Megapixel - what is it and how many should there be? Aperture – how wide the smartphone “opens its eyes”.

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Artem Kashkanov, 2016

Since the advent of digital photographic equipment, there has been a kind of “megapixel race” between different manufacturers, when a new camera model invariably receives a matrix of higher and higher resolution. The pace of this race changes from year to year - for quite a long time the “vertical” limit for cropped DSLRs was 16-18 megapixels, but then once again some innovations were introduced into production and the resolution of cropped cameras approaches the 25 megapixel mark.

To begin with, let us remember that pixel- this is a basic element, a point, one of those from which a digital image is formed. This element is discrete and indivisible - there are no such concepts as “millipixel” or 0.5 pixels :) But there is a concept megapixel, which means an array of pixels in the amount of 1,000,000 pieces. For example, an image measuring 1000*1000 pixels has a resolution of exactly 1 megapixel. The resolution of the matrices of most cameras has long exceeded the 15 megapixel mark. What did it give? When the resolution of digital cameras was 2-3 megapixels, every extra megapixel was a really serious advantage. Now we are observing a paradoxical situation - the declared resolution of the matrices of amateur DSLRs has become such that it makes it possible to make prints of acceptable quality in almost A1 format! While most amateur photographers rarely print photos larger than 20 by 30 cm, 3-4 megapixels are enough for this.

Is it worth replacing an old camera with one of the same functionality, but with “more megapixels?”

Let's take two cameras as an example - the “simple” amateur Canon EOS 1100D and the “advanced” Canon EOS 700D. The first has a matrix resolution of “only” 12 megapixels, the second has “as much as” 18 megapixels. The difference is 1.5 times. The first thought that many amateur photographers have is something like this - “By changing the 1100D to 700D, I will get 1.5 times better detail! Now absolutely all the nuances will be visible in the photographs - I missed this so much with my old camera!” This installation is actively supported by advertisers. An amateur photographer who has convinced himself that he absolutely needs a new camera breaks his piggy bank and goes to the store.

Let's take a calculator and calculate what the actual increase in photo resolution will be when moving from 12 to 18 megapixels. The 18-megapixel sensor of the same 700D produces an image with a width of 5184 pixels, while the maximum image width of the 12-megapixel 1100D is 4272 pixels (data taken from the technical specifications of the camera). Divide 5184 by 4272 and get a difference of only 21%. That is, with an increase in matrix resolution by 1.5 times, the photograph increases in size by only 1.21 times. If you depict this graphically, you get the following comparison.

The difference is surprisingly small! It turns out that the differences between 12 and 18 megapixels are not so significant. Conclusion - rumors about the significance of megapixel growth are greatly exaggerated. Going from a 12- to 18-megapixel device (or from 18 to 24-megapixel) only in the hope of getting a significant increase in detail in photos is falling into the trap of marketers.

An increase in megapixels in some cases reduces sharpness even when using good optics!

It would seem that this generally looks like nonsense! However, let’s not rush to conclusions... It is logical that as megapixels increase while maintaining the size of the sensor, the area of ​​each individual pixel decreases. You may know that reducing the pixel area leads to a decrease in its real sensitivity, and, consequently, to an increase in the noise level (purely theoretically). However, thanks to the constant improvement of technologies and signal processing algorithms, new matrices, even despite a noticeable reduction in pixel area, have a very low noise level. But danger may lurk on a completely different side...

I have already talked about such a thing as diffraction. Without going into details, let me remind you that this is the property of a wave to bend around an obstacle, slightly changing its direction. When a beam of light passes through a narrow hole, this beam has the property of being sprayed, as it were, like a spray (may physicists forgive me for such a comparison:)

In our case, the aperture (diaphragm hole) acts as a hole. The tighter the diaphragm is clamped, the greater the angle at which the spray is “sprayed.” As a result, the “perfectly clear” point after passing through the aperture turns into a blurry speck. The smaller the aperture diameter, the greater the blur. Now let’s add a small piece of the matrix with pixels to this picture and try to roughly imagine what this “perfectly clear” point in the photograph will look like...

Naturally, the illustrations given do not pretend to be absolutely accurate; many nuances are not taken into account - at least the fact that when an image is formed, neighboring pixels are interpolated and much more. The point is to show that as the pixel area decreases, the working range of aperture numbers decreases. If the matrix has a very high resolution, you should not clamp the lens aperture too hard, as this will lead to the appearance of diffraction blur. Matrices with a small number of megapixels allow you to clamp the aperture almost to f/22 and there is no significant blurring.

Did you buy a modern carcass? Make sure you have good optics!

The matrix resolution of most modern amateur cameras with interchangeable lenses is between 16 and 24 megapixels. Over time, this range will inevitably shift towards larger values. As a rule, the optics that come with the camera are also improved. Modern kit lenses, although they have significantly improved quality, are still “compromise” options. Most often, they are not able to draw a picture in all the nuances to capture it on a 24-megapixel matrix (or they are capable, but in a very narrow range of settings, for example, only in the range of 28-35 mm with aperture 8). If you are looking for an uncompromising option, you will need high-quality and therefore expensive optics. The cost of a lens that is similar to a kit lens in functionality, but has better resolution, is several times higher than the cost of a kit lens:

By the way, it is not a fact that the “advanced” version will be guaranteed to “draw” the picture - perhaps the lens was designed at a time when matrices with such resolutions were not known. For the same reason, it is not recommended to use kit lenses from very old cameras. I had experience using an old kit lens from Canon EOS 300D (6 megapixels) on a 550D (18 megapixels) camera - I once borrowed it from a friend to play with for the evening. The old 18-55 did not shine with picture quality at 300D, but at 550D it simply killed it on the spot! It seemed like there was no sharpness anywhere.

By the way...

Fixes(i.e. fixed focal length lenses) are an excellent alternative to budget zooms. They will be very useful if a kit lens does not provide the desired detail, but there is no extra $1000-1500 to buy a “cool” lens. The most popular primes are “fifty kopecks” (50 mm), or rather their younger versions with f/1.8 aperture. At a cost comparable to a kit lens, they significantly surpass it in image quality, but have less versatility - you have to pay for everything.

A pocket point-and-shoot camera with 20 megapixels is beyond insanity!

As sad as it is, there will soon be no other choice. Most compact cameras have a matrix measuring 1/2.3", that is, approximately 6 * 4.5 mm - 4 times smaller than that of a “cropped” camera and 6 times smaller than that of a full-frame camera. The resolution is, as a rule, no less 20 megapixels It's easy to imagine how absurdly small each pixel is. The miniature point-and-shoot lens has a very small aperture, which increases diffraction blur. As a result, the picture looks very "soft" when viewed at 100% zoom.

On the left is a 100% crop taken with a 16-megapixel Sony TX10 point-and-shoot camera with a 1/2.3" matrix. On the right, for comparison, is a similar view taken on a DSLR. Please note that the picture from the point-and-shoot camera looks very dirty - there is no real detail, there is only software an attempt to emphasize the contours. And this is in the center of the frame! At the edges of the frame, detail decreases even more and often looks like a misunderstanding:

And this is how most modern compact point-and-shoot cameras shoot. For example, here, which shows 100% crops from a Panasonic DMC-SZ1 camera (closer to the end of the article). The question arises: why install matrices with such a high resolution in such devices? These megapixels have no practical value, but from a marketing point of view they sound very convincing - in a camera the size of a matchbox there are as many as 20 megapixels.

So how many megapixels should a camera have?

Let's return to the main issue that the article is devoted to. It all depends on the type of camera, the size of the matrix and the capabilities of the optics. Personally, I think a reasonable number of megapixels is:

• For devices with interchangeable optics with a kit lens - about 12 megapixels. With a higher matrix resolution, the “working” range of focal lengths and apertures narrows. If you want to get the most detailed image, try not to shoot at “extreme” focal lengths, set the aperture to 8.
• For devices with interchangeable lenses with primes or professional zooms, there is no such obvious limitation, the main thing is that the lens can draw all these megapixels. The absence of a low-pass filter provides a certain advantage, but there are a number of disadvantages - we’ll talk about them below. and even as megapixels increase, the maximum “working” aperture number decreases. Try not to shoot under normal conditions with an aperture larger than 11-13 - there will be a noticeable decrease in sharpness due to diffraction blur.
• For soap dishes with a matrix of 1/1.7" and smaller, a reasonable limit is 10-12 megapixels. Anything more is a marketing ploy that has nothing to do with detail.

What matrix characteristics are more important than the number of megapixels?

Firstly, the physical size of the matrix. As already written above, 20 megapixels on a 1/2.3" matrix and 20 megapixels APS-C or FF are completely different things. Large matrices Always provide better color reproduction, wider dynamic range and richer hues than smaller ones.

Secondly, the structure of the matrix plays a role. The vast majority of modern cameras have a Bayer matrix with an anti-aliasing low-pass filter. One image pixel is formed by interpolating a group of 2*2 matrix pixels (2 green, 1 red, 1 blue). The low-pass filter slightly blurs the image, but prevents the appearance of moire on objects with a regular repeating pattern (for example, fabric). Recently, there has been a tendency to abandon the low-pass filter in Bayer matrices. Moire is suppressed by the camera's built-in software.

It is also worth noting X-Trans matrices (used in Fujifilm cameras), which, compared to the buyer, have a more “chaotic” structure of the arrangement of RGB color sensors; they use groups of 6 * 6 pixels of the matrix for interpolation - this eliminates the formation of moire and allows you to do without a low-pass filter, which, as mentioned above, improves image detail.

In the end, the novelty of the technology and its class play a role. No matter how perfect the camera’s matrix is, an equally important role is played by the processor and in-camera software that processes the signal received from the matrix. As a rule, expensive high-end equipment with the same filling (matrix-processor) as amateur cameras gives better picture quality - a slightly larger dynamic range, a slightly higher operating ISO. The manufacturer does not disclose the reasons for these differences, but it is easy to guess that the main reason is the in-camera software. It often happens that the younger and older models have the same matrices, but the picture quality is different. This is explained by the fact that cheap models process the signal using a more stripped-down algorithm, so they are inferior in picture quality to older models. But this loss is really noticeable only in difficult lighting conditions, for example, when shooting at ultra-high ISO.

The only explanation more banal than this axiom is “the iPhone, it turns out, does not have a slot for a memory card.” But newbies continue to make mistakes when they fall for the number of megapixels in the camera, which means they have to repeat themselves.

Imagine a window - an ordinary window in a residential building or apartment. The number of megapixels is, roughly speaking, the number of glasses inside the window frame. If we continue to draw parallels with smartphones, in ancient times window glasses were the same size and were considered a scarce commodity. Therefore, when the so-called “Tolyan” said that he had 5 glasses (megapixels) in his window unit, everyone understood that Anatoly was a serious and wealthy person. And the characteristics of the window were also immediately clear - a good view to the outside of the house, a large glazing area.

A few years later, windows (megapixels) were no longer in short supply, so their number just needed to be increased to the required level, and that was it. Just adjust it to the area (a window for ventilation and a loggia, for the sake of strength, require a different number of windows) so that the camera produces a slightly denser picture than 4K monitors and TVs produce. And finally deal with other characteristics - for example, combat clouding of glass and image distortion. Teach cameras to focus correctly and paint available megapixels efficiently, if you want specifics.

On the right there are more “megapixels”, but they do not provide anything other than “obstacles” with the same “sensor” area

But people are already accustomed to measuring the quality of cameras in megapixels, and sellers happily indulged this. Therefore, the circus with a huge amount of glass (megapixels) in the same frame dimensions (camera matrix dimensions) continued. As a result, today the pixels in smartphone cameras, although they are not “packed” with the density of a mosquito net, the “deglazing” has become too dense, and over 15 megapixels in smartphones almost always spoil rather than improve photographs. This has never happened before, and again it turned out that it is not size that is important, but skill.

At the same time, the “evil,” as you understand, is not the megapixels themselves - if tons of megapixels were spread out on a fairly large camera, they would benefit the smartphone. When a camera is able to unleash the potential of all megapixels on board, and not “smear” them in large quantities when shooting, the photo can be enlarged, cropped, and it will remain of high quality. That is, no one will understand that this is just a fragment of a larger picture. But now such miracles are found only in “correct” SLR and mirrorless cameras, in which the matrix alone (a microcircuit with photo sensors, onto which the image flies through the “glasses” of the camera) is much larger than the assembled smartphone camera.

“Evil” is the tradition of putting a clip of megapixels into tiny cell phone cameras. This tradition brought nothing but a blurry picture and an excess of digital noise (“peas” in the frame).

Sony piled 23 megapixels where competitors put 12-15 megapixels, and paid for it with a decrease in picture clarity. (photo - manilashaker.com)

For reference: in the best camera phones of 2017, the main rear cameras (not to be confused with the b/w additional ones) all operate with a “pathetic” 12-13 megapixels. In photo resolution it is approximately 4032x3024 pixels - enough for a Full HD (1920x1080) monitor, and for a 4K (3840x2160) monitor too, albeit back to back. Roughly speaking, if a smartphone camera has more than 10 megapixels, their number is no longer important. Other things are important.

How to determine that a camera is of high quality before looking at photos and videos from it

Aperture - how wide the smartphone “opened its eyes”

The squirrel eats nuts, deputies eat people’s money, and cameras eat light. The more light, the higher the quality of the photo and the more details. But you can’t get enough sunny weather and studio-style bright lighting for any occasion. Therefore, for good photos indoors or outdoors in cloudy weather/at night, cameras are designed in such a way that they produce a lot of light even in unfavorable conditions.

The easiest way to get more light to reach the camera sensor is to make the hole in the lens larger. The indicator of how wide the “eyes” of the camera are open is called aperture, aperture, or aperture ratio - these are the same parameter. And the words are different so that reviewers in articles can show off incomprehensible terms for as long as possible. Because, if you don’t show off, the aperture can simply be called, excuse me, a “hole,” as is customary among photographers.

The aperture is indicated by a fraction with an f, a slash and a number (or with a capital F and no fraction: for example, F2.2). Why

So it’s a long story, but that’s not the point, as Rotaru sings. The point is this: the smaller the number after the letter F and the slash, the better the camera in the smartphone. For example, f/2.2 in smartphones is good, but f/1.9 is better! The wider the aperture, the more light enters the matrix and the better the smartphone “sees” (takes better photos and videos) at night. The bonus of a wide aperture comes with beautiful background blur when you photograph flowers up close, even if your smartphone does not have a dual camera.

Melania Trump explains what different apertures look like in smartphone cameras

Before buying a smartphone, don’t be lazy to check how “sighty” its rear camera is. If you have your eye on the Samsung Galaxy J3 2017, search for “Galaxy J3 2017 aperture”, “Galaxy J3 2017 aperture” or “Galaxy J3 2017 aperture” to find out the exact number. If the smartphone you have your eye on doesn’t know anything about the aperture, there are two options:

• The camera is so bad that the manufacturer decided to remain silent about its characteristics. Marketers engage in approximately the same rudeness when, in response to “what processor is in the smartphone?” they answer “quad-core” and do their best to avoid disclosing the specific model.
• The smartphone has just gone on sale and no specifications other than those in the advertising announcement have been released yet. Wait a couple of weeks - usually during this time the details will be released.

What should be the aperture in the camera of a new smartphone?

In 2017-2018 Even a budget model should have at least an f/2.2 rear camera. If the number in the denominator of this fraction is larger, get ready for the camera to see the picture as if through darkened glasses. And in the evening and at night she will be “low-blind” and will be able to see almost nothing even at a distance of several meters from the smartphone. And don’t rely on brightness adjustments - in a smartphone with f/2.4 or f/2.6, an evening photograph with a programmatically “tightened” exposure will turn out to be a “rough mess,” while a camera with f/2.2 or f/2.0 will take a higher-quality photo without tricks.

The wider the aperture, the higher the quality of shooting on a smartphone camera

The coolest smartphones today have cameras with an aperture of f/1.8, f/1.7 or even f/1.6. The aperture itself does not guarantee the maximum quality of pictures (the quality of the sensor and the “glass” has not been canceled) - this, to quote photographers, is just a “hole” through which the camera looks at the world. But all other things being equal, it is better to choose smartphones in which the camera does not “squint”, but receives an image with “eyes” wide open.

Matrix (sensor) diagonal: the larger the better

The matrix in a smartphone is not the matrix where people with complex muzzles in black cloaks dodge bullets. In mobile phones, this word means a photocell... in other words, a plate on which a picture flies through the “glasses” of the optics. In old cameras, the picture flew to the film and was saved there, and the matrix instead accumulates information about the photograph and sends it to the smartphone processor. The processor forms all this into the final photo and stores the files in internal memory or on microSD.

There is only one thing you need to know about the matrix - it should be as large as possible. If the optics is a water hose, and the diaphragm is the neck of a container, then the matrix is ​​the same reservoir for water, of which there is never enough.

The dimensions of the matrix are usually measured in inhuman, from the bell tower of ordinary buyers, Vidicon inches. One such inch is equal to 17 mm, but cameras in smartphones have not yet grown to such dimensions, so the diagonal of the matrix is ​​denoted by a fraction, as is the case with the aperture. The smaller the second digit in the fraction (divisor), the larger the matrix -> the cooler the camera.

Is it clear that nothing is clear? Then just remember these numbers:

A budget smartphone will take good photographs if its matrix size is at least 1/3" and the camera resolution is no higher than 12 megapixels. More megapixels means lower quality in practice. And if there are less than ten megapixels, the photo will be visible on good large monitors and TVs look loose, simply because they have fewer dots than the height and width of your monitor screen.

In mid-class smartphones, a good matrix size is 1/2.9” or 1/2.8”. If you find a larger one (1/2.6” or 1/2.5”, for example), consider yourself very lucky. In flagship smartphones, a good tone is a matrix measuring at least 1/2.8”, and better – 1/2.5”.

Smartphones with large sensors take better pictures than models with small photocells

Can it get any cooler? It happens - look at 1/2.3” in Sony Xperia XZ Premium and XZ1. Why then don’t these smartphones set records for photo quality? Because the camera’s “automation” constantly makes mistakes with the selection of settings for shooting, and the camera’s reserve of “clarity and vigilance” is spoiled by the number of megapixels - in these models they piled up 19 instead of the standard 12-13 megapixels for new flagships, and the fly in the ointment crossed out the advantages of the huge matrix.

Are there smartphones in nature with a good camera and less harsh characteristics? Yes - look at the Apple iPhone 7 with its 1/3" at 12 megapixels. On the Honor 8, which has 1/2.9" with the same number of megapixels. Magic? No - just good optics and perfectly “polished” automation, which takes into account the potential of the camera as well as tailored trousers take into account the amount of cellulite on the thighs.

But there is a problem - manufacturers almost never indicate the size of the sensor in the specifications, because these are not megapixels, and you can embarrass yourself if the sensor is cheap. And in reviews or descriptions of smartphones in online stores, such camera characteristics are even less common. Even if you choose a smartphone with an adequate number of megapixels and a promising aperture value, there is a chance you will never know the size of the rear photosensor. In this case, pay attention to the latest characteristic of smartphone cameras, which directly affects the quality.

Better few large pixels than many small ones

Imagine a sandwich with red caviar, or take a look at it if you don’t remember what such delicacies look like. Just as the eggs in a sandwich are distributed over a piece of loaf, the area of ​​the camera sensor (camera matrix) in a smartphone is occupied by light-sensitive elements - pixels. There are, to put it mildly, not a dozen, or even a dozen, of these pixels in smartphones. One megapixel is 1 million pixels; typical smartphone cameras from 2015-2017 have 12-20 megapixels.

As we have already figured out, containing an excessive number of “blanks” on a smartphone’s matrix is ​​detrimental to photographs. The efficiency of such a crowd is similar to that of specialized teams of people replacing a light bulb. Therefore, it is better to observe a smaller number of smart pixels in a camera than a larger number of stupid ones. The larger each of the pixels in the camera, the less “dirty” the photos are, and the less “jumpy” the video recording becomes.

Large pixels in the camera (photo below) make evening and night shots better quality

The ideal smartphone camera consists of a large “foundation” (matrix/sensor) with large pixels on it. But no one is going to make smartphones thicker or dedicate half of the body at the back for the camera. Therefore, the “development” will be such that the camera does not stick out from the body and does not take up much space, the megapixels are large, even if there are only 12-13 of them, and the matrix is ​​as large as possible to accommodate them all.

The size of a pixel in a camera is measured in micrometers and is designated as µm in Russian or µm in Latin. Before you buy a smartphone, make sure that the pixels in it are large enough - this is an indirect sign that the camera takes good pictures. You type into the search, for example, “Xiaomi Mi 5S µm” or “Xiaomi Mi 5S µm” - and you are pleased with the camera characteristics of the smartphone that you have noticed. Or you get upset - it depends on the numbers you see as a result.

How big should a pixel be in a good camera phone?

In recent times, it has become especially famous for its pixel sizes... Google Pixel is a smartphone that was released in 2016 and “showed Kuzkin’s mother” to competitors due to the combination of a huge (1/2.3”) matrix and very large pixels of the order of 1.55 microns. With this set, he almost always produced detailed photographs even in cloudy weather or at night.

Why don’t manufacturers “cut” the megapixels in the camera to a minimum and place a minimum of pixels on the matrix? Such an experiment has already happened - HTC in the flagship One M8 (2014) made the pixels so huge that the rear camera could fit... four of them on a 1/3” matrix! Thus, One M8 received pixels measuring as much as 2 microns! As a result, the smartphone “torn” almost all competitors in terms of the quality of images in the dark. Yes, and photographs in a resolution of 2688x1520 pixels were enough for Full HD monitors of that time. But the HTC camera did not become an all-round champion, because the Taiwanese were let down by HTC’s color accuracy and “stupid” shooting algorithms that did not know how to “correctly prepare” the settings for a sensor with unusual potential.

Today, all manufacturers have gone crazy with the race for the largest pixels, so:

• In good budget camera phones, the pixel size should be 1.22 microns or more
• In flagships, pixels ranging in size from 1.25 microns to 1.4 or 1.5 microns are considered good form. More is better.

There are few smartphones with a good camera and relatively small pixels, but they exist in nature. This, of course, is the Apple iPhone 7 with its 1.22 microns and OnePlus 5 with 1.12 microns - they “come out” due to very high-quality sensors, very good optics and “smart” automation.

Without these components, small pixels ruin the photo quality in flagship smartphones. For example, in the LG G6, the algorithms create obscenities when shooting at night, and the sensor, although ennobled with good “glasses,” is cheap in itself. IN

As a result, 1.12 microns always spoil night shots, except when you enter into battle with “manual mode” instead of stupid automation and correct its flaws yourself. The same picture prevails when shooting on the Sony Xperia XZ Premium or XZ1. And in the masterpiece, “on paper”, the Xiaomi Mi 5S camera is hampered from competing with the flagships of the iPhone and Samsung by the lack of optical stabilization and the same “crooked hands” of the algorithm developers, which is why the smartphone copes well with shooting only during the day, but not at night very impressive.

To make it clear how much to weigh in grams, take a look at the characteristics of the cameras in some of the best camera phones of our time.

What type of autofocus is best?

Autofocus is when a mobile phone “focuses” on its own while taking photos and videos. It is needed so as not to change the settings “for every sneeze”, like a gunner in a tank.

In old smartphones and modern Chinese "state-priced" phones, manufacturers use contrast autofocus. This is the most primitive method of focusing, which focuses on how light or dark it is “straight ahead” in front of the camera, like a half-blind person. That’s why cheap smartphones need about a couple of seconds to focus, during which it’s easy to “miss” a moving object, or stop wanting to shoot what you were going to do because “the train has left.”

Phase autofocus “catches light” across the entire area of ​​the camera sensor, calculates at what angle the rays enter the camera and draws conclusions about what is “in front of the smartphone’s nose” or a little further away. Due to its “intelligence” and calculations, it works very quickly during the day and does not annoy you at all. Common in all modern smartphones, except very budget ones. The only drawback is working at night, when the light enters into the narrow hole of the mobile phone’s aperture in such small portions that the smartphone “breaks the roof” and it constantly fidgets with focusing due to a sudden change in information.

Laser autofocus is the most chic! Laser rangefinders have always been used to “throw” a beam over a long distance and calculate the distance to an object. LG in the G3 smartphone (2014) taught this “scanning” to help the camera quickly focus.

Laser autofocus is amazingly fast even in indoor or dim environments

Take a look at your wristwatch... although, what am I talking about... okay, turn on the stopwatch on your smartphone and appreciate how quickly one second passes. Now mentally divide it by 3.5 - in 0.276 seconds, the smartphone receives information about the distance to the subject and reports this to the camera. Moreover, it does not lose speed either in the dark or in bad weather. If you plan to shoot photos and videos up close or at a short distance in low light, a smartphone with laser autofocus will be a big help.

But keep in mind that cell phones are not Star Wars weapons, so the range of the laser in the camera barely jumps a couple of meters. Everything that is further away is viewed by the mobile phone using the same phase autofocus. In other words, to photograph objects from afar, it is not necessary to look for a smartphone with “laser guidance” in the camera - you will not get much use from such a function in general shots of photos and videos.

Optical stabilization. Why is it needed and how does it work

Have you ever driven a car with leaf spring suspension? On army UAZs, for example, or ambulances with the same design? In addition to the fact that in such cars you can “beat off the butt,” they shake incredibly - the suspension is as rigid as possible so as not to fall apart on the roads, and therefore it tells passengers everything that it thinks about the road surface, frankly and not “spring” (because that there is nothing to spring with).

Now you know how a smartphone camera without optical stabilization feels when you try to take a photo.

The problem with shooting with a smartphone is this:

• The camera needs a lot of light to take good photos. Not direct rays of the sun into the “face”, but diffuse, ubiquitous light around.
• The longer the camera “examines” the image during the photo, the more light it captures = the higher the quality of the picture.
• At the time of shooting and these camera “peeps”, the smartphone must be motionless so that the picture does not get “smeared”. If it moves even a fraction of a millimeter, the frame will be ruined.

And human hands are shaking. This is clearly noticeable if you lift with outstretched arms and try to hold a barbell, and less noticeable when you hold a cell phone in front of you to take a photo or video. The difference is that the barbell can “float” in your hands within wide limits - as long as you don’t touch it against a wall, a neighbor, or drop it on your feet. And the smartphone needs to have time to “grab” the light for the photo to come out successful, and to do this before it deviates a fraction of a millimeter in your hands.

Therefore, the algorithms try to please the camera and not put increased demands on your hands. That is, they tell the camera, for example, “so, 1/250th of a second you can shoot, this is enough for the photo to be more or less successful, and taking a shot before the camera moves to the side is also enough.” This thing is called endurance.

How optical stabilization works

What does optostab have to do with it? So, after all, he is the “depreciation” with which the camera does not shake like the body of army trucks, but “floats” within small boundaries. In the case of smartphones, it does not float in water, but is held by magnets and “fidgets” at a short distance from them.

That is, if the smartphone moves a little or trembles during shooting, the camera will shake much less. With such insurance, a smartphone will be able to:

• Increase the shutter speed (the guaranteed time “to see the picture before the photo is ready”) for the camera. The camera receives more light, sees more image details = the quality of the photo during the day is even higher.
• Take clear photos on the move. Not during an off-road sprint, but while walking or from the window of a shaking bus, for example.
• Compensate for shaking in video recordings. Even if you stomp your feet very sharply or sway slightly under the weight of the bag in your second hand, this will not be as noticeable in the video as in smartphones without an optical stabilizer.

Therefore, optostab (OIS, as it is called in English) is an extremely useful thing in a smartphone camera. It’s also possible without it, but it’s sad - the camera must be of high quality “with a margin”, and the automation will have to shorten (worse) the shutter speed, because there is no insurance against shaking in a smartphone. When shooting video, you have to “move” the image on the fly so that the shaking is not visible. This is akin to how in old movies they simulated the speed of a moving car when it was actually standing still. The only difference is that in films these scenes were filmed in one take, and smartphones have to calculate the shaking and deal with it on the fly.

There are vanishingly few smartphones with a good camera, which without stabilization takes pictures no worse than competitors with stabilization - these are, for example, Apple iPhone 6s, the first generation of Google Pixel, OnePlus 5, Xiaomi Mi 5s and, with some stretch, Honor 8/ Honor 9.

What not to pay attention to

• Flash. Useful only when shooting in pitch darkness, when you need to take a photo at any cost. As a result, you see the pale faces of people in the frame (all of them, because the flash is low-power), eyes squinted from the bright light, or a very strange color of buildings/trees - photographs with a smartphone flash definitely do not carry any artistic value. As a flashlight, the LED near the camera is much more useful.
• Number of lenses in the camera. “Before, when I had 5 Mbps internet, I wrote an essay in a day, but now, when I have 100 Mbps, I write it in 4 seconds.” No, guys, it doesn't work like that. It doesn’t matter how many lenses there are in a smartphone, it doesn’t matter who released them (Carl Zeiss, judging by the quality of the new Nokia cameras, too). Lenses are either high quality or not, and this can only be verified with real photographs.

The quality of the “glass” (lenses) affects the quality of the camera. But the quantity is not

• Shooting in RAW. If you don’t know what RAW is, I’ll explain:

JPEG is the standard format in which smartphones record photos; it is a “ready-to-use” photo. Like the Olivier salad on a festive table, you can take it apart “into its components” in order to transform it into another salad, but it won’t turn out to be of very high quality.

RAW is a hefty file on a flash drive, in which all brightness, clarity and color options for a photograph are sewn in its pure form, in separate “lines”. That is, the photo will not be “covered with small dots” (digital noise) if you decide to make it not as dark as it turned out to be in JPEG, but a little brighter, as if you had set the brightness correctly at the time of shooting.

In short, RAW allows you to “Photoshop” a frame much more conveniently than JPEG. But the catch is that flagship smartphones almost always select the settings correctly, so apart from the smartphone’s RAW memory being polluted with “heavy” photos, there will be little benefit from “Photoshopped” files. And in cheap smartphones, the camera quality is so bad that you will see poor quality in JPEG, and equally poor quality in RAW. Don't bother.

• Camera sensor name. They were once super important because they were a “quality seal” for a camera. The size of the matrix, the number of megapixels and pixel size, and minor “family characteristics” of shooting algorithms depend on the model of the camera sensor (module).

Of the “big three” manufacturers of camera modules for smartphones, the highest quality modules are produced by Sony (we do not take into account individual examples, we are talking about the average temperature in a hospital), followed by Samsung (Samsung sensors in Samsung Galaxy smartphones are even better than the coolest Sony sensors, but “on the side” the Koreans are selling something absurd), and finally, the last of the list is OmniVision, which produces “consumer goods, but tolerable.” Intolerant consumer goods are produced by all other basement Chinese companies, the name of which even the manufacturers themselves are ashamed to mention in the characteristics of smartphones.

8 - execution option. Do you know how this happens in cars? The minimum configuration is with “cloth” on the seats and a “wooden” interior, the maximum is with artificial suede seats and a leather dashboard. For buyers, the difference in this figure means little.

Why, after all this, should you not pay attention to the sensor model? Because with them the situation is the same as with megapixels - Chinese “alternatively gifted” manufacturers are actively purchasing expensive Sony sensors, trumpeting at every corner “our smartphone has a super-high-quality camera!”... and the camera is disgusting.

Because the “glass” (lenses) in such mobile phones is of appalling quality and transmits light a little better than a plastic soda bottle. Because of these same bastard “glasses,” the camera aperture is far from ideal (f/2.2 or even higher), and no one is tuning the sensor so that the camera selects the colors correctly, works well with the processor, and doesn’t spoil the pictures. Here is a clear example that the sensor model has little effect:

As you can see, smartphones with the same camera sensor can shoot completely differently. So don't think that the cheap Moto G5 Plus with IMX362 module will shoot as well as the HTC U11 with its amazingly cool camera.

Even more annoying is the “noodle on the ears” that Xiaomi puts on the ears of buyers when it says that “the camera in Mi Max 2 is very similar to the camera in the flagship Mi 6 - they have the same IMX386 sensors! They are the same, but the smartphones shoot very differently, the aperture (and therefore the ability to shoot in low light) is different, and the Mi Max 2 cannot compete with the flagship Mi6.

1. The additional camera “helps” take photos at night with the main one and can take black and white photos. The most famous smartphones with such camera implementations are Huawei P9, Honor 8, Honor 9, Huawei P10.
2. The secondary camera allows you to “shove in the impossible,” that is, it takes pictures with an almost panoramic viewing angle. The only proponent of this type of camera was and remains LG - starting with the LG G5, continuing with the V20, G6, X Cam and now the V30.
3. Two cameras are needed for optical zoom (zooming in without losing quality). Most often, this effect is achieved by simultaneous operation of two cameras at once (Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 8), although there are models that, when zoomed in, simply switch to a separate “long-range” camera - ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom, for example.

How to choose a high-quality selfie camera in a smartphone?

Best of all - based on examples of real photographs. Moreover, both during the day and at night. During the day, almost all selfie cameras take good photos, but only high-quality front-facing cameras are capable of shooting something legible in the dark.

It is not necessary to study the vocabulary of photographers and go deeper into what this or that characteristic is responsible for - you can simply memorize the numbers “this much is good, but if the number is higher, it is bad” and choose a smartphone much faster. For an explanation of terms, welcome to the beginning of the article, and here we will try to derive the formula for a high-quality camera in smartphones.

I don't want to understand the characteristics! Which smartphone to buy with good cameras?

Manufacturers produce countless smartphones, but among them there are very few models that can take good photographs and shoot videos.

Yesterday Sony presented a new line of premium smartphones. This includes the Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact and the amazing Xperia Z5 Premium. And judging by the ongoing conversations online about this announcement, the new flagships made a very good impression on both ordinary users and industry journalists.

For example, the guys from GSMArena, in the course of communicating with each other, found out that the main camera of the Xperia Z5 actually has a resolution of not 23 megapixels, but as much as 25 megapixels. And they even understood why Sony did not inform the general public about this, positioning the new camera module as 23 megapixel.

This was discovered due to a discrepancy in the size of the test images. When shooting in 20 megapixels with an aspect ratio of 16:9, the resulting frame size is 5984 × 3366 pixels, while if you shoot in a resolution of 23 megapixels with a 4:3 ratio, the size will be 5520 x 4140, i.e. a frame with a lower resolution (20 MP 16:9) occupies a larger area in width than a frame with a higher resolution (23 MP 4:3).

Photo with a resolution of 20 MP 16:9

When clicked, the photo will open in full, you can download it and view it in detail (weighs about 10 MB).

This means that the only correct option in which you can take such photos is to use a matrix with a resolution greater than 23 megapixels, namely 25 megapixels. Sony marketers acted wisely by deciding not to put the “25 MEGAPIXEL” tag on the Xperia Z5, but to limit themselves to a more modest number. After all, then I would have to clearly and at length explain to everyone why it says 25, but shoots only at 23. :)

Later, confirmation of this information appeared from Japanese insiders. The source also reports that the new image sensor is called IMX300 (Exmor RS with f2.0 24 mm lens) and will soon be exclusive to the Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact and Xperia Z5 Premium.

Many users demand that a phone with a good camera can not only take high-quality pictures, but also be able to pleasantly please the user with its performance in games or something else. There are plenty of such offers on the market, but it’s quite easy to get confused in them. To protect you from this, we have created our own rating, which contains the most successful solutions with a good camera. Each of them has its own bonuses in the form of powerful hardware, a large display or excellent battery life.

No. 10 – Meizu M6T

Price: 7,990 rubles

Meizu M6T is equipped with a pair of sensors with a resolution of 13 and 2 MP, including a Sony IMX276 RGBW sensor, its main task is to improve the camera’s light sensitivity in order to take high-quality photos in low light. The Chinese smartphone is worth recommending to all lovers of macro photography; in this mode, the camera does an excellent job of identifying small details and also boasts realistic colors.

The gadget is also suitable for lovers of autonomy. The battery with a capacity of 3300 mAh can last a whole day under active load. The model is disappointing because it runs on Android 7.1 OS. In all other respects, this is an interesting solution in terms of price and quality.

#9 – Xiaomi Redmi S2

Price: 9,990 rubles

If you are looking for an excellent phone with a good camera, but at the same time have a modest budget, then the popular model from the budget segment Xiaomi Redmi S2 is what you need. Of the two cameras, the 16-megapixel front camera turned out to be the most successful. It shows a rich image with decent detail, plus it has stabilization that works during video shooting.

The presence of Snapdragon 625 in a smartphone at this price is simply amazing. The productive chipset is complemented by 3 or 4 GB of RAM. This set will easily run PUBG and World Of Tanks, even at maximum settings. The gadget does not have NFC and dual-band Wi-Fi, which are its main disadvantages.

#8 – Vivo Y85

Price: 15,000 rubles

Vivo Y85 will appeal to all aesthetic lovers with its design. The device is available in two colors – black and red, that is, for both boys and girls. The 6.22-inch display with minimal frames and a resolution of 1520 by 720 pixels also looks attractive. The screen does not suffer from pixelation and produces a cool image, replete with rich colors.

The main camera consists of a pair of 13 and 2 MP sensors. The results of their work are distinguished by a wide dynamic range and correct sharpness across the entire field of the frame. For advanced users, the camera interface has a variety of shooting modes, including a Pro mode that allows you to manually adjust exposure and ISO. The main disadvantage of the model is the plastic body, as well as the lack of NFC.

No. 7 – Honor 8X

Price: 16,990 rubles

We cannot call the Honor 8X the best in terms of photo capabilities, but from a design point of view it is one of the most attractive solutions for its price. Glass panels shimmer effectively in the light and make the gadget look more expensive than its price. The same can be said about the display with a resolution of 2340 by 1080 pixels and a diagonal of 6.5 inches. These screen characteristics make it easy to watch movies on it or use your smartphone as an e-reader.

The main camera received the most positive feedback and praise in reviews. A pair of modules with a resolution of 20 and 2 MP, combined with advanced AI, allows the user to achieve detailed results with the correct color balance at a minimum cost. The thing is that Honor 8X independently determines the optimal settings based on the scene. The model uses a MicroUSB connector, which can be attributed to its main disadvantages.

No. 6 – Xiaomi Mi8 Lite

Price: 16,000 rubles

If you are looking for a smartphone with a good camera, then you will definitely be interested in the Xiaomi Mi8 Lite. The combination of 12 and 5 MP modules takes excellent photos with a decent level of sharpness across the entire frame. The list of strengths of the gadget also includes the ability to edit the blur parameters of a photograph taken in portrait mode, as well as apply various effects to all pictures.

The smartphone's inclusion in our rating is due not only to its very good camera, but also to its powerful hardware platform. The Snapdragon 660 processor can easily handle any giant in the gaming industry, and together with the optimized Android 8.1, dressed in the proprietary MIUI interface, you will be pleasantly surprised by the smooth operation of the phone when solving everyday tasks. There was no place in the case for a Jack connector, which can be considered the main mistake of the engineers. Despite this, the model is one of the best Xiaomi phones.

No. 5 – AGM A9

Price: 27,000 rubles

AGM A9 is one of the most ergonomic rugged smartphones on the market. This is most clearly manifested in the thinness indicator - only 12.6 mm, which is simply amazing considering that the case is protected according to the IP68 standard. The autonomy for which the AGM A9 brothers are famous is also at a high level - a 5400 mAh battery is enough for two days of battery life for a smartphone.

The Sony IMX486 sensor with a resolution of 12 megapixels serves as the main camera. Despite the fact that it has only one, and a modest number of megapixels, it manages to take detailed and rich pictures, however, at night the situation deteriorates due to the presence of noise in the photographs. The main disadvantage of the model is the Snapdragon 450 processor, which does not allow us to recommend the gadget to users who like to run in PUBG.

No. 4 – Honor 10

Price: 24,000 rubles

Honor 10 is one of the best Huawei phones in terms of design. It's all about the glass case, which has already become a signature feature of the manufacturer's top solutions. The 5.84-inch display goes well with it. Its resolution of 2280 by 1080 pixels allows the picture not to suffer from pixelation, and also comfortably use the smartphone in any scenario, from surfing the Internet to top games. Fortunately, Kirin 970 allows this.

For selfie lovers, Honor 10 is equipped with a 24-megapixel front camera with F/2.0 aperture. These characteristics allow the sensor to capture a huge amount of detail. I would also like to mention the built-in manual background blur mode and beautifier. If the latter makes the photos a little unnatural, then the former only improves them. It is almost impossible to find fault with the model; the only thing that raises doubts is the practicality of the glass case.

#3 – OnePlus 6

Price: 30,000 rubles

OnePlus 6 is definitely one of the first ones that comes to mind when you hear the question “which phone has the best camera in 2019?” This is possible thanks to two sensors with a resolution of 16 and 20 MP. They are successfully complemented by optical stabilization, allowing the captured video to be smooth and clear. As for the photo capabilities, everything is fine here too - the dynamic range is wide, and color rendition is close to ideal.

The model is famous for its autonomy - the 3300 mAh battery lasts for two days in most usage scenarios. During this entire time, your smartphone will be protected using a fingerprint scanner that clearly recognizes your fingerprint. Like most flagships, the main disadvantage of the OnePlus 6 is the price.

#2 – iPhone XS Max

Price: 92,000 rubles

Even if the 4-inch iPhone 5S is valued for its photographic capabilities, the iPhone XS Max takes this to a professional level. The combination of two 12-megapixel sensors allows photos to be detailed and have the right color balance. The advantages definitely include the Apple A12 Bionic processor, which so far has no equal in performance on the market.

The 6.5-inch display with a resolution of 2688 by 1242 pixels is also worthy of special mention. The dimensions, as well as the manufacturing technology of the AMOLED matrix, allow the gadget to successfully replace a tablet, and in some scenarios, an e-reader. Fortunately, ideal color rendition, a powerful reserve of brightness, as well as maximum viewing angles contribute to this. As for the minuses, it is the price.

No. 1 – Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Price: 77,800 rubles

With its curved edges, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the top-end camera phone on the market. Many publications recognized it as such in 2018, and so far there are no models on the horizon that can remove it from the throne. Three modules with a resolution of 40, 20 and 8 MP are responsible for the quality of photographs. A detailed description of what function each of them is responsible for is worth looking for in the review. We note that the set allows Huawei Mate 20 Pro to have the widest range of focal lengths (from 16 to 88 mm) among smartphones. In terms of detail and color rendition of images, the solution of Chinese engineers surpasses even Apple flagships.

The 6.39-inch display with a resolution of 3120 by 1440 pixels is also worthy of praise. It is perfectly calibrated - the colors are rich and rich, the viewing angles are maximum, and the image contrast is exactly what it should be. All of the above will be an advantage when you run PUBG on maximum graphics settings thanks to the Kirin 980 and 6GB of RAM. There is no need to worry about the duration of sessions, since the 4200 mAh battery can provide up to two days of autonomy with active use of the smartphone. The main drawback, as you might guess, is the price, as well as the size. If you are looking for a small phone, then the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is definitely not for you.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro

We also have a similar one, which has now dropped significantly in price.

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