Google quietly removes Astrophotography ultrawide mode from new Pixel phones

After enabling Astrophotography ultrawide mode in Google Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 camera app, Google has reportedly removed it from the Google Camera app. The Google camera app recently got an update to version 8.1 and as per a report by 9to5Google, after the update the feature is no longer available. However, there is still hope. Google mentioned that on Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, Astrophotography only works on zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x.

Google hasn’t provided any official explanation as to why it is removing Astrophotography from ultra wide angle cameras.

With its Pixel 4 lineup, Google had introduced Astrophotography mode that can be used to capture pictures of the stars accurately. The mode allows exposures of up to four minutes on the Pixel 4 series and up to one minute on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a series that makes it possible to take sharp images without any artificial light.

Google Pixel phones are known for their great cameras. In order to flaunt and differentiate itself, Google recently introduced a new nomenclature for images clicked on Pixel phones using the Google Camera app.

If you notice, photos clicked on any smartphone or DSLR usually start with ‘IMG’ as the default file name. So, photos are usually named-- IMG_file number_time stamp-- by default. Now, Google wants to reserve 'PXL' instead of 'IMG' for photos clicked on Pixel phones. With the Google Camera app version 7.5, which is now there on Android 11 beta release, you will see file names appear as PXL_time stamp_file number.