Xiaomi recently launched a liquid lens for its recently announced Mi Mix smartphones. The liquid lens can change shape to change the focal length and focus to suit a variety of applications. Is this the future of lens technology?
In this short video, Lew from Laterclips discusses some of the potential future of liquid lens technology based on a teaser released by Xiaomi earlier this week. A liquid lens would function more like the human eye, as it would change shape to adjust focus and aperture, instead of using motors to move heavy glass elements in a tube. This technology is not a new idea; there are already industrial applications that use liquid lenses, such as high-speed machine vision on production lines.
A lens to rule them all
The idea of a lens that can change shape is a very exciting prospect for any photographer who has carried a heavy lens bag for a period of time; the very notion of a lens that can do everything is certainly the dream of those who need to change lenses regularly in adverse conditions.
I’m probably getting ahead of myself here a little; after all, Xiaomi is a smartphone company, not a camera company. But we can dream, can’t we?
The claim is that this technology will eventually be used to allow smartphones to have a camera with liquid lenses, instead of the huge array of cameras with multiple lenses and sensors that we are seeing in the current flagship smartphone line. This would allow for cheaper devices because they have a single image sensor or the potential for larger sensors in smartphones, which could have major advantages in image quality. As is the case with most new technologies, software and implementation will be the key to the usefulness of that technology.
When can we use a liquid lens smartphone camera?
The new Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold was announced on March 31, 2021, this is considered the first smartphone to feature a liquid lens in its camera configuration. That’s right, a foldable smartphone with a liquid lens. We are really living in the future.
Unfortunately, for many of us, this phone is not available in Europe or the USA. The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold features an 8-megapixel “bionic” camera that uses a liquid lens powered by an engine that uses precision manipulation in that fluid package to switch between 3x telephoto zoom and a macro mode that allows focus close to just 3 centimeters. These liquid lenses are said to work at temperatures ranging from -40 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius (-40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit), so they should work well wherever you are using a smartphone.
Interestingly, despite claims that this technology would replace large sets of cameras, the Mi Mix Fold still features a set of three cameras. The main camera is a 108-megapixel Samsung sensor with a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera below it, in addition to the liquid lens camera. It is unclear whether Xiaomi still did not have full faith in the technology or whether it wanted to be the first to launch this on the market. Without getting our hands on the phone, we in the West will have to wait until similar technology hits phones in our region before we can see its performance first hand. It is still an interesting technology, if not something else.
What do you think of liquid lenses? Do you think liquid lenses will end up in professional cameras?
Let me know in the comments.