Google has tips for using Pixel Camera’s new Panorama mode

Abner Li | May 1 2025 - 1:03 pm PT

With the Pixel 9 series, the Camera app got an upgraded Panorama mode and Google has some tips on how to get the most out of it.

Before this update, “panorama mode worked via video,” with the camera “scanning the scene as you’re moving.” This resulted in “a lot less data than you do with photos.”

Panorama mode now leverages the Pixel’s HDR+ image pipeline to “stack all those photos and all their data together to come up with a really amazing image.” It’s available on the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, 9 Pro Fold, and now the Pixel 9a.

At a high-level, you get the highest quality shots by keeping “movement as consistent and steady as possible,” with the Pixel’s level indicator (Settings > Framing hints) helping achieve that. Google suggests you “rotate the camera as much as you can while standing in place” instead of “rotating your whole body when taking a panorama.” This helps “eliminate perspective shift — or those jagged edges you can get when each transition doesn’t quite line up — and create a smooth stitch.”

Advertisement - scroll for more content

For Night Sight panorama: “The more still you are, the higher quality your image will be.” To that end: “Just be patient, pause on the dot, be as still as possible and then move to the next dot.” Users don’t have to tap-to-focus or tap-to-expose as the Pixel Camera is “designed to balance the light and expose it correctly.”

The final tip is experimenting with panorama, like using the mode’s “full 360 capabilities to capture the entire scene around you.” Shooting vertically is also suggested, with a Pixel Camera update in October adding support for vertical panorama.