Weekly poll: do you still want depth and macro cameras on your phones?

07 November 2021
Some will argue that such cameras are just a cheap way to pad out the camera count, others may still find a use in them.

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Anonymous, 07 Nov 2021You only need two cameras: Wide and UltraWide. Everythi... moreYeah, if you like taking ugly portraits

    • N
    • Nemo
    • LH6
    • 07 Nov 2021

    I have more use for a macro camera than for the crappy ultrawides they put in even near-flagship phones. The need to stop putting crap ultrawides in phones.

      • D
      • AnonD-762416
      • Sec
      • 07 Nov 2021

      abwx, 07 Nov 2021Blurry backgrounds have always seemed a mostly undesirable ... moreWhat? A shallow focal depth has always been used to make a photo look natural and to separate the object from the back and foreground. Yes, digital blurring generally looks terrible. That's not the same thing, though.

        • O
        • OmkarS
        • 0p}
        • 07 Nov 2021

        I think Wide Telephoto Ultra wide is way to go i would love Camera setup like iPhone pro models and computing like Gcam for pictures. Good portraits, Nice landscape, Respectable Telephoto and ultra wide are always welcome. Even telephoto cameras d/t their tiny aperture produces more crisp pictures than wide sensor which I personally like a lot. Telephoto Portraits are not warped/stretch out like wide portraits. Someone mentioned about RAW data by telephoto lens nothing but music to my ear. 3D toF are great and seems like future thumbs up for it. No macro Ultra wide with AF is enough.

          • O
          • OmkarS
          • 0p}
          • 07 Nov 2021

          GAMIRSFM, 07 Nov 2021Me too, i don't take RAW photos. But telephotos has be... moreIndeed. Telephoto provides the Quality, crispyness, True Size of things no warping of people, better exposuser than WIDE SENSOR

            • B
            • Bzbzbz
            • dPU
            • 07 Nov 2021

            When will people realize that the number of megapixels is not the most important part of the whole camera sytem? Almost all macro cameras today have those 2 MP sensors but pictures are not the same. Have you ever wondered why?

              • C
              • Chixby
              • a3i
              • 07 Nov 2021

              Wide+ultrawide+telephoto is the perfect combination for me

                These useless sensors should be restricted to low-budget phones to make them look like they have more cameras than they really do. They should no longer be used in midrangers or high-end phones.

                  Just slap two cameras normal and ultrawide like the G5 anything else even makes the phone look ulgy

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • 3kH
                    • 07 Nov 2021

                    Those are basically fake cameras. There s no need for depth sensors if there are already a primary and a tele/ultrawide camera. The macro cameras suck and have no autofocus. It s just a way to say "hey we have 4 cameras" in reality there are only two of them, and mostly only one is good. Best combo is a classic+tele+ultrawide with autofocus which also is a macro

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • LkB
                      • 07 Nov 2021

                      HosseinD, 07 Nov 2021The best camera set" wide+ ultrawide+ telephoto the r... moreLG G5 is the only Ultra Wide.
                      All other use Super Wide.

                        The best camera set" wide+ ultrawide+ telephoto the rest are useless

                          Anonymous, 07 Nov 2021It'd provide a perfectly sufficient quality zoom but y... moreMe too, i don't take RAW photos. But telephotos has been really cool and useful.
                          I use it way more than ultrawides. Even though other people keep saying UW are the best thing since sliced bread. 🤔

                            Those guys voting no i never take potrait or macro are the ones causing arguments in any web pages ,social medias

                              Yesss!!! more fake camera holes.

                                • a
                                • abwx
                                • q3W
                                • 07 Nov 2021

                                Blurry backgrounds have always seemed a mostly undesirable gimmick, especially when horrendously overdone, as shown here. My introduction to deliberately blurring a background was in the 1970s, with a brief reference in a nature photography book to using that so that the features of a plant being photographed wouldn't be lost in the background clutter. I've always remembered that, but don't recall ever finding cause to use it. When I wanted to try it out on a used Moto G Stylus I picked up, it told me "No faces detected. Taking normal photo." Sort of an "our way or the highway" attitude, with no allowance for utility or creativity.

                                Macro capability, however, can allow getting a useful image of something small, which can be critical in identifying unexpected fungi or bryophytes or such. A 2mp image is vastly better than no image at all, a higher resolution sensor may be wasted due to focus issues.

                                If the primary lenses can focus closely enough, then a special macro lens may not be needed, but review tend not report closest focusing distance, or more usefully, subject sizes at closest focusing distance - often some stand-off is desirable, and a close-focusing tele can be much more useful than an ultra-wide delivering the same subject-in-image size.

                                  Depth sensor and macro lenses are basically just throwaways to bump up the camera count. To get depth data, it’s shown that you can do that with an ultra wide, or you can even do it with machine learning with one lens (Google Pixel, iPhone XR). Any phones with depth sensor and macro lenses should be judged with the assumption that those lenses don’t exist, since they’re basically useless. Rather than putting useless cameras, why not reduce the price of the phones instead?

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • IKc
                                    • 07 Nov 2021

                                    GAMIRSFM, 07 Nov 2021Then that's where the high megapixel count main camera... moreIt'd provide a perfectly sufficient quality zoom but you wouldn't be able to shoot in RAW with it as the digital zoom technically isn't a full readout of the sensor, which is something a dedicated telephoto would be capable of. Most people probably wouldn't care if they couldn't shoot in RAW zoomed in but personally I'd rather have the option available than not have it at all

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 3yL
                                      • 07 Nov 2021

                                      You only need two cameras:
                                      Wide and UltraWide.

                                      Everything else is just marketing.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • mNI
                                        • 07 Nov 2021

                                        Dedicated depth camera - useless, since you can do portraits with just one sensor. Google proved it.
                                        Dedicated macro camera - useless, since a better sensor with autofocus is already there.
                                        Dedicated telephoto with 2x magnification - mostly useless, since 2x digital zoom on the main sensor will beat it. Unless it's a very good sensor. Situation changes with 3x zoom.

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