Weekly poll: which is the best focal length for telephoto cameras?
- Kingslayer
- IbE
- 27 Oct 2019
I don't care of any of the choices. I want as much real OPTICAL zoom as possible. Give me 10X or more. Samsung should release a successor to the Galaxy Camera 2 which had 21X optical zoom.
- N
- Nick Tagataka
- gR5
- 27 Oct 2019
Anonymous, 27 Oct 2019Huawei uses a crop of the 40 megapixel sensor for 2x zoom. ... more"Huawei uses a crop of the 40 megapixel sensor for 2x zoom"
No, it uses super-resolution algorithms to cancel out the Bayer patterns on the sensor and get an image without a need of typical demosaicing processes. If you compare the 2x crop from 40MP image and the digitally zoomed in 2x image, the former looks noticeably worse on P30 Pro.
- N
- Nick Tagataka
- gR5
- 27 Oct 2019
Kangal, 27 Oct 2019Anandtech already answered this question. Basically, the O... moreThat's weird because P30 Pro's optical zoom shows noticeably better retained details and less fuzziness across the frame compared to that on Reno 10x Zoom. Not to mention Oppo didn't come up with any sort of super-resolution digital zoom unlike Huawei so the image quality in intermediate zoom range is noticeably worse... and finally if you do the math Reno 10x Zoom has 5x telephoto lens, not 6x (130/26 = 5).
- YUKI93
- ibX
- 27 Oct 2019
Anonymous, 27 Oct 2019I didn't say that you can't use it for portraits at 125mm. ... moreWrong. You can't use portraits below 50mm, the face will be distorted. At 50mm and above, the face will become more true to life since the distortion is all gone.
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/57f6a7ae29687fd43588e12d/1477511622665-JTLWAFQ6P5LL0GTP7B80/focal+length+comparison?format=1500w&content-type=image%2Fjpeg
- ?
- Anonymous
- gBV
- 27 Oct 2019
Nick Tagataka, 27 Oct 2019Huawei's Hybrid Zoom that gets activated between 1.1x and 2... moreHuawei uses a crop of the 40 megapixel sensor for 2x zoom. And at zoom factors higher than 5x, you get 0% more details.
- S
- SpiritWolf
- pVc
- 27 Oct 2019
Anonymous, 27 Oct 2019"We should note that “hybrid zoom” features are based on su... moreAnd that's why it's called HYBRID zoom. 'Normal' digital zoom would result in 10x crop from main camera.
- ?
- Anonymous
- gBV
- 27 Oct 2019
YUKI93, 27 Oct 2019Ummm... sorry? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAiZxgrWjYEI didn't say that you can't use it for portraits at 125mm. I said you can't use it for portraits at 50mm.
- N
- Nick Tagataka
- gR5
- 27 Oct 2019
Anonymous, 27 Oct 2019"We should note that “hybrid zoom” features are based on su... moreHuawei's Hybrid Zoom that gets activated between 1.1x and 2.9x zoom range involves super-resolution image stacking which increases the amount of details, so it's actually a feature that actually works just as advertised. A Hybrid Zoom on the telephoto lens (5x ~), on the other hand, is a pure marketing term for a digital zoom.
- Kangal
- RN8
- 27 Oct 2019
Anandtech already answered this question.
Basically, the Oppo Reno Zoom came ahead thanks to its x6 optical zoom. The quality was still good, and the difference in the image was quite noticeable and somewhat handy to use. Whereas the x10 digital-optical hybrid feature on this and the Huawei produced unflattering results. Whilst the small x2 and x3 optical zoom didn't give much improvement (or change in perspective) from the Main Sensor, but it came with the same drop in quality as the x5 and x6 cameras.
In short, there's little reason for doubled or overlapping sensors, the x1 Ultrawide camera should have a large field of view (eg 135'), the x2 Wide/Main camera (67') should be sharp, and the Optical Zoom should be long (x6). Here, you get three very different perspectives and shots from the same device, same location, same direction.
That's far more better/optimal than this: having the x1 Ultrawide camera with a narrower fov (112'), the x2 Wide/Main camera (75') as less sharp, and the Optical Zoom that is shorter (x4). Whereas here, there's some continuity or resemblance between each shot, so there is some wasted potential.
And utterly useless would be to have a x1 Ultrawide that has a pretty narrow fov (100'), with the x2 Wide/Main camera (80') as pretty dull, and the Optical Zoom that is quite short (x3)(maybe that's not even a proper "zoom" anymore, maybe call it Telephoto?). Here, all three shots will produce somewhat identical images. And that is an utter waste. Companies will try justifying their decision with lies/marketing by saying each sensor is used to aid the image quality of the others. However, what they don't want you to know is the first scenario also achieves the same effect without sacrificing your differing perspectives.
And just to illustrate how such differing perspectives are, say the x1 Ultrawide captures the whole balcony full of people, the x2 Wide captures your portrait and not the rest of the balcony, the x6 Zoom captures the city skyline from the balcony. That's great. If the perspectives were closer, the Ultrawide won't capture the full balcony, the Wide lens will capture you and someone nearby as less detailed-smaller image, and the Zoom won't capture the city skyline. That's disappointing.
- YUKI93
- ibX
- 27 Oct 2019
Anonymous, 27 Oct 2019Wrong. When you have a 125mm camera, you can not really use... moreUmmm... sorry?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAiZxgrWjYE
- ?
- Anonymous
- gBV
- 27 Oct 2019
The best choice is having both: 50mm as well as a super tele.
By the way, 5x and 3x cameras are not really 3x and 5x lossless cameras. They only have 8 megapixels. Therefore (regarding the details) 3x is actually 2.4x and 5x is actually 4x
- ?
- Anonymous
- gBV
- 27 Oct 2019
YUKI93, 27 Oct 2019When it comes to telephoto, a longer zoom is always better.... moreWrong. When you have a 125mm camera, you can not really use it for portraits at 50mm. 50mm is a very good field of view for portraits.
- ?
- Anonymous
- gBV
- 27 Oct 2019
"We should note that “hybrid zoom” features are based on super resolution algorithms that perform better than classic digital image upscaling"
Wrong gsmarena! Hybrid zoom is often just a marketing term for digital zoom of the tele camera. See gsmarena's review of the P30 Pro: "The hybrid 10x zoom is digital, and you can tell right away. The photos come up identical to what you would get if you were to zoom and crop the 5x pics by yourself"
Even Google's "super resolution" zoom is really bad. If you would test it scientifically in perfect light conditions with no shadows, there would be nearly no difference to a raw file at 1.0x. The best smartphone "super resolution" zoom had the Huawei P10 Plus due to the monochrome camera. This was really a hybrid zoom. But the hybrid zoom of modern Huawei phones is nothing else than marketing. A few 48 or 64 megapixel phones might have a better digital zoom, but usually that's just a crop.
- YUKI93
- ibX
- 27 Oct 2019
When it comes to telephoto, a longer zoom is always better. When you zoom outside the optical zoom focal length, it will go all-digital zoom and we all know that digital zoom in a smartphone camera with a small sensor is... CRAP! So having a longer optical zoom is always better, since you can always zoom knowing that you still can have a crisp detailed photo without all those grains or noises.
As for the best focal length, I'd say that 2x is a bit too short, while 5x is still a rarity with currently only Huawei P30 Pro and Oppo Reno 10x zoom has such zooming capability. 3x is definitely the best compromise for now, but my vote will go for 5x.
P.S Remember Samsung Galaxy S4/K zoom and Hasselblad True Zoom Moto Mods? That can do 10x optical zoom. Definitely would love to see such resurgence again with a much bigger sensor than those devices, think Sony RX100 with Android OS.