I shot 180+ photos with the Google Pixel 8 Pro in Paris

For the past few days that I’ve had the Google Pixel 8 Pro in my hands, I’ve been touring around Paris, taking photos of anything and everything I can see. I loved the Pixel 7 Pro’s and 6 Pro’s cameras — I’ve shot over 3000 photos with each one — so my expectations were pretty high for the 8 Pro, even though Google didn’t change much, on paper, this year.

So how did the Pixel 8 Pro perform? And is it one of the best camera phones on the market now? Feast your eyes on all the samples below, taken straight out of the phone with no edits or filters whatsoever, and be the judge. Keep in mind, though, that all of these are compressed and don’t show the 8 Pro’s Ultra HDR photos properly. You can find the full-resolution samples at this Google Drive link.

Food

Starting with food, here is a mix of macro shots (the two tarts) with some regular and 2x photos take with the Pixel 8 Pro.

People and pets

OK, I know these could’ve been taken anywhere, but they were shot in Paris with the Pixel 8 Pro’s camera — portraits don’t allow for much discernible scenery around them. Also, the kittens said hi.

Glam interiors and metro stations

Ah, there were go, some real Parisian snaps with the Pixel 8 Pro. This is a mix of ultrawide, regular, 2x, and 5x telephoto shots taken around some famous Parisian subway stations, the BNF Richelieu library’s “salle ovale”, the Vivienne gallery, La Samaritaine shopping center, and the Carnavalet museum. Most of these are shot indoors, with varying lights to showcase the HDR capabilities of the Pixel 8 Pro.

Building patterns

Moving outside, we head to the Bibliothèque Francois Mitterand area to spot some cool buildings with fun and wonky patterns. Everything here was shot with the telephoto lens at 5x zoom.

Outdoor, nature, and monuments

Look, you give me a brand new phone and the first thing I do is go to a cemetery — I’m weird like that. But seriously though, when it comes to morbid photos, it doesn’t get better than the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Then we head over to the Sacré Coeur Basilica and its nearby Montmartre quarter, the Louvres pyramid, the Grand Mosque, and the Promenade Plantée, and we snap other random photos with the Pixel 8 Pro along the way. Ultrawide, regular, 2x, and 5x zoom are all part of this batch.

Bonus points if you manage to spot the invisible mirror-building. Hint: it’s in the bottom row. I’ve already said too much.

Art and graffiti

You can’t say Paris without saying “ar,” which is the way the word “art” is pronounced in French. Yup, I just thought of that fun fact. French lessons aside, here is an eclectic collection of graffiti (mostly from Squat 59 Rivoli), paintings, and statues from all around the city of lights. I gave myself a bonus point for spotting that Google logo mosaic.

Getting up close and personal

The Pixel 8 Pro’s ultrawide camera boasts improved macro functionality and it shows. Pictures are more natural with none of the over-sharpening of the Pixel 7 Pro, and you can get much closer to your subject. For scale, that daisy was merely 1 or 1.5cm large.

Paris at Night

The city of lights comes alive at night, so I went over to the Louvres, Arc de Triomphe, and Ponts des Arts to snap some cool photos with the Pixel 8 Pro. What? No Eiffel Tower? Nope, it would’ve been too on-the-nose and the day I planned to go, the area was busy with protests. So you get the next best things from Paris. All of these were snapped with Night Sight, but some were taken with the main lens while others were shot at 2x and 5x zoom.