When choosing a smartphone with a good camera, don't rely on megapixels alone. What modules are important in a smartphone camera, what parameters you should pay attention to and what you shouldn't overpay for - in the material "Gazeta.Ru".

Megapixels are not the main thing

When Samsung introduced the world's first 108MP ISOCELL HM3 mobile sensor in 2019, many manufacturers began to install it in their flagship smartphones. The emphasis was on numbers, while quality might not seem premium enough. This year, vendors have stopped chasing megapixels in premium devices, preferring mainly sensors with a resolution of 50 megapixels.

Alexey Zaitsev, the head of the Telecom department at Ozon, said in an interview with him that the number of megapixels is not directly proportional to the quality of the resulting image. He believes that with the proper photography skills and knowledge of frame exposure, you can take good photos with a lower resolution sensor.

“On the one hand, there are Apple smartphones with a matrix resolution of 12 megapixels. They shoot well, including at night. But at the same time, detailing and other indicators suffer. If you look at the flagship Samsung S21 Ultra, which has a 108 megapixel matrix, it gives a fundamentally different photo quality. More detail, less noise, better shoots in different conditions. At the same time, if we compare Samsung with the Pixel 6, which has a 50 megapixel sensor, the Korean smartphone is inferior in quality - the “pixel” has better pictures in the dark. And despite the lower resolution, the images are sufficiently detailed, the picture does not turn into a mess when the image comes closer, ”said Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group.

At the same time, high-resolution sensors have their advantages, says Pavel Sumtsov, editor of the Citylink Magazine gadgets direction. So, when the picture is enlarged, digital zoom is used. When zooming in, the frame is simply cropped, which can affect the detail of the image. To solve this problem, manufacturers are increasing the resolution. Flagships with a 108MP camera support 100x hybrid zoom, which uses both optical and digital zoom.

“In addition to digital zoom and cropping, megapixels are important for printing photos - the 11" by 14 "format will require 13.9 megapixels. Larger photos require even higher resolution. Otherwise, the standard 12-13 megapixels will be enough, ”Sumtsov explained.

Number of cameras

Almost all modern smartphones are equipped with two or more camera modules in a single unit, but the number does not play a decisive role in this matter. It is important to understand that each camera has its own task. The most popular now are the ultra-wide-angle lens and the telephoto lens, which have taken mobile photography to the next level, Zaitsev said.

“In a modern smartphone, it is important to have a telephoto lens with optical zoom. It can be two-, three-, five- or even tenfold, and when you shoot the Moon from your hands with a tenfold magnification, it makes an impression on people, ”Murtazin noted.

Sumtsov added that smartphones often use a wide-angle module, the capture angle of which exceeds that of the main sensor. Wide-angle shooting can be useful when you need to photograph a building, monument or a large group of people who would not "fit" in a photo with a regular camera.

However, cameras with an ultra-wide angle of view, even in flagship smartphones, are of average quality, which is why the difference is very noticeable when compared with the main module. Also, in some models there are errors when processing a frame in the form of distorted objects.

“But I consider a separate macromodule for shooting flowers or insects at close range to be a useless thing, because often the photos are horrible. In flagships, such a camera is not even installed, but simply add a macro mode to a wide-angle camera, ”Sumtsov shared.

About other details

Algorithms for processing photos by the smartphone itself play an important role in the quality of mobile photography, Sumtsov noted. Algorithms work differently for each manufacturer. For some, the sky turns out to be too blue, but somewhere the skin tone resembles "boiled crawfish".

“The characteristics will never tell you about the final quality of the photo, but they will also help with the choice. For example, if you often shoot in low light, look for a camera with an aperture of f / 1.8 and lower: the lower the value after “f /”, the better the photos will turn out in the dark, ”the expert noted.

Sumtsov believes that the right way to choose a “camera to your liking” is to look at the quality of the photo in reviews and reviews, since two smartphones with the same sensor always take pictures differently and you should rely solely on a living example. Also, an important indicator is the presence of optical stabilization - in some smartphones it is available on all modules, and in some models it is absent even in the main. With optical stabilization, a photograph taken hand-held or while in motion is less likely to be blurry. In the case of video recording, optical stabilization can solve the problem of shaking while walking or shaking hands.

It is worth paying attention to how the camera behaves when there are sharp movements to the left and right or when the object is moving rapidly. In some cases, a so-called rolling shutter may occur. This is a visual defect in which frames in the video stretch or blur. Because of this, it is unlikely that it will be possible to shoot a dynamic video.

Price

Murtazin said that smartphones cost from 25 thousand rubles. are capable of producing photographs of "decent enough quality." However, he noted that inexpensive smartphones have their limitations.

“Still, many people are satisfied with the quality of a mid-range camera. For those who want to experiment, photograph and shoot in the best quality, you should focus on the flagships of previous years or current flagships, "Murtazin advised.

Sumtsov noted that the price of up-to-date photo flags starts from 60 thousand rubles, you can buy last year's flagships at a cost of up to 50 thousand rubles.

bbabo.Net