Possibilities with two camera lenses on the iPhone 7

[Tom G.]

I just finished reading an article that mentioned the possibility of the iPhone 7 having two camera lenses, and it looks like it is strong possibility.

This got me to thinking of what could be done with two lenses side by side like this, and the first thing that came to mind was the old steroscopic camera that had two lenses set side by side that took two photos of the same scene at the precise same moment. The distance between the lenses caused a parallax between the two scenes and then the prints from the film were then mounted on a cardboard. When you put the cardboard mount into a stero-viewer you had a 3D scene.

It would be neat if the camera software would allow the iPhone to take the required separate photos, that is each lens makes a separate photo with the needed parallax so you could then print the photos and make your own stereoscopic mounts. The viewers are still rather common at flea markets and garage sales.

The two photos on the cardboard mount were mostly in square format which is already supported by the camera app, all that would have to be done is to have each lens take the same photo but keep them separate so when you look at them on the photos app you would see two seemingly identical photos of each shot.

 

[cruisin]

The LG G5 has both a wide angle and a zoom camera and the Huawei P9 has both a colour and monochrome camera which boosts low light and detail. The iPhone version would be something similar, possibly the zoom version if the recent patent is accurate.

The camera separation on a phone may be too low for realistic stereo photos, as I imagine the parallax would need to match your eyes. The modern stereo viewer is something like Google Cardboard, where you can view 3D films and interactive content like flying around the planet.