Phone Camera Hardware Comparison

[jmwhite151]

The chart below is my attempt to compare phone cameras at different focal lengths. The vertical axis is intended to represent the amount of light incident on the portion of the sensor used. It should be the full frame equivalent aperture squared (to account for the area). So a full frame aperture of f/4 would be 1/16 or 0.06 on the chart below. It's all normalized to a full frame sensor based on the native sensor size, native aperture and how much of the image is cropped. (Mistakes might have been made. I'm open to critiques.)

Here is the link to the Google Sheet.

I was curious about how Vivo X200 Ultra's hardware choices (esp. 35 mm main) affected this. Compared with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the X200U has a big advantage in the 14-23 and 85-100 mm ranges and the 15U has a huge advantage in 23-35 mm range. So depending on where you tend to shoot, you might choose one or the other (or something else). But theoretical light incident on the sensor is only one (small?) piece of the puzzle. It's still fun to compare, though.

 

[Mark Sloe]

Thanks for putting the work in and sharing.

 

[MN13]

... my attempt to compare phone cameras at different focal lengths. The vertical axis is intended to represent the amount of light incident on the portion of the sensor used. It should be the full frame equivalent aperture squared (to account for the area). So a full frame aperture of f/4 would be 1/16 or 0.06 on the chart below. It's all normalized to a full frame sensor based on the native sensor size, native aperture and how much of the image is cropped. (Mistakes might have been made. I'm open to critiques.)

I understand "Focal Length, FF Equiv [mm]". The focal length of the lens which would give the same angle of view on full format (36x24mm) ignoring the slightly different aspect ratio. This makes focal length of lenses on a smartphone or cropped sensor camera more understandable. But not quite understanding your "Aperture, FF Equiv"

The ƒ/ is defined as the ratio of focal length and the diameter of the entrance pupil (aperture) (focal length divided by the diameter of the entrance pupil). Is independent of sensor size. For example, my 450mm ƒ/12.5 Fujinon-C covers 4x5", 8x10", and 11x14", yet its lowest f-stop number (or maximum aperture) is still ƒ/12.5 for all formats. Also its focal length remains the same, 450mm. How would your "Aperture, FF Equiv" work here?

Obviously, with the same f-stop, shutter speed, and assuming uniform illumination, more light is "deposited" on the "11x14" than on the 4x5" (since it has 8 times the surface area).

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

I love this kind of stuff, thank you for creating and sharing it!

If you have the time or inclination, it might be interesting to add the OnePlus 12 (or now 13 I guess) to the list. This is the company that partnered with Hasselblad, but I don't know how much involvement they actually had in anything. But I've been delighted with the photos mine takes.



My Pixel 6 Pro was not aging gracefully, so when I replaced it last year I went with the OnePlus 12 in part because the telephoto and ultrawide sensors are 1/2", significantly larger than what most other phones were offering, and on top of that the apertures were as large or larger than a lot of other phones. The main sensor was on par with many other flagships at 1/1.4" and f/1.6, so no concerns there.

Here's the full camera specs which OnePlus is kind enough to post on their website. No playing coy about hardware, like certain brands named after fruit like to do.



I've been especially pleased with the output of the 3x/70mm telephoto, and I think the performance is commensurate with the larger sensor and aperture. It's better than my Pixel 6 Pro's telephoto module, and often gives me results that beat out the telephoto on some of my real cameras of yesteryear.

Here's a couple cat pictures of our kitten "Leon". No artificial blur was added, and please note that the second picture is shot at ISO 1000, and still looks decent.

 

[M SN]

Great shots.

Do you shoot RAW also?

At some point I recall the Oneplues 12 was able to only shoot basically RAW+ style of files and those sometimes turned out with mismatched stacked images.

Have they added the option to differentiate from simple RAW and stacked RAW?

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Great shots.

Do you shoot RAW also?

At some point I recall the Oneplues 12 was able to only shoot basically RAW+ style of files and those sometimes turned out with mismatched stacked images.

Have they added the option to differentiate from simple RAW and stacked RAW?

I used to shoot RAW on some of my old phones, but I've been happy enough with OnePlus's processing that I don't usually bother. These shots were just JPGs.

I should probably experiment with RAW though, see if there's some image quality I'm leaving on the table, like I found with my old phones.

 

[jmwhite151]

... my attempt to compare phone cameras at different focal lengths. The vertical axis is intended to represent the amount of light incident on the portion of the sensor used. It should be the full frame equivalent aperture squared (to account for the area). So a full frame aperture of f/4 would be 1/16 or 0.06 on the chart below. It's all normalized to a full frame sensor based on the native sensor size, native aperture and how much of the image is cropped. (Mistakes might have been made. I'm open to critiques.)

I understand "Focal Length, FF Equiv [mm]". The focal length of the lens which would give the same angle of view on full format (36x24mm) ignoring the slightly different aspect ratio. This makes focal length of lenses on a smartphone or cropped sensor camera more understandable. But not quite understanding your "Aperture, FF Equiv"

The ƒ/ is defined as the ratio of focal length and the diameter of the entrance pupil (aperture) (focal length divided by the diameter of the entrance pupil). Is independent of sensor size. For example, my 450mm ƒ/12.5 Fujinon-C covers 4x5", 8x10", and 11x14", yet its lowest f-stop number (or maximum aperture) is still ƒ/12.5 for all formats. Also its focal length remains the same, 450mm. How would your "Aperture, FF Equiv" work here?

Obviously, with the same f-stop, shutter speed, and assuming uniform illumination, more light is "deposited" on the "11x14" than on the 4x5" (since it has 8 times the surface area).

Thanks for your interest! Disclaimer: I'm not sure I did everything correctly.

DPReview has a nice article on equivalent aperture.

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2666934640/what-is-equivalence-and-why-should-i-care/2

I'm not exactly sure how that applies to your case... In your case, if the image circle created by the lens "completely" covers the film for all film sizes (I.e. the smaller film is closer to the lens), then I would think they are all equivalent, like you said. But if the films are all held at the same distance from the lens and the image circle on the film plane greatly exceeds the size of the 4x5" film, but fits "perfectly" on the 11x14" film, then I would think the 450mm f/12.5 lens would act more like a 1238 mm f/34 lens on the 4x5" film. (I'm not really familiar with large format cameras.)

 

[jmwhite151]

Thanks for your interest! I'm glad I'm not the only "hardware nerd".

I updated the spreadsheet in the original post's link (but not the image in the original post). Let me know if you have trouble viewing it. I added a sheet for the OnePlus 12 and added it to the plot. (Although there are so many curves on the plot, it's getting hard to keep them straight, especially since some colors are duplicated.) Feel free to copy the sheet and manipulate it however you like. I also made a plot with ones I thought you might find interesting and included it below.

I noticed there were some slight differences between the hardware on the OP12 and OP13. I plotted the OP12 since that's what you have and I thought it was the more interesting of the two anyway. (They seem to be very similar, except that the UW sensor on the OP12 is bigger than the OP13. I haven't yet made any attempt to include the effect of better sensors. E.g. just going by memory, I think the LYT-900 and IMX989 are both Type 1" sensors. But I believe the LYT-900 is the better sensor, being a 2-layer transitor sensor.)

Thanks for pointing this out. I lost track of the the OnePlus phones a few years ago when it seemed like Oppo and Vivo (all owned by BBK) were getting the better hardware. But the OP12 does appear to have a noticeably better telephoto than phones sold in the US, at least in the 70-110 mm range.

It's a real shame in my opinion that all/most of the phones sold in the US have camera hardware that lags behind Chinese phones. I have often toyed with the idea of importing one, but never pulled the trigger. (I have had Pixel phones for the past ~8 years.) A few years ago I was taking a lot of pictures of my kids indoors with the ultra wide and really wished it had better light intake. Now I'm taking more pictures of my kids outdoors at telephoto distances (albeit with my Pixel 7's main camera) and wishing I had a telephoto camera. I've been looking at the Pixel 9 Pro. But some of those Chinese phones have significantly better telephoto hardware. (Sorry, a bit of a diversion. I get excited about this stuff.)

P.S. Great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Thanks for your interest! I'm glad I'm not the only "hardware nerd".

Thanks for pointing this out. I lost track of the the OnePlus phones a few years ago when it seemed like Oppo and Vivo (all owned by BBK) were getting the better hardware. But the OP12 does appear to have a noticeably better telephoto than phones sold in the US, at least in the 70-110 mm range.

It's a real shame in my opinion that all/most of the phones sold in the US have camera hardware that lags behind Chinese phones. I have often toyed with the idea of importing one, but never pulled the trigger.

I don't know if you're talking about all the other Chinese phones *except* OnePlus not being available in the US, but in case you're not aware, OnePlus phones actually are available here. I bought my OnePlus 12 from Best Buy, and activated it on T-Mobile without any drama.

It's been a great phone BTW. Once I discovered it, choosing it was kind of a no-brainer. Besides the unrivaled camera hardware, it had the fastest SnapDragon processor, lots of RAM and storage, huge battery, and superfast charging. Oh, and an IR blaster lol, which is something I've always liked to have. And it was hundreds of dollars less expensive than the other flagship phones. Especially since I got mine open-box from Best Buy at a nice discount.

My Pixel 6 Pro was the first Pixel I ever owned, and while I enjoyed the interface, the phone was rather glitchy and it ran hot and the battery life was crap. I gather that the newer Pixels are better, but for now I see no reason to leave OnePlus.

 

[M SN]

Does the Oneplus 12 also have the square bokeh like the Iqoo 12 on the tele, these are virtually identical modules according to GSMarena (BBK owning both brands), so I am assuming in close up/macro shots the background would be rendered the same?

Example found online for the Iqoo 12

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Does the Oneplus 12 also have the square bokeh like the Iqoo 12 on the tele, these are virtually identical modules according to GSMarena (BBK owning both brands), so I am assuming in close up/macro shots the background would be rendered the same?

Example found online for the Iqoo 12

If it does, I've never noticed it. I'll try to look through my photos later and see if I find any useful examples.