All about the lens
A good lens is an important – if not the most important – factor when it comes to phone photography. It controls how much light comes into the camera.
Many manufacturers have their own trusty external lens supplier. Nokia for example loves using Carl Zeiss lenses in its higher-end cameras, as the company is renowned for high quality lenses capable of capturing crisp, sharp image. The Huawei P20 Pro relies on a Leica lens, in its excellent triple-lens camera phone.
Look out for aperture
Aperture is another thing to consider. Aperture is measured in f stops, followed by a number. Ideally you should look for anything below f/1.9 - these will be the best at capturing brilliant photography, even when the lighting conditions aren’t so great. A good camera phone should also let you adjust the aperture to suit whatever it is you’re taking a photo of.
Dual lenses
The best camera phones these days have a dual lens (some have three). And there’s a good reason for it, as both lenses work together to reproduce great-looking photos, complete with that professional-looking background blur you see in magazines. In some cases, one of the lenses is a monochrome camera that takes care of the darker tones in a photo, while the other camera captures the colour, resulting in a picture with sharp, evenly balanced tones.
What about the pixels?
Pixels refers to the tiny dots on the camera sensor that register light. The more pixels there are, the sharper your photos will be. But, on a phone there isn’t as much space, so the pixels might be smaller, and therefore let in less light.
On the opposite side of the scale, larger pixels let in more light. Bigger pixels mean better and brighter colours, and more detail, but you still need enough pixels for it to make a difference.
And that’s why the number of megapixels on your phone isn’t the most important factor when choosing a camera phone. The size of them is important, too.
Image processors
Image processors are like miniature computers inside your phone – they take all the information from the camera sensor, and turn it into a digital image, which is the final picture you end up with.
A good image processor makes a massive difference in low light. This is because there’s less information for the camera to collect, so you need a powerful image processor to do its magic.
AI: the future of mobile photography
AI-fuelled technology is the next thing in camera phones. It understands what you’re pointing your camera at, and automatically adjusts the settings for the perfect photo. It’s a bit like having a professional photographer by your side. In theory it means you’ll never take a bad photo again.
And that’s a wrap. We hope you’ll agree that there’s much more to a good camera phone than megapixels. Got your eyes on a new phone for taking photos? Then do let us know in the comments below.