Dawn Of Era Of Dual Camera Setup On Smartphones
To enhance the photography on a smartphone, OEMs can either use a large image sensor or use a lens with a wider aperture. By significantly improving any of these of these measurements, a phone will end up being more thicker or carry a big camera bump on its back. Consider OnePlus 2; it is 9.9 mm thicker with camera flushed onto the surface. In contrast, despite housing a large camera sensor OnePlus 3T is just 7.4mm thicker, credit to its camera bump. (It also depends on many other factors) A camera bump on the back is irritating for many as the phone cannot rest properly on a flat surface or it may develop smudges in the long run. On the other hand, some users can afford the camera bump but couldn’t compromise on the sleekness of a phone. To satisfy both sets of users, OEMs resorted to dual camera setup that enriches photography while maintaining ergonomics of the phone.
The dual camera setup can be implemented in different ways to achieve discrete outcomes. In phones like Honor 8, Huawei P9, Vivo V5 Plus, Cool 1, etc., two different sensors: monochrome and conventional color sensor are used in tandem to capture more light from the scene.
Whereas in iPhone 7 Plus and Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom, two sensors with different focal lengths are used: one to capture standard shots and other to capture distant objects with minimal distortion. On the contrary, in phones like LG G5 and LG V20, two sensors with distinct focal lengths are used: one to capture regular shots and other to capture wide angle pictures. Fortunately, this dual camera system arrived on budget phones too. It will be a blessing for these phones, as photography is the segment where these phones fall short by a large margin compared to mid-tier and premium phones. At the same time, high-end phones may use this setup to contrive best in class smartphone cameras, which that can compete at least with entry level cameras. We are very excited to see what unfolds in 2017 on a smartphone camera.
