Especially in India people are comparing the quality of the mobile cameras with the number of megapixels it has. but this is a wrong perception of mobile cameras. Before we get into it, you should know a few terms like Megapixel, Micron Pixel, and Aperture about mobile cameras.
- A megapixel is a unit of graphic resolution equivalent to one million, for example, a 12MP camera has 12 million pixels.
- The size of each Pixel is measured and shown as a Micron with the symbol μm or simply μ A larger pixel size has better image quality. Example: 1.4μm is better in terms of image quality than 0.8μm.
- Aperture can be defined as the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera. That means Lower no. performs better in low light. Example: f/1.5 performs better as compared to f/1.8 in low light.
1) Quality vs Quantity pixels
This battle is all about the number of pixels and their quality. Apple continuously tries to improve the quality of micron pixels over quantity. Even though the Samsung Galaxy S series also uses the same idea to stick with 12MP and improve per-pixel quality as you can see in the Samsung Galaxy S20.
So if you want to buy a mobile just for camera quality please consider the size of the micron pixel and f-stop. These things will help you to understand the camera quality of a particular mobile phone.
2) Image Size and storage
108 Million pixels will increase the image size to 25-30 MB. More pixels require more processing power and it will affect the battery, storage, and time duration to take that picture.
We all know that the images taken by a 12-megapixel camera take less space in the gallery as compared to a 108-megapixel camera. The only benefit of having a 108-megapixel camera is you can print that image on a large scale otherwise 12-megapixel camera is more than sufficient for any other use.
Also Read: Samsung S21 vs Apple iPhone 12 comparison | Which is best Flagship Mobile3) Pixel Binding technology
This type of technology required by a 108MP camera because it has a higher no. of pixels and the actual pixel size is low. That means less light gets into it and image quality in low light really suffers. But many smartphones using binding technology to combined 9 pixels into 1 and create a 12-megapixel image from a 108Mp camera to get better low light and dynamic range. So even though your phone may have 108MP stamped on the back of it, you’re only really getting 12MP photos when you press the shutter button.
4) Don't underestimate the size of Micron Pixel
We recommend you check the specs of any 108MP camera, you will notice that it has 0.8 Micron pixel. That means a single-pixel does not get enough light to produce a good image. On another hand, iPhone has 1.4µm that means every single pixel has a better ability to produce good quality images even in low light.
5) Image processing and battery life
Image processing plays a massive part in image quality for binding pixels. More pixels generally means more data to process, resulting in slower processing times and shorter battery life. This is especially true in more demanding scenarios like taking Night Mode photos or Portrait Mode shots, where there’s a lot more processing involved. According to user experience, iPhone 12MP camera is better than 108MP.
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