It is true that although mobile phone imaging is getting stronger every year, it is hard to say that it has the capital to challenge professional cameras until today. After all, due to the limited body size, it is impossible for smartphones to accommodate larger photoreceptors, which is precisely the deadlock that hinders the development of their cameras.
However, from a rational point of view, smart phones are not simple video recording tools after all, and it is completely understandable if they can't reach the level of cameras. Just as a consumer, it is right to hope that it will become stronger and stronger.
Fortunately, according to the development law of smart phones, the flagship products in the new year are bound to make further breakthroughs in images and bring more surprises to fans.
For example, the news that Huawei P50 series will take the lead in carrying liquid lenses has been heard all the time recently. Although the reliability of this news is still in doubt, it is not groundless. In fact, as early as last April, China National Intellectual Property Administration approved a Huawei patent entitled "Motor components, camera modules and electronic equipment for driving liquid lenses". Although it is "components and modules" rather than "lens", there is a message between the lines: liquid lenses for mobile phones do exist.
What is a liquid lens?
I believe many friends have another question mark on their heads after hearing this news: What is a liquid lens?
To solve what is a liquid lens, we must first understand how the lens achieves zoom. As we all know, optical zoom is the real lossless zoom technology, and the lens that supports optical zoom is usually a zoom lens instead of a fixed focus. However, as mentioned above, the size of the mobile phone simply cannot provide room for the lens module to move back and forth, and the zoom distance is very limited.
But even so, mobile phone manufacturers are not helpless. For example, some mobile phones add a huge zoom lens to the fuselage, which looks exactly like a card machine. The representative product is Samsung Galaxy Zoom K. In recent years, periscope zoom technology has gradually emerged, skillfully folding the light, changing the "width" of the mobile phone into "thickness", and achieving lossless zoom of 3 times, 5 times or even 10 times, such as 10 times optical zoom carried by Huawei P40 Pro+.
Through the above example, I believe friends may have found that the premise of optical zoom is whether the lens can provide enough optical path length for light transmission, and the fixed-focus lens can't move, so the optical path length remains unchanged and zoom can't be realized. Although the periscope zoom lens still belongs to the fixed focus category, the optical path is long enough, so it has the ability to achieve graded zoom.
What about the liquid lens? In fact, the principle of the patent is not difficult to understand, that is, a liquid fixed lens group is added between the traditional two lenses to change the medium of the lenses from glass to liquid, but the principle remains unchanged. After all, liquids also have strong light transmittance. The difference is that the glass medium cannot change its radius of curvature, but the liquid can.
For example, some patented technologies use voltage to change the shape of liquid crystal, such as protrusion, flattening, or contraction and relaxation. Under the condition that the lens group does not move, the curvature radius of the lens can be increased/decreased, and then the optical path can be changed, so as to realize large focal length zoom and support rapid continuous stepless zoom.
What are the advantages of liquid lens?
The appearance of liquid lens has greatly eased the volume occupied by the lens in the traditional optical zoom process, especially on mobile phones with limited space. With the liquid lens, the weight of camera components can be reduced to a certain extent, and even a mirror can be used for multiple purposes, further reducing the thickness and weight of the mobile phone itself and making it easier to be light and thin.
It is worth mentioning that, because it does not need to occupy too much space, the liquid lens may also change the protruding problem of the camera module of the mobile phone and realize real integration. Without the sense of suddenness, will the smart phone have a more beautiful design?
Secondly, there are essential differences between liquid lens and mechanical lens, and the power consumption is much lower than the latter. Focus can be maintained without high voltage or other mechanical devices, and it can be driven with little energy. In theory, it will also save more electricity, which indirectly helps to improve the endurance of mobile phones. In addition, because there is no more complicated mechanical execution structure, it also means that there are not many movable internal components in the liquid lens structure, so the possibility of mechanical obstacles is lower and the stability is better than the latter.
At the same time, the liquid mirror can be like the human eye. The focusing system has no traditional mechanical structure, and the lens group does not need to move back and forth. Instead, the shape of droplets is adjusted by the change of input voltage, which makes it possible to achieve millisecond focusing, and the film formation rate is as high as 100%. It can be said that through the liquid lens, no matter how far the object is from the camera, the imaging system can change the focal plane within milliseconds and provide a clearer image.
In addition, the liquid lens also has the characteristics of large aperture, which can be adjusted automatically and the focal length can be adjusted in a wide range, so it still has very good shooting effect in dim and strong light. In addition to these advantages, the liquid lens will also bring a wider zoom range and focus, from macro to perspective, everything is in the lens.
In short, the liquid lens has the advantages of lighter weight, accurate and fast focusing, clear shooting quality and wide zoom range. For smart phones, this is not only a brand-new lens technology, but also an innovation of lens technology, which subverts the focusing principle of traditional lenses.
"Multi-purpose" of liquid lens is not far away, but it needs to be done step by step.
In any case, liquid lens is a new technology of mobile phone, and it is still unknown whether it can be commercialized quickly. But it can be admitted that if the commercialization of liquid lens comes true, it may mean that "one lens is multi-purpose" is not far away. For users who have long been accustomed to the multi-camera layout of mobile phones, this will be a very cognitive impact.
Of course, at present, nature is conservative. Although liquid lens has a series of advantages, there are also some problems to be solved urgently, such as dispersion and distortion. Therefore, it may be difficult for us to see the emergence of "one mirror for multiple purposes" in a short time.