A lot of noise was made yesterday when we spotted an alleged leaked photo of the HTC M8‘s backside. The contention arose, not only due to claims of ‘photoshopping’, but the back of the HTC One’s successor was adorned with what appeared to be two cameras, raising questions of why this would even be necessary. Even if the HTC M8, or HTC One 2, or whatever it will be called, does not eventually release with two cameras on its back, I thought it would be insightful to take a look at the science behind having two cameras in the HTC M8, or more accurately, why a dual-sensor camera is preferable to the standard one camera affair.
To understand why you need two cameras at all, we must first take a look at the Lytro Camera. The Lytro introduced in 2011 a type of technology that would change photography as we know it; in standard photography, your camera focuses on one object and once the picture is taken, the focus of the photo is unable to be changed. The Lytro is able to get around these restrictions by capturing the light field around the entire designated photo area. What this means is that photos from the Lytro can be examined later on and refocused at the users discretion. That a look at what the results can be:
Both images seen above were taken at the same time; the only difference is that instead of being restricted to focusing on one object, which can potentially be the wrong object, the Lytro allows you to retrospectively change what you are focusing on. As you can see, the Lytro Camera technology is something that can potentially revolutionize photography as it reduces the need for specific apertures.
Along these lines of developing a mobile camera with comparable capabilities, Toshiba actually announced the TCM9518MD module last year which they said would be capable of Lytro-like photography, allowing you to refocus your pictures after taking them. While the module isn’t quite in mass production yet, it looks like plenty of phone manufacturers, like Apple and Nokia, have been hot on Toshiba’s tail trying to develop similar technology, and you can probably see why.
Which brings us to the rumour that the HTC M8 will have a similar dual-sensor camera. If a dual-sensor camera does make it into the new HTC flagship smartphone, it would be a definitive step in putting the Taiwanese manufacturer back where it wants to be: back at the top of the Android charts after an extended hiatus.
Would you like to see a dual-sensor camera in the HTC M8? Was yesterday’s leak was actually real? Let us know what you think of the technology in the comments below.
Source: Digital Trends (1), (2) via The Phoblographer
