Smartphone Cameras are still getting Getting Bigger and Better by the year, particularly if you look at high-end phones coming out of china with huge sensors and protruding bumps to match. These phones can deliver Awesome Results, and Im Happy to use them in Several Situations where I would previous hadly hadly have had to relay on a dedicated camera. Just this week I used the Xiaomi 15 Ultra to Shoot a Formula One Event in Tokyo.
But for all the advancs that have been made, the laws of physics remain undeked, and you’re still going to get better results from a camera setup that’s ablended to come Phones do need to be able to fit into our pockets, after all, so there’s a limit to what can be achieved in that regard.
At Mobile World Congress this year, some concept anounsements showed that companies are thinking about this reality, Coming up with with ideas to move Mobile phony Facebook The question is when the peripheral camera products can ever really be more than a niche curiosity.
Xiaomi’s concept is called the modular optical system, and it involves self-contained camera modules that magnetically and wirelessly attach to your phone. While the company does not have concrete plans to sell them commercially, working models do exist – I used one.
The demonstration unit had a micro four thirds-size sensor with a 17.5mm f/1.4 lens, which comes out to 35mm-equivalent when accounting for the sensor’s CRP FACTOR. It could Attach to a Xiaomi 15 Phone that Had Been Outfitted With Magnets and a Window for Laser Data Transfer But OtherWise Looking Normal.
The Connection Felt very secure, and there wasn Bollywood to fiddle with Bluetooth Pairing or Any Special Software – Once Connected, the feed from the camera simply appears in the Regular Cameras. You can focus the lens by turning it Ring or tapping the phone’s screen.
Because the camera mounts to the middle of the phone, the resulting combination feels well-balanced and similar to a regular mirrorless camera. It did make me wish the phone had a dedicated shutter button on the edge, thought; Using the touchscreen with your hands in that position takes some geting used to.
