Samsung wants to turn smartphones’ telephoto modules into a “second main camera.” By this the company means that current remote sensors are smaller and lower resolution, they lag behind on features like HDR and video frame rates compared to the phone’s main camera.
To be a true second main camera, the tele module will need a sensor good enough for the main camera – and Samsung believes its 200MP sensors like the ISOCELL HP2 and HP3 are the right tools for the job.
ISOCELL HP2 and HP3 compared to ISOCELL sensors currently used in telephoto cameras
200MP sensors are already used in some phones that don’t have the budget for a separate telephoto lens. These sensors typically have 2x and 4x zoom capabilities at the same resolution (i.e. 12.5 MP, which tends to be the default setting for the main camera as well).
Here is an example of what you can achieve with such a camera:
The native zoom capabilities of a 200MP sensor
They have plenty of pixels to work around, and might even beat a low-resolution sensor with a long lens in cases where the user zooms past the focal length of the lens. Here’s a 4x zoom with a 200MP sensor and an 11MP sensor that combines 3x optical and 1.3x digital zoom (for a total close to 3.9x):
200MP sensor with wide-angle lens versus 11MP sensor with optical and digital zoom
This is what we have today. In the future, Samsung’s 200MP sensors may sit behind a 3x telephoto lens, so they will offer 3x, 6x, and 12x zoom. Here is a demo of what will be possible:
12.5MP image captured by zooming into the 200MP sensor and some areas enlarged to show detail
ISOCELL HP2 and HP3 are 1/1.3″ and 1/1.4″ sensors respectively and have a lot in common. They use a deep learning 4×4 remosaic algorithm, which is what takes the 4×4 Tetra²Pixel arrangement of the sensors and scrambles it into RGB. This is done on the fast DSPs and GPUs of modern smartphone chipsets. These are premium sensors with advanced autofocus and HDR capabilities, making them better than the typical sensor used in telephoto cameras today.
Effective pixel size of the HP2 at different resolutions
Samsung also highlights the importance of telephoto lenses for portrait photography. For starters, the main camera on today’s phones is too wide for a good portrait and causes distortion. This is why longer lenses are preferable.
Facial distortion with a 24mm lens compared to an 85mm lens
Additionally, telephoto lenses naturally create bokeh to separate the subject from the background. And even though today’s computational photography bokehs are pretty good, they still mess things up sometimes. Samsung notes that a larger sensor will create a shallower depth of field than a smaller one with the same focal length, so these HP sensors will be an advantage for portraits too.
You can follow the Source link to read Samsung’s detailed post on why 200MP telephoto cameras are the future. However, you won’t find any concrete plan there to bring them to market.
Right now we’re hearing rumors that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a 50MP 3x camera (compared to the S23 Ultra’s 10MP 3x), which will offer 3x and 6x native zoom, but is still inferior to the hypothetical 200MP 3x camera. MP shown above. . So we probably won’t see it next year, but if the company talks about it today, it probably already has something in the lab.
This is, of course, an alternative to Sony’s approach, which uses variable focal length lenses as traditional cameras do. For now this has only been seen on Xperia phones, although other brands are also experimenting with lenses of this type.
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