Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has shared a teaser on its YouTube page confirming its forthcoming Mi Mix smartphone will feature a liquid lens — the first of its kind in a smartphone — that’s capable of changing focus and focal length by altering the shape of the liquid element.
According to Xiaomi’s pair (1, 2)Weibo posts, the liquid lens will enable a single camera module on its upcoming smartphone to effectively replace multiple camera modules by offering everything from macro to telephoto capabilities. Liquid lenses aren’t necessarily new, but they aren’t necessarily common in the consumer space — until now.
Xiaomi's mysterious MIX phone will use liquid lens for the first time in the world pic.twitter.com/73ob6uBsyn
No specific details were provided by Xiaomi in regards to sensor and camera specifications, but the phone is due to be revealed in its entirety on March 29, so we won’t have to wait long.
As part of my day job I've been designing and assembling inspection systems based on liquid lenses since 2015. There's 2 leading brands, Optotune (Switzerland) and Varioptic (France, bought by Corning). Optotune's lenses can't be used in a vertical position due to coma aberration induced by the Earth's gravity so I doubt they are the one used in the present product. Xiaomi may have licensed the approach of Varioptic or designed around their patent (in which case we may see some patent law suit in the future). Interesting optical design anyway.
What kind of liquid? Cask-aged? Bordeaux? Do we get a Mountain-Dew lens for those amazing early morning pics of the Rocky-Mountains? Sake for street photography in Ropongi? ...one for the road?
A lot of unanswered questions - what will Leica do? Co-branding with Jaegermeister?
You (all the people complaining about all the drawback) should really use Google at least for a few seconds. Virtually all problems have already been addressed, liquid lens technology isn't new, it's working and in some respects already superior to conventional systems. Was waiting for the last decade to see that happening so not new at all....
Liquid lens? I have bought an iPhone with Liquid Retina Display and have hard times keeping it fresh with moisturizing lotion. Too much smearing and sticky fingers.
Thin, thinner, the thinnest - the competition of children's occupation. Make them thick, thicker, the thickest so that the battery charge can last long, longer, the longest. Besides, 40Mpix from a minuscule phone sensor vs 40Mpix from an ASP-C sensor - which one will give you respectable A3, A2 prints? A $120 phone will produce good enough images for the Internet. A $1200 phone with 'exotic' camera arrangements is an overkill. They do it because they can and charge it to some, not because it makes much sense.
honestly, I would go for the 120€ phone (maybe double that price) for "casual" use and pick up true camera equipment if the job requires it. SInce >99% of the images taken with a phone are for personal use only or posted in some feed nobody takes notice of, why using a bulky and heavy camera/phone with an APS-C sensor and really large lenses? Next logical step would be a 1'' sensor anyways, which is rumored to be in the next (next to next) iPhone and Pixel devices. 1'' sensor paired with latest imaging algorithms will probably produce an image you would expect from a APS-C sensor normally but saves weight and space. A phone is about portability, a camera about image quality.
Honestly, although photo/video from smartphone not good enough when compare with dedicated camera.
However, volume of photo/video post in Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok far far more higher than any camera. These "not good enough" photo/video generated better profit margin than any camera.
We also know Sony high-end cinema line camera (e.g. Sony FX6) generated better video IQ than any A7III. How many consumer bought FX6?
For smartphone/camera maker, most important is profit instead how consumer use their product.
This a niche opinion. In reality, many more people have smartphones than dedicated cameras and they value the better smartphone cameras, which is why we've seen so much R&D and marketing funneled into them.
The smartphone companies are by no means infallible, but they have a much better handle on what the average smartphone buyer wants than you do... and they certainly don't want a thicker smartphone with a crappy camera if they have to then supplement it with a dedicated camera that they can't slide in their pocket.
And we haven't even addressed level of effort to quickly post to social media, yet...
@dqnielg "Quickly post to social media" easy to solve. Please look at GoPro/Instax 360/DJI Pocket 2, they come with easy use, express produce result smartphone app.
However, stills photography a bit different. Wish camera build-in GPS & smart film simulation via Luminar AI (lite). During/after shoot photo, Luminar AI will auto tune photo based on scene, then consumer just need minor tune photo via camera dial (like Loupedeck/Xbox/PS4 controller). Then, auto post these photo to social media via sync to smartphone app in background.
@therislight Directions of Luminar AI (create some fake replacement) not really suitable for camera hobbyist. How about Luminar AI concept applied with focus on adjust light & mood of the photo (which usually doing in Lightroom but with more express/easy way).
Don't tell me camera hobbyist only increase clarity/reduce noise of photo & never use preset in Lightroom.
I think this sounds very interesting, but it also makes me concerned about boiling points, freezing points, and potential for evaporation or degradation over time. This lens may have some interesting flare characteristics as well!
If you go and read the white papers - difficult to translate but it's worth doing....
Everything you just mentioned has already been solved. It's very easy to contain small elements like this so that they are not affected by outside temperatures and conditions.
That was actually one of the easiest hurdles for them to overcome.
this technique is not new. The thing being new, is that it is used in a consumer grade - aka "cheap" - device in mass production. AFAIK this type of lenses are being used for quite a while now in expensive (amatuer) telescopes.
So if you’re in sub-freezing temps, would you have to worry if your lens would freeze? Also, if it does freeze, would it damage the camera? Maybe there would be some form of antifreeze there but adding anything to the water would affect its clarity. Interesting tech though.
I thought we are cutting their chip supply, cutting them off Android and stopping them copying us so our Apple / Google products can champ them - what went wrong with the plan?
"Huawei is exploring using...uh um...stealing the technology..."
Liquid lens technology is not invented by Xiomi so im not sure why you would imply that Huawei is stealing the technology. It is quite likely that all major smartphone companies have been exploring this technology independently. Camera is one of the biggest features in smartphones these days and it is a given that all smartphone companies are evaluating any technologies out there which will allow them to enhance camera capabilities without increasing the size.
@random78 - We demand stolen IP when we buy from Huawei. And you can rest assured that whatever it is they build, it will be 100% certified pilfered. Just read the label - it's verified on every one of their products.
Now THIS is interesting. Xiaomi make very good smartphones at very reasonable prices. You can get great bang for your buck. The proof, of course, will be in the pudding. I will look forward to the reviews, but I won't buy it. Best to wait for the second, or even third, generation of this technology.
In Frank Herbert's novel "Dune", they use binoculars with liquid lenses shaped by force fields. From science fiction to science reality in a mere few decades.
“OIL LENS: hufuf oil held in static tension by an enclosing force field within a viewing tube as part of a magnifying or other light-manipulation system. Because each lens element can be adjusted individually one micron at a time, the oil lens is considered the ultimate in accuracy for manipulating visible light.”
Dear Mr Fazal Majid, Respectfully Sir, no one has stated that “force field” technology is employed here or, factually speaking, exists. Therefore Mr Herbert’s notion has not yet become “reality”.
Fazal Majid, Electromagnetism is certainly one of the 4 Forces. In science fiction the term “force field” is used to distinguish an imaginary technology from existing technologies. The “force field” of Herbert’s devising obviously belongs to the same category as warp drives and tractor beams, which also don’t exist.
Edgar_in_Indy It would seem you don’t remember Yabbocky(sp?), a frequenter of the comments threads who, somehow, managed to disagree with all sides of an argument, especially about (whispers)equivalence.
Lol, as someone who enjoys shooting with everything from cell phones to m43 to APS-C to FF I usually just tune out whenever an otherwise agreeable thread heads down the equivalency wormhole.
I just finished reading the whole series again, in anticipation of the upcoming movie. So good.
I stopped with Chapterhouse Dune this time, as reading his son's (Brian Herbert) subsequent concluding novels is just painful after being immersed in his father's incredible writing style. It's like going from Bach to Bieber. It's just a jarring transition.
@Old Cameras I’m sorry, but there are better SF novels and series. I just started re-reading Iain M. Banks’ *Use of Weapons* and how by any rational standard it stands among the greatest works of literature of the 20th Century, unlike the Realist tripe like Proust or Joyce that is shoved down our throats by literary critics and professors.
Fazal, I'm always up for really good SF books. Do you have anything else you could recommend?
Some of my favorite reads from the last few years have been the Hyperion Cantos books by Dan Simmons, and I also enjoyed his historical fiction novel "The Terror". And I read several Neal Stephenson books that really made an impression on my...especially "Cryptonomicon", but "The Diamond Age" and "Snow Crash" were also very good. I also really enjoyed "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny.
Well, start with “Consider Phlebas” and “Use of Weapons” by Banks. “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi. ‘The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi. ‘Lexicon” by Max Barry. “Kirinyaga” and “Ivory” by Mike Resnick. The Murderbot series by Martha Wells. “Daemon” by Daniel Suarez.
Now, try punching a clean round hole a some MM in diameter in a flat thin sheet of metal--say from a can top, then, using and eye dropper, put a drop of distilled water in the hole. As long as the drop remains suspended in the hole, you'll have a microscope good for looking at bugs.
Obviously it would be best to clamp the metal sheet to something and move the board holding the [dead] bug up and down so as to focus. Don't forget to provide a light source from the side. You can experiment with putting the bug sample on a clear sheet and illuminating it from below, but you don't want to overwhelm your sensor/eye.
True story: My cat once put a paw behind a large wine glass my wife used for simple drinking water looking through the glass. And the cat was intrigued. Looking behind and moving the paw back and forth. Perplexed. The Paw thing.
Smartphones can't replace a normal camera... Yet, Xiaomi IS including some real innovations in their products. Bravo, Xiaomi! I used the first Mi MIX and it was a very nice phone with a fully ceramic body - something Apple has claimed to be impossible earlier that year...
Oh please. First of all, I don't believe that article. Everyone is gunning for Apple since 14.5 takes away their ability collect data. You don't think Zuck had anything to do that investigation? This is an existential threat to Facebook and Google. The amount of crap Google collects from Android phones and Xiaomi - works for the Chinese government with backdoors on their 5G technology. I put my business behind a tech company that doesn't derive 90% of their revenue from advertising, or is totally controlled by the Chinese government.
iPhone has better security on their devices. The Apple vs FBI case in 2015/16 where Apple won't help the FBI to unlock someone's phone even with a court order.
@Ted, true, Apple will not send any data to China. But it will gradually intentionally make your phone slower and slower with new firmware releases. I am not sure what's worse actually )
@Ted, you wrote, “First of all, I don't believe that article.”
Of course you won’t believe anything that’s inconvenient.
“Everyone is gunning for Apple since 14.5 takes away their ability collect data. You don't think Zuck had anything to do that investigation?”
Sorry, I don’t do conspiracy theories. The fact is Apple is being investigated by multiple European regulators for their advertisement practices.
You have provided no evidence that regulators are biased against Apple. If you bothered to click on the references you would have seen that Apple is facing 3 investigations and Facebook (including WhatsApp and Instagram) is facing 21 investigations. But they are gunning for Apple according to your logic
I surmise apple will/does send data to China if that data is in China...ie: Chinese citizens' data. USA tech companies bend over backwards for the Chinese government when push comes to shove, it's only our government that the wackos hate, LOL.
"Yes, but Apple won't send transcripts of your phone conversations to China"
You do know that ALL Chinese protestors were using iPhones, and as Apple's policy in China, they were all given away, every piece of information about them. I guess something similar happens in the US, it's probably not been made open yet.
When has Apple ever said anything is “impossible”? Link?
Liquid lenses sound amazing (apparently they’re commonly used in barcode scanners—but that’s a single wavelength of light). In theory you can get instantaneous adjust of focal length, distance, focus, and stabilization from a single, non-moving part almost instantaneously.
One thing that troubles me is corrections, e.g. chromatic abberation. They might capture different wavelengths at slightly different times or beam split like 3CCD video cameras of old.
The other issue is size. My take is that the effects—notably compensation for gravity, but also inertia, will quickly become overwhelming with increasing size. These lenses may only have tiny image circles.
Huwai and Xiaomi are both heavily involved in data mining to stop any kind of dissent against an autocratic regime. So pardon me if I don't buy any of their products.
@Archlich: thanks! The summary for those who do not know how to click (also repeated elsewhere in these comments):
This is not a zoom — just an autofocus element. It acts by steplessly changing the boundary between TWO liquids. No pressure applied: just an electric potential.
Will the liquid vaporise in the heat when being on the beach @35C Will the liquid freeze up when being at a Skiresort @-20C when having a chilly moring on the slope?
I'd imagine it isn't just pure water. If it was an oil for example, it may become more rigid in freezing temperatures, and potentially too viscous in hot temperatures.
Even if it can withstand temperature extremes, those temperatures would alter the shape of the surface, so you'd get variable results in focal length, but it might be too little for people to notice. In fact, most lenses aren't their exact stated focal length, and focus breathing changes focal length slightly for lenses too, so probably not a big deal.
I can imagine that extreme cold would be far worse than heat, because if the fluid actually got cold enough to freeze, it could potentially damage things. But they probably use a fluid that wouldn't freeze until something like 40 below or more. If not, then they'd definitely have to make a big disclaimer.
They could potentially heat the area though. It wouldn't take much battery power to heat a tiny bit of liquid as a last resort.
Ironically that's exactly why Apple stands out from the competition. They may not be the first one who invents it, but they are often the one who properly applies it, and polishes it such that it appeals to a wider audience. Think front-facing cameras that had been alive years before the iPhone 4, then lost in favour, and resurfaced again with iPhone 4's FaceTime announcement. Think Touch ID, multi-touch, App Store. All other companies who got the tech ahead of the time just somewhat failed to truly deliver the tech's potential which is a shame.
My pre-iPhone 4 HTC Evo came with a decent (for the 2010 era) front facing cam and out of the box video conferencing software which worked pretty well on Sprint's (again, at that time) 4G network which was the fastest thing around for about a year.
But yes, Apple's core competency is marketing. Always has been.
Sounds interesting, but let's be honest, Xiaomi will find the way to fudge this up in QC or software. Just watch Linus about Xiaomi translucent TV with dead pixels out of the box.
Also, operating temps are a bit troubling so I expect nothing more than a one-time show-off.
@ShaiKhulud the 2 xiaomi phones I've owned have had the best android implementation with the best performance and the least bugs. way better than my previous samsungs for instance. Nothing is bug-free, especially when it's new innovating tech.
It’s still better than Samsung, and has done more things right, both in terms of processing and software implementations something Samsung really suck at.
As far as liquid in the path of the light, I have a 5” refractor telescope with a three element lens cell where the elements are oil spaced. So it’s air-glass-oil-glass-oil-glass-air. I’m guessing this is some sort of oil filled plastic lens where pressure is applied to stretch or compress it to change its shape.
Lol. Huawei hardware and (camera) software definitely aren't overshadowed by anything Apple has released. I never had to use their customer support, but given that Huawei don't program their phones to accelerate battery issues with age, I'm just going to go ahead and say they suck way less than Apple....
The sensor is a very small part of the overall hardware. Apple always had a superior chip. Their screen and body is always top notch. Still no other manufacturer uses stainless steel. The only interesting thing that happened in the phone camera segment in years is ProRaw format and 10bit Dolby Vision video (on a phone), both of witch is delivered by Apple.
Alun Thomas
Yes, you clearly haven't used their product. The issue you are refering to is like 5 years old, and it was adressed by Apple almost immediately. You can turn of this function off in the setting for years now. And support means that they are updating their phones 5+ years. You are lucky to get two years of update with an Android phone.
Buying a slightly larger sensor from Sony and putting in the phone is hardly an innovation.
@l92, as an iPhone 11 Pro user, I wouldn't dare to say a stainless steel frame is giving iPhone any advantage over the competition. Why? It makes the body way too heavy for the screen size (Over 180g for 5.8 inch panel) and when I'm using it I consistently wish it was made out of lighter material, such as aluminium or titanium. 7000 Al alloy they were using for iPhone 6s-8 was already good enough in terms of durability and scratch resistance, and they had no reason to change it.
And then the software part comes in. I tested the latest iPhones in the store multiple times, compared to mine and found out iPhone 12 Pro's JPEG processing cooks images in an extremely unpleasing way. Awful lot of noise reduction and sharpening haloes everywhere! I won't lie, Xiaomi is definitely ahead of Apple in this regard, at least judging from samples I could find on the internet.
Also, Mi 11 Ultra's main sensor will be 2.8 times larger than that of iPhone 12 Pro Max. "Slightly larger" yeah right.
SomeGuyWithACamera, do you find a big difference in all my data being collected by an American private company (is it only them?) or Chinese state company? I see it that way - from the moment I buy a smartphone and connect to the internet, my data is out there. For my internet provider, for my telecom that provides the phone network, for all their trading partners and God knows who else. Pretty much for everyone who has interest in it. That's how it works. To believe that if you buy an Apple phone your data is going to be "looked at" by the "good guys" and with buying a Chinese phone by the "bad guys" is... lets say cartoonish. At best ;)
No Huawei don’t have to, because their phones don’t last long enough for it to be necessary to implement such sneaky measures.
I find it kinda funny when Samsung owners proclaimed Apple as garbage, because there literally is nothing more garbage and difficult to use then Samsung, they also like to spy on you, not that they are the only ones, seems to be a bit of a tendency.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 from 2013 that begs to differ with your assessment of their stuff being 'crap.' Eight years on, it's a little too slow to be effective on the web-but it still plays Netflix with aplomb, runs Instagram remarkably smoothly; its OLED screen is so good that I had to take it to the store with me when I bought a new tablet, put up my flickr on it and the candidate new models, and it took me several tablets, from several vendors, to find its equal for color balance.
The winner wound up being a new S5e, with OLED screen.
Inpure water could have a melting temperature well below -15 degrees depending on what is being mixed with it, and all the internal heat produced by other components would most likely be able to keep the lens above that temperature even under extreme conditions. It would never evaporate because it is encapsulated within the film.
I assume that with "real" you mean "realm". High tech manufacturing has never been only the realm of Japan and the USA. Japan actually came to the game relatively lately. European countries were in it much earlier. Talking about China, many high-tech components have been manufactured there for a relatively long time, microprocessors, for example. Capability to design high-tech components became much later. You shouldn't confuse manufacturing and invention. Most of the high-tech components manufactured in China are still designed elsewhere. China is getting better in high-tech, though.
Liquid lens isn’t invented by Xiaomi. It isn’t even new technology. It’s been used in cameras and other devices before. It will be interesting to see the quality of the Xiaomi’s implementation, though. Hopefully it’s good, and brings some benefits for the user.
The world sold their manufacturing to China for higher profits and to screw their manufacturing sectors and populations into desk jobs. China would be nowhere without such traitors.
Capitalists. The term you're searching for is 'Capitalists.'
Funny how they decry unions and fair pay-yet outsource to the dreaded Commies we're also supposed to hate, specifically because of easy slave labor availability.
Interesting concept, likely to be ruined by poor software.
Chinese companies can do some incredibly hardware when they want to (Oppo Find 7, OnePlus One aka Find 7 OnePlus Edition), but their software is consistently horribly lacking. This includes the last Xiaomi product I bought, the Mi Sphere.
This is partly because a fundamental aspect of software development is: Bugs will exist, you must acknowledge and fix them. But this is fundamentally incompatible with the Asian concept of "saving face" - you can't fix a bug unless you acknowledge it, and you can't acknowledge it without admitting you made a mistake in the first place. But you must not acknowledge that you made a mistake in Asian cultures, for you must "save face".
This became apparent when OnePlus hired the Paranoid Android team as a publicity stunt in the West. Management wouldn't allow them to do their job, which is why every competent software developer on the team was gone in <6 months.
Seeing how quickly Sony, Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi etc... reacts to hardware defects/software bugs on their mobile products.. I don't think "save face" stereotype you're mentioning ever existed on any Asian smartphone company.
"you can't fix a bug unless you acknowledge it, and you can't acknowledge it without admitting you made a mistake in the first place. But you must not acknowledge that you made a mistake"
This bit of your comment, however, definitely applies to Apple (a US company).
I have tried Huawei in the past. It was the most buggy garbage I've ever used (In addition they flagrantly violated the GPL for a long time) and will never touch them again.
"Seeing how quickly Sony, Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi etc... reacts to hardware defects/software bugs on their mobile products.." LOL. Samsung, react quickly to anything?
When developing the Galaxy Nexus, Google found a serious eMMC wear leveler bug. It was so bad that Google outright refused to "live-patch" the firmware (it's possible, the GNex did it for a more minor bug) and forced Samsung to ensure that any production GNex would NOT use an eMMC chip with the flaw.
Samsung continued to knowingly put that crap in their phones for 6+ months and apparently considered it an NDA violation by Ken Sumrall for telling anyone the flaw existed. (I never got formal confirmation that they pursued legal action against him, but they refused to engage with him and I heard it through the grapevine it was due to lawyers.)
Pursuing legal action against someone for mentioning in an email to someone desperate for an explanation for why Galaxy S2 units are bricking right and left to a degree where even JTAG recovery houses can't bring the unit back is 100% "sweep it under the rug to save face"
Let's not forget that Samsung decided it was a good idea to react to a critically low battery by raising a "fuel_alerted" wakelock that would drain the battery, and thought it was OK to clear the condition with an == not <= check.
End result is that startup race conditions could cause the battery SoC monitor to falsely read low for 1-2 readings on boot, triggering fuel_alerted but not allowing it to clear since the reported SoC would rapidly rise past the threshold without ever being exactly it.
I reported that bug, along with a patch to fix it, over and over to multiple people at Samsung - never got fixed or acknowledged.
As far as Oppo - they were unique in around 2012-2013 in that they started making serious attempts to sell in the West, and worked with Western developers (including myself) to make their products more palatable to Western users. Back with the Find 7, they were a bit slow to adopt Android's "unified/emulated storage" concept and they actually productionized an LVM-based solution to their partitioning problem I proof-of-concepted for them.
Then they lost all of their Western-savvy execs to their newly formed subsidiary OnePlus (don't believe the marketing BS when they claim they're not a subsidiary) and started violating the GPL.
Not long after, OnePlus began getting infected with "save face" software development culture, leading everyone from the Paranoid Android team that they hired (that was widely publicized) quitting within 6 months. (I got lots of insider info from one of the kernel devs they hired whom I'd collaborated with on find7 AOSP bringup)
Xiaomi - MIUI was a GPL-violating CyanogenMod kangbang. Oh yeah, the Mi Sphere has had a widely known bug (DNGs saved with improper color matrix) since its release, fixing it requires changing nine numbers that anyone with a ColorChecker can generate, but - still broken to this day.
Sony Mobile - you forget that they used to be SonyEricsson. While Sony bought out Ericsson's share, the software teams for Sony Mobile are still based in Sweden.
There was a period of time where Sony had mobile tablet products from both the Japanese Vaio team and the SE team - the Vaio products were utter and complete garbage.
@adengappasami - oh, I didn't fully catch this before, but " Their software is so better than Samsung or other Android phones."
Samsung sets a pathetically low bar when it comes to software quality. As someone who has dug deep into the bowels of Samsung's software and been lied to face-to-face by Samsung engineers, their software development practices are a joke.
Try comparing to an Android device that was backed by competent software developers like Motorola or the Google Pixels.
I understand from your perspective as probably a developer as well. From a user perspective my Huawei Mate 30 pro experience was the best Android experience I had. As a consumer only. They were the closest to pixels in smoothness and the way some of the apps worked was extremely fluid.
I buy their device for the camera as I hardly use social.platforms and I am not on any messenger except signal.
For such requirement I found Huawei as a phone camera device to be the best compared against Samsung, Google and even apple.
As far as cameras... I'm sorry, but NO. Any camera where the vendor feels such a need for marketing that they watermark every single picture with "Taken with Huawei" is a sure sign of problems. Maybe the option can be turned off, but the fact that it's even possible to turn ON is a particularly egregious thing. (Don't believe me - see https://www.chevybolt.org/attachments/1614106198673-png.33643/ as one example)
You are mixing marketing with the actual output that is what matters. This feature can be turned off and it's there in all brands. It's a stock feature in all camera phones.
Huawei phones have the best cameras today and that cannot be denied. If you can get away with not buying a point and shoot and carry it along with the same phone it is doing a fab job. To me the rumoured p50 with a 1inch sensor will simply push the phone camera market to a different level. Point and shoot will be dead.
"This feature can be turned off and it's there in all brands. It's a stock feature in all camera phones." Nope, that's a lie. Not a single shooting mode or option for a proper cameraphone from a company who actually stands by their image quality (as opposed to marketing hubris) does this.
No Google Pixel even allows you to do this with the stock camera app. It is literally impossible to cause it to mangle images in the manner you claim is done with all brands. Same for Motorola
Huawei phones do not have the best cameras today, the horrendous image quality I see from every watermarked shot coming from a Mate 20X with "Leica AI Upscaling by Huawei" or whatever makes that extremely clear. The flare and dynamic range from every single shot posted by that dude are on par with legacy single-shot phones before the era of burst stacking.
As far as getting away with not carrying a point and shoot - that's why I bought a Pixel 4 XL.
Let us agree to disagree. Huawei p40, mate 40, mate 30 pro all produced brilliant images that I have print at 12 by 16 easily. Regarding pixel, they are the ones who fake sky from their algorithm and introduce new stars. So no thanks. Their images are probably the most fake of the lot in the name of AI
"Regarding pixel, they are the ones who fake sky from their algorithm and introduce new stars." - that's Luminar. The default camera app in Pixels do no such thing and never have. Stop lying. I'm not going to agree to disagree when you are repeatedly stating outright easily provable lies, such as claiming that Pixel cameras watermark images (they don't), or artificially create fake sky (they don't)
The only role AI plays in the entirety of the Pixel pipeline is automatic whitebalance. This is easily verifiable by reading Google's whitepapers. https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/11/night-sight-seeing-in-dark-on-pixel.html - as you can see, despite the "ai" in the domain name, for this particular article which describes the entire pipeline - other than AWB, the system never actually uses a neural network.
@Entropy512, a watermark is a preference thing. It's there for people who want to show off which phones they are using, and if you don't like it then just turn it off. While I do respect your opinion, it never bothers me personally because that's something I would turn it off immediately after the purchase. On top of that, smartphone cameras evolve really quickly - so whatever the photos you're getting out of your Mate 20X have absolutely nothing to do with how Mate 40 Pro performs therefore are irrelevant in 2021.
The mere existence of the watermark makes it clear the manufacturer relies more on marketing than on actual performance.
Does any Sony ILCE watermark images? No. Does any Canon mirrorless or SLR? No Does any Nikon? No Honestly: Huawei is the only mobile manufacturer I've ever seen do something like this. The fact that they wasted development resources on putting stupid watermarks in rather than fixing bugs/optimizing performance so their device could stand on its own merits instead of marketing-heavy BS like watermarking images with "Huawei-Leica Triple Camera AI" says it all.
Samsung is notorious known for not updating anything more then a few times if at all. Only their top level phones gets fixed and only the first two year, after that you can forget about it, but then again the phone might blow up or die on you before that happens, after all it’s Samsung we are talking about, a company caught red handed in implementing parts that will fail within a given timeframe.
And their caneras is by far worse then the Chinese companies.
"Another way to increase the DOF in a traditional lens is to increase the f/# by reducing the aperture size of the imaging lens. However, this also reduces the resolution and amount of light that gets through the imaging system, thereby reducing acquisition rates and image quality... ...By integrating a liquid lens, an imaging system can change focus electronically without compromising speed or image quality..."
What? Either F-number just went down the toilet, the article is wrong, or I have missed something pretty important.
It makes sense to me. For further, more in-depth (including technical mathematical explanations), see the variety of links embedded in the article that address related topics such as f#, DOF, MTF, impacts on resolution / contrast, etc. Follow the series of such interconnected links among sections.
In the part I cited the point seems to be that liquid lenses have faster AF. Faster AF is better, I get that.
What is interesting, is that AF speed is linked to image quality. Are there applications where smaller apertures are used for the sole reason that AF motors are not fast enough? Traditional and liquid lenses both need to be told where to focus, and my understanding is that this is the tricky part, not so much focusing itself.
Actually they did some camera stuff first... First telephoto camera on a smartphone, first 4k/60, first dolby vision, first innovation in raw implementation on smartphone side. Their approach to phone/computational photography is not bad. This thing on the article might be crap on the long term, so I wouldnt hold my breath.
I didn' say they had the first RAW implementation. But they certanly had the first usable and most insteresting one combining computational photography adventages + giving you a flexibility of a RAW file. And it works great, and will only improve.
Asus Zenfon Zoom series, Samsung Galaxy Camera series, Samsung zoom series, several Sharp and Nokia phones etc etc. Very first was Sharp 902 in 2004. Apple copycatted tones of Sharp innovations.
"But they certanly had the first usable and most insteresting one combining computational photography adventages + giving you a flexibility of a RAW file
If this comment doesn't sum up apple fans and the mentality the original poster was talking about then I don't know what does.
"Apple created this....okay they didn't create it but they did it the best so they're the innovators....okay I never actually used the other phones so I don't know if it's the best but you just can't afford apple.
Why are you so determined to twist my words? I never said that they were the first who used RAW. Mobile RAW is ancient. I know. But its a useless pile of noise due to the tiny sensors. Apple's solution is something that's actually usable, and unique. I'm not an Apple fan-boy btw, but they do offer competitive smartphones and solutions.
"Liquid lenses, with characteristics that could be altered, were being tried at least 20 years ago in Silicon Valley."
You seem to be confused. Liquid lenses have been in use for a long time already, even in cameras. Liquid lens also wasn’t invented by Xiaomi. It only decided to use one in a mobile phone. It’s an interesting design decision, though, and it will be interesting to see how well it works.
"I see this isn't an Apple or Google phone though."
It looks like this technology is already in use for industrial applications to allow for multiple applications per machine (e.g. photographing a small widget and a large widget on the same assembly line).
It will have a oil based liquid and water based liquid, but it's highly likely they won't use a pure water for the latter to maintain low freezing point.
There are so many Thunderbolt Docks on the market at the moment that it can be overwhelming to find the right one for you. We took a look at five different options to see how they might fit into your workflow.
Nik Collection from DxO is a suite of eight image processing tools that can be used either as standalone apps or plug-ins for third-party software like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic. We've taken a look at the latest version – click through to read our overview of Nik Collection 4.
The Panasonic GH5M2 is a refresh, rather than complete reworking, of the company's image-stabilized, video focused GH5. A new processor boosts its capabilities. We lookat whether this is enough to keep it competitive.
The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18mm F1.4 R LM WR is a bright, fast walkaround prime lens that's particularly well-suited to landscape and street photography. If you're a Fujifilm X-mount shooter, read our review to find out whether it deserves to be in your collection.
If you're looking for a high-quality camera, you don't need to spend a ton of cash, nor do you need to buy the latest and greatest new product on the market. In our latest buying guide we've selected some cameras that might be a bit older but still offer a lot of bang for the buck.
What's the best camera for shooting landscapes? High resolution, weather-sealed bodies and wide dynamic range are all important. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting landscapes, and recommended the best.
What’s the best camera for less than $1000? The best cameras for under $1000 should have good ergonomics and controls, great image quality and be capture high-quality video. In this buying guide we’ve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing under $1000 and recommended the best.
Although a lot of people only upload images to Instagram from their smartphones, the app is much more than just a mobile photography platform. In this guide we've chosen a selection of cameras that make it easy to shoot compelling lifestyle images, ideal for sharing on social media.
What's the best camera for travel? Good travel cameras should be small, versatile, and offer good image quality. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for travel and recommended the best.
We pit Adobe's Premiere Pro against Apple's Final Cut Pro to see which video editor takes the performance crown. Same timeline, same footage, same effects... very different results.
This week, Chris and Jordan compare four flagship APS-C mirrorless cameras: the Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T4, Canon M6 Mark II and Nikon Z50. See how these great models stack up against each other.
The lens features the same optical construction but adds electronic aperture control and a chip for transferring metadata between the lens and MFT camera it's attached to.
Sony teased its plans to enter the drone market for months. This week, it revealed several important details about its first model, the Airpeak S1, which gives us a look at the features and design philosophy Sony prioritized.
The L mount version of the lens retails for $799 and joins the previously-released versions for Canon RF, Leica M, Nikon Z and Sony E mount camera systems.
110 film is a cartridge-based system first launched in the early 1970s. It's easier to work with than 35mm, but offers a smaller frame size. However, the format didn't catch on and, as a result, you can pick up a 110 camera for cheap. Even better: you can still buy 110 film cartridges, new. Here's a primer on shooting this whacky, wonderful format in 2021.
The entire teardown isn't complete yet, but iFixit has shared a short video that tears apart a new 12.9" M1 iPad Pro to show how Apple is using Mini LED technology to power the flagship iPad's XDR display.
Aside from incredibly small pixels, the 50MP sensor features new 'Double Super PDAF' technology, as well as an 'enhanced' Smart-ISO feature for better low-light focusing performance.
The Nikkor Z MC 105mm F2.8 VR S and 50mm F2.8 are the first macro lenses for Nikon's Z-mount. Go hands-on with us to learn more about these versatile lenses.
You've watched the video, now see the stills that Chris and Jordan shot while reviewing the new Olympus 8-25mm F4 Pro zoom. Find out why this lens will appeal to photographers and videographers who use the Micro Four Thirds system.
Sony Electronics has officially revealed full details for the Airpeak S1, a professional drone aimed at creatives. It is the world's smallest drone capable of carrying Sony's line of full-size Alpha series cameras.
NASA's Juno spacecraft is hard at work analyzing Jupiter and its moons. Using two of its onboard imagers, Ganymede captured a couple of images during its flyby, revealing spectacular detail of the lunar surface.
Sony Corporation has announced a nationwide Create Action initiative. The social justice program includes $1M in support for 10 selected non-profit organizations that support underrepresented and underserved communities.
There are so many Thunderbolt Docks on the market at the moment that it can be overwhelming to find the right one for you. We took a look at five different options to see how they might fit into your workflow.
The Olympus 8-25mm F4 Pro is a portable, well-built zoom lens for everyday shooting on Micro Four Thirds bodies. See if it made the cut in this latest episode of DPReview TV.
The new Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4 Pro offers Micro Four Thirds shooters a really useful 16-50mm equivalent focal range. Compact and weather-sealed, it's especially well-suited for landscape and nature photography.
We take a hands-on look at the new Olympus 8-25mm F4 Pro lens to see what it has to offer. Find out why it will appeal to both photographers and videographers who use the Micro Four Thirds system.
OM Digital Solutions has announced the Olympus PEN E-P7, a 20MP image-stabilized Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera. The mid-range model is initially being launched in Europe and other select regions, but not North America.
Olympus has added a new lens to its 'Pro' lineup of Micro Four Thirds lenses: the M.Zuiko 8-25mm F4. The lens, equivalent to 16-50mm, has numerous special elements, a manual focus clutch and is weather-sealed to IPX1 standards.
In 1966, Zeiss designed a 50mm F0.7 lens for NASA for its Apollo missions. Zeiss made only 10 of these lenses, six of which went to NASA. One of these lenses is now up for auction by Leitz Photographica Auction, and organizers believe the lens could sell for nearly $150,000.
In a wide-ranging interview Katuto Yamaki of Sigma speaks to us about his vision for the future of his company as both a lens manufacturer and camera manufacturer, what he learned from Covid, and what the future holds for Sigma.
Thousands of seabird eggs were abandoned, and subsequently destroyed, when two careless drone pilots crashed at a conservancy in Orange County, California.
The cyanotype photographic printing process was developed in the mid-19th century. Now, nearly 180 years after its development, the cyanotype process has now even been used to create a music video.
Kristin Bedford spent several years photographing the Mexican American lowrider car community in East Los Angeles. The result of her efforts is a powerful and beautiful series of images that bridge the gap between documentation and social realism.
Gordon Laing, Editor at Cameralabs, has shared a preview video of Canon’s new EOS R3 mirrorless camera, giving us our closest look yet at Canon’s upcoming mirrorless camera.
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