Pixel Camera now lets you manually enable Astrophotography

Astrophotography is one of the best features of the Pixel Camera app (formerly Google Camera). Other Android brands also have a similar mode in their own Camera apps. Now, Google is making it easier to use the Astrophotography mode by allowing manual activation on your Pixel phone.

Pixel Camera offers multiple photography modes, and you can manually enable most of them. However, for some reason, the Astrophotography mode was the exception. The company treated it more like an extension of Night Sight than a mode itself. In a way, it makes sense, since Night Sight is the dedicated night photography mode on Pixel phones. However, several users felt that Astrophotography was unique enough to have its own section.

You can now manually activate Astrophotography mode in the Pixel Camera app

Normally, using Astrophotography requires enabling the Night Sight mode and setting your Pixel phone on a stable surface pointing at the night sky. The output will be a photo where the stars in the sky will be especially predominant. It is best to use it in places with as little light pollution as possible. The presence of too many artificial lights around could completely ruin the picture.

Anyway, as spotted by Google News on Telegram, the latest Pixel Camera app (v9.5.118) allows manual activation of Astrophotography. The change makes the experience more intuitive and finally gives it its rightful place with a dedicated section. After updating the app, a pop-up will alert you of the availability of the new option. To enable Astrophotography, just move the Night Sight’s duration slider until a “moon and star” icon appears.

You can choose the duration of the Astrophotography “session.” Since the mode relies on long exposures, the phone must be a few minutes still while capturing images. You can set a maximum time of 4 minutes per “Astrophoto.” When you’re all set, just put the phone over the stable surface, tap the shutter button, and wait.

The Pixel Camera app v9.5 also brings some new features to Pixel phones older than the Pixel 9 series. There’s now a 5-second timer preset, Magnifier 2.0, and a built-in Guided Frame tool. However, most of the Pixel 9 series features are not available on a Pixel 8 Pro with this update. You can download the latest Pixel Camera 9.5 update from APK Mirror.