Camera phones with optical zoom

Optical zoom

— the presence of optical zoom in the main camera of the smartphone. If there are several cameras (see “≥ 3 cameras”), only one lens is usually supplied with optical zoom, most often the main one.

Technically, such zoom is carried out via the movement of the lenses: shifting the lenses reduces the viewing angle, as a result, the objects remaining in the frame look larger. This is more effective than digital zoom, when a separate section of the image from the sensor is stretched over the entire frame: optical zoom, in contrast, allows you to use the entire area of the sensor and shoot at full resolution, regardless of the zoom level. On the other hand, moving lens systems are quite complex and expensive, and it is difficult to achieve good optical zoom in smartphones due to size limitations. Therefore, this feature is found mainly in advanced devices with advanced photographic capabilities, and even there the optical zoom ratio is small — from a certain moment the camera switches to digital zoom or to a separate telephoto lens (this format of operation is also possible).