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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Smart phones use multiple cameras because they are limited in the available depth. The camera already tends to be the thickest part of the phone, and engineers are pulling out all the stops to get it as thin as possible.
With more depth to work with they can use larger lenses and move them back and forth to focus, without using multiple lenses. They can also use a larger sensor as the lens can be a greater distance away.
Phones have multiple smaller cameras to overcome the limitations of using tiny, thin camera
A real camera is going to use a full size lens, sensor, apparatus for adjusting zoom, etc and so it doesn’t NEED extra, smaller cameras
A few tiny lenses is better than ONE tiny lens, but one large lens is still better.
To allow for different focal ranges (zoom).
When you zoom with an ordinary camera, The elements in the lens physically move in and out in order to change the focal length. The problem is that this mechanism takes a lot of space, and the lens protrudes out of the camera. This is ok when it’s a big camera, but not when it’s a tiny camera embedded within a phone. So, the solution is to just include several camera with different focal lengths in the phone.
Basically it is to make up for the fact that you can change lenses in a few seconds on any half decent dedicated camera. With a phone you’re stuck with whatever you get from the manufacturer so giving you different “fixed” options out of the box is the only feasible workaround.
a full size camera will have a telephoto lens, or interchangeable lenses for different fields of view and close ups.
a phone isn’t thick enough to install a telephoto lens, so they install 3 lenses, a wide angle for group photos, and longer lenses for zooming in on stuff that’s far away.
phones with only one camera will have a digital zoom which isn’t an optical zoom. it will just make the picture look bigger, but if you look closely it will have less sharpness. same as if you zoomed in on a photo that was already taken.
Good actual cameras have interchangeable lenses and professional photographers would own more than three usually.
You just can’t make single lens which would be good for all circumstances (first of all, different focus length or “zoom”).
Several cameras on a phone is a substitution.
> when “dedicated” cameras have just one?
…They don’t.
I have 5 lenses for my Sony camera.
Now, those little pocket cameras do only have 1, but it is a zoom lens that covers a wide range of focal lengths. The majority of phone cameras don’t have zoom lenses (difficult to fit), so they use multiple lenses to make up for it.
The problem is not the camera, it’s the lenses. You can’t fit a zoom mechanism into a smartphone or have user replaceable lenses, so to accomplish different levels of zoom you instead have several cameras with different focal length lenses.
I have attended a lot of seminars about the construction of current tech so ill chime in. A lot of posters have already said that the multiple cameras are for overcoming the technical limitations.
Or to make the smartphone slimmer, which doesn’t matter if you put a cover over it…
However i have also heard that there is a massive monetary incentive for including multiple: planned obsolescence.
Smartphones are already brittle at the best of times (thanks for the glass backplate apple, really makes a difference in a smartphone cover). How fragile is a camera lens? Now what if you had 3? What if 1 broke your camera stops functioning as it should?
Ah but glass is not hard to replace, unless it is either one big piece or is completely glued. Now you either suck it up or buy a new one because almost all phone manufacturers have adopted the “throw it away and buy new” mentality.
Now to prevent an android vs iphone debate. Apple started this bs and samsung saw how much money it made and now they’re doing it too. Oneplus used to be better, guess what? Money is a powerful thing.
In my experience, every camera enthusiast has way more lenses for his dedicated camera than any phone will ever have. You do know, that you change the lenses of real cameras for different focal lengths and zoom factors? You can’t do that in phones. So they need multiple. Also they are so tiny, that there is no space for making them with variable zoom.
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