life.

Colors remain expressive at night as well, and the auto white balance handled all sorts of artificial lighting without a hiccup.

Detail is very good, without the watercoloring characteristic of some earlier Night mode efforts that we occasionally still see today.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Auto Night Sight

Here's how the scenes look when shot in Night Sight mode.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Night Sight

If you turn off Night Sight, there will be consequences. Details can get softer, especially in darker areas. And there will likely be more darker areas too - the darker the scene, the more likely it is to end up underexposed. Normally, we would keep Night Sight on.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Auto Night Sight OFF

Main camera, 2x zoom

There's practically no change in the 7a's behavior when you zoom in to 2x, with the results remaining the same between Night Sight-assisted photos from either mode. Again, we'd say these are superior to what most phones can deliver without a dedicated 2x camera, and likely better than some lesser actual 2x cameras.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x zoom), Auto Night Sight

Low-light samples, main camera (2x zoom), Night Sight

The Night Sight-less counterparts aren't dramatically worse, but there are some differences, mostly in the muddier shadow details.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x zoom), Auto Night Sight OFF

Ultrawide camera

The utlrawide's results in the dark are solid too. Once again, we're getting that contrasty tonal rendition with shadows that could use a nudge and slightly burnt highlights, but it's a look that works for the Pixel. Colors are excellent, with no loss of pop or odd white balance choices. Detail is very good too and we'd almost call it impressive given the smallish sensor.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x), Auto Night Sight

Once again, there's no difference in the dedicated Night Sight mode.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x), Night Sight

And, sure enough, if you turn off Night Sight, you'd end up with underexposed and generally noisier ultrawide shots.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x), Auto Night Sight OFF

Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Google Pixel 7a stacks up against the competition.

Google Pixel 7a against the Pixel 7 and the Motorola Edge 40 in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

Portrait mode on the Pixel 7a works in the same idiosyncratic way as it does on the 7 and 7 Pro when it comes to magnifications. Both the 1x and 2x levels in the viewfinder are captured on the main camera, of course, but they correspond to something like 1.7x and 3.4x if you match their field of view in Camera mode. If you were to tap on the 2x zoom in Camera mode and then switch to Portrait mode, the Phone will be at 1.2x in Portrait mode (which will match the FoV of the 2x in Camera mode).

We understand that to be a manifestation of the Pixels' most welcome behavior not to default to 1x whenever you switch between modes, but to maintain whatever magnification you were at. It can still be a bit disconcerting when you switch between Camera and Portrait and get zoom level notations that weren't there before.

The results from the 1x Portrait mode are okay. Subject detection is mostly good and the background blur level is well judged. There can be random spots of softness on the subject's face, however, and even without them the subject isn't pin sharp as a result of the upscale process.

Portrait mode samples, '1x'

The images taken at the 2x Portrait level are bad in numerous ways - so much so that we'd consider them not... presentable, unless you use them at very small sizes, where the lack of detail on the subject isn't going to show. That said there were instances, where the Pixel simply wouldn't apply any background blur, even though the Google Photos says the photo is technically a 'portrait'.

Portrait mode samples, '2x'

We also shot the same scenes in the regular Camera mode at 1x, which does provide a wider field of view than the Portrait's 1x. These are naturally higher-quality in terms of pixel-level detail, though we still observed some random blobs of softness on the subject's face.

Camera mode samples 1x

Selfies

Some of that aversion to sharp faces transfers into selfies where we got one cheek softer than the other more often than not. Not that the sharp side is all too sharp to begin with, having the focus fixed somewhere in the distance as opposed to arm's length. We guess that's an extension of the camera's wide-angle shooting capabilities - if you want a lot in the frame, you probably want it in focus. Still, we think that having yourself in focus is essential for, you know, selfies.

It's not all complaints though - colors in general and skin tones in particular are great, and dynamic range is nice and wide even in very demanding lighting conditions.

Selfie samples

Video recording

The Pixel 7a records video up to 4K60 on its main camera (even at 2x zoom), while the ultrawide is capped at 4K30 and you need to resort to 1080p if you want 60fps ultrawide capture. The selfie camera maxes out at 4K30 as well, and it can do 1080p60 too.

The default codec on the Pixel is the more efficient h.265, perhaps as a result of 128GB being the only available storage option. Still, you can flip a toggle in settings to use h.264 instead.

That said, the 7a does use a very generous bit rate of around 42Mbps for 4K30 with the h.265, which is the ballpark of what other phones have for h.264 for that mode. Similarly to other Pixel 7s, 4K30 with h.264 weighs in at 47Mbps which is obviously only slightly more. 4K60 gets 62Mbps on the 7a (again, using h.265). Audio is encoded in stereo, at 192kbps.

After all that talk about bit rates, and despite the promising numbers, the Pixel 7a's detail capture in 4K isn't that great. That's irrespective of whether you're using h.264 or h.265 - both look the same. It's not bad, it's just not as good as on the Pixel 7, and for no apparent reason. Looking from afar, the vivid colors are on point, so that's good.

Contrast is high, perhaps a touch too high for harsh midday light, leaving shadows darker than we'd like. While that's mostly the same as stills so you can call it Pixel's way of doing things, stills are easier to manipulate than video, should you desire to play around with exposure after the fact.

Shooting in 4K at 2x zoom level won't get you very likeable footage in terms of detail - if the native FoV didn't look too sharp, the digitally zoomed 2x didn't stand much chance.

After that rocky start, the ultrawide puts things on the right path and makes for a surprisingly good impression. Detail is as good as on the 'proper' Pixels and is possibly the best in the 7a's class. Global parameters remain fairly consistent with the main camera's, so we're looking at excellent colors, though the high contrast does mean some black shadows.

Stabilization is available in all modes on all cameras, and there are several flavors of it, some tailor-made for specific use cases, which introduce mode-specific limitations. These are all the same as on the more expensive Pixels.

Video stabilization modes

The Standard stabilization mode isn't perfect on the main camera, and there's some residual shake left from walking. Even when simply pointing the camera in one direction, there are some fine tremors. The ultrawide doesn't suffer from either issue, which is nice. Both cameras pan smoothly without abrupt transitions.

In low light, the Pixel 7a's video performance is alright. What was already not the sharpest main camera footage in daylight gets softer in the dark. Colors and dynamic range remain respectable for the conditions and the price range, though we'd appreciate a bit of an exposure boost.

The ultrawide's low-light capture is soft and noisy, but not more so than on competitors - in fact, it's possibly among the better ones in the class.

Here's a glimpse of how the Google Pixel 7a compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Google Pixel 7a against the Pixel 7 and the Motorola Edge 40 in our Video compare tool