Periscopic Camera- The Phone also needs to slim-up

PERISCOPIC CAMERA

( Phone Also Needs To Slim Up)

This is a traditional smartphone without a periscopic lens. As you can see how much the lens of the phones are popping out, that’s why these kinds of devices were not compatible while using and even while carrying.

This is a new technological smartphone with periscopic lens fitted inside it where image filtering and zooming, everything is performed vertically not horizontally, that’s why it has a slim and compatible structure.

WHAT’S INSIDE IT?

As shown in the above figure, a periscopic camera has majorly 3 parts:-

1)    Prism where the ray falls and within it the ray undergoes through reflection

2)    Lenses are there for zooming in or out depending upon the user’s need

3)    Image sensor which captures all image data and sends it to phone

WELL, HOW IT FUNCTIONS…

Prism is the display part of the periscope on a phone. When a ray of light falls on the prism it faces reflection vertically towards the lenses placed aside it.

Lenses play a major role in any camera, here also these are supporting a zoom of 3Times, 5Times and even 10Times in some devices.

At the end, image sensor is there which collects all the image data after reflection from prism & performing zoom in/out operations on it and sends it to the phone.

As in a periscope camera, we are performing a massive lenses related tasks so there may be chances that our picture or video might end in a poor quality.

So, OIS(Optical Image Stabilization) and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization).These 2 techniques work in a periscope camera to ensure less image noise or less shakiness in video i.e. on and all to provide a better quality image.

A periscope can work in a micro-world when it has to capture a very close object and even in a macro world when it has to capture a distant placed object.

OPTICAL ZOOM vs. DIGITAL ZOOM

A periscopic camera provides a hybrid of optical and digital zoom.

An optical zoom uses actual lens adjustment to zoom in/out by changing the focal lengths of the lenses which do not deteriorate the image quality.

A digital zoom adjusts the image in the camera itself to expand to expand canvas and zoom/out which surely deteriorate image quality.

So, periscope camera in phones uses a combo of optical zoom and digital zoom when it has to capture a very far object, due to which the image quality is not up to the mark but comparatively to only digital zoom it is better.

WHAT PATENTS HAVE LOOKED FOR ?

The patents dealing with periscopic camera have usually termed it as an image capturing device in the case of far distant objects with a slim aperture and better image quality.

They have involved a combinational functioning of a prism (for reflection), a filter (for filtering out the ray), lenses (as per the distance of object from camera) and an image sensor (for providing the final data to the device).

They have also ensured double reflections i.e.-

1st reflection of filtered out ray to the lenses

2nd reflection from lenses to the image sensor

Most of the patents have precisely worked on how to reduce the width of the periscopic lens either by reducing the width of the image sensor or by using any alternative thin filter to at last provide a slim and more compatible device.

WHY COMPANIES ARE OPTING FOR IT IN THEIR PHONES

1)    Provides an extra protection to the lenses in that square hole as prism is outermost

2)    Vertical path for ray demands less space which reduces width of mobile phones

3)    Increases optical zoom ability of camera within a limited space of few millimeters

4)    Even if the light requires more path to travel, it adds depth vertically which doesn’t affect width of the device.

STILL SOME DRAWBACKS…

1)    Limited space inside periscope prevents the lens to zoom as much as it could in digital zooming.

2)    Light inside a periscope has to travel a longer distance which might result in a loss of light intensity.