Dual lens approach offers new potential for smart phone cameras

23 Feb 2017

Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Corephotonics partnership enables “dramatic enhancements" in image quality.

Israeli dual camera imaging technology vendor Corephotonics, based in Tel Aviv, has partnered with camera module integrator Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEMCO) to develop a complete reference design, based on Core’s dual camera technology.

The partners say that through this reference design, which is now in volume production, smart phone manufacturers will benefit from “dramatic enhancements in image quality without any impact on the slim designs that consumers now expect from their handsets”.

The new partnership combines SEMCO’s expertise in camera module design and manufacturing, with Corephotonics’ camera-related technologies. In the new partnership announcement, Core stated, “This will enable a greater number of smart phone manufacturers to access ground-breaking imaging technology that will help them to elevate user experience.”

The dual camera concept enabled by Corephotonics’ technology presents smartphone manufacturers with greatly improved imaging capabilities: better zoom, increased effective resolution and broader dynamic range.

How it works

The Core design has one camera producing a wide field of view (FOV) image – as with the technology found in a conventional smart phone. In addition, however, there is a second camera that features a telephoto lens, which addresses the narrow FOV image. The result is an imaging mechanism that can deliver up to 3x optical zoom and provides the user with highly detailed photographs even in low light conditions.

Combining such imaging capabilities with proprietary lens design and actuator implementation allows a compact form factor (down to 5.5mm in z-height) to be maintained, while eliminating delicate opto-mechanical arrangements that are prone to damage.

“The camera has become a key differentiator in the current, highly competitive global smartphone market. Via the dual camera zoom solution pioneered by Corephotonics and the access we have now gained to their technology, it is possible to greatly expand upon our current smartphone camera capabilities,” said EVP Wan Hoon Hong, CMO of SEMCO “This will take us closer than ever before to the imaging performance that would normally be associated with an SLR camera.”

Eran Briman, VP of Marketing & Business Development at Corephotonics, said, “By integrating our calibration tools into its production lines, SEMCO is now better positioned for delivering mass production zoom dual camera modules which are drop-test certified and support relaxed calibration assembly. Combining such modules with Corephotonics’ zoom and bokeh algorithms easily satisfies consumer demands for elevated imaging functionality."