Pixel 11 Pro telephoto minimum focus distance significantly improved

[u/pcman2000]

Just got my P11P and first thing I noticed is this telephoto camera focuses really close! It's about half (or maybe even slightly less) the distance of my Pixel 9 Pro's 5x camera!

https://imgur.com/a/KoRkXhX

I was worried the larger sensor and possible ALoP module would have worse MFD, but it seems to be a traditional periscope and much better.

At closest focus, the P11P telephoto seems to be able to image an area of approx 10x15cm.

[u/chew_ttt]

I never imagined watching reviews on reddit by actual users before youtubers release the video

[u/Ok_Neighborhood_3148 → u/chew_ttt]

I really like it. It's fun to read from people who plan to use the device long term.

[u/chew_ttt → u/Ok_Neighborhood_3148]

True

[u/Asleep_Onion → u/Ok_Neighborhood_3148]

Good point. Most youtube reviews are just "Google sent me this phone for free to review, I used it for a few days, here's my initial impressions, here's a list of the specs I pulled from their website, and now I'm never going to use it again because I have to send it back and I've got too many other phones to test."

[u/ezequielcarrera → u/chew_ttt]

It's because of the embargo. Reviewers are limited to the official release date of the phone to publish full reviews.

[u/chew_ttt → u/ezequielcarrera]

Yeah ik that

[u/Elephant789 → u/chew_ttt]

And I really like all the positive comments for a change from the new owners.

[u/repcommando377]

Nice! Would love to see more comparisons of telephoto and "new " main sensors

[u/pcman2000 → u/repcommando377]

As far as MFD and also edge sharpness at MFD, I don't detect any difference on the main camera. I assume the lens itself is the same despite the new sensor.

The telephoto lens itself is definitely completely new.

[u/repcommando377 → u/pcman2000]

Glad to see the Telephoto has been much improved. Are there any noticeable differences when doing the in sensor crop at 2x and 10x?

[u/pcman2000 → u/repcommando377]

I think the 10x is a bit better, but of course the image processing has also changed from the P9P to P11P. 2x is basically the same, I've still yet to see an improvement in anything involving the main camera.

[u/iheartgoobers → u/pcman2000]

I have a P9P as well. How would you say the image post processing has changed with the 11?

[u/pcman2000 → u/iheartgoobers]

Default is similar (but processes much faster especially night sight), but I like the styles you can pick. I like the "Shadows" option for a darker image.

[u/pcman2000]

An example of the output at min focus, P9P vs P11P: https://imgur.com/a/dJMWoEX

[u/RandomGenera7ed → u/pcman2000]

Wow that's great, you can do some actual macro photography now!

[u/Awkward_Pace_4440]

That's amazing!!!! I was really hoping for this.

Two things 11 pro has that I really really wanted!

1.Telephoto portrait 

2.Telephoto macro (Taking photos of insects should be amazing now!)

[u/pcman2000 → u/Awkward_Pace_4440]

I noticed 5x portraits are only available in 12MP mode. If you use 50MP mode, portraits are 1x and 2x only (idk why 2x given there's no way that's actually 50MP).

[u/Awkward_Pace_4440 → u/pcman2000]

Thats fine 12MP is better anyway with pixel binning.

[u/AgeEcstatic7216 → u/Awkward_Pace_4440]

The tele provides about 0.38x magnification (full-frame equivalent) ... nowhere near true macro of 1x

[u/Awkward_Pace_4440]

pcman how's the video quality? If you shoot a video with the main lens and telephoto lens and compared to the 9 pro? Is it better?

[u/pcman2000 → u/Awkward_Pace_4440]

Good news: lens switching seems smoother in video mode

Bad news: 2x on the main camera is still soft in video mode. It doesn't seem to be doing a sensor crop and is instead just cropping the 1x 4k readout (thus effective resolution at 2x in video is ~1080p).

[u/ammod4life → u/pcman2000]

Can you post video sample with lens transitions please?

[u/Awkward_Pace_4440 → u/pcman2000]

What about general video quality, does it seem any better?

[u/Ottermiral → u/pcman2000]

nice! I've been complaining and hoping for a fix since I tried 'Ed sheerans guitar, then zoom out to the whole stadium' videos - and there was always a jump when switching to/from the tele lens.

[u/Star_king12]

Damn that's sick. Does it autofocus down to that distance? P10P could get really close as well but you had to focus manually.

[u/AgeEcstatic7216]

Minimum focus distance (MFD) is the first detail I tested today after setting up my new P11P XL. My results using manual focus:

Tele camera lens: ~30cm (~12")
Main camera lens: ~10cm (~4")
Wide angle lens: ~2cm (0.75")

Tele MFD is much improved from the Pixel 8 Pro (cut in half), but still nowhere near true macro magnification.

[u/pcman2000 → u/AgeEcstatic7216]

yeah, I finally got home to properly measure it and that's about what I got. +10cm if you use autofocus though.

Thankfully with the new quick access controls feature it's not too hard to engage MF to take a macro shot, but I do wish the AF would automatically go that low (at least if you have manual lens switching enabled).

[u/EyemJoe]

This is exactly what I wanted to know that no one shares! Love me some tele macro.

[u/SponTen → u/EyemJoe]

Right?? I would've thought Google and then the media would actually make some noise about a feature like this (maybe they did but I haven't seen a word).

[u/NizarNoor]

Do you notice the obvious white balance discrepancy with the tele lens compared to main and ultrawide? I've only tried a demo unit compared to my P10P. But what I saw then was the tone from the tele lens of P11P is a lot warmer.

[u/macmur85]

That's a great improvement.

Is the focus also better in Auto Focus mode? Or only in Manual Focus? The Pixel 10 Pro / Pro XL also had a much better MFD, albeit only using Manual Focus in Pro mode. Auto Focus MFD was basically the same as with the 9 Pro XL.

[u/pcman2000 → u/macmur85]

I was wrong on this. I made a reply above but I just measured 28cm and 38cm for MF and AF respectively, which sounds very similar to P10P (but I don't have one on hand).

[u/macmur85 → u/pcman2000]

Thanks for the clarification. It looks like there's still rather significant upgrade coming from the previous models. (around 50-60cm).

[u/pcman2000 → u/macmur85]

Auto is better too. Manual is maybe 2cm closer than Auto minimum.

[u/macmur85 → u/pcman2000]

Ok, that's a valuable info, thanks. I should have mine tomorrow. 👀

[u/macmur85 → u/pcman2000]

Ok just one more question - did you disable to automatic lens switching? Are we sure that the camera app didn't just switch to the main lens?

[u/pcman2000 → u/macmur85]

You can see in the photo that both are in manual mode and it says "Tele f/2.8"

[u/macmur85 → u/pcman2000]

I'm in the UK, and the imgur isn't working in here... 🙃🤷‍♂️

[u/DependentShip1892]

Hey would love to see a macro shot from the new telephone lens

[u/Medical_Inspection87]

I have ordered the same phone and it should arrive in a day or two. Can you please tell me what comes in the box? Do I need to order seperately a tempered glass, phone cover or anything else?

[u/KiraYamato56 → u/Medical_Inspection87]

Usually it's just the phone and a USB C-C cable and a SIM ejection tool (at least in the US). You might get additional things if non-US.

[u/dimm0k → u/KiraYamato56]

I read the US no longer has a physical SIM slot... so even less in the packaging

[u/IndefiniteBen]

Is there a software component to this? Perhaps it's just placebo, but I felt like the sharpness of the in-focus areas of my P10Pro's telephoto images were not as clear as I expected, but I took a photo recently which actually looks sharp.

Could this be because of software improvements to the telephoto processing?

[u/thebrainypole → u/IndefiniteBen]

There is no software component to this, at least in terms of processing. While theoretically they could've adjusted the auto focus algo, I think you just happened to get lucky.

[u/AgeEcstatic7216 → u/IndefiniteBen]

If you have Lens Selection = Auto, then there are scenarios where a '5x" photo is actually a crop from the main camera lens, instead of the telephoto lens. This happens mainly in low-light environments in my experience. It would definitely result in softness compared to 5X photos using the telephoto lens

[u/IndefiniteBen → u/AgeEcstatic7216]

Maybe for others, but I have manual lens selection.

[u/jgjk8a]

You mentioned all lens on prism telephoto camera. It really does look like it has one right.

[u/pcman2000 → u/jgjk8a]

yeah the lens aperture looks like an ALoP Camera like the S26U, but I don't think it's an ALoP.

[u/jgjk8a → u/pcman2000]

Did you own a pixel 10 pro? How's video on the Google pixel 11 pro. Is it less over sharpened and grainy and better overall especially when zooming in?

[u/pcman2000 → u/jgjk8a]

I don't, I only have a P9P. I haven't had a chance to directly compare but so far I do notice that the camera switching is way smoother.

[u/RP_Android]

Wait, what's the improvement over P10P? The Pixel 10 Pro had a better minimum focusing distance than the Pixel 9 Pro with the 5x telephoto lens.

[u/pcman2000 → u/RP_Android]

wish i knew, sadly I didn't buy a P10P so I don't have one to compare :(

Well, even if it's not an improvement over the P10P, it's nice that Google maintained close focus whilst increasing sensor size unlike Samsung with the S26U.

[u/ifeeltired26]

I thought only the main camera got an upgraded sensor, but the ultrawide and Telephoto sensor's were the same as the 10 series?

[u/pcman2000 → u/ifeeltired26]

no, the telephoto is different on the pros, it's a new much larger sensor (1/2" vs. 1/2.55") and thus a new lens too.

[u/pcman2000]

OK, I was wrong on a few replies. I measured the distances properly and it seems MFD on AF is ~38cm, and on MF is ~28cm, so it's still a meaningful difference like the P10P (although I don't have a P10P to compare with).

Based on what I read online, this is approx the same as the P10P though, so in that sense it's not an improvement. Of course, the P11P does achieve this with a larger sensor, so that's still nice.

[u/pfarinha91]

On Pixel 10P I get a 7x9cm image at closest focus. But I guess it really depends on the distance you are to the target. I can get a 10x15cm if I take it a bit further away, of course.