What should your smartphone camera have to take good photos?
We have a friend with a massive megapixel smartphone and another with a medium-sized megapixel smartphone. It is commonly assumed that a phone with more megapixels will take good photos, but the truth is quite different. Take good photos from his handset camera by a friend who has a normal megapixel phone are more crisp and sharp. This has to have happened to you or someone you know. Have you ever considered why this occurs? What is the megapixel math? Which features are essential for a good camera smartphone? Today we will try to find out.
Even today, the best photos are available in the smartphone market; however, the megapixels of the camera in smartphones are very low. It is clear that megapixels are not the only determinant of a good photograph. Rather, there is a lot that is required for a great photo, from the software to the hardware of the phone to take good photos.
Which lens is it?
Budget and midrange smartphones now have triple-camera setups. The company decides on the setup. There are ultrawide lenses, macro lenses, telephoto lenses, and so on. Although smartphones now have four and five cameras, the triple-camera setup is still the most common.
Like the name, like work, ultrawide. Because this lens is more round than a standard lens, the angle is greater. A wide or ultra-wide camera has a larger “field of view” (FoV) than a standard camera, such as 80 degrees or 120 degrees. The ultraviolet lens is ideal for covering more area than a standard frame. But the lines on the edge of the image may appear to be rotating rather than straight, or the shape of the subject standing in the frame may be awkward.
To avoid this, businesses use software to crop the image slightly and correct the edges. Many businesses avoid this issue by lowering the camera’s angle. The better the ultrawide camera’s autofocus, the better the images. Autofocus was initially uncommon in ultrawide cameras, but it is now standard in flagship models. Take good photos, macro photography benefits from autofocus as well. Even with a standard macro camera, you can take good close-up shots with its assistance.
Macro photography entails photographing objects up close. In layman’s terms, it’s a type of small magnifying lens that takes very close-up photos. As in a macro lens used in a laboratory. This camera’s megapixels are basic, but it does the job well. These lenses can photograph pollen from a flower at close range. Typically, the camera app on the smartphone decides which photos to keep normal and which to crop. You can do it by going to the camera settings.
OIS and EIS
These two features are largely responsible for a good camera image. OIS is an abbreviation for Optical Image Stabilization. Which is a hardware-based feature, and EIS stands for Electronic Image Stabilization, which is software-based. Because you and I aren’t experts at keeping our hands balanced to take good photos, some shaking is unavoidable. Here, our hand did not move, and the photograph was poor. In this case, the OIS feature comes in handy. Along with your hand movement, the phone’s camera moves slightly, and the photo is saved from being ruined. This movement is so subtle that it cannot be seen by the naked eye.
Let us now discuss EIS. It uses Artificial Intelligence to stabilize the photo or video (AI). Both of these features are available in the smartphone as well as separately. There will only be OIS, EIS, or both. It all depends on the manufacturer of the smartphone.
Aperture
You’ve probably heard of the term aperture. But what exactly is this? In the smartphone’s camera details, the aperture word will begin with F. Companies state this in advertisements and on retail packaging, as if the aperture of this mobile camera is f2.0 or f1.8. Actually, aperture refers to the camera’s door, which opens when the photo is taken and then immediately closes. The door represents the lens. More light will enter now that the door is larger. Similarly, if the aperture is large, more information about the photo or the details of the frame will be able to reach the camera. The smaller the numerical aperture rating, the better.
Zoom
This term or feature is also frequently heard in relation to smartphone cameras. There is 3x zoom, 10x zoom, and so on. Zoom is also not a single type. There are three types of zoom: optical, hybrid, and digital. If there is optical zoom, it will be hardware-based. That is when you zoom, the lens moves but the object’s quality remains unchanged. The term “digital” implies that if the software is used, the quality will be compromised.
Actually, digital zoom is a useful feature in editing, but smartphone manufacturers include it with the camera to take good photos. Now there is only the hybrid, which is similar to an electric car that also runs on gasoline. A zoom like this will have a little optical and a little digital meaning it will have a feature for your peace of mind.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
What can artificial intelligence do? That is common knowledge. It can also be used effectively in smartphone cameras, as seen in the Google Pixel. The camera’s AI or software understands that to take good photos. How was the lighting when you take good photos, whether it was of food or a natural landscape? Once the AI understands this, it will display a new photo in front of you based on your input. This process now occurs so quickly that you are unaware of it, but this lag is visible in some handsets. However, because the process has become extremely rapid, it is unknown.
Resolution
The dots of small colors that are inside a photo in vertical and horizontal lines are referred to as the basis of any photo. Pixels are small red, green, and blue dots that are smaller than ours and your imagination. You must have learned about Atoms in Chemistry as a child because they are the smallest part of an element. These dots, too, are part of an image.
A megapixel is equal to one million tiny colored dots. Consider how many colored dots will be present in a photo with a resolution of 10 megapixels. It is critical to understand that having too many pixels does not imply taking a take good photos. When we explain the math of megapixels in this story, you will understand more.
HDR
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a software-based feature. If you understand in simple terms, if you take a photo in bright sunlight, the shadow area may appear colorless or black, and if you focus on the shadow, the sunny area may appear white and shiny. In such cases, HDR mode comes in handy. A final image is created by combining multiple images in this mode. Under normal circumstances, it is not recommended to use HDR. Yes, HDR mode is useful for balancing the light.
Portrait orientation
Portrait or Bokeh mode? Bokeh is a Japanese term for blurred or out of focus. This effect is created using software in the smartphone camera. In contrast, a DSLR camera can be set manually. This mode’s job is to keep everything else out of focus except the subject. The better the camera handles it now, the better the portrait image will come out.
Nighttime mode
Night mode is a software feature that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI). A door with AI is also required for good nighttime photography. When you say door, you mean aperture. Because the aperture in the selfie camera is smaller now, the chances to take good photos.
Megapixel
You’ve probably figured out by now that a pixel is a color combination. More pixels equals more color options. Understand the short form of megapixel, million pixels; that is, if a megapixel camera is used, the photo will contain one million pixels or a color combination. Pixels are small dots that are installed at the end of any camera unit and are capable of capturing any information.
Take good photos with a camera, these pixels collect all of the information such as light, color, or contrast, and then create a photo. One thing is clear from this: the more pixels there are, the better the photo will be. In reality, this does not occur because more pixels alone are not sufficient to produce a good photograph. Yes, as the number of pixels increases, so will the amount of information captured. When you zoom in on that image, all of the details become visible.
Large pixels collect information such as light in the same way that a bucket collects rainwater. The large bucket now collects the large drops. Pixels, of course, function in the same way. High-quality pixels compensate for the lack of low light in the photo, which is referred to as noise in camera speak. In other words, if the camera’s sensor is small but the pixels are filled forcefully, what will be the result? The crammed pixels will be unable to collect the correct information, resulting in poor-quality photo to take good photos.
It is clear that not only megapixels are required to take good photos, but also the sensor (aperture) of the camera, from optical zoom to OIS, and finally good software. So, the next time you’re considering a phone, don’t be swayed by megapixels; instead, consider all of the factors.
Read More Articles:
- Protect yourself from smartphone theft with these 4 simple settings
- Smart Socket allows other devices to become Smart
- What should your smartphone camera have to take good photos?