{"id":1738,"date":"2019-01-27T07:07:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T12:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2019-01-25T13:05:44","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T18:05:44","slug":"finally-10x-optical-zoom-tech-for-smartphones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/27\/finally-10x-optical-zoom-tech-for-smartphones\/","title":{"rendered":"Finally! 10x optical zoom for smartphones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By now, just about everyone knows that digital zoom is a great way to ruin a shot on a smartphone or camera. When you zoom digitally, all you’re doing is making the pixels bigger, and that soon leads to fuzzy, blocky, blurry photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optical zoom — some call it “lossless zoom” — is different. By moving the camera lenses, the actual image — the light itself — can be magnified before it ever reaches the camera sensor. You can zoom to the limit of the lens\/camera design with no loss of clarity due to pixel-enlargement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it’s hard to build moving lenses in a thin smartphone design. In fact, it’s hard to build any<\/strong><\/em> decent-quality lenses into extremely thin packages. This is why many smartphones with good cameras have a “lens wart” on the back: That’s the thickness needed to stack the lenses the camera requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the folks at Oppo<\/a> have come up with a brilliant alternative. They didn’t think outside the box; they thought across<\/strong><\/em> the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s one of those head-smacking, “totally obvious now that I’ve seen it” designs: Instead of stacking lenses perpendicular to the camera body — the usual way — the Oppo engineers use a prism to turn the light path sideways as it enters the camera. That way, the optical path uses the width of the camera (not the thickness), and that leaves plenty of room for lenses and lens movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A classic smartphone camera (left light path) features a stack of lenses, often protruding out of the camera body. The Oppo design uses a prism to bend the light across the width of the camera (right light path), allowing plenty of room for lens movement and optical zoom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A new camera with this 10x optical zoom is due out very soon. (Info<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permalink: <\/em><\/strong>https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=1738<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Want to ask Fred a question? Have a comment? Click here!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want free notification of new content like this? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By now, just about everyone knows that digital zoom is a great way to ruin a shot on a smartphone or camera. When you zoom digitally, all you’re doing is making the pixels bigger, and that soon leads to fuzzy, blocky, blurry photos. Optical zoom — some call it “lossless zoom” — is different. By…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,12,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-and-tech","category-smartphones","category-weekender"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-s2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2782,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/17\/smartphone-cameras-have-come-a-long-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":1738,"position":0},"title":"Smartphone cameras have come a long way","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-17","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently got a new Samsung Galaxy S10, and have been playing with its three rear cameras. If you follow smartphones, or cameras, you probably have seen comparison and demo pix taken by professional reviewers to show the capabilities of the new crop of smartphone cameras. You've also probably seen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190515_091843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190515_091843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190515_091843.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190515_091843.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190515_091843.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190515_091843.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2798,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/24\/update-to-smartphone-cameras-have-come-a-long-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":1738,"position":1},"title":"Update to: “Smartphone cameras have come a long way”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-24","format":false,"excerpt":"In \"Smartphone cameras have come a long way,\" you saw some early, warts-and-all test snapshots I took with a Galaxy S10's three rear cameras. Since then, I found a very useful software setting buried in the camera menus: It reduces the barrel distortion that was evident in the wide-angle shots.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190518_142445.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190518_142445.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190518_142445.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190518_142445.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190518_142445.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190518_142445.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4305,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/06\/fantastic-photos-what-camera-did-you-use\/","url_meta":{"origin":1738,"position":2},"title":"“Fantastic photos!!! What camera did you use?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2020-03-06","format":false,"excerpt":"There are more New Zealand photos and text to come (see previous New Zealand posts), but the first batches generated some comments and questions like this one from reader Nikos: \"Fantastic photos!!! What camera did you use?\" Thanks! This was actually my first major trip were I didn't pack a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cathedral-cove-cave.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cathedral-cove-cave.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cathedral-cove-cave.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cathedral-cove-cave.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cathedral-cove-cave.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cathedral-cove-cave.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2342,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/15\/a-reader-asks-is-it-enough-to-disable-the-driver-for-the-camera-on-my-laptop-and-to-put-tape-over-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":1738,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “Is it enough to disable the camera driver for my laptop, and to block the lens?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-15","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Steven Clifford Cohen asks: \"I disabled the driver for the camera on my laptop. I also put tape over it. Is that enough?\" Enough to prevent video-based snooping, sure. But opaque tape alone would do that; a camera can't see through an opaque object, period. However, if you're really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/webcam-covers-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/webcam-covers-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/webcam-covers-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4782,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/16\/why-does-it-seem-like-older-cellphones-had-longer-lasting-batteries-than-smartphones-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":1738,"position":4},"title":"“Why does it seem like older cellphones had longer lasting batteries than smartphones today?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2020-04-16","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Gautam Naib) Because they did far less. 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Google will then superimpose a color-coded layer atop the normal road map showing you the area\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bikelanes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bikelanes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bikelanes.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bikelanes.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bikelanes.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1738"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1775,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions\/1775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}