The Google Pixel 11 Pro can zoom up to 120x, farther than any Pixel before it. On paper, that's a great marketing feature to have. But that's not the camera upgrade I am actually excited about.

That would be Instant Night Sight and Camera Looks, two upgrades that solve my biggest gripes with the Pixel's camera: waiting too long for low-light photos and having little control over how the final image looks.

120x zoom is a great marketing feature

It won't always deliver usable photos

It's impressive that Google claims the Pixel 11 Pro can offer up to 120x Pro Zoom. This is possible because of an upgraded 5x periscope shooter with 32% better light sensitivity and the faster ISP inside the Tensor G6 chip.

In ideal conditions, the phone may deliver usable pictures at such extreme magnification. But as someone who has used Chinese Ultra phones with 100x and 120x zoom, I know that these headline-grabbing numbers are mostly a gimmick.

Unless the scene is perfect, the final result will probably be a mess. I don't remember capturing one usable photo at 100x magnification with the Google Pixel 10 Pro in over six months of use.

Still, the improved 5x telephoto camera is a meaningful upgrade.

More light sensitivity should produce cleaner, brighter pictures at the practical zoom ranges I use daily, with the difference being most noticeable in poorly lit environments.

I might rarely use the Pixel 11 Pro's 120x Pro Zoom, but I can see myself appreciating the improved image quality at 5x to 10x zoom.

More importantly, the upgraded camera sensors and the faster ISP enable the Pixel 11 Pro to offer something more useful than 120x zoom: Instant Night Sight.

Instant Night Sight should help capture the perfect moment

Faster low-light photos are more useful than 120x zoom

Night Sight is one of the Pixel's most useful camera features. Admittedly, it's not as cutting-edge as it was a few years ago.

Chinese Ultra flagships with larger camera sensors deliver even better low-light photos.

Still, with a Pixel, Night Sight ensures I can capture a great photo even when it's too dark.

However, using Night Sight requires patience. First, you have to hold the phone steady for a few seconds after pressing the shutter button. Then, the phone takes another second or two to process the image before showing the final result.

This can be an issue when photographing a subject, like my 11-month-old son, who refuses to stay still.

This is why I am more interested in instant Night Sight than the 120x zoom.

Google says the Pixel 11 Pro can capture Night Sight photos up to 4.5x faster. Based on Rita's hands-on testing, those claims appear correct, with Night Sight on Google's new flagship Pixels actually being instant.

The faster Night Sight experience should also make the upgraded telephoto camera more useful in challenging conditions. Using Night Sight with the 5x zoom camera is always a challenge, since it's hard to hold the phone steady for a few seconds.

Even without any image-quality improvements, the Pixel 11 Pro's Instant Night Sight feature is a big upgrade in daily use.

Camera Looks gives me the control I always wanted

I can finally tweak Google's processing to my liking

I loved the Pixel's photo processing when I started using it. But over the years, its photos began to look too processed, with little contrast and almost devoid of color.

My wife disliked the results even more. She hated the strong HDR effect, something that made a Pixel photo almost instantly recognizable.

Unfortunately, there was little I could do to fix this problem. For some pictures, I could tweak them in Google Photos to make them more appealing. But doing this for every picture in my library was not an option.

Camera Looks on the Pixel 11 should finally solve this problem for good.

It will give me greater control over the Pixel's photo processing, letting me tweak contrast, shadows, brightness, warmth, and highlights to my liking. That customized processing will automatically apply to all photos.

This is what makes Camera Looks more useful than a typical filter. I will not have to remember to select the right filter every time I open the Camera app.

Google is late to the party here, as iPhone and major Android manufacturers have been offering a similar feature for a couple of years now.

Still, better late than never. I am just glad that Google finally decided to give us control over how the final Pixel photos should look.

These upgrades could improve every photo I take

The 120x Pro Zoom will undoubtedly be one of the first things I try when I get my hands on the Pixel 11 Pro. It will also be a great feature to show off in front of my friends and family, just like HiLight.

But after that novelty wears off, I know it's a feature that I will rarely use.

That won't be the case with Instant Night Sight and Camera Looks.

I will probably set up the latter within the first few days of getting the Pixel 11 Pro and keep tweaking it over the next few weeks to get the desired results.

As for Instant Night Sight, it requires no such effort, which makes it even better.

The Pixel 11 Pro may zoom farther than any Pixel before it, but I am more excited about how it will become a better camera for the pictures I take every day.

Google Pixel 11 Pro
  •                 **Brand**

  •                 **SoC**
  • Google Tensor G6
  •                 **Display**
  • 6.3-inch Super Actua display
  •                 **RAM**
  • 12 or 16GB
  •                 **Storage**
  • 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
  •                 **Battery**
  • 4850 mAh

The Google Pixel Pro offers bigger and better specs than the standard Pixel 11—at a higher price.