Why do smartphones have triple-quadruple cameras when “dedicated” cameras have just one? What makes it better and why do we not see the 3-camera setup on actual cameras then?
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So, a camera works by taking the light reflected off something, focusing the light through specially curved glass (called a ‘lens’), and recording that light on something else. Sometimes it’s film, sometimes it’s a computer sensor that changes the light it sees into a digital picture you can look at on a computer later.
Phones cameras have small lenses, and less light can get in. To make up for that, some of the holes that let in the light are much bigger. Others are the normal size, or smaller.
When the hole in the lens gets bigger, more light gets in, but you can see less of the image behind the thing you’re trying to take a picture of. If the hole is smaller, you can see more of the stuff behind the thing you’re taking a picture of, but less light gets in.
If you have a special ‘telescoping’ type of lens, and you make the case of that lens get bigger, it can see things farther away, but the picture gets narrower. But doing that also makes less light able to get inside.
If you make the lens get smaller (wide angle or macro photography) it can only see things closer up, but it lets a lot more light in and can see a wider picture.
Phone camera lenses can only ‘telescope’ so much because they have to fit inside the phone. So to give you the option to see far away stuff *and* close up stuff *and* take normal photos, they have to put three lenses on it. A normal DSLR can do all that with one lens (in theory).
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