Google says a telephoto video issue with the Pixel 10 Pro has been resolved, but user complaints continue to flow regarding that and other supposed issues. Even after the T-Mobile update shipped, I saw many Great White Northerners reporting video jerking while panning, with some users stating the stutter would only go away after turning off Video Stabilization in the Pixel Camera app. If you depend on the telephoto lens for smooth video, you might still be out of luck.
What Readers Are Watching On Zoom Video
Reports online through Reddit and the host company’s own helpdesk forums all describe a similar scene: Start recording video at telephoto, pan slowly and “tick” sounds emit from the footage rather than it gliding smoothly across. The artifact is not your usual 24 fps judder. Instead, frames seem to be jerked from one stabilization fix to another, which gives it a janky mechanical look—and at 3× to 5× is particularly apparent in little shakes being amplified.
Importantly, a number of users claim the issue goes away when they disable Video Stabilization. That switch turns off electronic image stabilization (EIS) while keeping the lens’s optical image stabilization (OIS) on. The takeaway: less aggressive correction, fewer sudden jumps and smooth panning — imparted with some of the natural sway of holding a camera in your hand.
What Google Has Said to Date About The Telephoto Bug
Several customers say they were told by Google Support that a recent update resolved the issue. The examples keep piling up, however, and there’s no extensive public changelog that Google has released detailing one specific telephoto EIS fix on the Pixel 10 Pro. “It’s frustrating as a user,” he says. “Without a clear note on what the problem is and a resolution, it’s hard to know if it’s just you or some kind of edge case bug that they closed out prematurely.”
We asked Google for a clarification of the EIS behavior, as well as a firmware or camera app update that would fix it. There is no public detailed explanation by the company, and user experiences are mixed after updates.
Why Stabilizing a Telephoto Is So Difficult
Telephoto lenses amplify motion. A tiny shake of the hand results in a large change in framing, making stabilization trickier than on a wide or primary camera. OIS shifts lens elements to compensate for shake, while EIS crops and re-frames every frame digitally with motion estimates. When such systems are not aligned perfectly, they may “fight,” yielding micro-corrections that appear as stutter while the algorithm attempts to re-center a crop during a pan.
EIS motion models at higher focal lengths require highly accurate gyro data, stable frame timing, and predictable lens behavior. Then, with any disparity—sensor noise, rolling shutter defects or even too-eager smoothing—the crop window jumps, particularly during slow deliberate pans that expose stabilization handoffs.
Temporary Workarounds You Can Try Now On Pixel 10 Pro
Test whether EIS is the trigger first. In the Pixel Camera app, set your telephoto lens to video mode, and then turn off Video Stabilization. If your pans suddenly look smoother, you may be witnessing the EIS–OIS interplay at work. You keep OIS, which helps control high-frequency shake, but you lose the greater digital smoothing that can induce the stepping.
Some users have success with a third-party app such as Open Camera that has a different EIS pipeline. It’s not optimal to have to switch between apps, but it does allow stabilization with that telephoto footage in a slightly different way. You might want to prioritize taking some of it on your main camera whenever you can, with a monopod/tripod if needed or just smoother and linear pans thinking about algorithmic corrections.
How To Help Google Reproduce The Telephoto Video Bug
Reliable reproduction steps accelerate fixes. Record brief clips: one with Video Stabilization on, one off (film a slow scenic pan with the telephoto lens). Keep an eye on the zoom level, the resolution you’re recording in and how many frames per second. Send feedback with the phone’s feedback tool and provide your clips. Reproducible test cases — same scene, same motion — help engineers identify the problematic stabilization transitions that introduce stutter.
Do Pixel 10 Pro Owners Have To Worry About This?
If telephoto video is critical in your workflow, consider this a known issue until Google offers an official remedy. The phone’s rear camera is still excellent for video; most people won’t have any issues outside of zoom panning. But on a high-end device, stabilization should be consistent at all focal lengths. The hack works, but it’s no long-term solution.
Is telephoto stutter still there on your Pixel 10 Pro? If possible, share your setup and sample clips through feedback channels. The more the community can provide such reproducible data, the faster a solid, tested fix can get into a software update.
