“Oppo regularly conducts tests in optical laboratories” – Kommersant FM

2023-10-26 19:13:36

Kommersant FM columnist Alexander Levi tells how he got acquainted with the camera capabilities of the flagship version of a folding smartphone.

The creators of the line of folding smartphones Oppo Find N3 have avoided compromises in the issue of equipping cameras, the vendor emphasized at the presentation of new products. I was one of the first to try out the flagship version. The first week of testing the device left only a pleasant impression. Here’s why: firstly, I agree with the developers’ idea that smartphones with flexible displays should not sacrifice important elements or capabilities in favor of their form factor. It’s just that it’s difficult to provide them with total protection from dust from an engineering point of view.

But there should be no problems with cameras. It’s nice to know that you have at your disposal the best set available to the manufacturer. In the case of the Find N3, it is a 48 megapixel Sony Lytia-T808 sensor with an aperture of 1.7. For the role of a telephoto lens, the developers chose a 64 megapixel camera with an aperture of 2.6. For ultra-wide-angle shots, the engineers installed a Sony IMX58 with a 114-degree field of view and 2.2 aperture. All three sensors have phase detection autofocus.

Optical stabilization is available on the main camera and telephoto. The latter was made in the format of an ultra-thin periscope system, which gives a three-fold optical zoom, six-fold due to the crop inside the matrix and a digital zoom of 120 times. The quality of images that corresponds to the status of a flagship smartphone is achieved by obtaining more light and suppressing noise in the image, if the engineering path is simplified and shortened.

Hasselblad specialists helped set up the Find N3 cameras. In addition, Oppo itself regularly conducts tests in optical laboratories. There are even entire pavilions in which engineers recreate life scenarios. I was able to visit one of these in China. Inside, it looks like an IKEA store with different rooms simulating real conditions: a grocery store, a cafe, a restaurant, a children’s room, a karaoke bar, a hotel lobby, a home living room, a jewelry store, etc. Not only the interior, but also dishes, drinks, and things are recreated from them. Robots with smartphones in their manipulators move around these rooms.

Pictures taken by machines from different angles and with different cameras are evaluated by people who, if necessary, make adjustments to the smartphone software. At the Find N3 presentation, only one such laboratory took about 70 thousand test photos for this model. In total, tests to improve cameras in one model can last several years.