Phones these days use multiple cameras in new lieu of optical zoom. My phone, for example, has a 12 MP 3x telephoto camera, a 200 MP main (wide) camera, and a 12 MP 0.6x ultrawide camera.
When you zoom in, the phone gauges lighting conditions and then decide whether to use a 3x camera, or the 200 MP one then zoom in digitally to make a 12 MP photo. (Both produce great results.) You can always manually choose which camera to use, of course, and even use the full image sensor in the main lens to create massive 200 MP images.
Not sure if doing it this way is actually better than a single camera with an optical zoom lens, but phone manufacturers seem to think so. I’ve even achieved good results going up to 10x digital zoom with the 200 MP camera; beyond that you really start to notice the upscaling artifacts. However, 5x digital zoom looks as good as optical 3x shots to my eyes.
Phones these days use multiple cameras in new lieu of optical zoom. My phone, for example, has a 12 MP 3x telephoto camera, a 200 MP main (wide) camera, and a 12 MP 0.6x ultrawide camera.
When you zoom in, the phone gauges lighting conditions and then decide whether to use a 3x camera, or the 200 MP one then zoom in digitally to make a 12 MP photo. (Both produce great results.) You can always manually choose which camera to use, of course, and even use the full image sensor in the main lens to create massive 200 MP images.
Not sure if doing it this way is actually better than a single camera with an optical zoom lens, but phone manufacturers seem to think so. I’ve even achieved good results going up to 10x digital zoom with the 200 MP camera; beyond that you really start to notice the upscaling artifacts. However, 5x digital zoom looks as good as optical 3x shots to my eyes.