Oppo's future phone cameras will utilise five-axis OIS and incredible optical zoom capabilities

Oppo has announced an array of new camera developments which we'll see launched in smartphones in the future, and should see Oppo maintain its position as one of the leaders in the field.

Two important developments mentioned during its Future Imaging event include an upgraded periscope zoom and sensor-shift technology for stabilisation. 

The first of those will see Oppo phones equipped with a periscope zoom which can offer continuous optical zoom between focal lengths of 85-200mm. Presuming the 1x zoom setting on the primary camera is set to something like an equivalent of 26mm, that would mean optical zoom between 3.3x and 7.7x. 

While we've seen plenty of phones offer two "optical zoom" focal lengths before, there aren't many that achieve that using a single camera. Instead, we usually see one dedicated 2x or 3.3x camera and another lens offering 5x or 10x zoom. 

With Oppo's continuous zoom technology, we'll be able to zoom smoothly between those two optical zoom levels with the same camera. A technology called 'Tunnel Magnetoresistance Sensor' (TMR) allows the lenses within the periscope camera model to move smoothly. 

In addition, Oppo is developing what it calls a "5-axis OIS" system for its primary cameras which uses sensor shift technology, similar to the iPhone 12 Pro Max. 

Think of this as a phone version of in-body stabilisation used by many modern dedicated cameras. Using ball bearings motors the sensor itself can move horizontally, vertically and can roll, and works in conjunction with an AI algorithm to compensate for any motion. This means low light shots and nigh mode shots will be sharper and less likely to blur with shakiness. 

Oppo says its OIS technology will be available in smartphones from the first quarter of 2022, which suggests we'll be likely to see it in the follow up to 2021's Find X3 Pro. 

Another technology announced by Oppo is its own camera sensor. It's new RGBW (Red, Green, Blue, White) sensor is said to capture more light and reduce noise. It uses a popular 4-in-1 pixel binning method to capture more accurate colours, detail and light as well as using some fancy algorithms to improve skin, textures and contrast. 

With all of this and the previously announced under-display camera being shown off, Oppo is clearly keen to portray itself at the head of the mobile camera game. 

Of course, the proof of the pudding - as always - is in the eating. That means we'll need to wait until any of this makes it to an officially launched product before we can see if any of this is as exciting as Oppo is making it seem. 

As mentioned, the new OIS tech will be a phone at the beginning of next year, while the new RGBW sensor is going to be available in a phone from the end of 2021. 

from Pocket-lint https://ift.tt/3ALhqpY
via IFTTT