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Leica switches teams with 1″ sensor branded camera on Sharp’s new Aquos R6 flagship smartphone

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With sanctions placed on Huawei around the world, it’s no surprise that companies that once had allegiances with them are now looking elsewhere for collaborations and marketing. One such company is Leica, whose name was famously branded onto the Hauwei P9 back in 2016 (even if the promo images were shot on Canon) and many of Huawei’s phones since then.

Now, though, it looks like Leica’s batting for another team, as the new Sharp Aquos R6 smartphone – with a huge 1″ camera sensor – has just been announced in Japan, bearing the Leica name around its lens. Don’t get too excited just yet, though. Its release might be limited to Japan – at least for a while.

Xiaomi teases new Mi MIX – the world’s first smartphone with a liquid lens

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Xiaomi has teased their upcoming Mi MIX smartphone with a camera that contains a world’s first. It’s going to have a liquid lens that adjusts its focal length and focus distance through the use of an electrical charge. This isn’t the first liquid lens to exist, and they’re common for some industrial uses, but it’s the first time one will be getting put into a production smartphone.

Other than the lens, there aren’t really many details about the new device yet or even just its camera – although no paternership deals with Zeiss, Leica or Hasselblad have been announced. Oh wait, they did get into bed with Light a couple of years ago. And Xiaomi did put out a survey last year to see if they should team up with a big name camera manufacturer (and which one). So… maybe?

VIVO launches its X60 smartphone series internationally with Zeiss cameras

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Well, it looks like it’s Leica vs Hasselblad vs Zeiss now in the smartphone camera market. VIVO has just unleashed their new X60 series smartphones on the world, including the X60, X60 Pro and X60 Pro+. The X60 and X60Pro launched in China in December of last year, but now they’re going global. The X60 Pro+ is only launching in India and China (at least for now), so we’re not going to talk about that one here (although it has an extra camera).

While there are some differences between the X60 and X60 Pro, both contain the same set of cameras. But the big difference is that the main camera on the X60 Pro is gimbal stabilised, as it was in last year’s VIVO X50 Pro/X51 5G. And both come in at a significantly lower price than the recently announced OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro.

OPPO’s new Find X3 Pro has TWO 10-Bit 50MP Sony cameras that see a billion colours

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OPPO has announced its new Find X3 Pro smartphone, and it comes with a pair of primary cameras with each featuring 50-megapixel Sony IMX 766 sensors covering both the wide and ultra-wide fields of view for “billion colour photos and videos”. The camera module also features a 60x microlens that lets you capture super close up detail.

Weighing in at 193g, the new flagship phone is IP68 rated, too, meaning it can withstand dist, dirt and stand and submersion in water up to depths of up to 1.5 metres for up to 30 minutes. Great for shooting in the rain or even in the pool! It also has a 120Hz QHD+ HDR10+ screen capable of displaying all those colours the cameras see, too.

DIYP’s ultimate smartphone vlogging gear guide

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Even before the whole global pandemic thing, vlogging was on the rise. This last year, though, seems to have caused a significant boost in the number of vloggers out there and many have taken to doing it on their smartphones.

We’re on lockdown again here in Scotland and getting out with a bunch of camera gear to shoot videos isn’t exactly possible right now. So, I’ve been testing out some smartphone vlogging gear over the last few weeks during my daily exercise to see how well they hold up.

Vivo teams up with Zeiss for upcoming X60 Pro+ smartphone cameras

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Well, it looks like Huawei’s not the only one with high photographic sights as smartphone manufacturer Vivo has also announced a partnership with Zeiss for camera development in their new X60 series. There will be three models in the X60 series – the regular X60, the X60 Pro and the X60 Pro+.

The first two smartphones have already made their public debut, but the third has not. Allegedly leaked renders found online, however, suggest that the X60 Pro+ may feature a quad-camera unit, bearing that famous Zeiss logo.

Xiaomi shows off retractable smartphone lens with IS, increased sensitivity and sharpness

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It’s been a long time coming, and they’ve been common in compact cameras since the days of 35mm film, but it looks like retractable lenses might finally start popping up in our smartphones. During yesterday’s Xiaomi Developer Conference in Beijing, they showed off a new lens tech that could potentially help smartphone photography take a giant leap. And soon, too!

GSMArena reports that Xiaomi has said the tech is ready to go, right now for implementation in real products. They say that it can collect 300% more light than traditional lenses – which means we might finally start to see phone images higher than ISO50 with drastically reduced levels of noise.

Vivo’s X51 5G smartphone with built-in gimbal camera is coming to Europe in 9 days

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The world of smartphones moves thick and fast these days, and a lot of them all start to look the same after a while, but this is one announcement I’ve definitely been waiting for. Chinese smartphone company, vivo has today announced their expansion into Europe and they’ve announced a new phone – sort of.

It’s the X51 5G, which is essentially the European release of the X50 Pro, from the company’s flagship X series and it features a gimbal stabilised camera. You might remember the gimbal camera was first teased in the vivo Apex concept camera back in March, expected for the X50 in May and then released in China in June. Now, it’s coming to Europe.

Auto white balance in phone cameras kills real color in wildfire photos

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Massive wildfires are currently raging in the US West Coast. The skies have been colored orange and red, but you might not be able to accurately capture it with your phone camera. Many people have noticed that auto white balance on phone cameras is severely affecting orange and red hues. This makes this whole tragedy look way less dramatic and alarming than it is.

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