Samsung reportedly receives prisms for 5x zoom cameras on Galaxy S20 phones

17 January 2020
The latest information contradicts the claims of 10x optical zoom - instead, 10x magnification will be achieved thanks to the high-res sensors.

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Anonymous, 19 Jan 2020That entirely depends on the size of the sensorIf it was something like 48MP sensor with 1µm pixels, then there's no doubt that it would have a really good image quality. But I don't think it's even possible to put a large sensor like that into a periscope module, that would would make the body way too bulky or the camera bump way too tall. It's already been leaked that Samsung will be using IMX586 for S20 Ultra anyway, so yeah.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • I8m
    • 19 Jan 2020

    Nick Tagataka, 18 Jan 2020Except 48MP sensor with traditional Bayer filter structure ... moreThat entirely depends on the size of the sensor

      Anonymous, 17 Jan 2020The image quality of a crop depends on many factors. It dep... moreExcept 48MP sensor with traditional Bayer filter structure will lead to crappy image quality due to its tiny pixel size.. Poor dynamic range, high noise even at base ISO, serious colour bleeding and so on. Such a small high res sensor would be usable ONLY WHEN it's quad Bayer.

        Peter-B, 17 Jan 2020IceUniverse says IMX586 on the S20 Ultra nad S5KGW2 on the ... moreThanks for your info, so the regular S20 and S20+ will pack higher res, larger 64MP sensor for a telephoto lens to compensate for the shorter zoom range (3x vs 5x). It seems that GW2 is a successor of GW1, judging from its name.

          Anonymous, 17 Jan 2020OOoooo fuuu. Well it doesn't matter. Waiting for the 10x o... moreTwo years ago samsung CEO sead that they are not interested in front line, but insted full finished products that work. In my opinion that counts more then half beaked stuff that then company are fixing with updates for whole year and when it is fixed there is new phone out.

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            • Anonymous
            • Kxr
            • 18 Jan 2020

            Vodude, 17 Jan 2020mi note 10 optical zoom is not really 5x actually only 3.7... moreAnd p30 pro isn't 5x either but 4.6x

              Anonymous, 17 Jan 2020Mi note 10's 5x optical zoom isn't fakemi note 10 optical zoom is not really 5x
              actually only 3.7x if measure from standard 1x cam to their max optical zoom..
              unless you measure from wide cam (lower than standard cam the 1x) to max optical zoom then it is 5x

                • c
                • cce
                • n74
                • 17 Jan 2020

                100x zoom, very good! Now I can zoom in my neighbors window...

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                  • Anonymous
                  • XFW
                  • 17 Jan 2020

                  Anonymous, 17 Jan 2020Nope.. not 10x optical. The focal length is not dependant o... moreMi note 10's 5x optical zoom isn't fake

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                    • Anonymous
                    • 0Wh
                    • 17 Jan 2020

                    Anonymous, 17 Jan 2020So you prefer phone with cameras that covers focal lengths ... moreThere are enough varity of cameras to cover all in those phones with periscope cameras. In Samsung only the Ultra will have a good Zoom, the rest S20 models the old 3x optical zoom even being really expensive phones. So that already relegate them behind competitors as the rest of areas are covered by all them plus better zoom and not removing extra features.

                    The Ultra maybe could stack two prims of 5x to reach those 10x. But its size is not reasonable, is a moster of 167 x 76,6 x 8,8 mm and its weight is 221g grams!!!

                    I like the periscope phones but in a more reasonable size and with more features that Samsung already have removed. Sure that next month will arrive more attractive alternatives at MWC.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • vjw
                      • 17 Jan 2020

                      Anonymous, 17 Jan 2020OOoooo fuuu. Well it doesn't matter. Waiting for the 10x o... moreSo you prefer phone with cameras that covers focal lengths of 28mm and 280mm. No in-betweens? Are you sure? Very very sure? How are you going to shoot human portraits with 280mm?

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                        • Anonymous
                        • gBV
                        • 17 Jan 2020

                        The image quality of a crop depends on many factors. It depends whether Samsung uses a Bayer or Quad Bayer 48 megapixel sensor. A Bayer 48 megapixel sensor would be far superior to a Quad Bayer 48 megapixel sensor regarding a crop unless Samsung found a way to improve the demosaicing significantly. A Quad Bayer 48 megapixel sensor usually doesn't capture much more detail than a 12 megapixel Bayer sensor and it also produces ugly demosaicing artifacts when the demosaicing isn't good.
                        Furthermore in perfect light conditions the noise of a crop depends on the physical focal length. Currently I would assume that Huawei uses a larger physical focal length than Samsung, so in perfect light conditions this would lead to less noise in photos at more than 240mm.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • S2T
                          • 17 Jan 2020

                          YUKI93, 17 Jan 2020So that means, the telephoto camera will produce a 5x optic... moreNope.. not 10x optical. The focal length is not dependant on the megapixel.
                          What you are talking about here is 5x real optical like on Huawei P30 Pro.. (not fake like Xiaomi Mi Note 10).
                          And 10x hybrid zoom (digital + optical)

                            So that means, the telephoto camera will produce a 5x optical zoom photo in full 48/64 MP resolution and a 10x optical zoom photo when using 12/16 MP resolution. My, Samsung have gone mental with Quad Bayer filtering.

                              • j
                              • jtrogr
                              • dPU
                              • 17 Jan 2020

                              The more I read the "leaks", the more I realize that they are just guessing. The camera setup has changed 20 times already in the past 2 months.

                                Max said 10× optical zoom so imma believe him instead

                                  This is exactly what I expected Samsung isn't interested in leading innovation

                                  Why should they anyways people will buy it just for the name sake ironic actually Samsung has brand worship in the android space like apple to an extent

                                  So they will go 10x next year

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • B}L
                                    • 17 Jan 2020

                                    One 5x prism + another one 5x prism = 10x zoom prism, there you go,

                                      Nick Tagataka, 17 Jan 202048MP telephoto means it will be either IMX586 or Isocell GM... moreIceUniverse says IMX586 on the S20 Ultra nad S5KGW2 on the S20+ and S20:

                                      https://www.gsmarena.com/camera_sensor_info_for_all_three_samsung_galaxy_s20_phones_leaks-news-41066.php

                                        48MP telephoto means it will be either IMX586 or Isocell GM2 sensor with quad CFA structure, which means any attempt to emulate a real 10x telephoto lens by using 2x crop from the sensor simply won't end up very well due to artifacts and high noise level. This wouldn't be the case if Samsung actually had a mature super resolution algorithm, but so far we haven't seen them using such tech on their phones. Its true advantage lies in the noise performance and dynamic range, not in the detail resolving capability.