I learned a lot of photography skills, but why do I take so few good photos?

IT 168 Evaluation Smartphones have become the most important shooting tool for ordinary people, and our circle of friends will be filled with many mobile phone blockbusters. Whenever we see these photos, we inevitably have the impulse to follow suit. However, after learning a lot of photography skills, I found that the photos taken are still far from ideal, and there are often problems such as virtual focus, unclear shooting and more noise. Actually, it's not your fault. Good photo display needs not only good camera technology, but also strong core support.

You may think, how can a chip improve imaging? Is it a bit too metaphysical? In fact, as a systematic project, the effect of mobile phone photography is determined by sensors, lens modules, image signal processors (ISP) and algorithms. In recent years, high-pixel sensors and dual-lens modules have gradually become the mainstream, and more advanced image algorithms have been introduced. A powerful ISP naturally becomes the key to further improve the imaging quality.

Spectr 180 ISP is built in Qualcomm Xiaolong 835 mobile platform, and it is the best 14 dual ISP architecture ISP at present. Support to drive a single camera with a maximum of 32 million pixels and a dual camera with a maximum of16 million pixels. With Hexgon DSP, you can achieve greater information throughput, perfectly cope with the processing pressure of tens of millions of pixels, and make good photos available at the moment you press the shutter.

Smooth dual-camera zoom, you can see clearly in the distance.

Due to design and space constraints, it is almost impossible to accommodate traditional optical zoom modules in smart phones. Therefore, when we want to enlarge the distant scene, the mobile phone often uses digital zoom, but this zoom method of cutting pixels and stretching and filling does serious damage to the image quality, and the painting style of mosaic is very touching. Fortunately, in recent years, a wide-angle and telephoto dual-camera zoom scheme has been introduced, which makes up for the shortcomings of mobile phones in optical zoom to some extent, and Spectra ISP plays an important role in this.

Specifically, Spectra ISP can monitor images taken by both wide-angle and telephoto lenses. When we zoom in on distant scenes, Spectra ISP is like an experienced editor, selecting some images from each shot and obtaining a photo with higher magnification through cropping and composition. Because these steps are completed in an instant, the zooming process is very smooth, and the telephoto lens has an absolute advantage in details, which makes up for the loss of image quality after zooming and makes the photos clearer.

ClearSight technology, taking pictures in low light is clearer.

Taking pictures is the art of light and shadow. Under the condition of low light, if more light enters the sensor, it means better image quality, which leads to the configuration of black and white+color dual cameras. The black-and-white sensor has no Bayer filter, and the light input is at least 2 times higher than that of the ordinary color sensor. Using ClearSight technology provided by Snapdragon, mobile phones can compensate the light transmission loss caused by color sensors in low light through black-and-white sensors, and the combination of gray effects can significantly improve the clarity of color photos and reduce the color blur caused by low light.

Hybrid autofocus architecture, don't miss the wonderful moment.

There are many wonderful moments in daily life, but it is not easy to capture them with mobile phones. On the one hand, we need to improvise, on the other hand, the equipment needs to have certain focusing performance. Spectra ISP has a hybrid autofocus architecture that fully supports contrast focusing, phase focusing, laser focusing and dual-pixel focusing. According to different shooting environments, ISP will automatically switch between multiple focusing modes and choose the best solution to focus quickly.

For a simple example, whether it is phase focusing or contrast focusing, there are certain requirements for the light environment. When the light is insufficient, there is often a bad experience of pulling the bellows. Laser focusing is to accurately measure the distance from the subject by laser, so as to determine the focal length to complete focusing. Therefore, when shooting in dark light, Spectra ISP will automatically select laser focusing to achieve faster focusing speed and higher accuracy.

DSP-assisted imaging can truly restore what the human eye sees.

Despite the rapid development of science and technology, it is undeniable that there are still significant differences between the current photosensitive elements and the complex physiological structure of the human eye. In some complicated light environments, it is difficult for the photosensitive element to truly restore what the human eye sees. For example, in the evening when the sun sets and in the night when the neon flashes, the former often loses dark details, while the latter is noisy. In order to solve this problem, HDR algorithm and noise reduction algorithm derived from multi-frame synthesis technology are introduced into mobile phone photography, and Spectra ISP using Hexgon DSP is the best carrier of these algorithms.

Taking HDR algorithm as an example, an HDR photo often needs to take multiple underexposed and overexposed photos. The underexposed photos ensure the details of the bright parts, while the overexposed photos retain the details of the dark parts. ISP will select the appropriate parts from these photos for pixel-level synthesis, and finally present a photo with moderate brightness. This process has a huge amount of data processing, and it is difficult to present it immediately after taking pictures if you rely on ordinary ISP to undertake the operation. However, Spectra ISP is different. It not only has stronger processing power, but also has a powerful partner-Hexgon DSP, which is a computing unit that can process more than 65,438+000 pixels in parallel, and has extremely high data throughput, helping Spectra ISP to complete the screening and optimization of tens of millions of pixels in the shortest time, and present the best photos in real time.

Accurate recognition of depth of field information makes people blur more naturally.

Portrait mode is the mainstream attribute of dual-camera mobile phone at present, and it is also a scene to test the processing ability of ISP. When shooting, the main lens captures the picture, while the auxiliary lens constantly detects the depth of field information. ISP needs to process the feedback information of two shots at the same time, and then realize the background blur effect similar to SLR's large aperture through algorithm, so as to achieve the purpose of highlighting the portrait subject. Spectra ISP's 14-bit dual-core architecture can handle the dual-lens information calmly, adjust the blur effect of the background in time, and present it in the picture in time, and press the shutter to take a beautiful portrait sample directly.

And relying on advanced machine learning technology, Spectra ISP can complete accurate object recognition under the training of big data. Even if the background is complex, Spectra ISP can still accurately separate the subject from the background in the image and only blur the background. Moreover, this kind of blur is not a simple global blur. Spectra ISP will bring different degrees of blur according to the distance of the background, which is more real and natural.

With its comprehensive performance, Spectra ISP has significantly improved the imaging experience of mobile phones, which has been recognized not only by consumers, but also by DxOMark, an international authoritative imaging equipment evaluation agency. According to its latest mobile device imaging ranking, mobile phones equipped with Snapdragon mobile platform are in the forefront of the list. Among them, HTC U 1 1, which uses the latest Xiaolong 835 mobile platform, got the highest score of 90 in the history of mobile devices in DxOMark, and Spectra ISP naturally contributed.

At present, Qualcomm has released the next generation Spectra ISP, which will not only bring higher-quality pictures, but also strengthen the application of computer vision technology, and support security scene use cases such as iris recognition, face recognition and high-precision 3D information detection. It is foreseeable that in the future, Spectra ISP will not only be the best choice for you to take good photos, but also bring a safer experience in the field of biometric authentication.