Qualcomm announce Phase Detection Auto Focus in smartphones for super fast focus lock
Qualcomm has announced that they have finished working on Phase Detection Auto Focus for smartphone/tablet chips that makes auto focus in camera application lightning fast. Though the current auto focus system is fast on smartphone powered by Qualcomm chips, this will make the auto focus to happen much faster. PDAF uses paired masked pixels on image sensor to set accurate focus. This works similar to human eye where both eyes are separated by some distance (paired pixels too are separated). The paired pixels that are separated by a distance view objects differently and out of phase. Snapdragon chip then calculates the phase difference and decides in which direction the lens should be moved to get accurate focus.
PDAF is generally used to digital SLR cameras for attaining auto focus. PDAF is very effective in bright environments and in dark environments, Laser Auto Focus will take control. In Laser Auto Focus, an infrared laser module sends series of laser beam pulses towards the subject, captures the beam that bounces off the object (kind of like SONAR). Snapdragon chip calculates the time taken for beam travel to the object and back to the phone to determine the distance. Once the distance is calculated, focus is set on to the object.
The new hybrid auto focus technology from Qualcomm now combines these two technologies, thanks to new smart algorithms developed by their engineers. The chip can switch between these two auto focus processes on demand. Lenovo VIBE Shot powered by Snapdragon 615 has Laser Auto Focus which Oppo R7 and LeTV 1 Max smartphones comes with Phase Detection Auto Focus.
