• moakley@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Invention that will seem obvious after it’s introduced: a phone camera that can film in landscape while being held vertically.

    Invention that’s not obvious but I’m sure it’s a brilliant idea: edible, bacon-flavored wrapping paper so that pets can open their own presents!

    • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 days ago

      Invention that will seem obvious after it’s introduced: a phone camera that can film in landscape while being held vertically.

      Why don’t we have this??

      People turning their phones to film in landscape will probably be one of those things that’ll look silly in old media once this is changed.

      • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Increases the hardware pixel count by ~1.6x while being wasted every shot.

        Just turn your fucking phone.

        That being said, half our phones have like 3 cameras on the back we don’t use, so sure, throw a fourth on, why not?

        • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          It wouldn’t. It would just switch the orientation of the camera. The preview/what you’re looking at would remain in portrait mode.

          It’s literally a software problem. You don’t use a different camera when you go into landscape mode, you’re just using a different aspect ratio.

          So again, why don’t we have this?

          • Dave@lemmy.nz
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            6 days ago

            But the camera sensor is a rectangle, right? So you could do it with software, but you would lose resolution because the sensor isn’t as wide in that direction. You’d just be cropping the image.

            • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              I think you’re right that it’s related to it being a rectangle and without changing the sensor shape it’d be basically a crop in software.

              The cameras are round though so it’s only the capture hardware that would need to be fixed. The “megapixel” of the camera constantly increases as well so dropping some of it in a crop may not even matter much in the long run.

            • Dave@lemmy.nz
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              6 days ago

              I’m assuming the reasons we don’t use a square are cost and space. Phones are pretty tightly packed in, every 1mm width you add probably has flow on effects for other things you can’t have.

              And I am not sure what the limiting factor is but if you add a bunch more light sensors to make it square I’m assuming that comes with additional cost, not just the sensors but now you need to connect up a bunch more to whatever controls it which then might need more processing power or smaller connectors or some other flow on impact.

              • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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                6 days ago

                Oh yes, absolutely, to everything you’ve said. Every pixel on the matrix has to be wired up individually. My only argument would be that we’ve already reached ridiculous resolutions on phones - might as well plop a square sensor in.

          • klay@lemm.ee
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            6 days ago

            i think its not about the camera, but about the screen you are seeing the recording on. Imagine taking a video in landscape but having to check what you are recording in portrait. What would i want that disadvantage for?

            Btw i find the many people who watch wide screen videos in portrait mode fucked up.

          • m0stlyharmless@lemm.ee
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            5 days ago

            I’m pretty sure that the multiple cameras all have different focal lengths, which allows the software to composite a single image from the multiple signals. This allows the intersecting fields to enhance quality when zooming and discriminate smudges/dust that you wouldn’t want to be in the shot.

      • Zanz@lemmy.ml
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        6 days ago

        Phones have square camera sensors.There’s no reason that shouldn’t be a thing already.

        • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
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          5 days ago

          They’re 4:3, but close enough I guess. There’s plenty of resolution in either direction anyways

      • moakley@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Makes sense. It seems like Motorola is always trying to innovate and then it just doesn’t catch on. I still say it’ll be standard one day.