What you need to know
- Tecno has unveiled the industry's first dual prism telephoto camera, which boasts the biggest tilt angle.
- The Tecno Eagle Eye Lens setup promises improved video stabilization when shooting moving objects through rotation of the dual prisms.
- It will make its way to Tecno smartphones that will debut in 2023.
While smartphone cameras have come a long way when it comes to sensor size and telephoto capabilities, image stabilization is still a hole that needs to be plugged.
Tecno aims to fill that gap with what it says is the industry's first dual-prism periscope camera with real physical tracking and shooting capabilities.
Tecno has unveiled its Eagle Eye Lens technology, a camera setup that uses two prisms to track and shoot a moving object while reducing handshake. The system promises to produce a more stable image or video than a standard telephoto camera with OIS, such as those found in the Xiaomi 12T Pro or OnePlus 10 Pro.
"The lens's internal rotational dual prisms, which provide real AI tracking and shooting, allow for an ultra-stabilization angle that can be as wide as 6 degrees on both the positive and negative axis," Tecno explains. "The two prisms can tilt uniaxially by +/- 8°or +/- 10°resulting in a combined uniaxial tilt range of +/-16° in the short side direction and +/-20° at the long side direction for the image, which allows them to intelligently track moving objects in the image."
As a result, a moving object will constantly occupy the center of the telephoto lens' view area. On the other hand, many of the best Android phones use digital technology to keep the object in the center of the frame.
Tecno says the lens works in tandem with an optical stabilizer to yield a sharp and clear shot of a moving object. This comes in handy when shooting at sporting events, such as F1 racing.
"The Eagle Eye Lens can solve the enduring issue of telephoto lens's limited view when capturing sports videos like the F1 racing," said Jimmy Hsu, deputy director of Tecno Image R&D Center. "Instead, cutting-edge equipment can acutely monitor, detect and capture the racing automobiles' rapid movement most ably."
Tecno hopes to include the lens in its future smartphones that will debut next year. However, the company says it will not license the system to other manufacturers, which means the camera setup won't be available to everyone given the limited availability of Tecno's handsets.
