home » Ideas » What is aperture in a smartphone camera. What is a camera aperture and why is it needed The larger the aperture the better

What is aperture in a smartphone camera. What is a camera aperture and why is it needed The larger the aperture the better

When buying a new Xiaomi smartphone, most users pay attention to the phone's camera and shooting quality. A special category of fans likes to check every camera parameter and optical characteristics: ISO, shutter speed, aperture, shutter speed, etc. In this article, we will talk about camera aperture and lens aperture.

It adjusts the diameter of the hole in the lens through which light enters the phone's camera matrix. If you explain the meaning of the word "aperture" to a novice user who has minimal knowledge of photography, then it can be compared with the human pupil.

The larger the pupil size, the more distant objects appear blurry to us. And the smaller our pupil, the better and more clearly we see them. Also the camera aperture, which is calibrated with the following standard numbers: 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11 and 16.

A lower "f/number" value has a larger aperture and aperture, while higher values give less exposure.

For example, f/1.4 is larger than f/2.0 and much larger than f/8.0. Therefore, an aperture value of 1.4 will blur the background.

The size of the circle represents the aperture size of the lens - the larger the f value, the smaller the aperture.

The size of the aperture has a direct effect on the depth of field, that is, the area of the image that appears sharp.

A large f-number like f/32 (meaning smaller aperture) will bring all background objects into focus. Whereas a small f-number, like f/1.4, isolates the foreground from the background, making objects in the foreground sharp and the background blurry (“bokeh”).

It can be more easily explained as follows:

High f-stop = wider opening = more light that hits the sensor = high depth of field and fast speed shutter.

DOF - depth of field or depth of field.

Small aperture value = narrower aperture = less light = many more objects in focus = relatively low speed shutter.

Is a large aperture really useful?

If you want to take high-quality photos on Xiaomi phones, then it is important to understand the following information.

A large aperture (roughly f/1.2 to f/5.6) is better for capturing a lot of light and creating full or partial bokeh (blurred backgrounds).

The open aperture is also used when you take photos with the Xiaomi smartphone camera in low light, night shots and portrait shots.

For landscapes and detailed images, you need to set a smaller aperture so that the depth of field is greater.

More banal than this axiom is only the explanation "the iPhone, it turns out, does not have a slot for a memory card." But beginners continue to make mistakes when they “peck” on the number of megapixels in the camera, which means they will have to repeat themselves.

Imagine a window - an ordinary window in a residential building or apartment. The number of megapixels is, roughly speaking, the number of glasses inside the window frame. If we continue to draw parallels with smartphones, in ancient times glass for windows was uniform in size and considered a scarce commodity. Therefore, when the conditional "Tolyan" said that he had 5 glasses (megapixels) in his window unit, everyone understood that Anatoly was a serious and wealthy person. And the characteristics of the window were also immediately clear - a good view to the outside of the house, a large glazing area.

A few years later, windows (megapixels) were no longer in short supply, so their number only had to be brought up to required level and calm down on that. Just bring it into line with the area (window for ventilation and a loggia, for the sake of strength, require a different number of windows) so that the camera gives out a slightly denser picture than 4K monitors and TVs give out. And finally, to deal with other characteristics - for example, to deal with clouding of glasses and image distortion. Teach cameras how to properly focus and paint the available megapixels with high quality, if you want specifics.

There are more “megapixels” on the right, but they give nothing but “obstacles” with the same “sensor” area

But people are already used to measuring the quality of cameras in megapixels, and sellers gladly indulged this. Therefore, the circus with a huge number of glasses (megapixels) in the same size frame (the size of the camera matrix) continued. As a result, today the pixels in smartphone cameras, although not “filled” with the density of a mosquito net, but the “devitrification” has become too dense, and more than 15 megapixels in smartphones almost always spoil rather than improve photos. This has never happened before, and here again it turned out that it is not the size that matters, but the skill.

At the same time, as you understand, the "evil" is not the megapixels themselves - if tons of megapixels were spread out on a sufficiently large camera, they would benefit the smartphone. When the camera is able to unleash the potential of all the megapixels on board, and not “smear” them in bulk when shooting, the photo can be enlarged, cropped, and it will remain high-quality. That is, no one will understand that this is just a fragment of a larger picture. But now such miracles are found only in the “correct” SLR and mirrorless cameras, in which the matrix alone (a microcircuit with photo sensors, on which a picture arrives through the “glasses” of the camera) is much larger than the smartphone camera assembly.

"Evil" is a tradition of sticking a clip of megapixels into tiny cell phone cameras. This tradition has brought nothing but blurred pictures and an excess of digital noise (“peas” in the frame).

Sony piled on 23 megapixels where competitors put 12-15 megapixels, and paid for this with a decrease in picture clarity. (photo - manilashaker.com)

For reference: in the best camera phones of 2017, the main rear cameras(not to be confused with b / w additional) all as one operate with "pathetic" 12-13 megapixels. In photo resolution, this is approximately 4032x3024 pixels - enough for a Full HD (1920x1080) monitor, and for 4K (3840x2160) too, albeit back to back. Roughly speaking, if the smartphone camera has more than 10 megapixels, their number is no longer important. Other things are important.

How to determine that the camera is of high quality, before looking at the photos and videos from it

Aperture - how wide the smartphone "opened its eyes"

The squirrel feeds on nuts, the deputies feed on the money of the people, and the cameras feed on light. The more light, the better the photo quality and more details. Only sunny weather and studio-style bright lighting lamps for any occasion of life can not be enough. Therefore, for good photos indoors, or outdoors in cloudy weather / at night, cameras are designed in such a way that they produce a lot of light even in adverse conditions.

The easiest way to get more light to hit the camera sensor is to make the hole in the lens larger. The indicator of how wide the “eyes” of the camera are opened is called aperture, aperture, or aperture ratio - this is the same parameter. And the words are different so that the reviewers in the articles can show off incomprehensible terms for as long as possible. Because, if you don’t show off, the aperture can simply be called, excuse me, a “hole”, as is customary among photographers.

Aperture is indicated by a fraction with the letter f, a slash and a number (or with a capital F and no fraction: for example, F2.2). Why

so - a long story, and that's not the point, as Rotaru sings. The bottom line is this: the smaller the number after the letter F and the slash, the better the camera in the smartphone. For example, f / 2.2 in smartphones is good, but f / 1.9 is better! The wider the aperture, the more light enters the matrix and the better the smartphone “sees” (takes better photos and videos) at night. As a bonus, the wide aperture comes with beautiful background blur when you're photographing flowers up close, even if your phone doesn't have a dual camera.

Melania Trump explains what different apertures look like in smartphone cameras

Before buying a smartphone, do not be too lazy to clarify how “seeing” the rear camera is in it. We looked after the Samsung Galaxy J3 2017 - drive in the search "Galaxy J3 2017 aperture", "Galaxy J3 2017 aperture" or "Galaxy J3 2017 aperture" to find out the exact figure. If nothing is known about the aperture in the smartphone that you have looked at for yourself, two options are possible:

The camera is so bad that the manufacturer decided to keep silent about its characteristics. Approximately the same rudeness marketers are engaged in when, in response to “what processor is in the smartphone?” they answer “quad-core” and evade in every possible way so as not to disclose a specific model.
The smartphone has just appeared on sale and no characteristics, except for those in the advertising announcement, have yet been “delivered” on it. Wait a couple of weeks - usually during this time the details come out.

What should be the aperture in the camera of a new smartphone?

In 2017-2018 even in a budget model, the rear camera should produce at least f / 2.2. If the number in the denominator of this fraction is greater, get ready for the fact that the camera will see the picture as if in darkened glasses. And in the evening and at night, she will be “blind-sighted” and will be able to see almost nothing even at a distance of several meters from the smartphone. And don’t rely on the “twists” of brightness - in a smartphone with f / 2.4 or f / 2.6, an evening photo with an exposure “stretched” by the program will turn out to be “rough smudge”, while a camera with f / 2.2 or f / 2.0 will take a better photo without tricks.

The wider the aperture, the higher the quality of shooting on a smartphone camera

The coolest smartphones today have cameras with f/1.8, f/1.7 or even f/1.6 apertures. The aperture itself does not guarantee the maximum quality of pictures (no one has canceled the quality of the sensor and “glasses”) - this, I will quote the photographers, is just a “hole” through which the camera looks at the world. But other things being equal, it is better to choose smartphones in which the camera does not “squint”, but receives an image with wide-open “eyes”.

Diagonal of the matrix (sensor): the more - the better

The matrix in a smartphone is not the matrix where people with complex faces in black raincoats dodge bullets. In mobile phones, this word means a photocell ... in other words, a plate onto which a picture flies through the “glasses” of optics. In old cameras, the picture arrived on film and was stored there, and the matrix instead accumulates information about the photograph and sends it to the smartphone's processor. The processor arranges all this into the final photo and stores the files in internal memory, or on microSD.

The only thing you need to know about the matrix is that it should be as large as possible. If the optics is a water hose, and the diaphragm is the neck of the container, then the matrix is the very reservoir for water, which is never enough.

It is customary to measure the dimensions of the matrix in inhuman, from the bell tower of ordinary buyers, vidicon inches. One such inch is equal to 17 mm, but the cameras in smartphones have not yet reached such dimensions, so the matrix diagonal is denoted by a fraction, as in the case of the aperture. The smaller the second digit in the fraction (divisor), the larger the matrix -> the cooler the camera.

Is it clear that nothing is clear? Then just remember these numbers:

A budget smartphone will take good pictures if the matrix size in it is at least 1/3 "with a camera resolution of no higher than 12 megapixels. More megapixels - lower quality in practice. And if there are less than ten megapixels, the photo will be on good large monitors and TVs look loose, simply because they have fewer dots than the height-width of your monitor screen.

In mid-range smartphones, a good matrix size is 1/2.9” or 1/2.8”. Find a larger one (1/2.6” or 1/2.5”, for example) - consider yourself very lucky. In flagship smartphones, a good tone is a matrix of at least 1/2.8”, and preferably 1/2.5”.

Smartphones with large sensors shoot better than models with small photocells

Is it even tougher? It happens - look at 1/2.3” in the Sony Xperia XZ Premium and XZ1. Why, then, these smartphones do not set records for photo quality? Because the "automatic" of the camera is constantly mistaken with the selection of settings for shooting, and the stock of "clarity and vigilance" of the camera is spoiled by the number of megapixels - they piled 19 in these models instead of the standard 12-13 MP for new flagships, and a fly in the ointment crossed out the advantages of a huge matrix.

Are there smartphones in nature with a good camera and less harsh characteristics? Yes - take a look Apple iPhone 7 with its 1/3" at 12 MP. On the Honor 8, which has enough 1/2.9" with the same number of megapixels. Magic? No - just good optics and perfectly polished automatics, which take into account the potential of the camera as well as tailor-made trousers take into account the amount of cellulite on the thighs.

But there is a problem - manufacturers almost never indicate the size of the sensor in the specifications, because these are not megapixels, and you can be embarrassed if the sensor is cheap. And in reviews or descriptions of smartphones in online stores, such camera characteristics are even less common. Even if you have chosen a smartphone with an adequate number of megapixels and a promising aperture value, there is a chance that you will never know the size of the rear sensor. In this case, pay attention to the last characteristic of smartphone cameras, which directly affects the quality.

Few large pixels are better than many small ones.

Imagine a sandwich with red caviar, or take a look at it if you don’t remember well what such delicacies look like. Just as eggs in a sandwich are distributed over a piece of loaf, the area of the camera sensor (camera matrix) in a smartphone is occupied by light-sensitive elements - pixels. These pixels in smartphones, to put it mildly, are not a dozen, or even a dozen. One megapixel is 1 million pixels, in typical cameras of smartphones produced in 2015-2017, there are 12-20 such megapixels.

As we have already figured out, containing an excessive number of "blanks" on the smartphone's matrix is detrimental to pictures. The effectiveness of such a pandemonium comes out like that of specialized detachments of people to replace a light bulb. Therefore, it is better to observe a smaller number of smart pixels in a camera than a large number of stupid ones. The larger each of the pixels in the camera, the less “dirty” the photos turn out, and the video becomes less “jumpy”.

Large pixels in the camera (photo below) make evening and night shots better

An ideal smartphone camera consists of a large "foundation" (matrix / sensor) with large pixels on it. Only now no one is going to make smartphones thicker or allocate half of the case at the back for the camera. Therefore, the "building" will be such that the camera does not stick out of the body and does not take up much space, the megapixels are large, even if there are only 12-13 of them, and the matrix is as large as possible to accommodate them all.

The pixel size in a camera is measured in micrometers and is denoted as micron in Russian or mm in Latin. Before you buy a smartphone, make sure that the pixels in it are large enough - this is an indirect sign that the camera is shooting well. Type in the search, for example, "Xiaomi Mi 5S µm" or "Xiaomi Mi 5S µm" - and enjoy the camera characteristics of the smartphone that you have noticed. Or upset - depends on the numbers that you see as a result.

How big should a pixel be in a good camera phone?

In the “newest” time, it was especially famous for its pixel sizes ... Google Pixel is a smartphone that was released in 2016 and “showed Kuzkin’s mother” to competitors due to the combination of a huge (1 / 2.3”) matrix and very large pixels of the order of 1.55 microns. With such a set, he almost always produced the most detailed photographs even in cloudy weather or at night.

Why don't manufacturers "cut" the megapixels in the camera to a minimum and place a minimum of pixels on the matrix? There has already been such an experiment - HTC in the flagship One M8 (2014) made the pixels so huge that they fit in the rear camera ... four on a 1/3 ”matrix! Thus, One M8 received pixels as large as 2 microns! As a result, in terms of the quality of images in the dark, the smartphone “broke” almost all competitors. Yes, and photos in a resolution of 2688 × 1520 pixels were enough for Full HD monitors of that time. But the HTC camera did not become an all-round champion, because the Taiwanese were let down by HTC's color accuracy and "stupid" shooting algorithms that did not know how to "correctly prepare" settings for a sensor with unusual potential.

Today, all manufacturers have gone berserk in the race for the largest possible pixels, therefore:

In good budget camera phones, the pixel size should be 1.22 microns or more.
In flagships, pixels ranging in size from 1.25 microns to 1.4 or 1.5 microns are considered good form. More is better.

There are few smartphones with a good camera and relatively small pixels, but they exist in nature. This, of course, is the Apple iPhone 7 with its 1.22 microns and OnePlus 5 with 1.12 microns - they “leave” due to very high-quality sensors, very good optics and “smart” automation.

Without these terms, small pixels ruin photo quality in flagship smartphones. For example, in the LG G6, the algorithms create indecency when night shooting, and the sensor, although ennobled with good "glasses", is cheap in itself. IN

as a result, 1.12 microns always spoil night shots, except when you enter the battle with “manual mode” instead of stupid automation and correct its flaws yourself. The same picture prevails when shooting with the Sony Xperia XZ Premium or XZ1. And in the masterpiece, "on paper", Xiaomi camera The lack of optical stabilization and the same “crooked hands” of algorithm developers prevent the Mi 5S from competing with the flagships of the iPhone and Samsung, which is why the smartphone copes well with shooting only during the day, and at night it’s not very impressive.

In order to make it clear how much to weigh in grams, take a look at the characteristics of the cameras in some of the best camera phones of our time.


Smartphone	The number of megapixels of the "main" rear camera	Matrix Diagonal	Pixel size
Google Pixel 2XL	12.2 MP	1/2.6"	1.4 µm
Sony Xperia XZ Premium	19 MP	1/2.3"	1.22 µm
One Plus 5	16 MP	1/2.8"	1.12 µm
Apple iPhone 7	12 MP	1/3"	1.22 µm
Samsung Galaxy S8	12 MP	1/2.5"	1.4 µm
LG G6	13 MP	1/3"	1.12 µm
Samsung Galaxy Note 8	12 MP	1/2.55"	1.4 µm
Huawei P10 Lite/Honor 8 Lite	12 MP	1/2.8"	1.25 µm
Apple iPhone SE	12 MP	1/3"	1.22 µm
Xiaomi Mi 5S	12 MP	1/2.3"	1.55 µm
Honor 8	12 MP	1/2.9"	1.25 µm
Apple iPhone 6	8 MP	1/3"	1.5 µm
Huawei nova	12 MP	1/2.9"	1.25 µm

What type of autofocus is the best

Autofocus is when a mobile phone “focuses” on its own while taking photos and videos. It is needed in order not to twist the settings “for every sneeze”, like a gunner in a tank.

In older smartphones and in modern Chinese "state employees", manufacturers use contrast autofocus. This is the most primitive way of focusing, which focuses on how light or dark it is “straight ahead” in front of the camera, like a half-blind person. That is why it takes about a couple of seconds for cheap smartphones to focus, during which it is easy to “miss” a moving object, or not want to shoot what they were going to, because “the train has left”.

Phase autofocus “catches light” over the entire area of the camera sensor, calculates at what angle the rays enter the camera and draws conclusions about what is in front of the smartphone’s nose or a little further. Due to its "intelligence" and calculations, it works very quickly during the day and does not annoy anything at all. It is common in all modern smartphones, except for the very budget ones. The only drawback is the work at night, when the light enters the narrow hole in the aperture of the mobile phone in such small portions that the smartphone “tears the roof” and it constantly fidgets with focus due to a sharp change in information.

Laser autofocus - the most chic! Laser rangefinders have always been used to "throw" a beam over a long distance and calculate the distance for an object. LG in the smartphone G3 (2014) taught such a "scan" to help the camera quickly focus.

Laser autofocus is amazingly fast even indoors or in semi-darkness

Take a look at your wristwatch... well, what am I talking about... okay, turn on the stopwatch on your smartphone and appreciate how fast one second goes by. And now mentally divide it by 3.5 - in 0.276 seconds, the smartphone receives information about the distance to the subject and reports this to the camera. And it does not lose speed either at night or in bad weather. If you plan to shoot photos and videos up close or at a short distance in low light, a smartphone with laser autofocus will help you out a lot.

But keep in mind that mobile phones are not tools from " Star Wars”, so the range of the laser in the camera barely jumps over a couple of meters. Everything that is further, the mobile phone considers with the help of the same phase detection autofocus. In other words, to shoot objects from afar, it is not necessary to look for a smartphone with "laser guidance" in the camera - you will not get any use from such a function in general terms for photos and videos.

Optical stabilization. Why is it needed and how does it work

Have you ever driven a car with a leaf spring suspension? On army UAZ vehicles, for example, or an ambulance with the same design? In addition to the fact that in such cars you can “beat off the fifth point”, they are incredibly shaking - the suspension is as rigid as possible so as not to fall apart on the roads, and therefore it tells passengers everything that it thinks about the road surface, frankly and not a “spring” (because that there is nothing to spring).

Now you know how a smartphone camera without optical stabilization feels when you are trying to take a photo.

The problem with shooting on a smartphone is this:

The camera needs a lot of light to take good pictures. Not the direct rays of the sun in the "face", but diffused, ubiquitous light around.
The longer the camera "views" the image during the photo, the more light it snatches = the higher the quality of the picture.
At the time of shooting and these “peepers” of the camera, the smartphone must be motionless so that the picture is not “smeared”. Leave at least a fraction of a millimeter - the frame will be spoiled.

And human hands are shaking. This is very noticeable if you raise your arms outstretched and try to hold the bar, and less noticeable when you hold a mobile phone in front of you to take a photo or video. The difference is that the bar can "float" in your hands in broad borders- just not to put it on the wall, a neighbor or not to drop it on your feet. And the smartphone needs to have time to “grab” the light in order for the photo to come out well, and do it before it deviates by a fraction of a millimeter in your hands.

Therefore, the algorithms try to please the camera and not put forward increased requirements for your hands. That is, they tell the camera, for example, “so, 1/250 of a second you can shoot, this is enough for the photo to be more or less successful, and taking a picture before the camera moves to the side is also enough.” This thing is called endurance.

How optical stabilization works

What's with the optostab? So after all, he is that “shock absorption” with which the camera does not shake, like the body of army trucks, but “floats” within small boundaries. In the case of smartphones, it does not float in water, but is held by magnets and “fidgets” at a short distance from them.

That is, if the smartphone “leaves” a little or trembles during shooting, the camera will shake much weaker. With such insurance, the smartphone will be able to:

Increase shutter speed (guaranteed time "to see the picture before the photo is ready") for the camera. The camera receives more light, sees more image details = the quality of the photo during the day is even higher.
Take clear pictures on the move. Not while sprinting off-road, but while walking or out of the window of a shaking bus, for example.
Compensate for shaky video. Even if you stomp your feet very sharply or sway a little under the weight of the bag in your second hand, this will not be as noticeable on the video as in smartphones without optical stabilizer.

Therefore, the optostab (OIS, as it is called in English) is an extremely useful thing in a smartphone camera. It’s also possible without it, but it’s sad - the camera must be of high quality “with a margin”, and the automation will have to shorten (degrade) the shutter speed, because there is no insurance against shaking in the smartphone. When shooting a video, you have to “move” the picture on the fly so that the jitter is not visible. This is akin to how in old movies they imitated the speed of a moving car, when it actually stood still. With the difference that in films these scenes were shot in one take, and smartphones have to calculate the shaking and deal with it on the fly.

Smartphones with a good camera, which without stabilization shoots no worse than competitors with stabilization, are vanishingly few - for example, the Apple iPhone 6s, the first generation of Google Pixel, OnePlus 5, Xiaomi Mi 5s and, with some stretch, Honor 8 / Honor 9.

What not to pay attention to

Flash. Useful only when shooting in pitch darkness, when you need to take a photo at any cost. As a result, you observe the pale faces of people in the frame (and all of them, because the flash is low-power), eyes closed from bright light, or a very strange color of buildings / trees - photographs with a smartphone flash definitely do not carry artistic value. In the role of a flashlight, the LED near the camera is much more useful.
Number of lenses in the camera. “Before, when I had 5 Mbps Internet, I wrote an essay in a day, and now, when I have 100 Mbps, I write it in 4 seconds.” No, guys, that's not how it works. It doesn’t matter how many lenses a smartphone has, it doesn’t matter who made them (Carl Zeiss, judging by the quality of Nokia’s new cameras, too). Lenses are either high-quality or not, and you can only check this with real photos.

The quality of the "glasses" (lenses) affects the quality of the camera. Quantity is not

Shooting in RAW. If you do not know what RAW is, I explain:

JPEG is the standard format in which a smartphone takes photos, it is a "ready-to-use" picture. Like Olivier salad on a festive table - it is possible to disassemble it “into components” in order to remake it into another salad, but it will not work out very well.

RAW is a hefty file on a “flash drive” in which all options for brightness, clarity and color for a photograph are sewn in its pure form, in separate “lines”. That is, the photo will not be “covered with small dots” (digital noise) if you decide to make it not as dark as it turned out in JPEG, but a little brighter, as if you had correctly set the brightness at the time of shooting.

In short, RAW allows you to "photoshop" a frame much more conveniently than JPEG. But the catch is that flagship smartphones almost always select the settings correctly, therefore, apart from the memory of the smartphone polluted by “heavy” photos in RAW, there will be little use from “photoshop” files. And in cheap smartphones, the camera quality is so bad that you will see poor quality in JPEG, and just as bad source in RAW. Don't bother.

Camera sensor name. Once upon a time, they were super important because they were the “quality mark” of a camera. The sensor model (module) of the camera determines the size of the matrix, the number of megapixels and the pixel size, minor "family signs" of shooting algorithms.

Of the “big three” manufacturers of camera modules for smartphones, Sony produces the highest quality modules (we don’t take into account individual examples, we are talking about the average temperature in a hospital), followed by Samsung (Samsung sensors in Samsung Galaxy smartphones are even better than the coolest Sony sensors, but "on the side" the Koreans sell something awkward), and, finally, closes the list of OmniVision, which releases "consumer goods, but tolerable." Intolerant consumer goods are produced by all the other basement Chinese offices, whose names in the characteristics of smartphones are ashamed to mention even the manufacturers themselves.

8 - execution option. Do you know how it happens in cars? The minimum equipment with a "cloth" on the seats and a "wooden" interior, the maximum - with artificial suede seats and a leather dashboard. For buyers, the difference in this figure means little.

Why, after all this, should we not pay attention to the sensor model? Because things are the same with them as with megapixels - Chinese "alternatively gifted" manufacturers are actively buying expensive Sony sensors, trumpeting at every corner "our smartphone has a super-quality camera!" ... and the camera is disgusting.

Because the “glasses” (lenses) in such mobile phones are of terrible quality and transmit light a little better than plastic bottle from soda. The camera aperture due to the same bastard "glasses" is far from ideal (f / 2.2 or even higher), and no one is engaged in setting up the sensor so that the camera correctly selects colors, works well with the processor and does not disfigure the pictures. Here is a clear example of the fact that the sensor model has little effect on anything:

As you can see, smartphones with the same camera sensor can shoot in completely different ways. So don't think that a cheap Moto G5 Plus with an IMX362 module will shoot as well as the HTC U11 does with its amazingly cool camera.

Even more annoying is the “noodles on the ears” that Xiaomi hangs on the ears of buyers when it says that “the camera in the Mi Max 2 is very similar to the camera in the flagship Mi 6 - they have the same IMX386 sensors! They are the same, only smartphones shoot very differently, the aperture (and therefore the ability to shoot in poor lighting) is different in them, and Mi Max 2 cannot compete with the flagship Mi6.

An additional camera "helps" to take photos at night of the main one and can shoot b/w photos. The most famous smartphones with such camera implementations are Huawei P9, Honor 8, Honor 9, Huawei P10.
The secondary camera allows you to "shove the unpushed", that is, it takes pictures with an almost panoramic viewing angle. The only supporter of this type of camera was and remains LG - starting with the LG G5, continuing with the V20, G6, X Cam and now the V30.
Two cameras are needed for optical zoom (zoom without loss of quality). Most often, this effect is achieved by simultaneous operation of two cameras at once (Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 8), although there are models that, when zoomed in, simply switch to a separate “long-range” camera - ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom, for example.

How to choose a high-quality selfie camera in a smartphone?

Best of all - based on examples of real photos. And, both during the day and at night. During the day, almost all selfie cameras give out good photos, but only high-quality front cameras are able to shoot something legible in the dark.

It is not necessary to study the vocabulary of photographers and go deep into what this or that characteristic is responsible for - you can simply memorize the numbers “so much is good, but if the number is larger, it’s bad” and pick up a smartphone much faster. For clarification of terms, welcome to the beginning of the article, and here we will try to derive a formula for a high-quality camera in smartphones.


Megapixels	Not less than 10, not more than 15. Optimal - 12-13 MP
Diaphragm(she is aperture, aperture)	for budget smartphones- f/2.2 or f/2.0 for flagships: minimum f/2.0 (in the rarest exceptions - f/2.2) optimal - f/1.9, f/1.8 ideal - f/1.7, f/1.6
Pixel size (µm, µm)	the higher the number, the better for budget smartphones- 1.2 µm and above for flagships: minimum - 1.22 µm (with rare exceptions - 1.1 µm) optimal - 1.4 µm ideal - 1.5 µm and above
Sensor size (matrix)	the smaller the number in the divisor of a fraction, the better for budget smartphones - 1/3” for flagships: minimum - 1/3” optimal - 1/2.8” ideal - 1/2.5”, 1/2.3”
autofocus	contrast - so-so phase - good phase and laser - excellent
Optical stabilization	very useful for shooting on the go and night shooting
Dual camera	one good camera is better than two bad ones two average cameras are better than one average camera (brilliant wording!)
Sensor (module) manufacturer	not specified = most likely some kind of junk inside OmniVision - so-so Samsung in non-Samsung smartphones - ok Samsung in Samsung smartphones - excellent Sony - good or excellent (depends on the honesty of the manufacturer)
Sensor Model	a cool module does not guarantee high quality shooting, but in the case of Sony, pay attention to IMX250 and higher sensors, or IMX362 and higher

I do not want to understand the characteristics! Which smartphone to buy with good cameras?

Manufacturers produce countless smartphones, but among them there are very few models that can take good pictures and shoot videos.

We wrote earlier.) Its most important function is the depth of field: for example, thanks to the aperture, you can make the background blurry, while highlighting the object, or vice versa, leave everything in focus.

1. What is aperture?

Speaking plain language, aperture is the hole in the lens through which light enters the sensor. According to the principle of operation, it is in some way similar to the human eye. And if we draw a similar analogy with the camera itself, then it turns out that the lens performs the function of the cornea - it collects all the visible light, sending it through the iris, which in turn expands or shrinks depending on the amount of incoming light, thus controlling the diameter of the pupil. The pupil itself is something like a hole through which light passes further, deep into the eye, where it enters the retina. So, it turns out that the aperture and the pupil perform the same function: light passes through the aperture and hits the camera sensor, similarly to the pupil and retina. The larger the aperture, the more light hits the sensor. Similarly, the larger the pupil diameter, the more light hits the retina.

2. Aperture diameter

An analogue of the iris, which controls the size of the aperture, is called the aperture in optics. The function of the aperture is to increase and decrease the diameter of the aperture to limit the amount of light reaching the photosensor.
In photography, aperture is measured in f-numbers, or f-stops, and the smaller the f-stop, the larger the aperture. Many people find this confusing, because usually a larger number implies a larger value, but not in this case. So, f/1.4 is bigger than f/2.0 and even bigger than f/8.0.
For a clear understanding, it is better to look at the illustration below:

Relationship of aperture size to f-stop value.

3. Depth of field

Another thing to know about aperture is depth of field - the area of the photo that is in focus:
If the f-number is f/32, both the foreground and background will be in focus. If you choose f/1.4, the background will be blurred, leaving only the foreground objects in focus. This is clearly visible in the images below:

The left photo was taken at f/2.8 f-number and the right photo was taken at f/8.0

As you can see from this example, even a small change in the f-number from f/2.8 to f/8.0 has a pretty big effect on the depth of field. And if I had used an f-stop of f/32, the background would have been as sharp as WALL-E in the second shot.
One more example:

Letterboxes - f/2.8 aperture

In the photo above, thanks to the shallow depth of field, only the word "Cougar" was in focus, leaving the area in front and behind the lettering blurry. If, in this case, an f-number of f / 1.4 was used and the camera were focused on the letters, then only one letter would be in focus.

4. Lens aperture: Maximum and minimum

Each lens has its own maximum and minimum aperture limits. These values can be found in your device specifications and are usually referred to as Lowest f-number and Highest f-number.

Pay attention to the maximum value, as it shows how fast your lens is. For example, a lens with the highest f-number somewhere around f/1.2 or f/1.4 is considered fast because it can let in more light than, for example, a lens with an f/4.0 aperture. Therefore, lenses with a large aperture are more suitable for photography in low light conditions. In addition, a wide aperture allows you to better isolate foreground objects from the background. So when buying a lens, you should carefully consider these parameters.

The smallest aperture value is not so important, since almost all modern cameras have an aperture equal to at least f / 16 - which is quite enough for ordinary everyday shooting.

Articles and Lifehacks

Often on the network you can find judgments about a particular gadget, they say, its aperture is better, or vice versa - worse.

Someone understands what we are talking about, but someone simply has no idea what this very diaphragm is and why it is needed in a smartphone.

We will try to make the issue as clear as possible.

Aperture and f-number

For starters, a little literalism. Usually, when they talk about aperture, they mean exactly the f-number - an optical measure of the light transmission of a camera lens. It is she who is indicated in the specifications, for example, f / 2.0.

The structural element itself, in most cases, is of no interest, since in smartphone cameras it is static - just a plate with a hole, unlike cameras that provide for change.

True, literally in the last few months a model has appeared in which the aperture is also capable of changing light transmission, but we will talk about this later.

The meaning of f-number

It should be understood that the f-number is a relative value, i.e., not tied to a specific device. We will omit boring mathematics, whoever is interested can always open a textbook.

The important thing for us is that it corresponds to the relative aperture of the lens. The larger this hole, the more light can pass through the aperture.

Since we are dealing with a shot, a camera with f / 1.7 will have a higher aperture than, for example, with f / 2.4.

In general, the more light hits the sensor, the less the need for software amplification of the signal from it, which means that there will be less various noise. On the other hand, the lighting conditions under which photographs are taken are important.

At night, a lens with a low aperture will be useless - the picture will turn out to be almost monotonous blackness. During the day, too much light passing through the aperture will cause "flare".

Of course, software processing allows you to smooth out many points, but the general trend is something like this.

In cameras, these problems are solved by mechanically changing the aperture, as a result of which the aperture value can vary over a very wide range. In gadgets, due to design limitations, this is very problematic.

In addition to aperture ratio, this value is also related to the focal length.

Not directly, but indirectly - this refers to the possibility of obtaining a photo with a bokeh effect, in which the background is blurred, emphasizing the central subject, such as a person.

In addition to itself, sufficient aperture is required for high-quality blur. This problem is partly solved by using .

Despite the relativity of the value, it is possible to compare the f-number only for cameras that are comparable in design. Reflex camera at f/15-f/13 captures the amount of light roughly equivalent to a smartphone with an f/2.0 aperture.

What aperture value is best for a smartphone

The development trend of mobile device cameras shows a change to smaller values.

A few years ago, f/2.4 lenses were the norm, but f/2.0 models gradually replaced them, but the latest flagship devices already have cameras with f/1.8-f/1.7.

The mass distribution of dual modules made it possible to partially get rid of the curse of universality, in which everything is done equally badly.

Now it is not difficult for developers to use high aperture optics in the main module, and low aperture in the additional one.

At the same time, major manufacturers of mobile devices do not stop trying to experiment with camera mechanics. The main goal is to obtain a high magnification, but there are models with variable aperture.

For example, in flagship Samsung models the aperture value can change, however, only in two discrete positions: f / 1.5 and f / 2.4.

But even this is already a serious achievement compared to the fixed aperture smartphones of previous years.

Outcome

Other things being equal, a smartphone with a smaller f-number will be more preferable.

As a rule, there are no cheap models with a large aperture of cameras, so this indicator can be taken as one of the essential criteria when choosing a camera phone.

Nowadays, when choosing the next smartphone, users often turn their attention to the camera first. After all, it has long been one of the most necessary components in the device. It is with the help of a camera that you can capture a certain moment in life. But if the quality of the pictures or the shutter speed fails (and more than once), then neither the smartphone nor the photos will bring any joy. That is why we present to your attention a selection of the best camera phones of the upper price segment at the beginning of 2016, which, we hope, will help to dot the “i” and decide on the choice of a new device.

Samsung Galaxy S7 (S7 Edge)

Undoubtedly, Samsung devices have always been famous for their ability to take beautiful and high-quality pictures. This year, the South Korean corporation has already managed to introduce its flagships of the Galaxy S line - Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. As always, the camera is excellent. Each of the new products received a 12-megapixel Sony IMX260 sensor with f / 1.7 aperture, 1.4 micron pixels, optical image stabilization and Dual Pixel technology for faster phase focusing (also used in some DSLR cameras). All this, in theory, should allow the Galaxy S7 to shoot better than its predecessor. In practice, the pictures really turn out to be almost perfect. Even DxOMark resource experts highly appreciated the camera capabilities of the device and gave it 88 points out of 100 possible. Today it is the highest indicator among mobile devices. Video shooting also did not disappoint - it's 4K and Slow Mo with a frequency of 240 frames per second. The front camera is the same as the Galaxy S6 - 5 MP. It differs only in the aperture increased to f/1.7.

If we talk about the technical characteristics of the smartphone, then everything is on highest level. In order not to draw special attention to them, we simply list them:

Screen: Super AMOLED; 5.1" (S7) and 5.5" (S7 Edge); 2560×1440 pixels (Quad HD)
CPU: Exynos 8890/Snapdragon 820
Videos accelerator: Mali-T880 MP12/Adreno 530
RAM: 4 GB (LPDDR4)
Built-in memory: 32 GB
microSD slot: There is; up to 200 GB
Battery: 3000 mAh (S7) and 3600 mAh (S7 Edge); fast charging technology; wireless charger
Additionally: fingerprint scanner, pulse sensor, waterproof (IP68)
operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

The only thing that can push you away from buying the Galaxy S7 (S7 Edge) is the price, because these devices have just entered the market. Of course, you can wait for it to decline over time, or look at competing devices (there are many of them), or last year's flagships.

Samsung Galaxy S6 (S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, Note 5)

Although this year Samsung has significantly upgraded the cameras in its flagships, this does not mean that they suddenly became noticeably worse in last year's devices. So far, the cameras in the Galaxy S6 (as in the S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ or Note 5) have been at the forefront of mobile photography. All thanks to the Sony IMX240 sensor with a 16-megapixel matrix, f / 1.9 aperture and optical image stabilization. On the DxOMark resource, these smartphones received 87 and 86 points, which is not much different from the “fresh” Galaxy S7. Video devices write in 4K format, and the front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels with f / 1.9 aperture.

Although the technical characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S6 (S6 Edge, S6 Edge + and Note 5) lag behind those of the Galaxy S7, in reality it may not be possible to notice this.

Screen: Super AMOLED; 5.1" (S6 and S6 Edge), 5.7" (S6 Edge+ and Note 5); 2560×1440 pixels (Quad HD)
CPU: Exynos 7420
Videos accelerator: Mali-T760 MP8
RAM: 4 GB (LPDDR4)
Built-in memory: 32GB/64GB
microSD slot: No
Battery: 2550mAh (S6), 2600mAh (S6 Edge), 3000mAh (S6 Edge+, Note5); fast charging technology; wireless charger
Additional about: fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor
operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Today, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is sold much cheaper than it cost at the start of sales. The same goes for the "faceted" S6 Edge and S6 Edge +. The Galaxy Note 5 also lost a lot in price, but something tells me that it will fall in price even more after the announcement of the sixth “note”. Only personal dislike for the brand and / or design can push away from buying these devices.

Sony Xperia Z5 (Z5 Compact, Z5 Premium)

Next on the list is last year's flagship Sony Xperia Z5 and its "brothers" in the line - Z5 Compact and Z5 Premium. They differ in diagonal and display resolution, battery capacity, RAM, so that everyone can find a suitable size. Camera modules in all three smartphones are the same. This is a proprietary Exmor RS sensor with a resolution of 23 megapixels and f / 2.0 aperture. There is also a hybrid autofocus (a combination of phase and contrast focus), which, according to the manufacturer, will allow you to focus in just 0.03 seconds. In addition, the size of the sensor itself has been increased to 1/2.3”. The device can also record video in 4K, but only a few minutes, due to overheating. The front camera has a resolution of 5.1 megapixels with an f/2.4 aperture, which, of course, is not a record, but still quite suitable for creating selfies.

With iron, the Xperia Z5 family is all right and the performance of the devices will be enough for several more years to come.

Screen: IPS LCD; 5.2" Full HD (Xperia Z5), 4.6" HD (Z5 Compact), 5.5" 4K (Z5 Premium)
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
Videos accelerator: Adreno 430
RAM: 2GB/3GB (LPDDR3)
Built-in memory: 32 GB
microSD slot: There is; up to 200 GB
Battery: 2900 mAh (Z5), 2700 mAh (Z5 Compact), 3430 mAh (Z5 Premium); fast charging technology
Additionally: fingerprint scanner, waterproof (IP65/68)
operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Sony Xperia Z5 is good decision for their money. Of course, you can find cheaper options, but, accordingly, the quality of the images will also decrease. By the way, a new generation of smartphones from the Japanese manufacturer, the Xperia X, will soon go on sale, so the price of older models should also decrease somewhat.

Google Nexus 6P (Nexus 5X)

Google has been producing smartphones under the Nexus brand for quite a long time together with other manufacturers. As planned, they should stand out with a high-quality assembly, more or less powerful hardware and, of course, a clean Android OS with stable updates, and all this for relatively little money. Previously, "Googlephones" were supplied, frankly, with weak cameras. However, in the (already) past year, the situation has changed for the better. Google has partnered with Huawei and LG to equip the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X with 12.3-megapixel Sony IMX377 sensors with f/2.0 maximum aperture, laser autofocus, and dual (two-tone) LED flash. In addition, the pixel size has been increased to 1.55 microns. Such a module made it possible to shoot equally well both during the day and at night. On the aforementioned DxOMark site, the Nexus 6P scored 84 out of 100 possible. Unfortunately, not without a fly in the ointment: the device "managed" without optical image stabilization, so the video will be twitchy. Speaking of video recording. The Nexus 6P supports 4K and Slow Mo recording at up to 240fps at 720p resolution. Also present here electronic system image stabilization, but in fact it does not really help out. Due to the weaker processor, the Nexus 5X did not get such a system, and the maximum frame rate in Slow Mo mode reaches 120 fps. The front cameras are also different: the Nexus 6P has an 8 megapixel module with f/2.4 aperture, while the Nexus 5X has 5 megapixels with f/2.0 aperture.

Smartphones are also good technical characteristics, so you can safely forget about the upgrade for several years.

Screen: AMOLED, 5.7" Quad HD (Nexus 6P); IPS LCD, 5.2” Full HD (Nexus 5X)
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810/ Snapdragon 808
Videos accelerator: Adreno 430/Adreno 418
RAM: 3GB/2GB (LPDDR3)
Built-in memory: 32/64/128 GB and 16/32 GB
microSD slot: No
Battery: 3450 mAh (Nexus 6P), 2700 mAh (Nexus 5X); fast charging technology
Additionally: Fingerprint's scanner
operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Buying Nexus devices can only be repelled by attachment to some shell from another manufacturer, otherwise these are the same smartphones with their pluses and minuses.

Apple iPhone 6S (6S Plus)

Current flagships Apple, iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are undoubtedly among the best mobile photography on the market. To be precise, it is the “big brother” from this line that has a better camera than a device with a smaller diagonal. The difference lies in the presence of optical image stabilization in the first. Otherwise, the modules are similar - these are 12-megapixel matrices with an f / 2.2 aperture, phase detection autofocus and a dual two-tone True Tone flash. Thus, in the DxOmark test, the iPhone 6S Plus managed to score 84 points, the iPhone 6S - 82 points out of 100. Video is recorded in 4K format, and a 5 megapixel camera with f / 2.2 aperture is intended for selfies.

Both smartphones are equipped with quite powerful hardware, which will allow you to use the device for more than one year.

Screen: IPS LCD; 4.7” 750×1334 (iPhone 6S); 5.5" Full HD (iPhone 6S Plus)
CPU: Apple A9
Videos accelerator: PowerVR GT7600
RAM: 2 GB (LPDDR3)
Built-in memory: 16/64/128 GB
microSD slot: No
Battery: 1715 mAh (iPhone 6S), 2750 mAh (iPhone 6S Plus)
Additionally: fingerprint scanner, 3D Touch
operating system: iOS 9

These smartphones can suit all fans of "apple" devices without a doubt. However, if there is not enough money to buy them, you can take a look at the iPhone 6/6 Plus, which are not far behind in image quality (in some cases even surpass) or the newly introduced iPhone SE for lovers of compact solutions.

LG G4

Although LG introduced its new flagship G5 at the end of February this year, it has not yet had time to really spread around the world. Therefore, its predecessor, the LG G4, was included in this collection as one of the best camera phones at the beginning of 2016. And all thanks to a 16-megapixel matrix with f / 1.8 aperture, laser autofocus and optical image stabilization. The flash here, unfortunately, is only single. The G4 camera received well-deserved positive reviews and performed well in action. On the DxOMark resource, the leather flagship is in 5th place with 83 points. Video clips are written in 4K format, it is also possible to record Slow Mo video in HD quality at 120 frames per second. Selfie lovers should be pleasantly surprised by the front 8 megapixel camera with f / 2.0 aperture.

With iron, the LG G4 is also in perfect order. In addition, the Korean manufacturer did not pursue the “fiery” Snapdragon 810, but installed a cooler and more energy-efficient chip in the device.

Screen: IPS LCD; 5.5”; 2560×1440 pixels (Quad HD)
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
Videos accelerator: Adreno 418
RAM: 3 GB (LPDDR3)
Built-in memory: 32 GB
microSD slot: There is; up to 128 GB
Battery: 3000 mAh; fast charging technology
Additionally: removable battery
operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Smartphone G4 turned out really very good and balanced. Moreover, now its price should drop even more noticeably against the backdrop of the new G5. The buyer can only be confused by the leather trim of the back cover, which, alas, wears out quickly over time.

Microsoft Lumia 950 (950XL)

In the mobile device market, in addition to Android and iOS, there is another platform - Windows Phone. This OS is not widespread, but still it has its devoted fans. To date, the flagship smartphones on Windows are Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. They differ in screen size and hardware component. The camera in both devices is identical. This is a 20-megapixel module with f / 1.9 aperture, optical image stabilization and tri-color LED flash. In addition, it uses a six-lens lens from Carl Zeiss and uses proprietary PureView technology. Video clips are recorded in 4K format. The front camera is also good: 5 MP sensor with f/2.4 aperture.

Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are not far behind in technical specifications that will allow you to use your smartphone with pleasure and not notice any brakes in modern games and applications.

Screen: AMOLED; 5.2" (Lumia 950), 5.7" (Lumia 950 XL); 2560×1440 pixels (Quad HD)
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808/Snapdragon 810
Videos accelerator: Adreno 418/Adreno 430
RAM: 3 GB (LPDDR3)
Built-in memory: 32 GB
microSD slot: There is; up to 200 GB
Battery: 3000 mAh (Lumia 950), 3340 mAh (Lumia 950 XL); fast charging technology; wireless charger
Additionally: removable battery
operating system: Windows 10 Mobile

The Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL will definitely appeal to all users of the older Lumia. However, the main drawback of these devices is the too high price, which almost never thinks of going down.

HTC One A9

Although the HTC One A9 smartphone is not quite a top-end device, it surpasses last year's flagship One M9 in terms of image quality. The newly minted HTC 10, for obvious reasons, is not yet considered. So, One A9 is endowed with a 13-megapixel Sony IMX214 backlit module (BSI), optical image stabilization and dual LED flash. Autofocus here is normal, but not very bad. The video is very smooth thanks to OIS, and the maximum video format is Full HD at 30 frames per second. The front camera here is not anyhow, but “ultrapixel”. Its resolution is 4 megapixels.

HTC One A9 is not positioned as a flagship and is not, but its power reserve is more than enough for all modern games.

Screen: AMOLED; 5.0"; 1920×1080 pixels (Full HD)
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 617
Videos accelerator: Adreno 405
RAM: 2/3 GB (LPDDR3)
Built-in memory: 16/32 GB
microSD slot: There is; up to 200 GB
Battery: 2150 mAh; fast charging technology
Additionally: Fingerprint's scanner
operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

The One A9 smartphone turned out to be quite interesting and restrained in terms of performance. However, this is precisely what he can disappoint a potential buyer who needs a truly flagship power.

Huawei P8

Our selection is completed by last year's smartphone Huawei P8. Of course, this year's flagship P9 has a much more advanced dual camera made by Leica, but it was introduced quite recently and has not had time to go on sale. Therefore, P8 looks like quite a good decision to buy and, moreover, at a more or less adequate price. The main camera is equipped with a 13-megapixel Sony sensor with a maximum aperture of f/2.0, advanced optical image stabilization technology and dual LED flash. In addition, the module itself has a four-color RGBW sensor, which can reduce brightness by 32% at high contrast lighting and increase by 78% at low light levels. It also has its own image processor that suppresses noise and evaluates shooting conditions, identifying high-contrast and under-lit parts of the frame. Huawei P8 can not boast of the ability to record 4K video, but it perfectly records videos in Full HD resolution. During the recording process, you can use tracking autofocus, as well as optical and electronic image stabilization at the same time. For selfies, there is an 8-megapixel camera with f/2.4 aperture.

The device has a good hardware performance. True, in synthetic tests, the P8 is gaining not quite record figures, but for everyday work and heavy games at maximum graphics settings, this will be enough.

Screen: IPS LCD; 5.2”; 1920×1080 pixels (Full HD)
CPU: HiSilicon Kirin 930
Videos accelerator: Mali-T628 MP4
RAM: 3 GB (LPDDR3)
Built-in memory: 16/64 GB
microSD slot: There is; up to 128 GB
Battery: 2680 mAh; fast charging technology
operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Huawei P8 is a very stylish smartphone in design and is perfect for anyone who needs everything to work right out of the box. Some users may not like it, probably only a proprietary shell, which is not at all like the “naked” Android. But it, in turn, is quite convenient and easy to use.

As you can see, almost all last year's flagships have fairly good cameras. Each smartphone in this regard has its pros and cons. And here it is already necessary to be determined, based on personal preferences. Give someone an iPhone, others a Samsung. Someone considers all shells from manufacturers to be superfluous in the device and Nexus is in priority. Some even need Windows OS. So in the upper price segment the situation is more or less clear. However, it is difficult to choose a camera phone from the mid-price category, which we will talk about in the next part.