contacos
macrumors 603
Their phones had it in 2018
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Samsung Planning to Follow iPhone 18 Pro's Variable Aperture Camera
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Their phones had it in 2018
Samsung introduced it first, but dropped it after 1 year. So Apple 🍎 is the one following in Samsung’s footsteps.
You assume only engineers work at Apple?
There is no patent on variable aperture as this technology was invented decades ago with camera cinema photography tech. Apple 🍎 and Samsung are able to freely implement it without restrictions. The Tech is expensive though.
Note that Sony, Samsung and LG are assemblers/integrators for camera module hardware. The components of the modules (lenses, mounts/stabilisation/focus, CMOS, more) come from a variety of suppliers, including China.
I thought they already had that and stopped using it. Guess the sensors have improved to the point where it might be useful. Samsung: always out ahead of technology, even before it actually works.
Have actually reached a point where the sensors are good enough that letting in LESS light is ever going to be a good thing? If so, that's pretty impressive for a tiny camera.
And respectfully, your point is?
Thankfully the Chinese brands had implemented and improved upon Samsung's lead which may be why both Samsung and Apple are looking to add these features.
Honestly good for consumers, as camera phones continued to get better and I personally have no interest in any of the Chinese brands, not that I can actually get them!
No, reducing the light onto the sensor will NEVER be a good thing as regards image noise. A smaller lens aperture might give greater depth of field, but that's already very large in these small cameras.
Image CMOS sensors are basically plateauing in performance, their peak quantum efficiency is around 80%+, so there is little to improve in QE (max is 100%). The Bayer colour filter absorbs around 40-50% (+/-) so replacing that with a non-absorbing diffracting solution is where the next improvement lies.
Respectfully I disagree.
I still shoot with very old digital cameras because I like the look of them. There are still times with old eight megapixel sensors from 2004 where would you want to stop to a more closed aperture to get a more optimum exposure with a slightly longer exposure than wide open. This is especially true if you don't have ND filter with to work with
You can't achieve certain photographic effects shooting wide open with only a millisecond shutter speed. just impossible!
ProbablyDylan
macrumors 68040
macfacts
macrumors 603
I agree! (I meant total light exposure.)
Good photos are a lot more than technical specifications. (I use film cameras ... avoid digital most of the time, except for the phone camera of course.)
I thought this sounded familiar! Glad I haven’t gone crazy.
cnnyy20p
macrumors 6502
Samsung is copying the feature they had before as the article mentioned. That’s the bait.
The variable aperture surprises me. It seems like a lot of engineering cost for negligible value add. Pro photography has been at least 50% of my work for decades. Whether using Nikon's top cameras or the iPhone Pro cameras, when handholding a shot I usually want to capture the most light available, i.e. a wide open lens, using the maximum light to reduce shutter speed and help minimize captured camera/subject movement. Smaller apertures are used for specialty purposes, often on a tripod, and IMO seldom appropriate for the tiny little smart phone lenses handheld with absolutely awful UI.
Today I envision very few times [moving water might be one] where I would want a smaller aperture in a little smartphone camera, but I look forward to seeing how Apple will surprise me. Apple is good at that. The image capture quality from iPhone Pro cameras continually amazes me.
The room for huge improvement in smartphone captures would be in UI. So far camera UIs from Apple and others flat suck. The camera button was a great step in the right direction, but it lost a lot by trying to do more than simply hold the shutter for focus, composition and release like all top level pro DSLR and mirrorless ILCs do.
Today I envision very few times [moving water might be one] where I would want a smaller aperture in a little smartphone camera, but I look forward to seeing how Apple will surprise me. Apple is good at that. The image capture quality from iPhone Pro cameras continually amazes me.
The room for huge improvement in smartphone captures would be in UI. So far camera UIs from Apple and others flat suck. The camera button was a great step in the right direction, but it lost a lot by trying to do more than simply hold the shutter for focus, composition and release like all top level pro DSLR and mirrorless ILCs do.
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At the time, the technology was deemed a niche feature that added cost and thickness to the camera module, especially when software-based portrait modes offered a convenient alternative.
Samsung was ahead of its time on this one.
falainber
macrumors 68040
The cameras have several components. The most important ones are the sensor and the lens. Apple uses the sensors from Sony and Samsung. Most of their lenses are manufactured by Largan Precision (Taiwan).
If Apple is doing this it means that the volume of sales will be enough for Samung to join them and for prices to not be prohibitively high. It was likely an economic argument that resulted in them dropping the feature and it is likely an economic argument that is allowing them to bring it back.
How can they follow Apple when Apple hasn't actually released a phone with this feature? (Also, who do you think makes the cameras in Apple's devices. Hint: it's not Apple.)
What you really mean is: Samsung rumoured to be releasing phone with same feature that Apple is also rumoured to be releasing a phone with.
What you really mean is: Samsung rumoured to be releasing phone with same feature that Apple is also rumoured to be releasing a phone with.
“the obvious”, yes, often so but as far as foldable smartphones go “the opposite”.