It’s no secret how Apple and other manufacturers deal with the optical zoom problem on smartphones. One need only look at the back of the phone to see an increasing number of lenses and sensors crammed into the back case. However, Sony has found another way.
Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee reviews the latest information Sony XPERIA 1 IV Packed in a unique trick that other smartphone cameras don’t have. Instead of three separate prime lenses built into the back of the phone, there are the necessary 1x (normal) and 0.7x (wide) angles built in, but the third is a telephoto lens. can zoom smoothly from 3.5x to 5.2x (or 85mm to 125mm for photographers know). It’s such an incredible feat that Brownlee says it “logically should be the future of smartphone cameras.”
Brownlee describes the technology as like a series of magnets in a phone that move around the optical elements in the very compact body of a smartphone. In practical terms, that means you get superior optical zoom in the 85mm to 125mm range, instead of having to stick with three predefined focal lengths lest you get lost in zooming territory. digital launcher. While that’s not much scope at the moment, it’s just the beginning of things, after all.
For me, one thing Brownlee wasn’t worried about was the concept of introducing moving parts into a smartphone. While I’d love to have more flexibility when shooting with my phone, the concept of precisely aligned elements in a phone sounds a bit confusing. These are dropped, thrown, smashed, and otherwise tossed around in a way that lenses and cameras can’t. Just ask anyone with young children who can’t take their hands off dad’s phone. All in all, taking the phone in for service is a headache, but I can’t imagine working on a lens system its first here. It will be interesting to see how this technology trades on that front.
While the phone retails for an attractive $1,599, if it’s important to have a pocket camera that can also make phone calls, then you might be better off stepping out of the system. Smartphone hierarchy has been established to try something a little different.
Brownlee goes deeper in the video about all of the phone’s photo-specific features and some general information about the phone, and it’s worth checking out the above.
