Realme interchangeable lens concept hands-on

04 March 2025
We take a look at the Leica M-glass touting Realme concept at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

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  • Vik
  • msx
  • 07 Mar 2025

No professional mode on photos, only the exposure

    YUKI93, 07 Mar 2025You sure about that? No matter how good digital hybrid zoom... morei never said optical zoom is inferior or useless, all im saying is that it's not realistic on a phone and the cons outweigh the pros. The negatives of having a phone with that setup has more hassle than the positives it will bring. Thus the current setup is good enough for people as a stop gap solution before getting dedicated cameras

    Afaik you use an S24+. I question your sense of judgement and choice.

      jiyen235, 05 Mar 2025i never said it's impossible, it's just not reali... moreYou sure about that? No matter how good digital hybrid zoom is today, it still can't beat proper optical zoom mechanism. I even know those among my circle who still uses a dedicated DSLR or Mirrorless camera despite owning the likes of Sony Xperia 1 IV/V/VI, Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and Vivo X200 Pro simply because of the need for better photo quality in zooming.

      Also, what makes you think I'd "complain" about the price or heft? Who are you to judge and gaslight my choice? 🙃🙃

        • M
        • Minu
        • IWS
        • 06 Mar 2025

        YUKI93, 05 Mar 2025It's still possible to make a modern day Galaxy K zoom... moreYes, it shouldn't be impossible. The issue is that they wouldn't even care to make those, given that Samsung no longer makes phones under Sprocomm.

          • A
          • Amitangshu
          • U%{
          • 05 Mar 2025

          What a disappointment!

            Rkm, 05 Mar 2025Ignoring all the specs, M-mount? Seriously? Despite my gen... moreWhy not custom mount for custom 1 inch optics aka Sony RX100 series? (yes, I know, rx100 does not have interchangeable lens, it's just an example of 1 inch sensor with optical zoom lens attached, and it's quite compact).

              • I
              • Ivo.
              • shE
              • 05 Mar 2025

              The future of photography! They can easily have a full frame sensor and lenses on a telephone, like that!

                YUKI93, 05 Mar 2025It's still possible to make a modern day Galaxy K zoom... morei never said it's impossible, it's just not realistic. People like you are either gonna complain about the price or heft anyways. Optical zoom is nice and all but not a necessity in photography. The pros don't outweigh the cons.

                  • R
                  • Rkm
                  • FY0
                  • 05 Mar 2025

                  Ignoring all the specs, M-mount? Seriously?
                  Despite my general disdain towards Sony cameras, I think if any of the phone cameras are going the mount way, it should be with E-mount. Cheap to super expensive manual options from 7artisans to Voigtlander. If they are somehow able to bring AF, Viltrox to Sigma, Tamron, GM. They are the most 3rd party friendly mount.

                    Manual focus only lenses on a type 1 sensor? Third-party M-mount lenses (I'm not talking about Leica lenses because they are absurdly expensive) are designed for FF and they aren't very sharp in general, and 12.5MP at 2.7x crop factor means the lens must be able to resolve over 90MP or the entire frame would look quite hazy or blurry.

                    Of course, good luck shooting in 50MP mode, because at 2.7x crop, no consumer-grade lens would be able to resolve that resolution as they would be all severely impacted by either aberration or diffraction.

                    The only difference between this and Xiaomi's approach from a few years ago is that Realme's concept allows for lenses specially designed for a type 1 sensor via its proprietary mount system, whereas Xiaomi only accepted M-mount lenses, but then who would be even keen to make lenses just for Realme in the first place?

                    M43 lens system is slowly dying but at least it would be more practical than Leica's system lol.

                      jiyen235, 04 Mar 2025the K zoom was a 16.6mm thick phone that only had a 2430 ma... moreIt's still possible to make a modern day Galaxy K zoom with modern hardware. I'd already imagine one on a Galaxy S25 Ultra or Galaxy S25+ body. Even if the camera won't be a 1" sensor, a true optical zoom mechanism is always going to deliver a much better photo quality than digital hybrid zoom anyway.

                        NFB, 04 Mar 2025The Samsung Galaxy K Zoom provided a 10x mechanical zoom wi... moreIt needs some big space to make a modern day Galaxy K zoom with modern smartphone camera sensor, especially 1/1.13" and 1". But yes, I still maintain true optical zoom is always the way to go.

                          The fact that it still has a pair of native wide and ultrawide camera for everyday use makes this a worthy idea. Also, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is still a capable monster in 2025.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • SqW
                            • 04 Mar 2025

                            I like the direction where this is going.
                            Need more optical video gear on my phone.
                            I like Xiaomi but I don't like realme though because realme doesn't allow me to root my phone!

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • mFd
                              • 04 Mar 2025

                              If someone is using DSLR gear I think the phone is a reference screen at best and should be connected on a cable or wireless and just accept that role. Imagine the lens wobble just free-handing a whole lens kit like that?
                              An action cam or DSLR is better for pro video or photo.

                                • a
                                • arsham
                                • gjQ
                                • 04 Mar 2025

                                don't concept. its real!!!

                                  • B
                                  • Boink
                                  • IbG
                                  • 04 Mar 2025

                                  NFB, 04 Mar 2025The Samsung Galaxy K Zoom provided a 10x mechanical zoom wi... moreIt would be a big deal if a smartphone manufacturer brought back the idea of the Galaxy K Zoom. Someone's gotta do it imo.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • fCE
                                    • 04 Mar 2025

                                    one will just buy a dslr ffs

                                      NFB, 04 Mar 2025The Samsung Galaxy K Zoom provided a 10x mechanical zoom wi... morethe K zoom was a 16.6mm thick phone that only had a 2430 mah battery and the camera sensor was a measly 1/2.3" one. The new Realme phone is an order of magnitude superior in terms of camera quality.

                                      Now imagine if they had made a 4500+ mah 1 inch cam that had 10x lossless zoom. What do you think the outcome would've been?

                                      Apart from the built in xenon flash, i dont really see any proper advantage of that phone. It's better to have a separate lens in another pocket than a phone that's got a gigantic camera bump that makes it essentially unpocketable. Not to mention the weight. It's entirely unrealistic, even for a concept phone.

                                        NFB, 04 Mar 2025The Samsung Galaxy K Zoom provided a 10x mechanical zoom wi... morebecause the K zoom could only do this by using a really small sensor, a one inch sensor could get 2 to maybe 3 times zoom by doing what the Kzoom did.

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