In this Pixel 8a vs Pixel 7a Photo Shoot|out, we take over 200 photos to ultimately see which one is the better Android phone for photography. Has the Pixel 8a made a substantial leap on last year's model? Will the Google Pixel 7a come out on top in its latest review? Our Pixel 8a review proves it helps photographers out with its set of AI features, but photos still need to come out excellent first before editing them.
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TechTranscript
00:00Back in March, I put the Pixel 7a and nothing phone 2a through a photo shootout, which unanimously
00:05gave the win to Google. It wasn't that close. You could say with complete certainty that the
00:09Pixel 7a has a superior camera. But now that I have the Pixel 8a, I think it's time to find out
00:15what Google has done to make it a better camera phone photography. I love mid-range phones,
00:19even if they don't have all the bells and whistles that the best phones out there offer.
00:23That's why I've captured over 200 photos with the Pixel 8a and 7a, with a little help from
00:28my colleague to find out what year-over-year improvements, if any, are there with the Pixel 8a.
00:3310 categories, two devices, one winner. I really hope there's a big difference.
00:39As usual, I've looked over all the photos on my computer to get a better idea of their differences.
00:44On paper, the Pixel 8a pretty much reads identical to last year's 7a. That's a 64 megapixel main
00:50camera paired with a 13 megapixel ultra-wide. The only camera spec that's different is the wider
00:5596.5 degree field of view with the Pixel 8a's front-facing camera, a slight improvement over
01:00the Pixel 7a's 95 degree field of view. Let me say that for its price, the Pixel 8a takes top-notch
01:07photos. But look at the shots of the church door. They look almost identical. Both phones definitely
01:12capture the piercing red color of the church door, including the ornate details in the archways,
01:16the stonework, and I can even make out the sign posted on the right side. The only difference
01:20from what I can see is the slightly warmer color temperature of the Pixel 8a, but apart from that,
01:26they're identical. I think this one's a tie. Switching over to their ultra-wide cams,
01:30it's again a deadlock when I look at these photos of the church. Their excellent dynamic
01:34range performance brings out the details of the stonework against the bright sky and the areas
01:38of the church. I also like how they make out the details on the stained glass windows, even in the
01:43areas where it's in the shadow. But again, can I see a major improvement? This shot of the tree is
01:48an excellent way of judging their dynamic range performance. Nothing really stands out to me again
01:53because both phones do nicely to boost the exposure in the shadows, which contrasts nicely with the
01:58brighter areas I'm seeing. This one's a tie in my books, which I'm sort of disappointed about with
02:02three categories in. In my Pixel 8a review, I said it's the phone I'd actually buy with my own money,
02:08and that's true because the last two phones I've bought were under 500 bucks. So far though, I'm
02:13not seeing the development I would have hoped for. Their MSRP is the same, but given the emphasis
02:17Google has put on AI, I thought I'd see some difference by now. Okay, when I first look at
02:22these colorful beach chairs, I thought the photos looked identical. However, when I look at the shots
02:27more closely, I can tell there's a little bit more saturation with the Pixel 8a, especially the orange
02:32table set on the left and a magenta chair on the right. Since I do like the pop that the Pixel 8a
02:37shot gives off with its slightly more vibrant colors, I'll give it the win here. But really,
02:41their color science is similar. This is Richard, my colleague in the UK. The selfies he's taken for
02:47this may look similar, but the difference here is in the skin tone. The Pixel 7a has a slightly warmer
02:52composition and looks a little sharper too. Just zoom into the stitching pattern of his shirt as
02:57well as his scruff and hairline to see how it's just sharper. For this one, I'm giving it to the
03:01Pixel 7a. Now it's my turn with these portrait photos. There are hardly any major differences
03:06about them apart from my skin tone, which makes my face look shinier with the Pixel 8a. Both do a nice
03:12job of isolating me from the background, giving the edges around me that softer touch I look for
03:17with these types of photos. This one's a tie for me because it can sway either way depending on
03:22preference. Neither phone technically has a dedicated macro mode like on other phones, so you
03:27can't get super close to subjects. With these close-up shots of this pink flower, I had both
03:32phones around four inches away, but part of the challenge is getting to that minimum focal distance.
03:37The deeper pink colors with the Pixel 8a shot look better for me, but the Pixel 7a has the
03:42better exposure. Details are a toss-up, so this one can also go either way. Neither phone has a
03:48dedicated telephoto lens, so that leaves zooming to the main camera and a little help from pixel
03:53binning. Details on these images of the church steeple are more smudgy, but that's expected.
03:59I can still make out the red color in the flag along with the brickwork around the church,
04:03so this one's a deadlock. The high contrast scene of this panoramic shot seems to give both Pixel
04:09trouble, which I can tell clearly from the vertical lines that crop up, but it's more apparent with
04:13the Pixel 7a. It's still a problem for the Pixel 8a, but those lines are more subdued, and for that
04:19reason, I'm giving it to the Pixel 8a. And finally, we come to their low-light performance. I want to
04:24start off with these high contrast photos with the street lamp illuminating the walkway. They both
04:29handle the scene differently, with the Pixel 8a producing the warmer color tones that catch my
04:33attention. However, if you look at the shadowed areas of the tree in the far background, I can
04:38see that the exposure is a little bit better with the Pixel 7a, but it's not enough to make it look
04:42better in my eyes. Moving on to a more pitch dark setting, these glass jars on the shelf are
04:48shockingly visible. That's almost hard to believe since there's no ambient light directly in the
04:53scene. However, it's a close match up here because both do well to expose the entire shot evenly,
04:58but the Pixel 8a seems to look a little bit brighter with the middle jar. However, I don't
05:04think this is enough to say it's the clear winner because it's barely visible to the untrained eye.
05:09Well, this shootout turned out differently than what I expected. In a way, I'm a little
05:14disappointed. Usually there's a meaningful level of improvements, but I can't say there's any here.
05:19I was hoping that the Pixel 8a could push out a little better results. However, some of the AI
05:24features from the Pro models have made it over to the Pixel 8a, and that can make it more appealing
05:28for you. I know it does for me. For example, there's Best Take, which lets you swap faces and
05:33photos, Magic Editor, which takes the hassle of editing your photos, and also Audio Magic Eraser,
05:39which removes background noise from videos. And like I pointed out in my Pixel 8a review, which
05:43is on tomsky.com right now, it has a brighter screen, longer battery life, faster refresh rate,
05:49and a more charming design. All of this for the same price as the Pixel 7a. So what do you think?
05:54Are you disappointed like me, or do the AI features make the upgrade worth it for your photography?
05:59Let me know in the comments below. You can follow us on all socials at Tom's Guide for
06:03on-the-ground reporting and behind-the-scenes coverage, and follow me at John C. Velasco.
06:08I'll see you in my next video.
06:19you