Lenses and Megapixels: Understanding Your Phone Camera

BY Jenica July 26, 2021

From megapixels to multiple lenses, it’s no secret that smartphones have been stepping up their game in the photo department the last few years, but are any good enough to start replacing a professional camera yet? We’ve got the break down for you.

iPhone

Many people think that the iPhone has been the leader in camera phone technology since the beginning. Even though they continue to be a top competitor, they don’t currently hold the highest title. In 2019, they released the first triple lens system which features a regular lens, portrait lens, and wide-angle glass, and the standard lens has a 1.2 aperture which is ideal for night-modes. Don’t let the 12-megapixel feature hinder you from this device either. Unless you plan on printing one of your photos to a billboard, that should be plenty for any standard print-outs. The new iPhones also have a new faster-focusing system that helps deliver those crisp shots in lower light settings.

Samsung

Have you ever had a hard time deciding between capturing the perfect video or the perfect photo moments? Never have to decide again with 8K Video Snap on the new Samsung phones. It now lets you pull an album of crisp photos—up to 33MP—right out of every 8K video. 

Innovation has not slowed down there either, they offer a robust 108-megapixel standard lens, alongside a wide, portrait, and telephoto lens as well. Need extra editing power? Just record in RAW to edit to your hearts content. 

OnePlus

A surprise new competitor, OnePlus, is a company that has teamed up with Hasselblad to bring a high-performance camera phone to market. With a 48-megapixel main Hasselblad camera, 8k video specs, the leading feature is actually a monochrome lens to create spectacular black and white masterpieces. The new Hasselblad partnership and ultra-wide lens was designed to reduce the distortion at the edge of images. While this may not be the #1 pick of the litter, it deserves the #4 spot on our list. 

While the specs on camera phones improve each year, they have a ways to go before they can surpass any professional level DSLR’s or Mirrorless systems, but for anything on the go, you can’t go wrong with any of these choices. So whether you’re wanting to stick to the Apple ecosystem or try something new, you’re guaranteed to capture your favorite memories with any of these devices. 

If you’re wanting to upgrade, Progressive Leasing’s lease-to-own program has partnered with thousands of retailers to help you bring home what you need today.