Why do we make double-triple-quadruple eyed cameras in smartphones instead of just improving the specs and keeping one lens?
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This is ELI5 so: we use different lenses for different purposes. Some are good close range, long range, for portraits or landscapes. We use different lenses for the same reason we don’t have different sizes and shapes of hammers. You wouldn’t use a sledgehammer to build a simple rack for example.
Using one lens for all that would mean more moving parts. Do you want moving parts in there?
Probably not, so having a few fixed lenses makes more sense
Social media and peoples obsession with photo sharing. Apple has mad butchering the design of their phones acceptable with the lens extending from the camera. I think they just have surrendered to the pressures of building out better cameras by sacrificing design for the sake of keeping up.
The lens is the limiting factor. It’s much easier to make a fixed-focal length lens than a zoom lens, especially at the sizes in cameras. The digital sensors aren’t very expensive so it’s easier to have multiple small cameras than a more complex one.
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Multiple cameras/angles can be used to build 3d images. algorithms use the slightly different images to build the image.
To be able to zoom in on a picture and magnify part of it is typically done in one of two ways.
You can take the same initial picture and then zoom/crop it digitally – this means you get a nice simple lens design, but when you soon in you let the resolution and quality of your image.
The alternative is to zoom in optically by using a lens with a variable focal length, which retains quality, but is much larger and bulkier.
So in devices where quality is more important than size – such as a dedicated camera – you will generally see lenses that can optically zoom. In devices where size is important – like phones – fixed focal length optics are normally preferred.
One option to try and get the best of both worlds is to use multiple lenses. So rather than using one lens that zooms throughout a range of different focal lengths, you can use two or more separate lenses of different magnifications to select between – for example one wide angle lens, with a second slightly longer lens that will allow you to zoom in a certain amount without degrading the quality.
The best part is that because these lenses are of a fixed focal length they are much slimmer, and will better suit a thin phone body, and given the shape of modern phones having them positioned side by side will be much more convenient than trying to justify to consumers why your phone is much thicker (to fit a zoom mechanism)
It all lies on versatility. No lens can do it all and look great. The lens in the phones are great in their own intended function. Ultrawide, telephoto, and the normal 24mm lens. This is also to keep the phone thin and compact. I use an old HTC U11 camera and as powerful and raw that single camera may be, it won’t be as good as a multiple camera system would like my Mi 9 has when it comes to portraits and ultrawide angle.
If you put an aps-c or m43 sensor, it’ll get bulkier and won’t be as convenient as a phone anymore. See yongnuo and zeiss android cameras. Samsung tried multiple apertures before and it did not make a difference as the sensor is too small.
The same reason we have multiple drivers in nice speakers. Some are for bass some are for mid-range some are for treble
We used to make just one for a long time, that’s why apple always marketed their new phones and having a better camera. However a multi tool is convenient, but a tool box is better.
Keeping the low-light, wide angle, Macro, General function all in one camera means that certain concessions had to be made to make one camera that excels in each function. This led to a jack of all trades master of non situation.
The Multi camera approach allowed each one to excel at what it does best without having to worry about how focusing on one aspect could affect another, eg how the Macro lens will affect the Wide angle lens. Making over complicated mechanisms/software now is unnecessary, just make the best of each and activate them via software.
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