With HTC’s new One (M8), the company has once again positioned themselves at the forefront of mobile device photography. The Duo Camera on the HTC One (M8) neatly accomplishes things a regular camera can’t. It’s also another bold move from HTC that needs a bit of explanation.
Last year, we got Ultrapixels from HTC, which quite bluntly sounded like a lot of nonsense at first. Dive into it, though, and you really started to get why it was so profound. This year’s camera is pretty much uncahnged from last year, too: BSI sensor, 2.0 um pixel size, sensor size 1/3”, f/2.0, 28mm lens.
Duo Camera may be equally dismissive for some. Though it’s not necessarily there for shooting pics, it is there to process info about pics. The secondary camera on the One (M8) sits just above the main rear camera. HTC says it “captures depth of field information and provides an entirely new set of editing tools.” From the start, we see that the HTC One (M8) dual setup isn’t meant to snap 3D pics — it’s meant for editing.
When you snap a pic, the secondary camera will get depth of field information. From there, you can add bokeh to your shot, or re-focus to a new person or object using what HTC calls UFocus.. Keep in mind this is all done after the picture has been taken. The Duo Camera setup on the One (M8) helps to get a better idea of how to best alter pics when you’re editing them, doing things like adding the right distortion or fading to your newly edited photo.
Between just adding bokeh or choosing a different focal point, HTC has already outdone themselves with the One (M8) camera. They have also added dual flash to the setup, making for a much better experience when you need the right lighting. The camera hardware itself may not have changed, but it was already a great camera that needed little else to help it along. The dual flash and secondary camera on the back should help with amazing pics, and a 5MP camera on front will help with your selfie situation.
