vivo, a global technology brand, is known for its first-class technology and imaging capabilities. The company has made a name for itself through its innovative X, V, and Y series phones with excellent imaging technology and superb camera features.
To delve deeper into vivo’s innovation and developments in imaging technology, we had with us Yiran An, Senior Product Manager at vivo Imaging Centre, who has a deep love for photography.
Yiran received his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Queen Mary University of London in 2015 and has published works that have gained a lot of attention on social media.
Our interaction with Yiran will be a great opportunity to learn more about imaging technology at vivo, and its latest developments. Let’s hear from him about the general world of photography as well.
Yiran, being a photography enthusiast, how do you enjoy working at a place that is taking smartphone photography to new horizons in terms of imaging technology?
As a photographer who enjoys capturing breathtaking landscapes and the wonderful people I meet on my travels, I know the impact a good photograph can have and how the experience of capturing that shot or video should be enjoyable as well.
That’s why I love working at vivo, a company that is constantly pushing the boundaries with its innovation, research, and development in imaging technology.
In my current role, I am responsible for overseeing the planning and development of vivo’s imaging products. As part of this role, I get ample opportunities to conduct extensive research, optimize, and upgrade existing products, and find ways for vivo to ensure that users’ needs are met in a variety of areas and possible photography scenarios in the future times.
As a result of the strong alignment between my interests and the company’s mission statement, I fully enjoy my work at vivo.
Being a certified member of The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, do you believe that smartphone cameras are competing with high-end cameras when it comes to capturing frames and scenarios?
As an experienced photographer, I acknowledge that capturing a photograph with a camera can have its own charm, but it isn’t always accessible to everyone.
Nowadays, with smartphones becoming a crucial aspect of our daily lives, we don’t need to carry two devices everywhere as phones of today’s time and age offer tough competition to high-end cameras.
We, at vivo, strive to provide our users with the best and most advanced imaging hardware, such as a Customized Sensor that was developed in an exclusive partnership with leading lens sensor manufacturers.
These sensors provide quality input for smartphone photography by utilizing underlying technology such as aperture and focus that is more compatible with vivo’s imaging features.
Also, there is the High-Transmittance Glass Lens, which is made of the highest Abbe (dispersion coefficient) optical lens material ever used in the smartphone industry, making it easier and more enjoyable to take high-quality images than ever before, comparable to the lens configuration used in professional cameras.
Using algorithms, vivo simulates classic ZEISS portrait lens effects and enables users to experience professional camera lens effects and styles on their mobile phones, including Biotar, Sonnar, Planar, Distagon and Cinematic style bokeh for the X series.
What do you think are some of the notable and innovative software features that vivo has encapsulated in its leading flagship smartphones?
vivo is committed to continuously upgrading its core photography hardware. In the X70 and X70 Pro, vivo combined a Gimbal System with an Ultra-Sensing Camera.
The brand fully leverages the computing power of SoC platforms for imaging capabilities and optimizes user experiences with heterogeneous compute + algorithms (image processing acceleration).
vivo has been all over the media with a lot of praise for their latest X80 Pro on elevating smartphone photography and videography to new levels. How do you think the vivo-ZEISS partnership is advancing new innovations and advantages to users?
In collaboration with one of its most valued partners, ZEISS, vivo has developed unique mobile photography features by combining its experience in mobile imaging over the years with ZEISS’ professional optical expertise to provide users with a more professional imaging experience.
In collaboration with ZEISS, vivo gradually expanded the T* Coating application in the X series to reduce the disturbance of ghosting and glare on imaging during night shooting, so that consumers can now shoot pure professional-grade night scenes with their smartphones.
With constant innovation in hardware, self-engineered technologies have improved dynamic range, overall image quality, and low-light capture capabilities to deliver pro-level effects in time-lapse shooting.
The joint venture aims to solve technical bottlenecks in mobile imaging by combining both brands’ advanced technologies and expertise while also conducting subject research.
vivo is known to cherish its users with the best of innovations and is widely known to deliver an unrivaled solution for content creators and storytellers. How far do you agree that vivo uses advanced algorithms to boost users’ creativity?
Through its comprehensive algorithms that take user shooting scenarios and pain points into account, vivo aims to help users capture the best content possible.
A combination of our AI Deglare algorithm, the RAWHDR algorithm, and the phone’s hardware advantages makes it ideal for shooting at night.
The algorithms can reduce stray light, improve the purity of night photos, and continuously improve the preview effect of night shots, resulting in high-quality night photography and an excellent shooting experience for the users.
As for Motion Capture, vivo utilizes both, hardware advantages and a Motion Deblur algorithm to enhance the clarity and success rate of motion portrait capture, and to constantly expand the scenarios for motion capture (including low-light situations and at night) so that users have more options for shooting and can capture cherished moments.
vivo as a leader in imaging technology is said to offer tremendous camera capabilities in Stabilization, can you explain a few notable steps taken by the brand in this regard?
Of course, I would love to discuss these steps in more detail. By combining traditional OIS (optical stabilization) with EIS (software stabilization), based on the hardware stabilization of the Micro Cloud Station, we have improved the stabilization angle, smoothness, and stability of video shooting to achieve optimal effects and experiences for video stabilization.
Furthermore, vivo has developed a wide variety of creative shooting features such as “360° Horizontal Image Stabilization” to make the phone function like a professional sports camera.
Our company also offers the industry’s first smartphone Gimbal camera, which combines other hardware and software technologies to provide a larger anti-shaking angle and clear images. Regardless of the circumstances, users can get smooth videos.
Videos are undisputedly the primary way to consume content on the internet in a variety of formats. What is vivo offering to video content creators to help their content shine out?
There is no doubt that video has become the king of content in today’s digital world and the easy availability of high-quality cameras has paved the way for many new careers in content creation, be it personal or professional.
vivo continues its commitment to offering the best user experience by meeting everyone’s needs with differentiated imaging capabilities and camera features. Moreover, in terms of lens technology, vivo offers various technologies to help capture the best possible moments in any environment, including at night and in shaky conditions.
What do you think will be the evolving digital camera technologies to reach their full potential in future for vivo and other industry players?
At present, the role of the camera continues to evolve and become more important for individuals in their daily and professional lives. Considering this, I believe that various digital camera technologies will become increasingly important in the future.
Photographers can take advantage of night photography, portraits, videography, and super resolutions in three dimensions: perception, hardware, and self-engineered algorithms.
In the field of smartphone imaging technology, vivo is committed to paving new trajectories and possibilities. Digital camera technology has endless possibilities, and I’m excited to see what the future holds.
