We heard a report in November that Apple was testing an iPhone 7 model with dual rear cameras, and a patent application published today not only confirms that Apple is indeed exploring the idea, but reveals some extremely exciting possibilities with such a setup.
The most basic of these, noted by Patently Apple, is effectively optical zoom. By fitting two separate camera modules behind the lens, and creating a single lens with both standard and telephoto sections, you’d be able to switch between two different focal lengths. For the first time, you’d be able to take a zoomed-in photo without cropping away pixels to end up with a lower-resolution image.
But the possible applications described in the patent go way beyond this …
The patent also describes several different ways in which the device could simultaneously use both camera modules. For example, one could shoot still photos while the other shoots video. Although it’s been possible to take still photos while shooting video since the iPhone 5, the stills are captured at a lower than normal resolution. With twin camera modules, you could get the maximum resolution for both.
The patent gives a specific example of this which suggests that Apple’s iMovie software could automatically blend the video and stills.
[Imagine] capturing a child extinguishing candles on a birthday cake […] In some embodiments, second camera module 3084 can be used as a telephoto camera module to zoom in on the face of the child as she is about to blow out the candles and first camera module 3082 can capture a burst of high resolution still images of her smiling face. In some embodiments, first camera module 3082 is simultaneously capturing standard 1080p 30 frames per second video of the entire group of kids gathered and singing around the cake […] As the two camera modules are synchronized in time, the still images can easily be automatically inserted at the right time in a final video stream.
Apple also describes simultaneously shooting standard speed and slo-mo video, again with the two being automatically combined in the final output. It even suggests that a single piece of filming could generate a combination of 4K video, 1080p video, slo-mo video and stills – and that these could be easily combined in editing afterwards.
The patent application gives the example of a ball game, where you might use standard video for a view of the entire play, while also capturing zoomed-in slo-mo footage of the batter striking the ball. It’s not hard to imagine iPhones owners being able to create some kick-ass videos with these kinds of techniques!
Picture-in-picture would also be possible, perhaps including 1080p zoomed-in video within a 4K video.
Some embodiments generate a synthetic result image at least in part from data of the first image and data of the second image. In some embodiments, the synthetic intermediate image has is generated by enhancing the first image using data from the second image. Some embodiments display the first image and the second image in a shared screen interface.
The dense language of the patent makes it difficult to determine all the possible applications, but some of it describes moving the lens and/or camera sensor. While Apple has so far used this approach for optical image stabilization in the iPhone 6 Plus, it may also be possible that it is working on a method of allowing users to change the focal point of a photo after it has been taken, by using combined shots from the two sensors. Apple last year acquired LinX, a company specialising in multi-lens mobile camera systems.
We of course have to insert our usual disclaimer that Apple patents way, way more things than ever make it into finished products – but there’s no doubt that this type of tech raises some incredibly exciting possibilities. Given the emphasis Apple has given to the camera in various generations of iPhone, I’d love to think that Apple is giving serious consideration to including this type of functionality into a future iPhone.
How excited would you be to see this type of tech make it into a future iPhone? Take our poll, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Talk about taking Live Photos to the next level. You could literally always be shooting video and photo and never have to choose between them. Amazing.
May add some credence to the rumor of a 256GB iPhone 7 Plus. Your gonna need as much space as possible if you are recording 1080p and 4K video at the same time all the time.
Amen to that!
Can’t help but feel like the iPhone 6s is the last phone we’ll ever see with a base model of 16GB. I wanna give Apple the benefit of the doubt and believe that they’ll either start at 32GB or improve iCloud that allows all photos and videos to be immediately uploaded in small chunks without killing data plans.
Even if this doesn’t make it into the iPhone 7 it’s nice to know Apple’s considering this.
You could fill up a 16 GB you are always defending after taking 10 photos))
Being able to instantly switch focal lengths is more interesting to me then shooting still photos and videos at the same time. Would make zoomed shots even better on 6 plus and 6s plus.
I never understood in the age of digital photography why pushing the button takes only one picture… It should take a portrait version, landscape version and different versions at different zoom/lighting levels with one push and then I can decide which ones worth keeping.
Hopefully those patents will become reality soon…
I think the same thing!
That is because you believe that digital photography means everything is digital. The file at the end is digital. But the process is the same as an analog picture, with a lens, speed and an aperture.
It’s still light going inside a mechanism and you trying to capture it as properly as possible, you can’t really change that, “digital” doesn’t change the way light works.
If you want to change the levels of zoom/lighting/depth of field, you have to change those factors. So the only way your idea could happen would be :
1. to have different cameras with different settings (kind of what this patent is about)
2. to take several pictures really fast and with the settings changing between each snap
Your 2 obstacles are minor if not asinine:
1. we already got 2… they can add better and more cameras if needed
2. a few good software engineers can make those modifications
and I really have nothing to say on that very simplistic view of what happens once the image is created that you hold… just sad to see such a lack of optimism in the possibilities that exist at that point. Digital photography is much more than a regular camera minus the film
Well, sorry man, but you sound pretty clueless… so :
1. We have only one, unless you’re talking about the front facing one but that would mean you really don’t get things.
2. Lol. I’m not even responding to that. But we can’t wait to see your new technology, man.
Digital photography is kind of like film photography, except that in the end you have a file that you can modify, but the file (the photography) is what it is.
Anyway, you don’t really seem to want to listen.
I think, more than anything, it’s a battery issue. If you had the camera recording all that at high res, doing all sorts of clever stuff in addition too, even for a few seconds at a time, it’d murder the battery.
Which is a shame. Battery tech really ruins the party for so much.
Or you take photos in landscape, and crop it 16:9 to get a portrait
https://light.co/camera
For those who don’t really understand how that would work, this camera explains a similar situation.
I would love that, and it does sound like something Apple could do. Let’s hope.
For those who don’t really get how the thing would work, I recommend you look up “Light 16”, a camera made of 16 lenses and 16 sensors with different settings.
Not really interested by the finished product but the idea is good. Curious to see how Apple would do that.
But it does sound like something Apple could do, and even nail. I would love that to be true.
4 or 5 cameras would be even better. “Computational camera” or “Computational photography” – it’s “the next big thing” but without Apple or another huge name in photography or consumer electronics pushing it, I doubt would become mainstream. Take a look at the Light camera sometime.
Would rather have a dedicated audio port than an extra camera.
I hope they do something about the iPhone camera because my Lumia 1520 takes better pics than my iPhone 6 and my brother’s 6s.
This tech would be awesome, but for what it’s worth I’m hearing from quite a few friends that are dumping iPhone’s for other brands which–in their opinion–capture superior images. This is something Apple might want to address. I’m not a camera guy myself, but I’ve seen some pretty beautiful stuff shot on other phones.
This is not the same as having two cameras for 3D capturing is it?
Well, I guess it could be, but in that case I’m really not sure.
Usually for 3D you need 2 cameras with a little distance between one another, and (I think) the lenses need to have the same focal length.
But I’m not 100% sure.
I’m not really a fan of 3D photography, but it would be quite cool if you could see pictures in 3D on your phone, kind of like the 3D Home Screen.
The real advantage of this setup is not mentioned at all in this article.
Two lenses allow you to map depth. With this data you can very accurately simulate optical effects that normally cant be done realistically in software, and require much larger ‘SLR’ style lenses. For example, you could create shallow depth of field effects that are much more like what you would see from an expensive large aperture SLR lens and large sensor, using only small camera phone sensors/lenses.
The real benefit of this tech is photos that look like they were shot with much larger, more complex lenses, as alluded to in the information LinX released before they were acquired. In effect, ‘SLR quality’ images.
You could also do very cool tricks like set the depth of field/ in focus area AFTER the photo has been taken, much like the Lytro camera does.
Exactly. I think it would really bring a lot of possibilities and give awesome tools to developers.
I immediately thought of Lytro, which Apple was interested in buying at some point if I remember well…
The Light 16 is kind of inspired from Lytro as well I think.
All those products are great ideas but “unfinished business” I would say. Can’t wait to see it implemented well.
HDR videos?
There’s a lot of tricks you can do by combining 2 images of the same shot, better HDR by combining two different exposures at the same time, better low light noise reduction, one lense with infrared filter and the other without (for science? or TMZ getting nipple shots). Automatic background removal, There’s the 3D thing, augmented reality and gesture recognition. Another spot for my huge fingers to cover!
Perhaps this technology could translate into some form of stereoscopic imaging, or perhaps a pseudo 3-D experience…
I have a feeling that my photos might come out a bit better