'Magic Photo' gives you a great shot even if you don't time the shutter tap perfectly.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Cameras are a key reason that people buy Pixel phones, so they always get a lot of attention at launch events. For the Pixel 11 series, Google has introduced new and bigger sensors, something that I think will help smartphone photographers a lot more that the usual AI stuff. Of course, the new lineup also gained some useful new computational features including one that will allow for faster night capture, along with new film looks and boosted digital zooms.

Instant Night Sight, Magic Capture and new AI features

Google's Night Sight lets you take photos in dim light without a flash, but you need to hold the camera steady for what can seem like forever (actually three to five seconds). Now, all the Pixel 11 smartphones offer a new feature called Instant Night Sight that reduces capture time by up to 4.5 times, so you can snap clear night shots in around a second or less. That's all done computationally, thanks to the "redesigned software, 50 percent more TPU and the [new] Tensor T7 chip," the company notes. 

The new Pixel phones have another new time-saving feature as well. Sometimes, it takes multiple photo attempts before you finally capture a group shot with everyone smiling and nobody blinking, but a new Pixel 11 feature called Magic Capture aims to curb that waste of time. Just tap on the shutter button once, and you'll get both video and a pick of high-quality photos that are ready to share "thanks to automatic cropping and unblurring," Google notes. 

With cameras like the Fujifilm X100 VI (and the influencers who love them), creative film looks are currently de rigueur. The Pixel 11 is capitalizing on that popularity with the new Camera Looks feature that lets you build your own unique "professional-grade" film styles for HDR+ photos. Notably, Google says that even with highly stylized or personalized looks, the camera delivers "equitable results across all skin tones."  

New sensors across the lineup and longer zooms

No amount of AI trickery can get more light into a camera. The only way to do that is with a bigger sensor or improved on-sensor processing and that's exactly what Google did across the Pixel 11 range. The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL received the biggest updates, with a new 1/1.3-inch 50MP main sensor that, while the same size as before, promises double the optical quality. Google also boosted the size of the 48MP telephoto sensor, saying it pulls in 32 percent more like than the one on the Pixel 10 Pro models. The 48MP ultra-wide camera and 42MP selfie camera are unchanged from the Pixel 10 Pro models.

The 48MP main camera on the Pixel 11 also gets a bigger sensor that pulls in 56 percent more light, Google said, allowing for improved nighttime photos and video. With a new 13MP ultra-wide camera (up from 10.5MP before), detail and zooming capability (more on that shortly) are improved as well. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold gets that same, larger 48MP sensor for improved low-light capability, while retaining the Pixel 10 Fold Pro's 10.5MP ultra-wide and 10.5MP telephoto cameras.

With the upgraded sensors, Google has boosted the digital zoom on the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL to 120x (up from 100x), saying photos are sharp even at that long zoom range. The previous model offered decent quality without extra sharpening at its 100x range, so hopefully the new model will offer the same results at 120x. Meanwhile, the digital zoom on the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro Fold jumps from 20x to 30x for a little bit of extra range.

The new cameras and photography features are a good way for Google to add value to the new Pixel phones in light of increased memory and storage component prices. With a jump in pricing across the board, though, it remains to be seen if those and other new features will be enough to convince buyers to jump in or upgrade their current Pixel devices.