Samsung will create a continuous zoom lens for smartphones
By ForGeeks
Samsung not only makes smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, but also many internal components for them. Among those components are — cameras, and the South Korean company will be producing an innovative continuous optical zoom lens for smartphones.
Samsung’s latest innovation is a continuous optical zoom lens for smartphones.
Chinese brand Tecno has announced two optical zoom modules, the Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto and the Freeform Continuum Telephoto. These telephoto modules will be manufactured by Samsung and Taiwanese company Largan. According to Tecno, the Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto module will be ready for use in smartphones next year, while the Freeform Continuum Telephoto will take at least a year to be commercialized.
Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto uses two mirrors to focus light and is 50 percent more compact than traditional zoom lenses. The module creates «donut-shaped» bokeh similar to the effect of DSLR lenses known from DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto will be available for commercial introduction.
The disadvantage of this solution is the loss of one stop of light, meaning that the light flux hitting the sensor is reduced by about half.
Freeform Continuum Telephoto is a lot like the continuous lenses from Sony and LG. It’s a single periscopic module with a continuous zoom range of 1x-9x. This eliminates the need for a separate telephoto lens — the main camera does the job by working in conjunction with this module. The result is several benefits to the user:— sharper detail at all focal lengths,— no visible «jump» when switching between different cameras and lenses,— improved image quality throughout the zoom range due to the use of the main camera’s large sensor.
But such a solution already has a noted drawback: on the Sony Xperia 1 VII, which uses a similar module, sharpness is lower compared to fixed telephoto lenses. It’s not yet known whether Tecno has managed to fix this flaw. If so, similar systems may appear in future flagship smartphones.
