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Is there a way to use the 3x optical zoom lens?

Using 3x zoom in the camera doesn't switch to the 80mm lens. It just gives a crop from the 40mp main sensor.
Is there a way to actually use the 3x lens?

In my case to make it work I force Focus, after that i can see the swap between lenses.

Horayken said:
In my case to make it work I force Focus, after that i can see the swap between lenses.
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How do you force focus? I tired manual focus and it still didn't change lenses when going from 1 to 3x

viper98 said:
How do you force focus? I tired manual focus and it still didn't change lenses when going from 1 to 3x
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Just tap somewhere in the picture and it will change to the optical zoom lens.

djlukas1983 said:
Just tap somewhere in the picture and it will change to the optical zoom lens.
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That doesn't do anything but use a crop from the 40mp sensor to give a fake "zoom". You would get the same results using the 40mp mode and cropping the image yourself
I'm convinced the optical zoom lens exists for nothing but marketing. The only lens on the back that is ever used for any photos is the middle lens.
Maybe it is something weird with mine. You can check this by covering the other lenses with your finger

viper98 said:
That doesn't do anything but use a crop from the 40mp sensor to give a fake "zoom". You would get the same results using the 40mp mode and cropping the image yourself
I'm convinced the optical zoom lens exists for nothing but marketing. The only lens on the back that is ever used for any photos is the middle lens.
Maybe it is something weird with mine. You can check this by covering the other lenses with your finger
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You must use it in enough bright environment because it won't switch to zoom lens when it's not enough bright.

viper98 said:
That doesn't do anything but use a crop from the 40mp sensor to give a fake "zoom". You would get the same results using the 40mp mode and cropping the image yourself
I'm convinced the optical zoom lens exists for nothing but marketing. The only lens on the back that is ever used for any photos is the middle lens.
Maybe it is something weird with mine. You can check this by covering the other lenses with your finger
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, everyone can see the lens switching, the telephoto one have OIS, i use the zoom all the time, if i cover the telephoto lens i cant see anything, so yes the telephoto is fully functional and not a made up marketing, in pie they even added a toggle to the HDR mode so you can get HDR pictures using it faster. (in adroid oreo you can manually zoom until 3x on HDR but now alot easier). the only times you cant use it and the phone will switch back to the main lens, is:
1. At Night or when theres not enough light.
2.If you try to focus a object that is just too close.

djlukas1983 said:
You must use it in enough bright environment because it won't switch to zoom lens when it's not enough bright.
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I was wondering why my indoor 3x zoom pics were so poor. I had tried covering the zoom lens in the past, proving that it actually does switch between the two lenses. What I didn't realize until now, is that when the camera doesn't have enough light, the zoom lens isn't used and the 3x becomes a digital zoom using the main (middle) lens. You can easily see this by turning on the 3x zoom, covering it up, and shifting a live view from a bright window to a dark area inside - when pointing outside the lens is blocked, but when you swing around and point the camera inside you can see the image (because it is no longer using the 2x lens).
That explains the poor indoor zoom shots I've been taking - thanks!!
Now I still need to find out what the monochrome lens is actually doing in colour photos. Playing with blocking the lens only seems to have an effect in monochrome mode, but it is supposed to contribute to capturing all photos. Any suggestions...?

Telephoto camera not always active

I tried to see which camera is which by covering them and the telephoto doesn't seem to be active.
Once in a while in zoomed mode it'll blink to my finger but it's usually using the regular camera. Is this normal or some algorithm?

wing_addict_usa said:
I tried to see which camera is which by covering them and the telephoto doesn't seem to be active.
Once in a while in zoomed mode it'll blink to my finger but it's usually using the regular camera. Is this normal or some algorithm?
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Zooming in doesn't activate the Telephoto Lens.
Open the Camera, along the right edge (vertical) or top edge (horizontal) there are 3 yellow icons with trees on them;
One seems close up -(telephoto lens button).
Middle one seems slightly farther away -(normal range shots).
One has a grouping of trees -(wide angle lens)
Pressing these activates the lens you want.
To test them all, along the right or bottom edge you'll see labels for Google Lens, Portrait, Triple Shot and AI CAM ... hit the Triple Shot and take a picture holding the camera still till all three lenses have taken a picture ... then check that picture and you'll see all three shots played out as a mini movie ... all three will be your validation that all lenses are working.
If that doesn't happen as outlined ... take the phone back to the store and exchange for one that's not broken.

If there isn't enough light, it won't use the telephoto lens. Instead it uses the main lens with a bigger aperture, and digital zoom to 2X. I hate that and would rather have direct control. Try the test in a bright environment.
-- Sent from my Palm Pre3 using Forums

K20 Pro - 3 camera sensors ?! The upper one doesn't seam to be used.

Hello all,
As I said in the title.
Out of boring I tried to see , physically which of the camera is for tele, wide and main.
While putting my finger on the camera, I discovered that the first camera in the row is not used at all in the software ...
Can you, please, check too ?

It's used for 2x... I just tested it.

Well, when you zoom into 2x in stock camera app, it automatically changes to tele camera. But if you cover the tele camera, it reverts to 48mp main camera.
But in some lighting conditions, it uses 48mp main camera even you zoom it 2x

ArmedandDangerous said:
It's used for 2x... I just tested it.
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I've noticed that too, it's used when in portrait mode thought. You can even trigger a weird behavior by changing to portrait mode and back to photo mode, then change to 2x zoom and telephoto lens will be used (like you would normally expect), then changing zoom levels randomly you can get to change 2x zoom to main sensor again.

It's uses digital 2x zoom when light is low and uses telephoto camera when there is enough light present

Question Camera algorithm to choose lens

Hi folks, I'm so annoyed because I figured out that when taking pictures, Samsung actually chooses the best lens among the 4 for you. At first I thought that the 4 circular icons at the bottom would force the use of a specific lens (ultra-wide, wide, tele 1 and tele 2), but that's not the case! This is what I've found so far:
PHOTOS:
0.6x-1x: will always force the ultra-wide lens (obviously)
1x-2x: should use the wide lens, but switches to ultra-wide and zooms in when too close to subject (called focus enhancer)
2x-3x: will always force the wide lens
3x-10x: should use the tele1 (3x) lens, but switches to wide if it's too dark or if too close the subject
10x-15x: should use the tele2 (10x) lens, but switches to tele1 (3x) if it's too dark or if too close the subject
15x-100x: will always use the tele2 (10x) lens
VIDEOS:
[email protected] will force the main wide camera as it's the only capable of shooting with that resolution
[email protected] is the only mode that works as it should! when you pick a lens from the bottom, it will use that specific lens and nothing else!
1080p and other resolutions try to apply the same algorithm used for photos
Now clearly this works well in most conditions, but there are some in which I find this algorithm very annoying:
1) When it's "too dark", which is clearly subjective given that Samsung won't know what I'm shooting at and will just average the pixels brightness
2) When I want to take a close-up shots with the tele1 or tele2 lens, right at the minimal focusing distance and create natural lens portraits-bokeh.
Is there any way we could possibly force the use of a specific lens? Thank you in advance

efrank99 said:
Hi folks, I'm so annoyed because I figured out that when taking pictures, Samsung actually chooses the best lens among the 4 for you. At first I thought that the 4 circular icons at the bottom would force the use of a specific lens (ultra-wide, wide, tele 1 and tele 2), but that's not the case! This is what I've found so far:
PHOTOS:
0.6x-1x: will always force the ultra-wide lens (obviously)
1x-2x: should use the wide lens, but switches to ultra-wide and zooms in when too close to subject (called focus enhancer)
2x-3x: will always force the wide lens
3x-10x: should use the tele1 (3x) lens, but switches to wide if it's too dark or if too close the subject
10x-15x: should use the tele2 (10x) lens, but switches to tele1 (3x) if it's too dark or if too close the subject
15x-100x: will always use the tele2 (10x) lens
VIDEOS:
[email protected] will force the main wide camera as it's the only capable of shooting with that resolution
[email protected] is the only mode that works as it should! when you pick a lens from the bottom, it will use that specific lens and nothing else!
1080p and other resolutions try to apply the same algorithm used for photos
Now clearly this works well in most conditions, but there are some in which I find this algorithm very annoying:
1) When it's "too dark", which is clearly subjective given that Samsung won't know what I'm shooting at and will just average the pixels brightness
2) When I want to take a close-up shots with the tele1 or tele2 lens, right at the minimal focusing distance and create natural lens portraits-bokeh.
Is there any way we could possibly force the use of a specific lens? Thank you in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had noticed something very similar! Mainly when tapping 10x zoom with indoor lighting!
I've never tested it to the exact figures as you did, but Samsung definitely uses the Main camera and 3x when zoomed in during poor light instead of the 10x, and often produced worse quality but brighter photos
I've not managed to "force" use it the 10x but using the slider back and forth between 9-12x zoom and slightly adjusting the phone can allow you to use the 10x in poor light!
As for the close ups and natural bokeh - there's a button in the bottom left of the camera app to switch on/off focus enhancer - just use this as/when needed

According to this post, selecting night mode should increase the chances of using the zoom lens vs. cropping, though that may not give you the look you want. But worth experimenting with.

Although annoying that, we can't use whichever lens we want here is a bit example on the photography side od things.
The samsung lenses are FIXED Aperture and FIXED zoom
Hence for night photos and poor lit conditions it will use the main 1.8 Aperture lens which lets in more light.
and wide for closer up as its got the macro function and the next best aperture at 2.2
the 3x is more sharper that the other two at 2.4 so will need more better lighting then the other two.
The 10x is the most sharpest at 4.9 Aperture but one which would require very bright conditions.
also the 10x requires the furthest distance to focus and if you notice from 3x when you switch to the 10x in indoor settings anything black will have a greenish hue which is not very flattering.

What is going on with the cameras? Is there something wrong with the specs?

I discovered something strange with my S20 FE. When I open the camera and try the ultra-wide, the wide and the zoom, the last camera module is never used! I tried this by blocking the cameras with my fingers. So the middle camera is used for both the wide and zoom mode, which means that the device does not have an optical zoom camera OR the optical zoom works in a different way than I thought!
I also tried to take some pictures while covering the cameras, just to see if the viewfinder uses different cameras than the ones that are used for the actual shoot, but the result does not change (zoom photos are taken using the wide).
So here are my questions:
1) What is the bottom camera used for?
2) How is there an optical zoom if both the wide and zoom photos are taken using the same sensor?
3) Is this the same sensor/approach like in S20 which uses an 64MP sensor to shoot 3X hybrid zoom?
4) Anyone that has used the bottom camera to shoot anything? Are the specs wrong?
I've got the 5G version with the Snapdragon 865.

UPDATE!
The bottom camera is used when zooming more than 10X!!! This makes things more complicated!

atg2x said:
UPDATE!
The bottom camera is used when zooming more than 10X!!! This makes things more complicated!
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Click to collapse
Actually, the 3X camera works when there's enough light, otherwise, the main camera will be used.

atg2x said:
I discovered something strange with my S20 FE. When I open the camera and try the ultra-wide, the wide and the zoom, the last camera module is never used! I tried this by blocking the cameras with my fingers. So the middle camera is used for both the wide and zoom mode, which means that the device does not have an optical zoom camera OR the optical zoom works in a different way than I thought!
I also tried to take some pictures while covering the cameras, just to see if the viewfinder uses different cameras than the ones that are used for the actual shoot, but the result does not change (zoom photos are taken using the wide).
So here are my questions:
1) What is the bottom camera used for?
2) How is there an optical zoom if both the wide and zoom photos are taken using the same sensor?
3) Is this the same sensor/approach like in S20 which uses an 64MP sensor to shoot 3X hybrid zoom?
4) Anyone that has used the bottom camera to shoot anything? Are the specs wrong?
I've got the 5G version with the Snapdragon 865.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) The bottom camera is the 3X optical zoom.
2) As I mentioned above, depends how much light you have.
3) The zoom sensor of s20/s20+ is different, they don't have optical zoom , just hybrid.
4) The camera works perfectly, daylight photos, night photos with wnough light, moon photos.