How Smartphone Cameras Work: Here's An Explanation And Mechanism

How Smartphone Cameras Work (iPhone 15 Pro Max)

YOGYAKARTA - In 2023, if you don't know the 'preskop camera' on your smartphone, it's really chaotic! Don't tell your children that it's just like this with a camera, we don't know. Really, we'll find out what and how the smartphone periscope camera works!

The first phone that carries the concept of using a periscope camera is the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The reason is that a periscope camera can allow a phone to target objects that are at large distances and make them appear close.

Did you know, the ability of this periscope camera exceeds the telephoto camera which is usually on the phones on the market.

The question is, do you know what a periscope camera is and how it works?

Launching from several sources, Periscope is a telephoto camera or lens equipped with a focal length Panjang that can narrow its field of view and can make objects in the distance visible close.

What's the difference with the others? In general, the periscope camera itself has a focal length that is much longer than the regular telephoto lens on our cellphone.

According to existing information, the Focal length on the periscope camera can achieve 250 mm (full-frame equivalence), or get 10 times larger when compared to the focal length of the main camera on the phone which is generally located in the range of 23-28 mm.

Meanwhile, regular telephoto cameras generally have focal length in the range of 50 mm or 2 times compared to the main camera. In fact, it can reach 80 mm or 3x compared to the main camera.

Looking at the focal length comparison with a main camera like that, the origin of the "zoom" 2/3 times for ordinary telephoto cameras and up to 10 times for periscope cameras.

Who would have thought, it turns out that so far we have called the "zoom" a mistake. Because all lenses on the cellphone camera are fixed or have fixed focal length and cannot be replaced either.

You also have an intermediate zoom level, so the zooming mechanism is carried out with digital enlargement, not with mechanical zoom in the lens.

Meanwhile, the real zoom lens is a camera with focal length that can be replaced. A real example in the world of mobile phones is the Galaxy K Zoom from Samsung which was released in 2014.

The Galaxy K Zoom series phone has been equipped with a real zoom lens camera where the focal length that can be replaced from a wide 24mm to a telephoto 240mm perspective, or has an optical zoom of 10 times. How the Galaxy K Zoom camera works is similar to the pocket camera, really!

Then, what are the procedures for the work of the periscope camera? The periscope camera is made with the aim of adding the ability of the cellphone so that it can target objects at large distances.

Saat sebelum kamera periscope ini mulai dipasangkan di ponsel, pada awal awalnya ponsel-ponsel hanya memiliki tingkat "zoom optis" telephoto paling tinggi ya sekitar 3 kali saja.

With the periscope camera, the figure can increase up to 10 times, especially if it can reach 100 if it uses digital enlargement.

The obstacle is that a telephoto lens with a focal length of that size has a long shape, like in the Galaxy K-Zoom.

The lens must stand out from the body of the cellphone so that it is not practical to use. Therefore, it is made a breaking in the form of a periscope mechanism. Moreover, the lens is not installed perpendicularly as generally on the camera, but is placed sideways in the body of the cellphone.

After that, the light is deflected using prisma or glass so that it can be arranged to a photo catcher sensor, where the mapping is also changed to vertical or perpendicular to the smartphone body.

Well, this is where the term "Periscope" appears, this is taken because the mechanism is similar to the periscope on the submarine.

The difference is, the periscope on the submarine is used so that the inside the ship can see the state on the surface while in the water, on the contrary, the periscope lens of the cellphone is used so that the camera sensor can look forward from the side.

Indeed, there are several cellphones that have periscope cameras with different designs, such as "tetraprisma" cameras, for example on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The principle is the same, only the space it needs is smaller.

So after knowing how the smartphone periscope camera works, see other interesting news on VOI.ID, it's time to revolutionize news!