With smartphones now shipping with multiple lenses, the need for add-on lenses is greatly reduced. The only add on lens you might need these days is an anamorphic. However, shooting video in daylight is often tricky if you are trying to keep your shutter speed down.
Slower shutter speed creates motion blur, which mimics the look of film. But if the shutter speed is too high (at slower frame rates), you get a harsh, slightly jerky look to your video. Well, you might be after this look sometimes (can look cool for action shots).
But if you want that motion blur smoothness, you need a way to reduce the light entering your lens. They are also useful for shooting long exposure photos (for example waterfalls with the water motion blurred out for a cool effect).
That’s why many people use ND filters, placed over the smartphone camera lens. An ND filter reduces the amount of light hitting the lens, like wearing sunglasses.
OnePlus Concept One
OnePlus have always placed importance on the photography and video shooting capabilities of their phones. So it’s no surprise to see them innovating with cameras. But the ideas in their recently created “concept phone” are really quite different.
OnePlus’ new concept phone has a disappearing camera pic.twitter.com/a9xJ6ZT6uK
— The Verge (@verge) January 7, 2020
A proposed feature has the cameras hidden behind the glass of the phone’s body. When not in use the glass turns dark, hiding the cameras. OnePlus say this is to create a different look for your smartphone.
This works using “electrochromic glass” (a.k.a. smart glass or dynamic glass), which is 2 panes of glass with an electrochromic layer between. Electricity switches the layer between opaque and clear. This technology is nothing new and has been used in the windows of cars and buildings for years.
The difference is OnePlus say this is the thinnest and fastest electrochromic panel ever made.
It’s an ND Filter too
Perhaps aware that have a host of camera lenses displayed over your device can look ugly, they’ve come up with a novel way of hiding them. But more interesting for those of us trying to polish up our photos and videos is that the feature also acts as an ND filter.
In the test video above, it seems as though it’s only a weak filter. But still… better than nothing and might save you if you happen not to have an ND filter with you.
Just a concept, right now
Although OnePlus say they’ve been working on this for 18 months, it’s not yet ready. So we will have to wait to see if this will appear on a OnePlus phone in the near future. It’s not quite as mind-bending (or should I say “phone-bending”) as the foldable phones innovation, but probably more useful.
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