Here's the ZenFone 3 Deluxe's brand new camera system
The ZenFone 3 Deluxe (ZS570KL) is as beautiful as it is technically brilliant. In particular, the new PixelMaster 3.0 camera system boasts a wide range of features. A powerful sensor, stabilization, image processing, and intelligent lighting system all come together to capture your memories with clarity and vibrancy. It’s time to take a closer look at how these all work.
Incredible accuracy
Let’s start with the new 23 megapixel Sony IMX318 sensor on the rear camera. It features deep trench isolation, which keeps light from bleeding into neighboring pixels on the sensor. This improves sharpness across the board and keeps colors accurate. An RGB sensor and dual-tone LED flash work together to ensure skin colors and whites are true and natural.
The 6-element Largan lens assembly creates a 28 mm focal length with f/2.0. A sapphire cover provides incredible scratch protection while maintaining crystal clarity. On the front of the ZenFone 3 Deluxe is an 8 megapixel selfie camera with f/2.0 and 23 mm focal length. With an 85-degree wide angle, everyone can get in the shot.
On the software side, a range of shooting modes are loaded up to ensure you get exactly what you want. For example, a Super Resolution mode can capture 92 megapixels-worth of unprecedented detail. Real-time HDR processing helps you frame backlit subjects properly before hitting the shutter. Low-light mode can intelligently increase the brightness by up to 400% while minimizing noise. You can also try your hand at 32-second long exposures for some especially creative night shots. Finally, children mode plays a little tune to get the kids to stay still, automatically shoots when they do, and uses a quick shutter speed to minimize blur when they inevitably fidget.
Lightning fast
New in the ZenFone 3 Deluxe is the TriTech autofocus system. With it, you can get a lock on subjects in a mere 0.03 seconds. The classic contrast-based continuous autofocus is still here. It scans the difference of color between neighboring pixels in a sample area while adjusting the lens, and stopping when that difference is at its peak.
Infrared autofocus continues on in this generation, and has had its range extended out to 1.2 m. This fires an invisible beam out to the subject, and calculates how long it takes to bounce back to the ZenFone 3 Deluxe. This time indicates how far away the subject is, and thus how the lenses need to be positioned to keep it in focus. Not only is this faster than contrast-based autofocus alone, it also functions better in low-light.
New to the mix is phase detection. This uses two separate micro-lenses and color filters to produce images from different parts of the light spectrum. When a subject is out of focus, these images will be offset. When in focus, both of these images will be identical. Traditional contrast-based autofocus keeps moving the lens until things start to get blurry again, then backtracks to the sharpest point, but PDAF skips that backtracking. When the two test images are identical, it knows it has a lock. The PDAF system can also adjust lens position on the fly based on how the two focus images are drifting in relation to one another. Ultimately, this produces a fast, continually sharp focus, even for subjects in movement.
For added convenience, the new fingerprint sensor lets you launch the camera app within a split-second’s notice. With TriTech autofocus at your disposal, getting crystal clear pictures in low light or movement isn’t a problem.
Super steady
A new range of stabilization systems all but remove camera shake, which helps to keep still images sharp and video buttery smooth.
The physical optical image stabilization array surrounds surrounds the lens and actively counterbalances it based on movement. This balancing happens along 4 axes and 8 directions: yaw, pitch, X, and Y. With OIS in place, the lens stays properly aligned with the subject throughout small hand shake or unexpected bumps.
Electronic image stabilization is a little bit different, and pertains to shooting video. First, EIS identifies a central subject in the video that stays more or less consistent in position compared to elements along the outside, which move more due to shake. Then, the central subject is digitally repositioned to stay in place as much as possible.
To avoid blank sections during this repositioning, bare minimum sections from the periphery are cropped away. In this way, you can compensate for small positional changes in yaw, pitch, and roll in order to maintain smooth, steady shooting. This might reduce the overall resolution of the video, but since the ZenFone 3 Deluxe can shoot at 4K, there are plenty of pixels to spare.
The ZenFone 3 Deluxe is a great camera, but it can do a whole lot more. Visit the ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe product page for more details.
