Wonder how dual cameras in smartphones work? Here is all you need to know

Dual camera set-ups are fast catching up as a trend in smartphones these days. The year so far has seen many devices – flagship or mid-tier – sporting dual cameras. The latest offerings from Asus, InFocus and Huaweihave added to the excitement around such camera set-ups, assuring the camera game in the smartphone industry is here to stay.

Technically, not all dual-camera set-ups are the same, as they deliver different prepositions. Here is a quick guide to the different aspects of dual cameras and how original equipment makers (OEMs) use them for their devices.

Primary camera, coupled with depth sensor for Bokeh effect

Nubia N17Nubia N17 One of the common dual camera set-ups, mostly employed in budget and mid-range devices, this set-up consists of two different sensors – primary lens with large sensor and secondary lens with depth-sensing sensor. In this set-up, the primary camera captures the shot while the depth-sensing sensor measures the background and other objects. The Nubia N17

image processed through the primary camera is then treated with the information retrieved through the depth-sensing sensor to create a single image where the object in focus remains sharp and the background gets blurred, creating the so-called Bokeh effect.

A slightly more popular implementation of the secondary sensor is the monochrome camera. In this method, the primary camera is accompanied by a mostly identical secondary camera. Both cameras usually have identical sensors, apertures, lenses and focusing systems. The main and usually the only difference between the two is that the second sensor lacks an RGB colour filter. This means that the sensor cannot capture colour information. But on the upside, because there is one less thing blocking the sensor, the monochrome camera can capture more light.