Topmost lens never seems to be used on Samsung Galaxy A14 (5G)

[alfredtheman]

I'm trying out the camera (or cameras) on my Samsung Galaxy A14 5G. I have figured out that the middle lens is being used by default. If I change to macro, the bottom lens is being used. However, I couldn't figure out, which mode the topmost lens is used for? Switching between 12MP and 50MP doesn't seem to make a difference. (Does that even make sense?) Also, at no point during zooming from 1x all the way to 10x, the lens is being switched from the middle one to the top one.

What am I missing? Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[belodion]

Welcome.

So far as I know, depth cameras don’t normally produce viewable images, but contribute information about the subject so that, for example, the background can be blurred.

 

[alfredtheman]

depth cameras don’t normally produce viewable images, but contribute information about the subject so that, for example, the background can be blurred

Hey, thanks! That sounds promising, but doesn't that mean if I block the topmost lens with a piece of paper, and take a picture in portrait mode, background blurring should be failing? Because it looks like it's still working for me.

Switching between 12MP and 50MP doesn't seem to make a difference. (Does that even make sense?)

Any idea about this? Two sensors behind the same lens? I also don't really see a difference in the picture quality at all.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Interestingly, AT&T claims the top lens is the main 50 MP shooter: https://www.att.com/device-support/devicediagram/Samsung/SamsungSMA146U. So either their variant is slightly different, or they messed up with their documentation.

In any case, I wonder if the depth camera is there to allow the user to manually adjust the depth of field (either while taking the photo, or after the fact using photo editing software). See if there's an option for that in your Camera app, and if so, see if the ability to adjust depth of field is impeded by blocking the depth sensor. (The portrait mode probably still works even when blocking the depth sensor because it's just doing some default degree of background blurring.)

 

[alfredtheman]

AT&T claims the top lens is the main 50 MP shooter: https://www.att.com/device-support/devicediagram/Samsung/SamsungSMA146U.

This also doesn't mention the 12 MP sensors, at all. Which, I guess, you could call the main camera sensors, because it's the only one that supports zooming.

depth camera is there to allow the user to manually adjust the depth of field (either while taking the photo, or after the fact using photo editing software). See if there's an option for that in your Camera app

No, I cannot find any such setting. The other camera modes are pro, macro, panorama, night, food, slow motion, hyperlapse. I didn't notice any difference with any of those either, when blocking the topmost lens with a piece of paper.

Also, in portrait mode, I only get the warnings "stay withing 3-5 feet" and "lens blocked or not enough light" when blocking/messing with the middle lens. Absolutely no reaction when I do anything to the topmost lens.

Any other ideas what I could try?

 

[B. Diddy]

You could try contacting support using the Samsung Members app -- I believe you can actually request a chat that way.