By Zia Askari
Handset makers are constantly stretching the boundaries of innovation while trying to an deliver interesting camera experience to users. Samsung has numerous devices (including the soon-to-launched Galaxy M31) that pack four rear cameras. Huawei, vivo, Oppo, among others, too have embraced the quad-camera setup. So, what’s in it for the consumer?
Quad-cam setup
A quad-cam setup simply means a four camera (with four lenses) setup on the rear of a mobile phone. A quad-cam setup comprises a primary camera lens, telephoto lens, ultra wide angle lens and a depth sensor. Each of these are designed to provide enhanced photographic capabilities.
How it works
Every lens and sensor in a quad-cam setup carries a different function and helps the device deliver a unique camera feature. The standard or primary lens helps to capture an image in bright as well as low light scenario and the result is directly related to its megapixel strength. There are a number of brands which are offering 24, 48 or 64-megapixels in primary lens.
The telephoto lens takes the zoom capabilities of the device to another level. This lens offers 2x, 3x, 4x and upto 10x zoom for your photos. An ultra wide angle lens provides the user an ability to capture more background with wide-angle pictures, enhancing our ‘field of view’.
Depth Sensor in a quad-cam system measures the depth of the background, in comparison to the primary subject. This lens helps get better Portrait and Bokeh results. The Monochrome Sensor is offered by some brands as the fourth lens. This takes a black and white image and mixes it with the RGB image taken by the primary camera, packing in more colour vibrancy and detail. The Macro Lens allows the camera to capture a magnified, macro-level detailed image of the subject.
QUAD-CAM GALLERY
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ packs a quad-camera at the rear – a 12MP primary sensor, 12MP sensor with a telephoto lens, 16MP sensor with a wide-angle lens, and a time of flight sensor for effective depth mapping, which is used for portraits as well as to enhance AR emojis.
Huawei P30 Pro
The Huawei P30 Pro comes has a primary camera carrying 40MP and 27mm sensor with an f/1.6 aperture. There is a 20MP ultra-wide-angle lens (16mm) with an f/2.2 aperture. And then there’s an 8MP telephoto lens which allows you to go upto 5x optical zoom. Last on the line, it has a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor.
Vivo V17 Pro
Vivo V17 Pro comes with four cameras on the rear and two on the front (housed within a pop-up module of the device). The quad-cam setup includes a 48MP primary camera, an 8MP wide-angle camera, a 13MP 2x zoom camera and a 2MP depth sensor for bokeh and portrait modes.
Oppo Reno 2
This device comes packed with a 48MP Sony IMX586 primary sensor, assisted by a 13MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom capability. It also has an 8MP wide-angle camera lens with 116-degree field of view and a 2MP monochrome lens.
Askari writes on communications, technology and gadgets at TelecomDrive.com
