Google Camera 8.8 brings faster Night Sight or longer exposure time for Pixel 6/Pro

Faster Night Sight for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro is rolling out with version 8.8 of Google Camera.

First introduced for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, Google touts Night Sight photos that have “less motion blur since exposures can be half as long as before.” The company credits “updates to HDR+ with Bracketing and new ML techniques to reduce noise.”

“And Night Sight now only needs half of the normal exposure time to produce beautiful low-light images that are sharper than before.”

When switching to the Night Sight tab after updating to Camera 8.8, Pixel 6/Pro owners will notice a circle in the bottom-right corner. Tapping lets you select 2 seconds or Max (which goes up to 6 seconds). Depending on shooting conditions, the time increment might fluctuate between 2-6 seconds.

Google is essentially letting you decide between faster Night Sight or a longer exposure time for improved image quality.

This feature was announced as part of this month’s Feature Drop, with Android 13 QPR2 not yet available for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, as well as 6a. The March patch also brings “general improvements for camera stability and performance in certain conditions” for the Pixel 6, 6 Pro, 7, and 7 Pro. The 7 series also benefits from “improvements for color accuracy or exposure level while using the front camera in certain conditions.”

Google Camera 8.8 is not yet widely rolled out via the Play Store, but it’s available for sideload. The app was last updated in December.

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