When Huawei officially unveiled the P30 Pro sporting its Leica Quad Camera System to the world, many were curious as to what the additional sensor was on the new device. The Time-of-Flight or ToF camera, replaces the laser autofocus sensor on previous phones as the main sensor in charge of focusing. As a depth-sensing lens with incredibly high accuracy, the ToF camera vastly upgrades portrait photography on the Huawei P30 Pro through some clever technological developments.
Read our full review of its quadruple-lens camera.
Why is it called Time of Flight?
The ToF camera gets its name from the calculated flight time of infrared light in the distance it travels from the device to the subject, and back to the device. These calculations form the depth information needed by the phone to accurately separate the subject from the background, and apply the appropriate blurring effect on the image. It fires off infrared pulses that bounce off the subject’s surfaces back to the camera, and produces an extremely precise 3D depth map of the subject.
How is it different from other ‘bokeh lenses’?
While other devices used traditional monochrome lenses to achieve a bokeh effect by applying two-dimensional depth sensing methods, the results were often inaccurate and would blur out fine details like hair from the subject. The ToF camera’s 3D depth-sensing technology simulates the large aperture effect on a DSLR camera to produce more natural-looking portrait shots without smudging out minuscule details, thereby highlighting the subject more effectively.
Pro-level Portrait Mode
The ToF camera also relies on the Huawei P30 Pro’s AI algorithms to intelligently separate details on the subject from the background, and the system learns more each time portrait mode is used. Another impressive result of the ToF lens’ depth perception technology is its multi-level bokeh effect: the camera accurately detects how far objects are from the focal plane, applying a gradually stronger blurring effect the further away they are. This gradient bokeh effect produces more artistic shots comparable to those on pro DSLR cameras.
Augmented Reality Measurements
Realizing the non-photography possibilities of the ToF camera’s depth-sensing algorithms, Huawei integrated it with the AR Core and AR Engine supported on the P30 Pro to create an app called AR Measure. The app is essentially a measuring tool that calculates the length, area and volume of an object the camera is pointed at. It’s an efficient tool for simple DIY projects and paves the way for other tech to make use of the ToF camera’s potential utility.
The Huawei P30 Pro is also the first smartphone to employ a 3D modelling-based camera in the industry, revolutionizing how depth-sensing technology can be used for various applications, especially in the consumer electronics space.
