What are the characteristics of a professional-grade digital camera today? This question is actually not complicated, and any friend with basic photography knowledge may not hesitate to answer it.
Professional-grade digital cameras are expected to have the following features, including but not limited to:
Excellent low distortion low reflection optical lens
Reliable optical image stabilization provides a sufficiently high safety shutter
Outsole CMOS with high sensitivity and fast focus characteristics
High-performance ISPs, and sometimes even dual ISP co-processing capabilities
A body that does not overheat easily and is preferably dust and water resistant
Nowadays, if you look at the entire high-end SLR and micro-single market, you will find that almost all of the high-end camera systems of almost all brands will fully meet the above conditions. Because these seemingly harsh conditions add up to a little harsh, in fact, it is just a camera that can basically meet the needs of professional creation and can assume the responsibility of "productivity", rather than just the bottom line that needs to be possessed as a ready-to-shoot device.
However, if you turn your attention to the smartphone market, you will find that some products may actually only do a few of the list, or even meet one or two of the requirements. However, even so, manufacturers have often dared to use words such as "professional image" and "flagship image" as the selling point of related products.
Why is that? On the one hand, we do need to admit that at least at this stage, most mobile phone users' requirements for image capabilities are not as professional as the camera, and the understanding of mobile phone image design cannot be as meticulous as the study of SLR, micro-single body and lens; on the other hand, after counting the entire mobile phone industry, there are indeed very few manufacturers who will really use the idea of high-end cameras to design the image part of a model.
However, OPPO chose to use the camera idea to make an image flagship mobile phone
On February 24, 2022, with the release of the OPPO Find X5 Pro, we also ushered in 2022, which may be the first image flagship model that has a "high-end camera model" in design ideas and can also meet the needs of professional creation in terms of technical characteristics and usage scenarios.
Why would we say that the OPPO Find X5 Pro is such a device? Quite simply, let's first take a look at the camera configuration one by one.
In terms of optical lenses, oppo Find X5 Pro's wide-angle main camera uses a rare 6P1G lens design in the industry, which means that it has a high-lens lens rarely seen on smartphones. You should know that unlike the camera, the lens of the mobile phone is too small and too thin, so the use of glass to make the lens is actually a very "luxury" thing.
At the same time, in the ultra-wide angle main camera of the OPPO Find X5 Pro, the freeform lens derived from the previous generation has also been inherited. This also means that the OPPO Find X5 Pro does not need to rely so much on algorithms to achieve low distortion optical performance at the ultra-wide end.
On the stabilization design, OPPO Find X5 Pro in the industry debuted the "suspension image stabilization" technology, compared with the traditional optical image stabilization design, its biggest change is to achieve the dual image stabilization ability of the lens + sensor. As can be seen from the modules displayed at today's press conference, the cost of "suspension stabilization" is huge, because it makes the main camera module of OPPO Find X5 Pro several times larger. But in terms of effect, stronger stabilization will inevitably achieve higher available exposure times, which is undoubtedly more meaningful to mobile phones than the camera.
On CMOS, OPPO Find X5 Pro's rear camera also continues the "dual main camera" design of wide-angle + ultra-wide angle, the two main cameras use the exact same 1/1.56-inch 50 million pixel IMX766 sensor, which also supports the omnidirectional focus structure of omnidirectional pixels, has 10bit color capture capabilities, and also supports stacked HDR exposure during video shooting. Of course, by using two CMOS with the same specifications, OPPO is equivalent to solving the chromatic aberration problem caused by multi-camera switching of different focal lengths in the most "simple and rough" way.
Of course, the OPPO Find X5 Pro on iss just as proud, as it is equipped with OPPO's self-developed NPU Mariana X for independent imaging for the first time. This energy-efficient chip can work with the BUILT-in ISP of oppo Find X5 Pro to run OPPO's self-developed AAA algorithm during focusing, metering, white balance determination, and achieve RAW domain noise reduction processing that is rare in the mobile phone industry, even achieving real-time 4K frame-by-frame HDR processing when shooting video in low-light environments.
Finally, as a flagship model unveiled in early 2022, the OPPO Find X5 Pro series is also naturally equipped with two optional top platforms, the new Snapdragon 8 and Tianji 9000. With the heat dissipation system piled up in the fuselage and the ultra-long-life battery supported by OPPO's self-developed technology, whether it is the heat of long-term recording, or the charging and battery life experience after long-term use, OPPO Find X5 Pro has also achieved a rare high level in the entire industry.
High costs are not necessarily "worth it", but OPPO's approach definitely deserves respect
Obviously, the design difficulty and cost of OPPO Find X5 Pro this time far exceed the usual sense of "camera phone". Oppo uses the above design almost completely in accordance with the idea of high-end cameras, and the final result may only be a word of praise from ordinary users, or the heartfelt love of a small number of professional creators.
Is it "worth it"? From the perspective of the input-output ratio of a simple product, it may not be worth it. But looking at OPPO's entire conference today, it is not difficult to find that whether it is the new image flagship Find X5 Pro, the "middle cup" Find X5 with almost no compromise in the image part, or the Enco X2 wireless headphones that focus on extreme sound quality and noise reduction, or oppo Pad, OPPO's first tablet product that clearly emphasizes productivity attributes, all of these new products are conveying a common message.
That is, for oppo now, they may be more concerned about how to make the product experience to the extreme, how to leave an indelible impression on consumers, and accumulate more self-developed technology and experience in the process. As Liu Zuohu said, as for the cost, OPPO may not really care too much.
I have to say that this approach may not be "smart", but for a company, if you want to really strive for the position of industry leader and obtain technological advantages that are difficult for other competitors to surpass, this is obviously an inevitable step.