If I had to choose what impressed me most about the evolution of daily technology over the past 20 years, phone cameras would be high on the list. And one thing that I like about Apple is just raising the bar every time. Speaking of photos.
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Apple Lining Up Periscope Telephoto Lens Suppliers for 2022 iPhone
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If you need that much zoom, buy a full on camera.
It's funny how a few years ago people were complaining about Apple's obsession with form over function.
They still do 🙂 The argument shifts back and forth depending on the specific feature being discussed, with Apple being crapped on either way 🤷♂️
They also complain about an iPhone thinness obsession when in fact iPhones have been getting thicker since 2014 (iPhone 6).
A fair number of those who post here, Reddit etc. have never used or even seen irl the products they complain about. What’s their motivation? Your gue$$ is as good as mine...
Actually the Huawei Pro+ model has a 3x optical zoom AND a 10x optical zoom. So yes, Apple is ridiculously behind at this point, at least 3 years in the zoom dept.
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Huawei has had more zoom in phones now for at least 3 years, that isn't "fast". Apple is just slow.
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That's like saying if you need, oh, I don't know..." 512 GB silver iPhone 11 Pro Max " to buy an external hard-drive, because 64GB is big enough.
That’s not the point though is it? Hardly a sensible reply. You want it in your pocket where you can get good zoom. That kind of mindset is why apple make people wait for features.
Apple wants to make it right rather than make it fast? So you are suggesting that there's something wrong with current Periscope smartphone cameras? What? I'm really curious.
Huawei's P40 Pro Plus's Periscope camera is without question the best on the market right now. What exactly can Apple do better? Actually P40 Pro Plus's camera system is currently the best on the market and really pushing the boundaries on what's possible on a smartphone today.
I'm suggesting that this is usually the case, and that when Apple comes into the market, they put the bar much higher than it was before.
I don't know enough about this specific case (cameras) to have an accurate advice on this. You might be right.
Quality for Periscope cameras on Android phones has been fantastic since day 1.
I mean even the Pixel 4 with it's combination of hardware and software solution offers obviously better zoom quality than Apple.
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Oh, so you don't know, you are just are making generalizations for fun.
But why would you suggest that there's something wrong with Periscope cameras on current Android phones?
Possibly.
What's great about P40 Pro Plus is that all the camera sensors it uses are flagship quality
Main - 50 MP, f/1.9, 23mm (wide), 1/1.28", 2.44µm, omnidirectional PDAF
10x optical - 8 MP, f/4.4, 240mm (periscope telephoto), PDAF, OIS
3x optical - 8 MP, f/2.4, 80mm (telephoto), PDAF, OIS
ultrawide - 40 MP, f/1.8, 18mm (ultrawide), 1/1.54", PDAF
Even the ultra-wide sensor is a screamer and the main sensor used for video recording, producing the most stable video from a smartphone right now.
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Loving phones or companies is obviously your department, I only care for the truth.
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What's wrong with Samsung's implementation of the Periscope camera?
And Samsung wasn't even the first, Huawei was the first to launch a phone with a Periscope camera.
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It is the point. There's only so much you can get out of a phone. Samsung has shown us you can do 100x zoom if you want, but beyond 1-2x it's useless anyway.
And what's wrong with a smartphone giving you that zoom range?
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Nonsense, up to 30X Samsung's zoom quality is fantastic rivaling dedicated cameras in some instances.
I see your point.
Comments like the above are disingenuous, at best.
“Need”? Lol... seems a bit melodramatic.
If that is really a “need” of theirs- one wonders how on earth they’ve been surviving!! After all, Apple has never offered such... & I don’t think the Samsung/Huawei implementations of late could be described in that way either.
I guess it’s either hubris, or they really do go year after year with their needs being unmet because they refuse to purchase products that fit those needs, and instead bellyache that a product with a different purpose and form factor don’t have those same features that they desire.... whoops, I mean “need”.
As I understand it, the two iPhone 12 "Pro" models will both get 3x Optical Zoom with the Back Telephoto Lens.
Combine that with a DRAM update to 6 GB of LPDDR5, & both the Pro models could be worthy upgrade candidates !
The quality of the Back Telephoto Image Sensor is key, however !
As it currently stands with the 11 Pro Max (which I use), the Back Wide Image Sensor is A+, the Back Telephoto is B-, & the Back Ultra-Wide is C-.
BTW, 3x Optical Zoom could be the practical limit for Handheld operation.
Beyond that, you'll need to use either a Monopod OR Tripod !
Combine that with a DRAM update to 6 GB of LPDDR5, & both the Pro models could be worthy upgrade candidates !
The quality of the Back Telephoto Image Sensor is key, however !
As it currently stands with the 11 Pro Max (which I use), the Back Wide Image Sensor is A+, the Back Telephoto is B-, & the Back Ultra-Wide is C-.
BTW, 3x Optical Zoom could be the practical limit for Handheld operation.
Beyond that, you'll need to use either a Monopod OR Tripod !
I think I read somewhere that the periscope camera takes blurry photos when you zoom in on a target, possibly because it doesn’t track movement very well. So you end up with a feature that sounds great to have in a tech demo, but may otherwise be of limited use in real life.
There are also a few other camera-related issues, such as the inability to focus on close-up shots, and the aggressive smoothening of skin in photos. I am not sure if they have since been patched.
It explains what I feel is so very wrong with the competition these days. There is too much focus on specs and not enough on the user experience. There is not enough of “how does one use this product to get more out of technology”.
I feel that samsung is in a very weird place right now, as evidenced by their rather lacklustre February keynote.
First, their partnering with so many companies (eg: netflix, Microsoft, Spotify) shows that they know they have no hope of competing in content distribution. Contrast this with Apple, which has a healthy services portfolio (Apple Music, news, arcade, TV+, card, iCloud, App Store).
Second, their hyping up of 5g in smartphones isn’t resonating with me, given how 5g is still in its infancy and it looks like it will be a while before it gets rolled out. This feels like a move more targeted at carriers than consumers. So it serves little purpose except to jack up the starting price of phones for no real benefit.
Third, foldable phones are going nowhere, and it shows. The high price isn’t helping adoption numbers either. In a sense, it shows the gulf between Apple and the competition. Apple has a massive lead in wearables, and the rest are choosing to double down on smartphones because they know there is no way they can compete with the Apple Watch.
My sensing is that Samsung peaked early with phablets, which is an idea that has very low barriers to entry. Anyone can make a phone with a larger display, so being first to pioneer the idea didn’t exactly give Samsung as large a lead as they would have liked. Conversely, products like the ipad and Apple Watch make heavy use of proprietary software and services that the competition simply cannot replicate. Which is why there is no tablet or smartwatch market. Only an ipad and Apple Watch market respectively.
As such, Samsung can only double down on smartphones, and even that is turning out to be a problem given how people are upgrading less often, launching an expensive smartphone seems incredibly shortsighted given this year’s pandemic situation, and the only reason why Samsung is still surviving in the US is possibly because Huawei is banned there.
It’s fascinating to look back and see how Apple has been slowly but steadily laying the foundation for each new product feature, even if each move doesn’t seem like much in itself. And that’s why I am not really phased when people point out how this phone or that has this one feature that is better than the iphone. Because what I look for ultimately is the whole package and how everything plays well with one another.
What's wrong with it? The quality. It's terrible. Even 2x sucks on most phones. They're not big enough to put the components you need for high quality images.
Wrong, 10x and 30x looks great. You can get plenty out of the phone. Apple just chooses not to give us the tech in the timeframe that it’s ready
not a Zoom at all, just a higher FL. an actual Zoom would be nice, since you'd get the steps in between at optical clarity, not some digital zoom function on the shorter FL lens.