Earlier this year I got an upgrade to my mobile phone. Moving up from the Google Pixel 3a to the Pixel 5a. Hurray! These budget phones by Google represent real value for money if you are an Android user.

The Google Pixel 5a, just like the previous one, hasn’t disappointed me. It has been with me everywhere since I got it. “Regular photography” has been taking a back seat due to my hectic work and life schedules and my other cameras have been collecting dust on the shelve as of late. But for everything else, there was the Pixel 5a. happily snapping away at the normal day-to-day activities.

There are a few quirks to the new system though, specifically on the google camera app, one of which is the fact that its dynamic HDR is always on. HDR is on auto, always, and can’t be turned off, unlike the previous software versions where you can toggle it as you like. Instead, you have two sliders to control your exposure and dynamic range of shadows. Both took a little bit of getting used to at first. Also, the default images are overly saturated and sharpened for my liking. A little too unnatural for me, but for the average user, I suppose it’s perfect.

I also had an issue with the camera when the phone overheated when shooting under the Malaysian heat. Apparently, it’s a thing with the Pixel 5a. When it does overheat, the camera functions drop down to the bare basic function of taking super-saturated HDR images, and the shadow and brightness controls stop working. And when it does try to take photos when it’s overheating, it lags a little between shots. I believe when shooting Jpegs+Raw, the Raw capture also stops when overheating. So, to compensate for this, I have had to shoot less and be mindful of what shots I want to get when out and about. When it does eventually overheat, I have to just stop and take a chill pill while it decides to want to shoot again like its supposed to.

One area where the HDR does a great job though is during night shots or when shooting in dimly lit areas. The HDR then does a good job of balancing the shadows and the lights, better than how it’s doing on bright sunny days. And nighttime colours with this Google’s HDR work nicely.

All that being said, the images are by and large amazing and any normal person would not be too bothered by the super-saturated images. Photos for sharing with family and friends are as good as they can get.

Below is a collection of shots from the past few months. All taken with the Pixel 5a and unedited, just as Google would like you to see them. I only reduced the size of the images for the purpose of this blog.

Starting off with some street shots around KL and then a variety of shots from some recent travels around Malaysia that i’ve been doing with the family.

Cheers.

xx