Author Fanfan
Source from Jiguo Editorial Department
It has to be said that the camera function of smartphones is getting better and better now, with pixels increasing from 2000 The price has jumped from 10,000 to 40 million to 100 million. Not long ago, it was reported that Xiaomi’s next-generation flagship phone may use 200 million pixels. It seems that the big brothers in the Android camp are also working hard. #digitaltechnews#
Xiaomi Mi 12 renderings posted online
What’s even more frightening is that when a single camera cannot meet consumer demand, mobile phone manufacturers began to adopt a multi-camera stacking method. Enhance image quality. In just a few years, dual cameras are no longer uncommon, including three cameras, four cameras, five cameras... and they are no longer exclusive to high-end phones. Even the cheapest entry-level models are equipped with multiple cameras.
Honor Magic3 series equipped with five ring-shaped cameras
Now, there seems to be a new trend in smartphone cameras - moving towards larger apertures.
First, explain what is aperture? Simply put, it controls the size of the aperture through which light enters the camera. The larger the aperture, the more light enters. At the same time, a larger aperture can also reduce image blur caused by moving lenses or hand shake, and enhance the effect of optical image stabilization to a certain extent.
As we all know, variable aperture is an accessory of digital SLR. How about using it on a mobile phone? No, the first person to try it was Samsung.
As early as 2018, Samsung launched the "Galaxy S9" equipped with a variable aperture camera, which adopted an f1.5/f2.4 intelligent variable aperture. After using a large aperture for low-light photography, The amount of light entering when taking photos has been significantly increased, and it is said that the effect instantly beats the popular iPhone X at the time.
Because the smartphone sensor at the time was too small but the aperture structure was too large, Samsung eventually gave up on the design and switched to an outsole after insisting on two generations of models such as the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 9 series. Cameras, such as the flagship Samsung S21 Ultra released last year.
But now, variable aperture is about to return, and it’s Huawei who is taking the lead.
Recently, news broke that Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. submitted a patent to the World Intellectual Property Organization. The patent details how Huawei intends to equip future smartphone cameras with variable apertures to improve photography. quality.
According to the patent description, Huawei wants to use the same blade design as the camera and place at least 6 aperture blades on the rear camera module. These blades can slide against each other to create a larger aperture. , equipped with drive motors, coil magnets and other devices to control and adjust the amount of light entering the camera.
At that time, the aperture blades on the sensor will open when needed to get as much natural light as possible, and will shrink when there is sufficient light. In terms of technology, Huawei's variable aperture structure design is more complex than Samsung's.
In order to let the public understand this technology more intuitively, graphic designer Technizo Concept produced a series of 3D renderings based on Huawei patent drawings.
As can be seen from the renderings, the front adopts a full-screen design, equipped with an under-screen camera, and the screen coverage is very large. As for the back, it still has the star ring shape like Mate 30 and Mate 40. It has to be said that this unique recognition can be recognized at a glance wherever it goes.
But the difference is that the main camera with variable aperture is placed in the middle "C position".
As described in the patent diagram, the variable aperture lens designed by Huawei seems to have six blades arranged in a "circle" shape. The aperture range will obviously vary, but the exact range is not yet clear.
In addition, due to the limited internal space of the mobile phone, the variable aperture cannot be precisely controlled, so Huawei's variable aperture only supports switching back and forth between two gears, the same as Samsung. But the difference is that Huawei's variable aperture adjusts the amount of light entering the camera module in conjunction with the shutter, bringing a multi-speed adjustment function that looks more like a traditional camera aperture.
I have to say that this technology is indeed "luxurious"! However, the emergence of patented technology does not mean that Huawei will actually equip smartphones with variable apertures in the future. However, as consumers, we still hope that Huawei can realize this idea. After all, the camera quality will become better, and the experience will naturally be very different.