The Google Pixel 8 bug disables this very basic camera feature

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Google Pixel 8 units seem to be affected by a bug.
• This bug disables the auto exposure feature in the Google Camera.
• Google is yet to acknowledge and respond to the issue.

Google’s Pixel 8 phones offer one of the best cameras at present. But it seems like some Pixel 8 users are facing a bug that’s creating lighting issues while taking photos. Users have complained about adjusting the lighting from the viewfinder, which isn’t working at all when the zoom level is set to 1x. Google is yet to respond on the issue, and roll out a fix.

The Google Pixel 8 camera bug

• The issue here is with a very basic feature that’s available on all smartphones. Before you capture a photo, you can tap on any area in the viewfinder to adjust the lighting, and it will automatically brighten or darken the photo.
• Turns out, this feature isn’t working at all on the Pixel 8, and that too in the default camera where the zoom is set to 1x. But it seems to be working on other zoom levels, and even in wide angle and video mode, according to this Reddit thread.
• The same issue has been posted on Google’s Issue Tracker forum. The bug appears to be affecting several users as seen in the replies on both forums. Folks at Android Police also tested this on multiple the Google Pixel 8 units to find that the bug indeed disables auto exposure.
• The problem might be only in the viewfinder as the photo captured has the exposure adjusted as intended. But it can be frustrating if you’re trying to get the right photo by fixing it from the viewfinder itself.

Google hasn’t resolved the issue yet, which seems to be a software bug on the Google Pixel 8. The response on the Issue Tracker complaint shows that it wasn’t acknowledged, and that the user has to complain on other platforms. Since this is a very basic camera feature, Google is expected to roll out a software update with a fix soon.