Sony imx sensors table. Overview of the camera module for smartphones Sony IMX378. What should be the aperture in the camera of a new smartphone

Kensuke Mashita: "I'd love to put a one-inch sensor and G Master lens in a smartphone."

Since 2015, the editors of the site began to talk seriously about smartphones, because the camera in these gadgets has become not just a tool in the hands of a photographer. Today we can state that yesterday's smartphone users with a good camera are gradually switching to amateur and professional cameras.

Sony Mobile offered us an exclusive interview with Kensuke Mashita, Senior Manager of the Sony Mobile team. Mashita-san is in charge of the technologies used in the camera unit Sony smartphones Xperia.

We tried to ask him the most important questions about cameras Sony Xperia, about smartphone cameras in general, and where mobile photography is going to go next.

- Has the compact camera segment died with the rise in smartphone sales?

Compact market digital cameras falls. Our colleagues at Sony Digital Imaging are now focusing on high end compact cameras. On the other hand, smartphones occupy the position of low-end and mid-range compacts. And I think this trend will continue.

- What are the prospects for smartphones in the photo market?

Smartphones today have achieved fairly high image quality, comparable to compact cameras that were released a few years ago. But a smartphone is not only a camera: it has connectivity, advanced graphics and processing power, a processor that is stronger than in cameras digital processing, large display and simple interface. Therefore, smartphones are completely different, they give us a new experience. For example, if it were not for the development of this market, there would be no selfie. We have to search and find new scenarios that are available not so much to the camera, but to the smartphone as a camera and mobile device with connectivity to mobile and wireless networks.

- To what extent is the smartphone camera today the reason for buying a new device or replacing an old one?

According to our research, device design, camera and time are the most motivating factors for buying a new smartphone. battery life. These three factors are central to the buyer and they work in tandem. The Russian market is especially focused on smartphone design. This is called show off, when the main goal is not to enjoy the appearance of the gadget, but some kind of boasting. This is where self-expression comes into play through device design.

The camera is just as important because it allows you to show yourself in at its best, their achievements and surroundings.

It's no secret that Sony Semiconductors is a major supplier of sensors for mobile cameras. How is Sony Mobile related to this company?

Yes, all major manufacturers use Sony sensors in their smartphones. But each of them installs sensors with different characteristics. Of course, in mobile photography, the sensor is important, but so is the optics. Because all the restrictions apply to it, including the thickness of the smartphone.

In most Sony smartphones, the camera does not protrude from the body, but in iPhone and other devices, the camera protrudes by a millimeter or more. Our designers strive to ensure that nothing protrudes and that the functions and capabilities of the smartphone do not suffer. For the buyer, design is extremely important, and we try to find a balance. But believe me, it's very difficult.

I can't say which Sony sensor is the best today. Sony Mobile's strategy has previously focused on a high resolution of 23 megapixels. But today, most manufacturers put sensors with a resolution of 12 megapixels, including Samsung and Apple. This is the difference in approaches, because Sony used a high resolution because of the greater image stabilization capabilities, better picture quality when it is zoomed in. Of course, in such scenarios, our camera outperforms 12-megapixel sensors. But on the other hand, the physical size of the pixel is very important.

With the development of dual cameras in smartphones, many different solutions have appeared on the market. For example, thanks to zoom lenses, the quality of the approximation has become an order of magnitude higher. We can say that a new era of mobile photography has begun, and in the next generation we will show our vision. Unfortunately, I cannot share the details of our new strategy, but we will change something in the near future.

The relationship between Sony Mobile and Sony Semiconductors has traditionally developed in such a way that we received a top-end sensor on exclusive terms. IMX300 got to us, with the IMX400 the same situation. This interaction will continue in the future. We act as a leader who tests new technologies.

G8142 SETTINGS: ISO 40, F2, 1/500 s

G8142 SETTINGS: ISO 40, F2, 1/500 s

G8142 SETTINGS: ISO 40, F2, 1/500 s

How popular are the new features of the Motion Eye camera unit (predictive shooting, super slow motion video shooting and tracking autofocus during continuous shooting), built on the basis of the Sony Exmor IMX400, with smartphone buyers?

IN Sony processor The Exmor IMX400 has a 128 megabyte stack memory sensor, and thanks to this, it is possible to record video in super slow motion mode, to carry out predictive shooting. With our camera you can see what the human eye cannot see.

Unfortunately, not much time has passed since the release of the first smartphone with Motion Eye (- ed. note). Not enough data has been collected yet. We have an idea how many people take photos on a smartphone, and how many videos. Now we are trying to find out how many people use super slow motion. We found that at the time of getting to know a smartphone, many people try to evaluate the recording at a speed of 960 frames per second. Our goal is to make interest in know-how permanent. I think Sony's Super Slow Motion is beyond expectations. Some would say that this was done only to attract the attention of buyers, but we really wanted to create something new.

The most common argument of those who do not like Sony Xperia is: “All smartphones have a Sony sensor (Samsung, Huawei, iPhone and others), but they all shoot much better than Sony Xperia smartphones.” Do you have an understanding why this is happening?

Unfortunately, in mobile photography it is impossible to achieve the best quality in different conditions. Quality may vary depending on shooting conditions, functions used. Cameras with a 12-megapixel sensor and a larger pixel size do better in low light conditions, but if you shoot a daytime landscape, you can achieve more detail due to the higher resolution of the sensor. In my opinion, if you shoot landscape, Sony Xperia will win, but in some scenarios we can lose to competitors. The question of approach is also important here. With our smartphone, you can take a good picture in the dark, and its resolution will be one and a half times higher. We focus on high resolution as it provides better image stabilization.

If we made the same camera as other brands, perhaps there would be haters of a different order who would get to the bottom of the truth and find the difference in the performance of our camera compared to competitors.

Unfortunately, most pay attention to "laboratory" camera tests, but it's better to look at real photos. Sometimes one conflicts with the other. Of course, our priority is user experience.

At the same time, we listen to feedback our users. For example, in the Sony IMX400, the resolution was reduced from 23 to 19 megapixels, thereby slightly increasing the pixel size. We tried to find a compromise and improved the situation with shooting in low light conditions. At the same time, super slow motion and stack memory appeared. Thanks to the latter, the situation with video recording, including HDR, has improved. This is only possible with memory. Soon we will have another improvement, which is kept secret for now.

All Sony Xperia cameras are tested in over 100 different scenarios. Lighting conditions at the same time are different in different parts of the world. In Russia, daylight tends to zero, so high-quality shooting in low light conditions is extremely important for us. At the same time, there are different shades of light: people want to look good in photographs, so that the skin looks not only natural, but also beautiful. Across the planet, similar feedback is being accumulated from the regional offices of Sony Mobile. It's impossible to standardize, but work is underway. The camera functions according to some average algorithm, a compromise is reached.

G8342 SETTINGS: ISO 40, F2, 1/2000 s, 4.4mm equiv.

Why Sony Mobile ignores the optical image stabilization in the main camera and continues to use its electronic system SteadyShot?

If we installed optical stabilization in a smartphone, there would be many photos in which moving objects are very blurred due to the increase in shutter speed. This does not happen with SteadyShot. Yes, it might look spectacular, but I'm not sure that everyone will like it. SteadyShot gives us the ability to shoot at fast shutter speeds and avoid most blur. Automation itself understands what to do: if there is a dynamic plot in the frame, then the shutter speed will be minimal; if the picture is more static, the shutter speed increases. Of course, in normal conditions and in the absence of moving objects in the frame, smartphones with optical image stabilization shoot better than Sony, but here again we are talking about different scenarios.

- In what proportions and what affects mobile photography: sensor, optics, post-processing algorithms?

Sensor - 30%, optics - 30%, image processor (ISP) - 30% and post-processing algorithms - 10%. It all depends on the type of processor. For example, there is almost no post-processing in SLR cameras. Smartphones have technical limitations, so processing and post-processing is very important.

Any module developed in Sony Mobile is shown in the Digital Imaging division. They test our functions and issue some kind of certificate of conformity.

Sony Mobile is the only brand on the market, except for Google smartphone A Pixel 2 that completely ignores the dual camera trend. Why is this happening? When to expect a dual camera from Sony?

We monitor various trends. There are ideas for creating triple, quadruple cameras, combinations of different cameras. We introduced the stacked camera to the world. In our opinion, it gives a better experience than the dual camera. Technology in processors and graphics is evolving, as is the camera. In the near future, it will be time to show the dual camera. Perhaps Sony will surprise you.

G8142 SETTINGS: ISO 40, F2, 1/5000 s

- When the Camera app is in Sony devices Mobile will become more convenient?

We work not only for professionals, but also for a general audience that is not so well versed in various settings.

If speak about manual settings, then for most users, parameters such as shutter speed, ISO, focus, white balance and exposure are enough. All this is in our application. But there are more advanced and demanding users. I can't go into details, but there will be changes to the app in the near future.

At this point, Mashita-san asked us what we would like to see in Sony smartphones. Our answer was simple: RAW format.

- I would like to know your attitude to testing DxOMark. On this moment Sony smartphones are not even in the top ten.

We are always looking at the scoreboard and feedback from this site. Some of their comments help us a lot. But I'm not sure if their tests can be 100% useful for most people in their use cases. Your colleagues at DxOMark have been giving us a lot of feedback while developing the testing policy, and it has been really helpful in many ways. However, in September, the benchmark changed, it included estimates for optical zoom and background blur, and, of course, new system focused on the dual camera. We have always taken and continue to take this platform seriously, but we want to look at a new method for distributing ratings, to understand the logic and trends. Time needs to pass.

In fact, we are talking not only about DxOMark, but also about other laboratory tests and methods that are used on the market. In my opinion, real shots show the camera performance better than any tests. We will continue to observe the methodology, look at the results, and perhaps turn to them again for feedback.

G8342 SETTINGS: ISO 40, F2, 1/1600s, 4.4mm equiv.

What are the technical limitations in cameras today mobile phones? Is it possible to see some kind of major breakthrough? For example, a one-inch matrix (as they did in the Panasonic CM-1) or a real telephoto lens. If you dream up, what would you like to see in a mobile camera? And what can really happen?

In my opinion, a one-inch sensor in a smartphone camera is a great solution. But for sure, because of this, the thickness of the case and the weight of the gadget will increase. An optical telephoto lens also requires more space. And today the market offers us a solution in the form of a dual camera. But this is not enough for us. Most likely, in the near future the size of the sensors will not change. Perhaps the problems will somehow be solved by double, triple and “smart” cameras with artificial intelligence and machine learning.

I think that increasing the camera module is the next step in smartphone building. But if you dream up, then a one-inch sensor is great, but it is very difficult to insert it into a smartphone case. It may make sense to separate the smartphone and the camera, but Sony had it in the QX series. Maybe something will change in optics: G Master will be used instead of G Lens optics. The cost of such a smartphone will be very beneficial for us, but people will most likely not appreciate it. Technically, such an implementation is possible.

Still, the restrictions in SLR and mirrorless cameras are much less than in smartphones. But computing power is on the side of smartphones. Cameras have their own development path, smartphones have their own. Cameras should be comfortable and ergonomic, and they usually cost more than smartphones.

More banal than this axiom is only the explanation "the iPhone, it turns out, does not have a slot for a memory card." But beginners continue to make mistakes when they "peck" on the number of megapixels in the camera, which means they will have to repeat themselves.

Imagine a window - an ordinary window in a residential building or apartment. The number of megapixels is, roughly speaking, the number of glasses inside the window frame. If we continue to draw parallels with smartphones, in ancient times, glass for windows was the same size and was considered a scarce commodity. Therefore, when the conditional "Tolyan" said that he had 5 glasses (megapixels) in his window unit, everyone understood that Anatoly was a serious and wealthy person. And the characteristics of the window were also immediately clear - good review outside the house, a large area of ​​glazing.

A few years later, windows (megapixels) were no longer in short supply, so their number only needed to be brought to the required level, and then calm down. Just bring it into line with the area (window for ventilation and a loggia, for the sake of strength, require a different number of windows) so that the camera gives out a slightly denser picture than 4K monitors and TVs give out. And finally, to deal with other characteristics - for example, to deal with clouding of glasses and image distortion. Teach cameras how to properly focus and paint the available megapixels with high quality, if you want specifics.

There are more “megapixels” on the right, but they give nothing but “obstacles” with the same “sensor” area

But people are already used to measuring the quality of cameras in megapixels, and sellers gladly indulged this. Therefore, the circus with a huge number of glasses (megapixels) in the same size frame (the size of the camera matrix) continued. As a result, today the pixels in smartphone cameras, although not “filled” with the density of a mosquito net, but the “devitrification” has become too dense, and more than 15 megapixels in smartphones almost always spoil rather than improve photos. This has never happened before, and here again it turned out that it is not the size that matters, but the skill.

At the same time, as you understand, the "evil" is not the megapixels themselves - if tons of megapixels were spread out on a sufficiently large camera, they would benefit the smartphone. When the camera is able to unleash the potential of all the megapixels on board, and not “smear” them in bulk when shooting, the photo can be enlarged, cropped, and it will remain high-quality. That is, no one will understand that this is just a fragment of a larger picture. But now such miracles are found only in the “correct” SLR and mirrorless cameras, in which the matrix alone (a microcircuit with photo sensors, on which a picture arrives through the “glasses” of the camera) is much larger than the smartphone camera assembly.

"Evil" is a tradition of sticking a clip of megapixels into tiny cell phone cameras. This tradition has brought nothing but blurred pictures and an excess of digital noise (“peas” in the frame).

Sony piled on 23 megapixels where competitors put 12-15 megapixels, and paid for this with a decrease in picture clarity. (photo - manilashaker.com)

For reference: in the best camera phones of 2017, the main rear cameras (not to be confused with the b/w additional ones) all operate with “pathetic” 12-13 megapixels as one. In photo resolution, this is approximately 4032x3024 pixels - enough for a Full HD (1920x1080) monitor, and for 4K (3840x2160) too, albeit back to back. Roughly speaking, if the smartphone camera has more than 10 megapixels, their number is no longer important. Other things are important.

How to determine that the camera is of high quality, before looking at the photos and videos from it

Aperture - how wide the smartphone "opened its eyes"

The squirrel feeds on nuts, the deputies feed on the money of the people, and the cameras feed on light. The more light, the better the photo quality and more details. Only sunny weather and studio-style bright lighting lamps for any occasion of life can not be enough. Therefore, for good photos indoors, or outdoors in cloudy weather / at night, cameras are designed in such a way that they produce a lot of light even in adverse conditions.

The easiest way to get more light to hit the camera sensor is to make the hole in the lens larger. The indicator of how wide the “eyes” of the camera are opened is called aperture, aperture, or aperture ratio - this is the same parameter. And the words are different so that the reviewers in the articles can show off incomprehensible terms for as long as possible. Because, if you don’t show off, the aperture can simply be called, excuse me, a “hole”, as is customary among photographers.

Aperture is indicated by a fraction with the letter f, a slash and a number (or with a capital F and no fraction: for example, F2.2). Why

so - a long story, and that's not the point, as Rotaru sings. The bottom line is this: the smaller the number after the letter F and the slash, the better camera in a smartphone. For example, f / 2.2 in smartphones is good, but f / 1.9 is better! The wider the aperture, the more light enters the sensor and the better smartphone“sees” (takes better photos and videos) at night. As a bonus, the wide aperture comes with beautiful background blur when you're photographing flowers up close, even if your phone doesn't have a dual camera.

Melania Trump explains what different apertures look like in smartphone cameras

Before buying a smartphone, do not be too lazy to clarify how “seeing” the rear camera is in it. looked after samsung galaxy J3 2017 - search for "Galaxy J3 2017 aperture", "Galaxy J3 2017 aperture" or "Galaxy J3 2017 aperture" to find out the exact figure. If nothing is known about the aperture in the smartphone that you have looked at for yourself, two options are possible:

• The camera is so bad that the manufacturer decided to keep silent about its characteristics. Approximately the same rudeness marketers are engaged in when, in response to “what processor is in the smartphone?” they answer “quad-core” and evade in every possible way so as not to disclose a specific model.
• The smartphone has just appeared on sale and no characteristics, except for those in the advertising announcement, have yet been “delivered” on it. Wait a couple of weeks - usually during this time the details come out.

What should be the aperture in the camera of a new smartphone?

In 2017-2018 even in a budget model, the rear camera should produce at least f / 2.2. If the number in the denominator of this fraction is greater, get ready for the fact that the camera will see the picture as if in darkened glasses. And in the evening and at night, she will be “blind-sighted” and will be able to see almost nothing even at a distance of several meters from the smartphone. And don’t rely on the “twists” of brightness - in a smartphone with f / 2.4 or f / 2.6, an evening photo with an exposure “stretched” by the program will turn out to be “rough smudge”, while a camera with f / 2.2 or f / 2.0 will take a better photo without tricks.

The wider the aperture, the higher the quality of shooting on a smartphone camera

The coolest smartphones today have cameras with f/1.8, f/1.7 or even f/1.6 apertures. The aperture itself does not guarantee the maximum quality of pictures (no one has canceled the quality of the sensor and “glasses”) - this, I will quote the photographers, is just a “hole” through which the camera looks at the world. But other things being equal, it is better to choose smartphones in which the camera does not “squint”, but receives an image with wide-open “eyes”.

Diagonal of the matrix (sensor): the more - the better

The matrix in a smartphone is not the matrix where people with complex faces in black raincoats dodge bullets. In mobile phones, this word means a photocell ... in other words, a plate onto which a picture flies through the “glasses” of optics. In old cameras, the picture arrived on film and was stored there, and the matrix instead accumulates information about the photograph and sends it to the smartphone's processor. The processor arranges all this into the final photo and stores the files in internal memory, or on microSD.

The only thing you need to know about the matrix is ​​that it should be as large as possible. If the optics is a water hose, and the diaphragm is the neck of the container, then the matrix is ​​​​the very reservoir for water, which is never enough.

It is customary to measure the dimensions of the matrix in inhuman, from the bell tower of ordinary buyers, vidicon inches. One such inch is equal to 17 mm, but the cameras in smartphones have not yet reached such dimensions, so the matrix diagonal is denoted by a fraction, as in the case of the aperture. The smaller the second digit in the fraction (divisor), the larger the matrix -> the cooler the camera.

Is it clear that nothing is clear? Then just remember these numbers:

A budget smartphone will take good pictures if the matrix size in it is at least 1/3 "with a camera resolution of no higher than 12 megapixels. More megapixels - lower quality in practice. And if there are less than ten megapixels, the photo will be on good large monitors and TVs look loose, simply because they have fewer dots than the height-width of your monitor screen.

In mid-range smartphones, a good matrix size is 1/2.9” or 1/2.8”. Find a larger one (1/2.6” or 1/2.5”, for example) - consider yourself very lucky. In flagship smartphones, a good tone is a matrix of at least 1/2.8”, and preferably 1/2.5”.

Smartphones with large sensors shoot better than models with small photocells

Is it even tougher? It happens - look at 1/2.3” in the Sony Xperia XZ Premium and XZ1. Why, then, these smartphones do not set records for photo quality? Because the "automatic" of the camera is constantly mistaken with the selection of settings for shooting, and the stock of "clarity and vigilance" of the camera is spoiled by the number of megapixels - they piled 19 in these models instead of the standard 12-13 MP for new flagships, and a fly in the ointment crossed out the advantages of a huge matrix.

Are there smartphones in nature with a good camera and less harsh characteristics? Yes - take a look Apple iPhone 7 with its 1/3" at 12 MP. On the Honor 8, which has enough 1/2.9" with the same number of megapixels. Magic? No - just good optics and perfectly "licked" automation, which takes into account the potential of the camera as well as tailored trousers take into account the amount of cellulite on the thighs.

But there is a problem - manufacturers almost never indicate the size of the sensor in the specifications, because these are not megapixels, and you can be embarrassed if the sensor is cheap. And in reviews or descriptions of smartphones in online stores, such camera characteristics are even less common. Even if you have chosen a smartphone with an adequate number of megapixels and a promising aperture value, there is a chance that you will never know the size of the rear sensor. In this case, pay attention to the last characteristic of smartphone cameras, which directly affects the quality.

Few large pixels are better than many small ones.

Imagine a sandwich with red caviar, or take a look at it if you don’t remember well what such delicacies look like. Just as eggs in a sandwich are distributed over a piece of loaf, the area of ​​​​the camera sensor (camera matrix) in a smartphone is occupied by light-sensitive elements - pixels. These pixels in smartphones, to put it mildly, are not a dozen, or even a dozen. One megapixel is 1 million pixels, in typical cameras of smartphones produced in 2015-2017, there are 12-20 such megapixels.

As we have already figured out, containing an excessive number of "blanks" on the smartphone's matrix is ​​detrimental to pictures. The effectiveness of such a pandemonium comes out like that of specialized detachments of people to replace a light bulb. Therefore, it is better to observe a smaller number of smart pixels in a camera than a large number of stupid ones. The larger each of the pixels in the camera, the less “dirty” the photos turn out, and the video becomes less “jumpy”.

Large pixels in the camera (photo below) make evening and night shots better

An ideal smartphone camera consists of a large "foundation" (matrix / sensor) with large pixels on it. Only now no one is going to make smartphones thicker or allocate half of the case at the back for the camera. Therefore, the "building" will be such that the camera does not stick out of the body and does not take up much space, the megapixels are large, even if there are only 12-13 of them, and the matrix is ​​as large as possible to accommodate them all.

The pixel size in a camera is measured in micrometers and is denoted as micron in Russian or mm in Latin. Before you buy a smartphone, make sure that the pixels in it are large enough - this is an indirect sign that the camera is shooting well. Type in the search, for example, "Xiaomi Mi 5S µm" or "Xiaomi Mi 5S µm" - and enjoy the camera characteristics of the smartphone that you have noticed. Or upset - depends on the numbers that you see as a result.

How big should a pixel be in a good camera phone?

In the “newest” time, it was especially famous for its pixel sizes ... Google Pixel is a smartphone that was released in 2016 and “showed Kuzkin’s mother” to competitors due to the combination of a huge (1 / 2.3”) matrix and very large pixels of the order of 1.55 microns. With such a set, he almost always produced the most detailed photographs even in cloudy weather or at night.

Why don't manufacturers "cut" the megapixels in the camera to a minimum and place a minimum of pixels on the matrix? There has already been such an experiment - HTC in the flagship One M8 (2014) made the pixels so huge that they fit in the rear camera ... four on a 1/3 ”matrix! Thus, One M8 received pixels as large as 2 microns! As a result, in terms of the quality of images in the dark, the smartphone “broke” almost all competitors. Yes, and photos in a resolution of 2688 × 1520 pixels were enough for Full HD monitors of that time. But the HTC camera did not become an all-round champion, because the Taiwanese were let down by HTC's color accuracy and "stupid" shooting algorithms that did not know how to "correctly prepare" settings for a sensor with unusual potential.

Today, all manufacturers have gone berserk in the race for the largest possible pixels, therefore:

• In good budget camera phones, the pixel size should be 1.22 microns or more.
• In flagships, pixels ranging in size from 1.25 microns to 1.4 or 1.5 microns are considered good form. More is better.

There are few smartphones with a good camera and relatively small pixels, but they exist in nature. This, of course, is the Apple iPhone 7 with its 1.22 microns and OnePlus 5 with 1.12 microns - they “leave” due to very high-quality sensors, very good optics and “smart” automation.

Without these terms, small pixels ruin photo quality in flagship smartphones. For example, in the LG G6, the algorithms create lewdness when shooting at night, and the sensor, although ennobled with good “glasses”, is itself cheap. IN

as a result, 1.12 microns always spoil night shots, except when you enter the battle with “manual mode” instead of stupid automation and correct its flaws yourself. The same picture prevails when shooting with the Sony Xperia XZ Premium or XZ1. And in the masterpiece, “on paper”, the Xiaomi Mi 5S camera, the lack of optical stabilization and the same “crooked hands” of the algorithm developers prevent it from competing with the flagships of the iPhone and Samsung, which is why the smartphone copes well with shooting only during the day, and at night it is no longer very impressive.

In order to make it clear how much to weigh in grams, take a look at the characteristics of the cameras in some of the best camera phones of our time.

What type of autofocus is the best

Autofocus is when a mobile phone “focuses” on its own while taking photos and videos. It is needed in order not to twist the settings “for every sneeze”, like a gunner in a tank.

In older smartphones and in modern Chinese "state employees", manufacturers use contrast autofocus. This is the most primitive way of focusing, which focuses on how light or dark it is “straight ahead” in front of the camera, like a half-blind person. That is why it takes about a couple of seconds for cheap smartphones to focus, during which it is easy to “miss” a moving object, or not want to shoot what they were going to, because “the train has left”.

Phase autofocus “catches light” over the entire area of ​​the camera sensor, calculates at what angle the rays enter the camera and draws conclusions about what is in front of the smartphone’s nose or a little further. Due to its "intelligence" and calculations, it works very quickly during the day and does not annoy anything at all. It is common in all modern smartphones, except for the very budget ones. The only drawback is the work at night, when the light enters the narrow hole in the aperture of the mobile phone in such small portions that the smartphone “tears the roof” and it constantly fidgets with focus due to a sharp change in information.

Laser autofocus - the most chic! Laser rangefinders always used to "throw" a beam at a far distance and calculate the distance for an object. LG in the smartphone G3 (2014) taught such a "scan" to help the camera quickly focus.

Laser autofocus is amazingly fast even indoors or in semi-darkness

Take a look at your wristwatch... well, what am I talking about... okay, turn on the stopwatch on your smartphone and appreciate how fast one second goes by. And now mentally divide it by 3.5 - in 0.276 seconds, the smartphone receives information about the distance to the subject and reports this to the camera. And it does not lose speed either at night or in bad weather. If you plan to take photos and videos near or on short distance in low light, a smartphone with laser autofocus will help you a lot.

But keep in mind that mobile phones are not Star Wars guns, so the range of the laser in the camera barely exceeds a couple of meters. Everything that is further, the mobile phone considers with the help of the same phase detection autofocus. In other words, to shoot objects from afar, it is not necessary to look for a smartphone with “laser guidance” in the camera - you will not get any use from such a function in general terms for photos and videos.

Optical stabilization. Why is it needed and how does it work

Have you ever driven a car with a leaf spring suspension? On army UAZ vehicles, for example, or an ambulance with the same design? In addition to the fact that in such cars you can “beat off the fifth point”, they are incredibly shaking - the suspension is as rigid as possible so as not to fall apart on the roads, and therefore it tells passengers everything that it thinks about the road surface, frankly and not a “spring” (because that there is nothing to spring).

Now you know how a smartphone camera without optical stabilization feels when you are trying to take a photo.

The problem with shooting on a smartphone is this:

• The camera needs a lot of light to take good pictures. Not the direct rays of the sun in the "face", but diffused, ubiquitous light around.
• The longer the camera "views" the image during the photo, the more light it snatches = the higher the quality of the picture.
• At the time of shooting and these “peepers” of the camera, the smartphone must be motionless so that the picture is not “smeared”. Leave at least a fraction of a millimeter - the frame will be spoiled.

And human hands are shaking. This is very noticeable if you raise your arms outstretched and try to hold the bar, and less noticeable when you hold a mobile phone in front of you to take a photo or video. The difference is that the bar can “float” in your hands within wide limits - just not to put it against the wall, a neighbor, or drop it on your feet. And the smartphone needs to have time to "grab" the light in order for the photo to come out well, and do it before it deviates by a fraction of a millimeter in your hands.

Therefore, the algorithms try to please the camera and not put forward increased requirements for your hands. That is, they tell the camera, for example, “so, 1/250 of a second you can shoot, this is enough for the photo to be more or less successful, and taking a picture before the camera moves to the side is also enough.” This thing is called endurance.

How optical stabilization works

What's with the optostab? So after all, he is that “shock absorption” with which the camera does not shake, like the body of army trucks, but “floats” within small boundaries. In the case of smartphones, it does not float in water, but is held by magnets and “fidgets” at a short distance from them.

That is, if the smartphone “leaves” a little or trembles during shooting, the camera will shake much weaker. With such insurance, the smartphone will be able to:

• Increase shutter speed (guaranteed time "to see the picture before the photo is ready") for the camera. The camera receives more light, sees more image details = the quality of the photo during the day is even higher.
• Take clear pictures on the move. Not while sprinting off-road, but while walking or out of the window of a shaking bus, for example.
• Compensate for shaky video. Even if you stomp your feet very sharply or sway a little under the weight of the bag in your second hand, this will not be as noticeable on the video as in smartphones without optical stabilizer.

Therefore, the optostab (OIS, as it is called in English) is an extremely useful thing in a smartphone camera. It’s also possible without it, but it’s sad - the camera must be of high quality “with a margin”, and the automation will have to shorten (degrade) the shutter speed, because there is no insurance against shaking in the smartphone. When shooting a video, you have to “move” the picture on the fly so that the jitter is not visible. This is akin to how in old movies they imitated the speed of a moving car, when it actually stood still. With the difference that in films these scenes were shot in one take, and smartphones have to calculate the shaking and deal with it on the fly.

Smartphones with a good camera, which without stabilization shoots no worse than competitors with stabilization, are vanishingly few - for example, the Apple iPhone 6s, the first generation of Google Pixel, OnePlus 5, Xiaomi Mi 5s and, with some stretch, Honor 8 / Honor 9.

What not to pay attention to

• Flash. Useful only when shooting in pitch darkness, when you need to take a photo at any cost. As a result, you observe the pale faces of people in the frame (and all of them, because the flash is low-power), eyes closed from bright light, or a very strange color of buildings / trees - photographs with a smartphone flash definitely do not carry artistic value. In the role of a flashlight, the LED near the camera is much more useful.
• Number of lenses in the camera. “Before, when I had 5 Mbps Internet, I wrote an essay in a day, and now, when I have 100 Mbps, I write it in 4 seconds.” No, guys, that's not how it works. It doesn’t matter how many lenses a smartphone has, it doesn’t matter who made them (Carl Zeiss, judging by the quality of Nokia’s new cameras, too). Lenses are either high-quality or not, and you can only check this with real photos.

The quality of the "glasses" (lenses) affects the quality of the camera. Quantity is not

• Shooting in RAW. If you do not know what RAW is, I explain:

JPEG is the standard format in which smartphones record photos, this is a "ready-to-use" picture. Like Olivier salad on a festive table - it is possible to disassemble it “into components” in order to remake it into another salad, but it will not work out very well.

RAW is a hefty file on a "flash drive" in which all options for brightness, clarity and color for a photograph are sewn in its pure form, in separate "lines". That is, the photo will not be “covered with small dots” (digital noise) if you decide to make it not as dark as it turned out in JPEG, but a little brighter, as if you had correctly set the brightness at the time of shooting.

In short, RAW allows you to "photoshop" a frame much more conveniently than JPEG. But the catch is that flagship smartphones almost always select the settings correctly, therefore, apart from the memory of the smartphone polluted by “heavy” photos in RAW, there will be little use from “photoshop” files. And in cheap smartphones, the quality of the camera is so bad that you will observe poor quality in JPEG, and an equally bad source in RAW. Don't bother.

• Camera sensor name. Once upon a time, they were super important because they were the “quality mark” of a camera. The sensor model (module) of the camera determines the size of the matrix, the number of megapixels and the pixel size, minor "family signs" of shooting algorithms.

Of the "big three" manufacturers of camera modules for smartphones, Sony produces the highest quality modules (we do not take into account individual examples, we are talking about the average temperature in a hospital), followed by Samsung ( Samsung sensors V Samsung smartphones Galaxy is even better than the coolest Sony sensors, but the Koreans sell something absurd on the side), and, finally, OmniVision closes the list, which releases “consumer goods, but tolerable”. Intolerant consumer goods are produced by all the other basement Chinese offices, whose names in the characteristics of smartphones are ashamed to mention even the manufacturers themselves.

8 - execution option. Do you know how it happens in cars? The minimum equipment with a "cloth" on the seats and a "wooden" interior, the maximum - with artificial suede seats and a leather dashboard. For buyers, the difference in this figure means little.

Why, after all this, should we not pay attention to the sensor model? Because things are the same with them as with megapixels - Chinese "alternatively gifted" manufacturers are actively buying expensive Sony sensors, trumpeting at every corner "our smartphone has a super-quality camera!" ... and the camera is disgusting.

Because the “glasses” (lenses) in such mobile phones are of terrible quality and transmit light a little better than a plastic soda bottle. The camera aperture due to the same bastard "glasses" is far from ideal (f / 2.2 or even higher), and no one is engaged in setting up the sensor so that the camera correctly selects colors, works well with the processor and does not disfigure the pictures. Here is a clear example of the fact that the sensor model has little effect on anything:

As you can see, smartphones with the same camera sensor can shoot in completely different ways. So don't think that a cheap Moto G5 Plus with an IMX362 module will shoot as well as the HTC U11 does with its amazingly cool camera.

Even more annoying is the “noodles on the ears” that Xiaomi hangs on the ears of buyers when it says that “the camera in the Mi Max 2 is very similar to the camera in the flagship Mi 6 - they have the same IMX386 sensors! They are the same, only smartphones shoot very differently, the aperture (and therefore the ability to shoot in poor lighting) is different in them, and Mi Max 2 cannot compete with the flagship Mi6.

1. An additional camera "helps" to take photos at night of the main one and can shoot b/w photos. The most famous smartphones with such camera implementations are Huawei P9, Honor 8, Honor 9, Huawei P10.
2. The secondary camera allows you to "shove the unpushed", that is, it takes pictures with an almost panoramic viewing angle. The only supporter of this type of camera was and remains LG - starting with the LG G5, continuing with the V20, G6, X Cam and now the V30.
3. Two cameras are needed for optical zoom (zoom without loss of quality). Most often, this effect is achieved by simultaneous operation of two cameras at once (Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 8), although there are models that, when zoomed in, simply switch to a separate “long-range” camera - ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom, for example.

How to choose a high-quality selfie camera in a smartphone?

Best of all - based on examples of real photos. And, both during the day and at night. During the day, almost all selfie cameras give out good photos, but only high-quality front cameras are able to shoot something legible in the dark.

It is not necessary to study the vocabulary of photographers and go deep into what this or that characteristic is responsible for - you can simply memorize the numbers “so much is good, but if the number is larger, it’s bad” and pick up a smartphone much faster. For clarification of terms, welcome to the beginning of the article, and here we will try to derive a formula for a high-quality camera in smartphones.

I do not want to understand the characteristics! Which smartphone to buy with good cameras?

Manufacturers produce countless smartphones, but among them there are very few models that can take good pictures and shoot videos.

More and more people prefer smartphones to compact cameras. Yes, of course, in terms of image quality, they still fall short of professional DSLRs, but they can easily shoot at the level of digital cameras. Considering that in addition you get an advanced multifunctional device, sometimes implemented even in a smaller body than compacts, the choice is quite obvious. With a high degree of probability, independent devices of an amateur class are already living out their lives, and the future is still with smartphones.

Recently, the situation in the production of mobile cameras has changed significantly for the better. Dual modules began to appear, manufacturers seriously thought about implementing full-fledged optical stabilization, and almost all top products learned to support 4K and HDR. So who has managed to break out into the favorites of the market this season?

Samsung Galaxy S7

Filming has always been strong point Koreans, and the Galaxy S7 is no exception. After the unsuccessful launch of Note 7, Samsung has focused its attention on the spring flagship, which, by the way, is quite good. Not bad so much that it successfully outperformed even the very promising iPhone 7 Plus in comparison.

The main module of the smartphone is built on a 12-megapixel Sony IMX260 sensor with a pixel size of 1.4 microns and a glass lens with aperture F / 1.7. The sensor is made by special order and is not found in other models. There is a proprietary Dual Pixel focusing technology that uses dual photodiodes on each of the pixels of the matrix. This made it possible to achieve high pointing accuracy even when shooting in dimly lit places and the best speed among competitors.

The smartphone is capable of shooting 4K video, making animated panoramas, as well as slow motion, time-lapse and hyperlapse videos. Saving photos in RAW format is available. Ensure natural color rendering and good quality Britecell technology helps pictures at dusk, and the presence of optical stabilization improves sharpness and prevents image shaking when recording video.

In general, the Galaxy S7 camera is rightfully considered the best in the world. It remains only not to regret 45-50,000 rubles in order to get the desired gadget.

iPhone 7 Plus

Someone loves apple products, someone just hates them, but in latest iPhone 7 with the Plus label, the developers managed to make one of the highest quality cameras on the market, which also became the first smartphone-format module to receive a 2x optical zoom.

It is implemented through a combination of two 12-megapixel sensors and two six-lens lenses, one of which is normal and the other is telephoto. In addition to the optical zoom, a 10x digital zoom is provided, equipped with algorithms smoothing pixelation. The picture is completed by the use of a powerful dedicated processor and an advanced optical stabilization system.

Those who wish to take advantage of advanced photo post-processing capabilities will appreciate the support for RAW format. Lovers of portrait and product photography, as well as fans of various experiments, will like a special algorithm for shifting the focus point in a frame with blurring of background objects, which works with ready-made frames.

Thanks to a high-quality fast lens with a maximum aperture of F / 1.8, the camera shows the best results among smartphones when photographing in sunny weather, ahead of even the Galaxy S7 in detail, but loses to it at dusk and when shooting portraits. If the light is still not enough, then you can use a bright four-LED flash. The cost of a smartphone, depending on the configuration, ranges from 63 to 120,000 rubles.

Google Pixel

The youngest brand in our review, which appeared just over two weeks ago, has a very eminent parent, which is Google. The device uses a 12.3-megapixel Sony IMX378 sensor with a pixel size increased to 1.55 microns and a lens with a maximum aperture of F / 2.0. There is optical stabilization, laser and phase focusing, as well as HDR + high dynamic range mode, indispensable for shooting under difficult lighting conditions.

In confirmation of the very good specifications Google cites the results of testing carried out by DxO Labs, which publishes the results on the authoritative DxOMark resource, in which the smartphone camera took first place among all competitors. The device has not yet gone on sale, but you can already pre-order for $650.

HTC 10

The top three is good for everyone, except for the cost that is too unbearable for many. A good alternative at a price of 37,000 rubles can be HTC 10. The smartphone received a 12-megapixel matrix, but not the usual one, but BSI, with support for UltraPixel 2 technology, which allows you to achieve a large pixel with a size of 1.55 microns. There are optical stabilization, laser autofocus and two-tone flash. It is possible to save photos in RAW. The F/2.0 aperture lens does a good job of shooting in dark rooms.

LG G5

A good option in the mid-price segment may be the February flagship of LG, which has a dual camera. Soon it should be replaced on the market by a more advanced V20 equipped with the same set of photomodules. Since the model has already been announced, but has not yet gone on sale, we will limit ourselves to the equally high-quality G5. Initially, the smartphone was conceived as modular, but the idea did not find a proper response among buyers.

Meanwhile, his camera will give odds to many competitors. The design uses a main module with a 16-megapixel Sony IMX234 sensor, an F / 2.0 aperture lens, laser autofocus and optical stabilization. The auxiliary module uses an 8-megapixel sensor and a lens with a 136-degree field of view. In the final picture, the two captured frames are combined into one widescreen, on which a higher-quality image captured by a 16-megapixel sensor is superimposed in the center. The cost of the device in Russia starts from 30,000 rubles.

Huawei P9

The P9 was the first smartphone in the world to feature lenses certified by Leica. The model received a dual main module carrying a pair of 12-megapixel Sony IMX286 sensors, one of which is color and the other is black and white. A monochrome sensor can capture more light, which when combined with an image captured by a full color sensor, sharpens, expands dynamic range and increases detail when shooting in low light conditions. There are laser autofocus, LED flash and the ability to save photos in RAW format. Smartphone price depending on quantity installed memory varies from 30 to 45,000 rubles.

Meizu MX6

Despite not the highest cost, the device boasts one of the best cameras in the Meizu range, surpassing even more expensive flagships. The model is somewhat inferior to LG and Huawei, but for its price range it has a very impressive quality that can compete with many competitors. The module is based on a 12-megapixel Sony IMX386 matrix, where the size of each pixel is 1.25 microns. The sensor is paired with a lens with a six-lens optical system with an aperture of F / 2.0, and phase autofocus will help you quickly capture the desired object in the frame.

The camera handles daylight shooting well and supports 4K video resolution, but noise starts to show up in low light conditions. A double flash will help in part, which, unfortunately, is not relevant for all plots. You can buy MX6 for 18 or more thousand rubles.

ZTE Nubia Z11

The cute bezel-less Nubia not only looks great, but it takes pretty good photos too. The rear camera is equipped with a high-quality 16-megapixel Sony IMX298 sensor and a lens with a 6-element optical system covered with sapphire crystal, which protects the lens from scratches and acts as an IR filter.

Complement the design modern system optical stabilization, phase detection autofocus and dual-tone LED flash. Additionally, there is an algorithm designed to reduce the noise level when shooting at dusk. The smartphone was introduced in Europe at the end of August and is just starting to go on sale. The cost of new items, depending on the configuration, will be 500-600 euros.

Conclusion

If we compare all models with each other, then Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 7 Plus and Google Pixel can conditionally be attributed to the top class. HTC 10, LG G5 and Huawei P9 will be a little simpler, while Meizu MX6, ZTE Nubia Z11 and a number of other models from this group, with their fairly high image quality, are somewhat inferior to the smartphones of the first two groups.

We are witnessing the birth of a new marketing chip to attract smartphone buyers - a 48 megapixel camera. Mobile phone manufacturers seem to have agreed and are trying to "buy" users with record megapixels. Someone has already released their smartphones with a record-breaking camera, while others are just preparing devices with such a module. They will differ in the sensor that will form the basis of the camera. You have to choose between two: and Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM1. Is there a difference between them and which one is the best?

Honor General Product Manager Xiong Junmin decided to answer this question. But before that, we recall that Sony and Samsung introduced their 48 megapixel modules last year. The size of both sensors is decent - 1/2 inch, but the pixel size was only 0.8 microns. But the trick of these sensors is that the pixels can read information from four adjacent pixels and this allows you to create a 12 megapixel photo with large 1.6 micron pixels. This adaptation should improve the quality of shots taken at night.

According to top manager Honor, a Sony IMX feature 586 in color filter Quad Bayer . With it, neighboring pixels of the same color are grouped according to the 2x2 scheme into one up to an equivalent pixel with a size of 1.6 microns. This increases the sensitivity of the sensor, and it "turns" into a 12 megapixel module. In theory, this should come in handy when shooting shots at night and will allow you to get bright pictures with low noise. Herself Sony announced that the sensor will be able to produce "honest" frames with a size of 8000x6000 pixels without interpolation.

In the case of the sensor Samsung Galaxy Bright GM 1 it creates frames of 4000x3000 pixels and this figure corresponds to a camera with 12 million effective pixels, where the size of each is 1.6 microns. With this sensor, whose physical resolution is 12 megapixels, the smartphone will indeed be able to produce images with a resolution of 48 megapixels, but this effect will be achieved through interpolation and the cost of this is the loss of detail. Whereas the Sony IMX586 will produce sharper footage.

The conclusion of the general manager of Honor products is that Sony IMX586 produces “honest” 48 megapixel frames obtained by transforming the pixel structure, while pictures with the same resolution from Samsung GM1 are only the result of artificial image enlargement. How true his conclusion is, can only be verified by comparing the pictures taken on the camera of Redmi Note 7 and Honor V20 / Huawei Nova 4. It is interesting to see how both sensors work in practice and how noticeable the difference between photos at 48 and 12 will really be. Mp. Still, there is an assumption that 48 megapixel photos are obtained on a Sony sensor with the help of digital image processing.

Sony has a lot of matrices for smartphone cameras in its arsenal, the range is constantly updated. Along with radically new solutions (like the IMX400, which supports shooting video at a speed of 960 FPS), matrices are also being produced, which are modified (improved or cheaper) versions of previous models. One of them was the Sony Exmor RS IMX386, which is actually an updated variation of the IMX286, released six months earlier.

Sony Exmor IMX386 is a photographic matrix located on the border of the middle and flagship price categories (closer to the flagships) in terms of marketing ranking. It has found application in smartphones priced at $250-500 released in late 2016 and early-mid 2017. The Sony Exmor IMX386 review will take you closer to the technical specifications and capabilities of this camera.

Specifications Sony Exmor IMX386

The basis of the Sony Exmor IMX386 is a CMOS-type matrix, made in 4:3 proportions, standard for photographic equipment. Its size is 1 / 2.9", the physical diagonal is 6.2 mm. The full resolution of the sensor is 3968x2976 pixels or 11.8 megapixels. There is a phase autofocus system with selective placement of the corresponding sensors (there is no Dual Pixel technology).

Due to the increased diagonal (compared to the most popular 1 / 3.06 ") and reduced resolution (against 13 MP), the camera has an increased pixel size. The dimensions of the pixel cell are 1.25x1.25 microns, which gives a 25% larger light-absorbing area than cameras with 1.12x1.12 µm: 1.56 µm2 versus 1.25 µm2 In theory, this should give more high quality and photo detail in low light conditions, but how it is in practice - let's see further along the review.

Not all camera modules based on Sony IMX386 are equipped with an image stabilization system. Flagships have it, and middle-class models are equipped with sensors enclosed in a simpler case. The optics of the cameras are also different: based on the Sony IMX386, modules are created, the lenses of which contain 5 or 6 lenses, with an aperture from F / 1.6 to F / 2.2. Therefore, the final quality of photos and videos may vary on different devices.

Video recording from the camera can be carried out in resolution up to 4K. The maximum frame rate when recording video in Slow-Mo, with a reduced resolution, can reach 240 FPS, but is limited by the capabilities of the chipset. Therefore, in existing smartphones with Sony IMX386, the recording speed of clips is usually lower.

Smartphones with Sony Exmor IMX386 camera

As of the end of August 2017, only the leading Chinese smartphone manufacturers were interested in the Sony IMX386 matrix. Companies from Japan, Korea, Taiwan have not yet released their devices with such a camera, but Xiaomi and Meizu liked this sensor. Firms have created a number of devices of the middle and top class with such matrices.

In, the flagship of 2017, the main camera is based on the Sony IMX386. It is made as part of a module with a 4-axis optical stabilization system and a six-lens lens. The lens aperture is F/1.8. In the middle class, Xiaomi equipped phablets and . The main camera of both differs from the flagship in a simplified module system and cheaper optics. These smartphones do not have optical stabilization, the lens consists of 5 lenses, and the relative diameter of its pupil is F / 2.2.

Meizu also did not bypass the Sony IMX386. The first device with this camera was released in the summer of 2016. In it, the matrix is ​​​​made in a body without OIS, with optics with an aperture of F / 2. The same configuration is used in the fashion glass midrange Meizu M3X. But in Meizu Pro 6S and Pro 6 Plus adopt a more advanced main camera configuration. The lens aperture has not been improved, but the module received a 4-axis optical stabilization system and laser autofocus.

The latest Meizu devices with this camera are the flagships Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus. They use a dual camera based on color and black and white sensors Sony IMX386. Their optics has an aperture of F / 2, consists of 6 lenses.

Huawei and AGM have one device each with Sony IMX386 matrices. The first ones equipped it with a middle-class phablet, which is equipped with a dual camera. The main one of the pair is just the object of review. The module configuration is simple, without a stabilization system and five-lens optics with an aperture of F / 2.2.

The last presented smartphone equipped with Sony IMX386 is AGM X2. He has two of these matrices, color and black and white. The smartphone is not yet on mass sale, therefore there is still no detailed verified information about its cameras, but since the company is not the most famous, most likely, a simple module configuration is used, without OIS and improved optics.

Examples of photos from a camera based on Sony IMX386

To evaluate what the Sony IMX386 matrix is ​​capable of in a mid-range smartphone and flagships, we offer a selection of photos taken from it. For shooting examples, Xiaomi Mi6 and Mi Max 2 equipped with this matrix were used. The photos were taken in approximately the same lighting conditions in order to be able to see and see how the quality and aperture ratio of the optics affect the quality of the pictures.

Flash shot on Xiaomi Mi6

Night, dark, flash photo (Mi MAX 2)

Daytime, overcast, shot in the shade of trees on Xiaomi Mi6 (1300 lx)

Daytime, overcast, shot in the shade of trees on Mi MAX 2 (1300 lx)

Daytime, overcast & Shot on Mi6 (2000 lux)

Day, cloudy. Mi MAX 2 (2000 lx)

Day, cloudy. Mi6 (5000 lux)

Day, cloudy. Mi MAX 2 (5000 lx)

As you can see, despite the identical IMX386 matrices, Xiaomi Mi6 slightly outperforms Mi MAX 2 in image quality. In addition to the matrix, an important role is played by the chipset, software, optics, and so on.

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