Thursday, November 16, 2023

Comparing the Pixel 8 Pro Telephoto to a Fujifilm Zoom

I've taken quite a few pictures with the Pixel 8 Pro and have been impressed with quality of the pictures. They look very good on the phone and even on my 32" monitor. I was curious to see how the phone camera would compare to my Fujifilm X-S10 and it's 16-80 mm. F4 lens.

Last week, I took a picture of the west side of Frenchman's Bay with the 5x telephoto camera on the Pixel 8 Pro. That lens has a 35 mm. equivalent focal length of 112 mm., which is very close to the 35 mm. equivalent focal length of 120 mm. for the 16-80 mm. zoom. 

Pixel 8 Pro with 5x zoom

I went back in my archives and found a picture of the same scene that I had taken just after I got the camera a couple of years ago.

Fujifilm X-S10 with 16-80 mm. F4 at 80 mm. 

Viewed on the web without any extra magnification, the two pictures look similar.

However, once you zoom in, the situation changes.

Pixel 8 Pro zoomed in

Fujinon 16-80 mm. zoomed in
As you can see, the camera's photo is sharper and resolves quite a bit more detail. But for uses like posting on social media or small prints, the Pixel 8 Pro's camera is quite usable. It's good enough that it's making me reconsider my investment in the X-S10. I am considering trading it in on a small compact camera that I can take everywhere without the bulk (relatively speaking) of the X-S10 with its zoom.

See Amateur Photographer for a detailed review of the Pixel 8 Pro's cameras.


3 comments:

Martin R said...

I'm no photography expert but can't some of the sharpness difference be down to the quality of the light. The older picture seems to have been taken on a bright sunny cloudless day. The PixelPro photo is taken in overcast, dull and possibly slightly misty conditions.

Keith Soltys said...

No, I don't think the quality of the light had much to do with it. These are the settings for the Pixel's photo: ƒ/2.8, 1/210, ISO 82. For the Fujifilm's photo: f10, 1/400, ISO 400. It was overcast but not dull and there was no haze; I could see the horizon through the gap to Lake Ontario. It did dull the colours a bit but it wouldn't have affected the sharpness.

Keith Soltys said...
This comment has been removed by the author.