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[Q] How does the Sensor-Zoom work?

Hi Guys,
I asked myself how the zoom on my Z3 should work.
As far as I know, the Z3 can Zoom into the sensor while taking 8mpix pictures.
While I tried it, it seemed to me that the quality gets really bad.
I was guessing that the indicator on the left is the indicator which separates digital zoom from the sensor-zoom.
As far as I thought the light grey indicator-bar shows the part which is the sensor zoom and the dark part is the digital zoom.
Considering the quality it seems to me that both modes are digital zoom. The picture looks really annoying while i use it.
I just thought maybe I'm doing something wrong - has anyone an idea how I can improve this or use it right or or or...
Regards,
Matthias

I didn't know about the 8mp restriction, i also tested it out in the shop, but in 20mp mode. The sections looked identical. However, as the sensor is not at it's limits at 8mp, i guess it could take a higher resolution and crop it to 8mp size at the zoomed in section.

Auto mode enables you to use the camera's Clear Zoom feature, which produces good-looking, lossless-like digital zoom.
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the image is stretched by the software, which then attempts to fill in the blanks as best as it can. Well, thanks to the giant sensors on the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Sony Xperia Z1/Z1 Compact, zoom is no longer a problem. But instead of opting for bulky zoom lens (Galaxy S4 Zoom), they both rely on their massive resolution in order to get what we call 'lossless' zoom.
So what's lossless zoom, then? In simple terms, it means that zooming into a scene will only result in a negligible loss in quality. Think of it this way: there are so many pixels available with a camera like the one on the 1020 that you can 'crop' any part of the photo and still have more than enough pixels for a full-sized photo that will appear zoomed in. No upscaling, and no loss of quality. But how does it work in practice?
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More info about everything
http://www.phonearena.com/news/What...-work-in-the-Lumia-1020-and-Xperia-Z1_id52198
So conclusion is, it is all digital zoom

electrash said:
More info about everything
http://www.phonearena.com/news/What...-work-in-the-Lumia-1020-and-Xperia-Z1_id52198
So conclusion is, it is all digital zoom
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Okay, it is something like digital zoom. But I think, the quality while zooming into an 8mpix picture should not be worse in quality (depending on the zoom factor) than the 20mpix picture.
When I take a 8 mpix picture, I assume that the image processor will take it in 20mpix and shrink it down to 8.
And what I would like to see is that
I could zoom in and it will just move into the sensor to a 1:1 size.
Another thing : while using the video mode, the stabilizer does an amazing job.
What about the photo-mode? I can't see any stabilisation there.
Since I only take 8mpi pictures, I guess the picture-frame could also be panned around the 20m of the sensor...
Regards,
Matthias

Maeffjus said:
Okay, it is something like digital zoom. But I think, the quality while zooming into an 8mpix picture should not be worse in quality (depending on the zoom factor) than the 20mpix picture.
When I take a 8 mpix picture, I assume that the image processor will take it in 20mpix and shrink it down to 8.
And what I would like to see is that
I could zoom in and it will just move into the sensor to a 1:1 size.
Another thing : while using the video mode, the stabilizer does an amazing job.
What about the photo-mode? I can't see any stabilisation there.
Since I only take 8mpi pictures, I guess the picture-frame could also be panned around the 20m of the sensor...
Regards,
Matthias
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In SA mode, phone take oversampled photo (which means he take 21mp, but he make HD pixel (one pixel combine colors from neibghours)... so when you take 8mpx it takes 20mp ovesampled.
When you zoom in, it will take more and more neibhours pixel to combine in one, so that means loseless.

Best photo resolution

Hi everyone!
Which resolution do you use, 12 mpx or 20 mpx? 12mpx gives you hybrid zoom x2 but phone only uses rgb lens, while 20mpx supposedly uses both lenses to create a hybrid colour/b&w pic. So which do you use? I have it on 12mpx in order to use zoom but don't really know which is best.
Cheers!

It actually depends on your preference and the situation you want to create in the photo. I use the 20mp when shooting wide angle landscapes, while im using the 12mp when shooting portraits or closeups

earl_110 said:
It actually depends on your preference and the situation you want to create in the photo. I use the 20mp when shooting wide angle landscapes, while im using the 12mp when shooting portraits or closeups
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Thanks for replying! I've actually found that shooting a normal close up pic on 12mpx shoots in kind of a wide-angle effect. Last friday celebrating carnival at school, I was able to fit in a whole class of 28 kids from a few feet away. If u look at the pic, it looks like it has been shot on a wide-angle lens!

Any more opinions on camera config are more than welcome!

I don't believe that the 20MPx option uses both cameras. When you partially cover the B&W sensor, there is no noticable effect on the photo. Looks like it is only software based up-scaling and may get you jagged edges sometimes. After some testing with 20MPx and then 20MPx resized to 12MPx just for comparison, I prefer the 12MPx default setting.

_Marian_ said:
I don't believe that the 20MPx option uses both cameras. When you partially cover the B&W sensor, there is no noticable effect on the photo. Looks like it is only software based up-scaling and may get you jagged edges sometimes. After some testing with 20MPx and then 20MPx resized to 12MPx just for comparison, I prefer the 12MPx default setting.
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Hi Marian, thanks for your reply!
So on a phone with a dual camera, what would be the purpose of the dual lens?? If one is rgb and the other monocrome, don't they both work together to provide depth information and zoom? Or do all colour pics use just the one rgb lens and the other is exclusively for b&w pics?? Seems a little pointless to me...
You are totally right about the sw upscale to 20mp as any other camera app only detects a maximum resolution of 12 mp, but it seems strange to me that even on 12mp colour pictutes, the phone wouldn't use both lens (depth and zoom) because the inferior P20 Lite precisely doess that on all the reviews I read about it (I've always thought that was the point of all dual-lens cameras).
Cheers!

The B&W sensor should provide depth information. You can try different camera modes and cover the B&W sensor. The phone says "Please do not cover the lenses." in some camera modes. But if you don't put finger too close, nothing happens. I can't tell it does anything at all to the image quality which seems strange. Did they made some mistake in latest build? It only does have some effect on aperture mode when you can see heat haze effect on display. It sucks we don't have more options like jpg quality or sliders for post-process filters.

How necessary is a telephoto camera?

I am wavering between buying an s10e or an s10. In favor of the s10e: I prefer the size of the device and I like that there is a slight bezel on the left and right of the screen. However, it doesn't have the telephoto camera. I found that zoomed photos with the telephoto on the s10 are quite a bit sharper. On the other hand, I seriously dislike the s10's infinity screen. It warps the egdes of photos, web pages, etc. So, it comes down to how much advantage the telephoto camera provides. If it's not so important, I'd opt for the s10e. I'd like to see some opinions about the necessity for the telephoto. BTW, I realize the P30 has 3 cameras and a flat screen, but it's not the horse I want to ride - no wireless charging, no IP68, so-so sound, probably even worse at updates the Sammy.

All depends what you want.

Yes, a dedicated zoom camera makes better zoom photos.
But, even with image stabilization it is harder to get good shots that are not blurry. I never used zoom on a phone. But i can tell you that since i have the S10e i do mostly 2 photos with the standard cam and than with wide angle. Wide angle does interesting photos.

It is good to have

I don't take photos all too frequently, and when I do I never use zoom. It degrades the quality of the image quite a bit, be it optical or digital.

Since asking this question, I took time at a local store to play with the 10 and 10e. I set both to 8x zoom, since that is the max zoom for the 10e. There is quite a noticeable difference. The 10e had lot of noise and the 10 didn't. In fact, at 10x, the 10 still had a clearer image than the 10e. Now, if I could just come to terms with the curved screen and the weird edge reflections.

Not at all to me but i wish samsung went for the same wide angle lens on huawei mate 20 pro, usable in close up shots and gets amazing photos.
Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

I don't think it's that necessary... When you get 5x or 10x optical then it's cool, but 2x nah... I think the ultrawide is more fun

Getting a 10e here. But wondering how much worse the live focus will be without the Tele lens. Anyone have the experience?

How is the image quality between 2x-4.9x zoom?

Has anyone come across any detailed review / analysis of the main len's image quality when zoomed in? I'm a bit concerned it might not perform as well as other cameras that have a tele lens that starts at 2x or 3x optical zoom. The tele lens on the N20U doesn't kick in until 5x optical zoom (or I think there was a bug where it doesn't kick in until 10x zoom?)

It's a digital zoom. What do you think?
Sent from my BlackBerry Bold 9900

2x - so, so. 4x - clearly digital and pixelated (especially, when recording videos), 5x - great (both video and photo), 10x - very good, almost like optical, 20x - pixelated, not good for serious things, 50x - just for fun, pixelated artwork.
I m highly disappointed as I thought everything up to 5x should be optical. 5x is great but sometimes we just need 2x.
I am also disappointed in 108mpx camera as no optical zoom/ultrawide is available in this option plus image quality is worse than standard 12mpx camera. So not sure why Samsung did like this.
The same thing with video: we get ultrawide/optical zoom only in 30fps mode. No ultrawide/optical zoom in 60fps mode, only digital zoom, which is very disappointing.
However, putting these issues aside, both photo and video cameras are just great, pictures are crisp, quality is very good even during night time.
I wonder if it would be possible to unlock optical zoom/ultrawide with 60fps mode...

Question Is there any camera mod with more than 45x zoom?`

Yes I already know even 30x zoom does not get quality photos. But zooming is not always about getting quality photos. For example S22 Ultra can be used to recognize objects faraway for human eye. Most of xiaomi or oppo devices with 5x optical zoom cam can zoom in to 120x.
I have tried many camera apps that would support pixel 7 pro till 45x but not beyond that. Is there any good third party camera app or gcam mod which I can use for 100x zoom?
P.S: I don't expect good post photo processing in the app, just zooming

The_$tranger said:
Yes I already know even 30x zoom does not get quality photos. But zooming is not always about getting quality photos. For example S22 Ultra can be used to recognize objects faraway for human eye. Most of xiaomi or oppo devices with 5x optical zoom cam can zoom in to 120x.
I have tried many camera apps that would support pixel 7 pro till 45x but not beyond that. Is there any good third party camera app or gcam mod which I can use for 100x zoom?
P.S: I don't expect good post photo processing in the app, just zooming
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Not sure about apps but have you thought about a physical zoom lens for your phone??
examples here