Qualcomm Announces ‘Clear Sight’ Dual Camera Technology

Are dual cameras the way of the future for smartphone cameras? There have been quite a few companies adopting the tech, most notably Apple with the iPhone 7 Plus. Now it looks like Qualcomm wants in on the action as well as they have announced a new technology called Clear Sight for the Snapdragon 820 and Snapdragon 821 chipsets.

So what is Clear Sight? According to Qualcomm, “Clear Sight features two cameras, each with its own lens and image sensor. Like your eyes, the lenses have identical focal length (meaning they see the same distance). But each camera has a different image sensor: one color image sensor (to mimic cones), and a separate black and white image sensor (which can absorb more light, to mimic rods).”

So what is the point of taking photos in color and in black and white? Basically the idea is that the black and white sensor will allow for better low light photography, have better contrast, less noise, and improved sharpness, and when merged with the color photo, should in theory result in a much more dynamic image.

In a way you could think of the process as almost similar to HDR, where multiple photos of different exposures are merged together for a stunning final result. That being said, Qualcomm’s Clear Sight technology will only be available for handsets powered by the Snapdragon 820 and 821 (and presumably future unannounced chipsets). We’re not sure which OEMs will be taking advantage of this technology, but we’ll be keeping a lookout for them.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, Photo-Video
Tags: Qualcomm