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Posts Tagged ‘quadcamera’

Huawei’s Mate 30 Pro offers quad-camera array, 4K60 video, cinematic bokeh and more

20 Sep

Today, Huawei unveiled the Mate 30 Pro at a launch event in Munich, Germany. The device is Huawei’s latest flagship and much like Apple’s presentation last week, there was a strong emphasis on the imaging capabilities of the device.

Mate 30 Pro

At the heart of the Mate 30 Pro smartphones is the Kirin 990 processor, a chipset that will come in 4G and 5G versions for various markets. This marks the first time we’ve seen the Kirin 990 in a device and carries on the trend of Huawei putting its latest, most advanced chipset in its Mate series smartphones.

The screen on the Mate 30 Pro is a 6.53-inch curved OLED ‘Horizon’ display with a resolution of 2,400 x 1,176 pixels. The ‘Horizon’ nickname refers to the wrap-around screen, which covers the edges of the device and serves as a means of changing settings via virtual buttons on the sides of the device.

On the imaging front, the Mate 30 Pro feature a Leica-branded camera unit on the rear of the devices that features four cameras: a 40-megapixel super-wide-angle camera with an F1.8 aperture and a 1/1.7-inch sensor (17mm 35mm equivalent), a wide-angle image-stabilized 40-megapixel wide-angle camera with an F1.6 aperture and 1/1.7-inch sensor (27mm 35mm equivalent), an image-stabilized 8-megapixel 3x telephoto camera with an F2.4 aperture (80mm 35mm equivalent) as well as a time-of-flight (ToF) camera for improved depth-sensing.

Considering the image processing capabilities of the Kirin 990 chipset, it shouldn’t come as a surprise the Mate 30 Pro will feature impressive photo and video capabilities. In addition to 4K video at 60 frames per second, the phones can also capture slo-mo 1080p video at up to 960 fps and 720p video at up to 7,680 fps. Huawei also showed off a 4K HDR+ time-lapse function with up to 12-hours of recording as well as a real-time ‘cinematic bokeh’ mode for video.

The front-facing selfie camera is a whopping 32-megapixels and will work with a number of AR photo and video features within the operating system (OS) and third-party applications, including new gesture-control functionality.

Speaking of the operating system, the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro both run on EMUI 10, a Huawei-created OS that takes a great deal of inspiration from Google’s latest mobile operating system Android 10. After being blacklisted by the United States government over security concerns, Huawei announced it was investing $ 1 billion into its operating system and app ecosystem. The Mate 30 Pro (and the Mate 30, which we’ve addressed below) are the first devices to use this new system.

Tucked inside the device is a 4500mAh battery that supports Huawei SuperCharge up to 40W and wireless charging up to 27W.

The Mate 30 Pro will come in six colors: silver, green, purple, black and two vegan leather options— green and orange. The device is IP68 water- and dust-resistant.

Mate 30

Alongside the flagship Mate 30 Pro, Huawei also announced the more budget-friendly Mate 30. The Mate 30 features a slightly larger display but a decreased resolution of 2,340 x 1,080 pixels. It also swaps out the 40-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera for a 16-megapixel sensor and a slower F2.2 aperture, removes the ToF sensor the Mate 30 Pro offers and shrinks the battery to 4,200mAh.

Video from the camera modules is also limited in the Mate 30; 4K video can still be shot at 60 fps, but slo-mo is limited to 960 fps in 720p. Interestingly enough, Huawei has included a 3.5mm headphone jack in the Mate 30 while ditching it for the Mate 30 Pro, so if you want wired audio, you’re better off with the Mate 30.

Pricing and availability

The Huawei Mate 30 will be available with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage starting at €799. The Mate 30 Pro will feature 8GB of storage as well, but boost internal storage to 256GB starting at €1099 for the 4G model and €1199 for the 5G model. Regional availability was not disclosed as of publishing this article.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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A closer look at the Huawei P30 Pro, a quad-camera smartphone with plenty of power

28 Mar

Hands-on with the Huawei P30 Pro

Huawei has launched the P30 Pro a new Android smartphone powered by a Kirin 980 chipset and 8GB of RAM — and we’ve gotten our hands on it for a closer look.

Images, which are captured on an impressive quad-camera array, can be viewed and composed on a 6.47-inch FHD+ OLED display with very thin bezels, keeping the overall dimensions of the IP68-certified device at bay. The large 4,200mAh battery packed inside should provide plenty of run time and comes with quick charging. The P30 Pro also features reverse wireless charging and an in-display fingerprint reader.

As impressive as all the specs are though, it’s the camera that has caught all of the attention, and rightly so — it’s packing a lot of camera tech into a considerably small package. Click through the gallery to dig through the details of the device and its imaging capabilities. In the coming days we’ll have a sample images and a follow-up article on the details of its photographic capabilities.

Quad-camera

The P30 Pro comes with three camera modules and a single time-of-flight (ToF) laser sensor — Huawei counts the ToF sensor when calling it a quad-camera. The ToF-sensor is used to measure subject distance for better AF performance and more precise depth maps in bokeh mode. The primary camera features a 1/1.7-inch 40MP sensor that puts out 10MP images.

The lens is optically stabilized and features a fast F1.6 aperture. The equivalent focal length is 27mm. The primary module is accompanied by a 20MP 16mm-equivalent super-wide-angle (not stabilized, F2.2) and a 125mm equivalent 8MP tele with folded optics, OIS and F3.4 aperture.

Folded optics

OPPO has been teasing a similar concept for a couple of years now but with the P30 Pro Huawei is the first manufacturer to bring folded optics in a smartphone to market. The system allows to squeeze a much longer zoom reach into a thin smartphone body than would be possible with a conventional lens design.

Like with OPPO, the image sensor is placed vertically in the phone and the optical axis of the lens runs across the phone body instead of outwards. A mirror is used to reflect incoming light into the lens and onto the sensor at the right angle. This allows for a 125mm equivalent focal length – more than any other current smartphone and approximately a 5x zoom factor over the primary camera. With the help of clever software this can be expanded to a whopping 50x magnification.

Field-of-view fusion

The Huawei does not only rely on innovative hardware for zooming, however. Computational imaging methods play an important role as well. Field-of-view fusion combines the optical zoom with super-resolution algorithms that stack multiple frames for increased levels of detail.

The system intelligently adapts to the zoom factor selected by the user. Up to a 3x zoom factor it only uses super-resolution on the primary camera. At zoom factors between 3x and 5x an image is captured with the tele lens for best possible detail. The areas around the edges of the 5x frame are then filled in using image data recorded with the primary camera. Detail in those areas is improved by reconstructing textures and fine detail using a deep learning algorithm.

This is quite impressive as white balance, focus and other camera parameters have to be in perfect sync for good results. At a 5x zoom factor only the tele camera is used. For even longer reach super-resolution is applied to the tele camera for a maximum 50x zoom factor.

Low light capabilities

The image sensor in the primary camera is of the RYYB type and according to Huawei offers 40 percent better light sensitivity than a conventional RGB sensor. A fast F1.6 aperture and optical image stabilization, which is an industry-first for a sensor of this size in a smartphone, also allow for better light gathering in dim conditions. Huawei says in default mode the camera is capable of delivering good exposures at extremely low light levels of 1 lux and can reach astronomic equivalent ISO values of 409,600.

Improved bokeh mode

Like virtually all high-end smartphones these days the P30 Pro comes with a background-blurring portrait mode. Huawei’s camera engineers have implemented a couple of solutions that should provide better than usual results, however.

Super-resolution is used on the primary camera to capture good detail at a 2x zoom factor, providing a field of view that is more suitable to portraiture than the primary camera’s native 27mm.

An initial depth map of the scene is then generated using data from the primary and super-wide-angle cameras. The ToF-sensor, which can precisely measure subject distance in all light conditions, is then used to refine the depth map, providing better subject isolation and blur gradient and therefore a more realistic overall result.

Video improvements

There’s no 4k video recording at 60fps available on the P30 Pro but the device comes with a range of improvements for its video mode. Huawei says image stabilization has been improved significantly, making the phone usable as an action-cam replacement. Video capture in low light has been improved as well, with the P30 Pro achieving good video exposure at candle light.

There are a couple of other new video features as well. On the main camera adaptive frame rates have been implemented to ensure good sharpness and smooth footage in all conditions In bright light and when the device´s gyro detects camera motion footage is recorded at 60fps. In lower light, when longer shutter speeds are required, and/or the device is held in a very stable fashion, frame rates drop to 30 fps. We’ve previously seen a similar feature on the Google Pixel 3.

Additionally the 32MP front camera is capable of recording HDR video. Currently Apple’s iPhone XS Max is the only other device with this feature. The P30 Pro front camera used a quad-sensor and a single-frame HDR effect is achieved by using different exposures on different pixels on the sensor.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lenovo teases Z5 Pro smartphone with quad-camera module

10 Oct

You thought smartphone manufacturers would stop at three cameras in a device? Think again. Lenovo has been teasing its upcoming Z5 Pro high-end device with a quad-camera and just confirmed that one of the four cameras will have a 2x telephoto lens.

Four sample images from the telephoto module have been posted on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. Image size has been reduced, so it’s difficult to judge image detail and noise. That said, the samples look pretty promising in terms of dynamic range and color.

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What we don’t know at this point is what specification the remaining three cameras will come with. It’s fair to assume one of them will be a regular wide angle. The other two could be a super-wide-angle, monochrome camera, a simple depth-sensor for a simulated bokeh effect or even a longer telephoto than 2x.

Looking at the teaser image above the lenses will be arranged in a square with a flash LED at the center. Non-camera specs are firmly located in high-end territory, with a large 6.5-inch QHD+ screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, 6/8GB of RAM, 64-256GB of internal storage and a 4,000mAh battery.

The Lenovo Z5 Pro launch date is set for October 16, so we should know everything about the new quad-camera around this time next week.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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