Oppo set to reveal 10x optical zoom for mobile devices this week

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: Oppo's periscope-inspired camera technology could be the next big thing in mobile photography. A bit of caution, though - Oppo showed off similar technology in 2017 but never brought it to market. Will that happen again this time around?

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo at Mobile World Congress in 2017 unveiled a prototype mobile camera that enabled lossless 5x optical zoom through the clever use of a prism. By bending incoming light 90-degrees, the company was able to position its lens array horizontally across the width of the device, thus overcoming the constraints of a prohibitively thin smartphone chassis.

Unfortunately, the design never materialized into a consumer product but that doesn’t mean Oppo gave up on the idea. Instead, it has apparently refined it even further.

Chinese tech site Mydrivers (via GSM Arena) notes that Oppo is sending out media invites for an event scheduled for January 16. The tagline on the invite roughly translates to “ten times the view, see you soon,” and has some speculating that Oppo could be prepared to showcase a smartphone camera with 10x optical zoom based on the same sort of technology we saw in 2017.

In late December, Twitter user @UniverseIce cited an Oppo official saying they had a 10x hybrid optical zoom technology ready to showcase at either CES or MWC. It didn’t happen at CES which leaves MWC as the next likely date to unveil it.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/78259-oppo-set-reveal-10x-optical-zoom-mobile-devices.html

 

[VitalyT]

For uninitiated.... A higher optical zoom directly impacts image stabilisation, and requires larger field of view (read lens size) to compensate for that. At 10x optical zoom on such a tiny lens you will end up with image so shaky, it will be unusable. It will require one hell of software-side image stabilisation, which I'm guessing won't be there, turning the whole thing into a pompous PR crap.

 

[toooooot]

If this phone had glass back panel and those lenses looked exactly like shown in picture with yellow beam, that would be cool.

 

[m-tec]

Waterproof compact digital cameras have used this system for years, but making it thinner must be difficult, and it would need a small sensor to work well

 

[Lounds]

Will this make itself into the 1+ 7.

 

[antiproduct]

For uninitiated.... I higher optical zoom directly impacts image stabilisation, and requires larger field of view (read lens size) to compensate for that. At 10x optical zoom on such a tiny lens you will end up with image so shaky, it will be unusable. It will require one hell of software-side image stabilisation, which I'm guessing won't be there, turning the whole thing into a pompous PR crap.

They'll use it to shoot another Cloverfield movie. It'll be fine.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Old tech implemented in thin digital cameras a decade ago. I was wondering if anyone was going to try it for phones but figured they're too thin to get large enough lens elements inside to make more than maybe a 3x zoom useful.

Panasonic DMC-FP8 as an example: https://www.dpreview.com/articles/6345933876/panafp8

 

[Uncle Al]

Seeing will be believing and as said, without a good optical stabilization it's probably going to be a flop .....

 

[Knot Schure]

Surprising, I thought there wasn't even space for a 3.5mm headphone jack...

 

[xxLCxx]

For uninitiated.... I higher optical zoom directly impacts image stabilisation, and requires larger field of view (read lens size) to compensate for that. At 10x optical zoom on such a tiny lens you will end up with image so shaky, it will be unusable. It will require one hell of software-side image stabilisation, which I'm guessing won't be there, turning the whole thing into a pompous PR crap.

We have compact cameras with 40x optical zoom. They can manage that just fine. Of course, you can't compare the shots to a (much bigger) 4-5 digit camera, but nobody expects that anyhow.