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Was personally bummed the iPhone Pro went with a wide angle over a longer zoom this year, but I understand why (iPhone 11 should have a zoom over wide though). Could their square design accommodate a fourth lens of the long zoom variety? One thing possibly working against a longer zoom on a smartphone can be the need to keep a steady hand as they're more prone to image blur at that focal length.
 
And 10x optical zoom is exactly that. What's your point?
You have to market them effectively as to what they will do, how they benefit consumers, and wrap it up in a good user experience (software). As I said, consumers already have 10X digital zoom and likely don't understand the difference. We already have seen great specs and it doesn't necessarily translate to success.

Remember 960fps slow motion?
 
Optical stabilization is better than sensor shift, but costs more. The best is having both, which is possible.

In good mirrorless system cameras, the sensor shift is amazing and better than optical stabilization in the lens. Having both work together is indeed even better, though.
 
It would be quite excellent if Apple put 10x (or even 100x) ability in future iPhones.

There should be an option for taking pictures where the shot has everything in focus. Then go back and use filters or other techniques to get the picture you want.
 
i'm just glad to find out an actual periscope does not pop up from the phone like a submarine periscope.
"just google it..."
 
You have to market them effectively as to what they will do, how they benefit consumers, and wrap it up in a good user experience (software). As I said, consumers already have 10X digital zoom and likely don't understand the difference. We already have seen great specs and it doesn't necessarily translate to success.

Remember 960fps slow motion?
The difference between the optical and digital zooms is obvious and even if the users don't know it, they will easily see the difference in the PQ. Zoom cameras/lenses have been available for decades. Most people know what they do.
 
I've been wondering if there was any way to increase the zoom on a smartphone lens past around 2x without making the phone thicker or the camera stick out farther. If "periscope" means what I think it does, that's a cool and clever solution--offset the sensor from the lens parallel to the back of the phone instead of perpendicular to it and use a mirror (I assume) to turn the corner.

The phone needs to be thick enough (or the sensor small enough) to fit the light path, and it'll eat up space in the case, but you could hypothetically have (with small aperture) a pretty substantial optical zoom this way.
Optical zoom preserves the quality of a shot when zooming in, while digital zoom results in some blurriness.
No, digital zoom doesn't result in "some blurriness", digital zoom doesn't exist. I get that cropping while shooting is convenient, but calling cropping an image "zoom" is like calling one of those horsey rides at the mall a vehicle.
 
Actually the iPhone 11 Pro with its three cameras whose with focal length equivalence of 13, 26 and 52 mm respectively, you can say it is a 4x optical zoom camera system.

The 2x lens on the iPhone 11 Pro does not offer real 2x optical zoom. This is deliberately misleading marketing from Apple. The actual focal length (i.e. the "optical" part) of the tele lens is 6mm, vs 4.5mm for the standard lens. This is 1.33x "optical" zoom. The rest of the zoom is achieved by using a smaller sensor for the tele lens.

Apple deliberately chooses never to mention the actual focal lengths or sensor sizes anywhere that I can see, instead always quoting the equivalent focal lengths. What makes this even more dishonest is that when talking about aperture they give the actual value, rather than the "equivalent" one, which would be much smaller (larger F-stop number, i.e. worse).
 
If I take this logic of Kuo's leaks then I can safely say that other real tech companies like Apple and Samsung are also working on top secret stuff that they didn't announce or self leaked just like how these Chinese tech companies self leaks. Tech coming out of ANY Chinese tech companies have been either stolen (patent theft or stolen via infiltration spies within Japan, Korea, and the States) or bought from said companies in Japan, Korea, and US. Well not everything but the high tech (advanced technology) equipment/processor chips/graphics chips/camera modules/software have all been bought (or stolen) from other non Chinese companies.

Like I said, all these Chinese tech companies have no reason for existing unless they keep their prices cheap. I cannot believe the audacity that they're attempting to compete with other real tech companies...especially with stolen patents and stolen intellectual properties. Stop anyone and ask them what device they use and what their future devices will be. Nobody will say a Chinese company because they know its going to be cheap, low quality, and inferior to other devices.

Just horrible horrible stuff.

Please die off nobody wants you guys. Good riddance.
 
The difference between the optical and digital zooms is obvious and even if the users don't know it, they will easily see the difference in the PQ. Zoom cameras/lenses have been available for decades. Most people know what they do.
We’ve seen specs before and it hasn’t worked is the point, particularly for enticing iOS users to switch.
 
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No, unfortunately it's not a fluid optical zoom from 1x to 5x but a different lens and different sensor
Software can make it fluid.

With a 5x sensor, the subject of a 3x zoomed photo (which is typically in the middle especially in home photography) could be using the 5x sensor with the rest of the image using the 1x sensor - digitally altered to line everything up.

Sure it won’t look as good as a 3x zoom lens... but it will look far better than a 1x zoom cropped to 3x. The best camera is the one you have with you and most people don’t own or want an expensive bulky camera.
 
Huawei’s camera game has been ahead of the pack in recent years so I would Apple to follow soon. Too invested in Apple ecosystem to change but the Mate 30 Pro is pretty impressive.
 
The iPhone does NOT have optical zoom. It just has two or three lenses with different focal lengths. Everything else is software.
And with the amount of noise reduction in images, any amount of digital zoom is not only pointless (better to crop later), but really shows up the lack of detail.
 
The features have to be meaningful and offer specific use cases...not just higher specs.
10x optical zoom is good, it overcomes limitations of sensors and so on, but it also introduces more optics so I wonder about image quality. The biggest advances IMO have been AI, especially night and portrait modes.

As above I also worry about image blur at long distances and in low light modes. I am upgrading next year so I will await Apple's offering before I decide.
 
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Honest question: how do the physics of this shake out? Most standard smartphone lenses are around the focal length of ~30mm (based on a full frame equivalent). That means 10x would be a 300mm equivalent.

How can you have that much optical zoom without a really (really) thick camera bump? Any optics experts out there?
 
Honest question: how do the physics of this shake out? Most standard smartphone lenses are around the focal length of ~30mm (based on a full frame equivalent). That means 10x would be a 300mm equivalent.

How can you have that much optical zoom without a really (really) thick camera bump? Any optics experts out there?

Long focal lengths achieved using periscope camera design. Light makes 90deg turn, using a mirror. This allows the lenses and the sensor to be arranged horizontally. Which allows thin yet long focal length camera. 125-160mm equiv. phone cameras have already been done this way.

Regarding longest focal length camera needed to market a phone as for example 10x zoom, this depends in part on how the zoom “x“ is calculated (and marketed). For example, if based on ultra wide camera of 16mm equiv., a 160mm equiv. camera would then provide 10x range in optical focal length.
 
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I hope people aren’t getting too excited for this. A 10X lens with an F4.0 aperture on a sensor this size will not be good. On the P30 Pro it’s already been shown that, except for in bright sunlight, the 5X is matched or exceeded by a cropped photo from the 2X.
 
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