Fields involved in mobile phone camera modules and lens selection

Cameras have been dominating the electronics industry as it has many applications such as visitor monitoring systems, surveillance systems, attendance systems, etc. The cameras we use today are smart and have many features that earlier cameras did not. Today's cameras capture not just images, but scenes, and analyze whether what they're seeing is a person or an object, and track intelligently. Camera modules are widely used in robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc. Video data is processed using a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning, which is then used in many applications such as license plate detection, object detection, motion detection, facial recognition, and more.

Sometimes, when customers buy camera modules from us, they don't know what kind of lens they need to use. There are many theories, articles teaching people how to choose the right lens, but after reading it, people are still confused, or even more confused.

In fact, what lens you need depends a lot on where you want to mount your camera/camera module. Would you like to install it in your room, office, car, large factory, open backyard, street or building? The lenses used in different places with different viewing distances are very different, so how to choose the right one among hundreds of different lenses?

There are many factors to consider when choosing a lens, such as focal length, aperture, lens mount, format, FOV, lens construction, and optical length, etc., but in this article, I will highlight one factor, the most important factor when choosing a lens: focal length

The focal length of a lens is the distance between the lens and the image sensor when the subject is in focus, usually expressed in millimeters (for example, 3.6mm, 12mm, or 50mm). In the case of zoom lenses, there are regulations on minimum and maximum focal lengths, eg 2.8mm–12mm.

If you want to make an external mobile phone camera module, you must master the basic knowledge of the lens. For example, there are some common factors: OTG function.

The OTG function on the mobile phone is the function that enables you to use the mobile phone to read the external storage for data exchange. For example, with the OTG function, you can use the mobile phone to read and write data on the external U disk or mobile hard disk.

If you want to connect the external camera module to the mobile phone, you must also enable the mobile phone to have the OTG function so that the data can be read.