• Launch: Realme presents the X3 Superzoom, a 60x zoom phone for 499 euros
  • Analysis Xiaomi Mi 10: it only has one problem, but it is the price

Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro were unveiled in March, while realme's X3 Superzoom is even newer; arrived in May. Then the confinement slowed the presentations a bit, but on the horizon, the rumored Pixel 4a, the next iPhone, a new Samsung Galaxy Note ... All of them, of course, phones; all of them, also, cameras. More megapixels than days has a season and zooms with increases that cannot be counted with the fingers of the hand (and in some cases, nor with the help of the feet). Have you permanently replaced the phone with the pocket camera? And if so, what is the best?

Far - but far away: I used Windows Phone - the days of the Lumia 1020 remain, which with its 41 megapixel sensor was one of the first hybrids. So either you went to mushrooms or you went to rlex and the only way to combine both was with a shoe design.

What has happened so that now the cameras have this quality? In the first place, logically, that it has rained heavily. The years have made that unstoppable technological advance has allowed that where before there was a blurred image, now we can make a poster.

The other key is something as pedestrian as two is more than one and three is more than two. The phones have more and more lenses (up to six we have come to see) and these deal with a specific function, allowing them to obtain much more professional results.

Thus, for example, the ToF sensor ( time of flight or time of flight) that more and more phones incorporate is dedicated exclusively to measuring depth to generate an intelligent blur effect (the famous bokeh ) in portrait mode. In other cases we find zooms that border on espionage, inexplicable telephoto lenses, impossible angles and detailed macros. If the sage points to the moon, we can swoon and photograph him, the satellite, and even his stepfathers on his finger.

To reach this point, the entire sector has had to trace a new path that has eroded the rear of the phones: what was once plain is now mountains and it will be a long time before a phone can rest on a table without rocking.

What phone do I want?

"It is a very changing sector and what stands out today in a brand, may be overshadowed tomorrow by the new mobile of the competition," warns Amparo Babiloni, director of Xataka Android and Xataka Móvil, two of the most important pages in the sector. An example: "until a few months ago it was clear that the game of zoom was being won by Huawei, but now Samsung is coming and it is very close with the S20 Ultra".

Nicolás Rivera, technology editor at Hipertextual, agrees that it is something that "can change in a matter of months", although he does believe that a relationship can be established between manufacturer and performance.

"Today, both Apple (iPhone 11 Pro) and Google (Pixel 4) have done a great job in the field of software, which is what is most marking the photographic career these years," concedes the expert. In addition, he believes that Huawei is currently leading "the race for long-range telephoto lenses", while in terms of video "both Samsung and Huawei have done a good job lately in aspects such as stabilization, but I would say that Apple is a step by in front".

In any case, on the podium there are almost always three brands that change the stage more depending on affiliates and phobias than their cameras, very even: Apple and its ubiquitous iPhone, Samsung and its Galaxy S20 and Note 10 and Google with their something. cheaper Pixel 4 and 4XL. Huawei and Sony, however, are not far behind either.

With this, the average user can forget about the camera and their sales figures seem to demonstrate this, which went from 121.5 million in 2010 to 15.2 last year, according to CIPA data collected by Statista.

Goodbye to the cameras

So can a phone be enough for the average user? "It is not that I think it is enough, I affirm it", ditch Babiloni, who, by the way, studied photography "and always carried the SLR everywhere." "I myself use a smartphone as the main camera, in my day to day and also when I have gone on vacation." The key, "the comfort of carrying it in your pocket".

What's more, for Rivera improvements in software and artificial intelligence make these devices even more practical for a person without technical knowledge. "With a professional camera, unless you know how to master it in manual mode and exploit the RAW files it generates, the final photograph may not be 100% as you expect," she explains.

"With a modern smartphone, on the other hand, algorithms are responsible for doing all that work in the background," he adds, before recalling also the comfort it provides that it is within range of the pocket. "Once you've taken the photo, you can view it, edit it, share it, store it in the cloud ...".

In the case of professional environments they are not so clear. Rivera concedes that "more and more professionals are incorporating their mobile phones into their workflows" and recalls that "a video clip of Selena Gómez was recently recorded with an iPhone 11 Pro and the Pixel 4 was used to capture the photographs of some magazine covers ", although in his opinion the cameras" are still ahead ".

For Babiloni the problem (or the challenge) "remains the optics". "We have brutal zooms and very successful portrait modes, but it's not the same, it's more limited."

How many megapixels do i need?

There is a problem associated with this technological advance and that is that the user can get lost between so much camera, number and specification. "Megapixels is coming back as a sales pitch," says Babiloni. "It makes some sense as zoom support, but in my experience it doesn't work as well." The same happens with the zoom, which when it is several tens is impossible to operate without a tripod, although for the expert something between a 5X or a 10x "is very practical".

In his opinion, the most technical solution is to look for "a camera that is versatile with wide, normal and telephoto, and if possible, the results between them are as consistent as possible."

Rivera agrees and believes that the specification tables "do not tell the whole story." For him, numbers are not everything: "a camera with many megapixels can be worse than one with few megapixels" (and even the number of cameras can be misleading; one good is better than several bad). "The SoC software and ISP, for example, are two aspects that do not appear in the specification tables, but which nevertheless have a great influence on whether a photograph is good or bad."

How much do I spend?

Unless excellence is sought, little. In the environment of 1,000 euros are the galactic iPhone, Galaxy S or Xperia 1 II, all with a quality almost as enormous as its price. As Rivera explains, "the camera is the aspect in which the change in range is most noticeable." Fortunately, it does not take four figures for a mobile phone to have a camera capable of replacing a ditto.

"There are 200-euro phones that have surprised me a lot," admits Babiloni, "although if you want that extra quality I would go for a more premium mid-range." That is to say, a much more affordable 400 or 500 euros, where there are already "more than decent cameras". Rivera believes the same: "an expert can appreciate the differences with the high-end ones, but for the vast majority, it is surely enough." We are not necessarily talking about Pavones, perhaps we are talking about Solaris.

In this sense, the two agree that it is not necessary to always go for the latest model and many times a terminal with a year behind it will be perfect thanks to the savings it entails and, as Babiloni recalls, "if your camera was good then , a year later it will continue to be ".

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Huawei
  • iPhone
  • Google
  • Sony
  • Samsung

Technology Everything Apple has copied to Android (and vice versa)

Bargains of the day at Amazon: an Ipad, a Pandora bracelet, Xiaomi wireless headphones, a 60% Lancaster serum, a Samsung Smart TV ...

PS5 video games: five things we know and two not about the PlayStation 5

See links of interest

  • Last News
  • TV programming
  • English translator
  • Work calendar
  • Daily horoscope
  • Santander League Ranking
  • League calendar
  • TV Movies
  • Themes
  • Girona - Real Zaragoza
  • Atlético de Madrid - Mallorca