What makes a good phone camera ? Important key camera features

What are the important key features that make a good smartphone camera ? How do I know if phone camera is good ?

There are many phone camera features available. Some of them are useful mostly when you are taking the specific types of photos, for example like close-ups, motion photos etc.

The important features of good smartphone camera are:

• Quality image sensor and lenses
• Resolution - photos with higher resolution are larger, because they have more pixels. For a main smartphone camera, good resolution is considered to be 12 megapixels or more.
• Image stabilization - is used to reduce blur. It can be digital or optical. Optical image stabilization is considered to be better.
• Focus - can be automatic or manual. Autofocus is generally considered to be a better feature.
• Aperture - sometimes there is available one camera with high aperture and another camera with low aperture. Some phone cameras are able to adjust aperture to the ambient light automatically or manually.
• Software - can apply the right settings, filters or settings to make the photo look better.
• Zoom - can be digital or optical. Optical zoom is considered to be better.

Software may also include specific features like HDR or Panoramic photography.

Good phone camera needs to have both quality hardware and advanced software.

Hardware

• Sensor - good sensor has a high sensitivity. Sensor size is also important. The number of sensor pixels and the size of sensor pixels can make the difference.
• Lens - good one should have the right focal length and aperture. Better phone cameras have lenses with variable focal length and aperture, so they can can adjusted according to the needs.
• Optical stabilization - is based on physical moving of the lens or sensor, to reduce blur. It is considered to be better than digital image stabilization. To get the best result, both optical and digital stabilizations are used.

Software

Camera software is really important. It has quite a big impact on final photo or video quality. Good software can apply the right settings, focus, digital stabilization, scene filter, white balance, color temperature etc. Software in better phones can do the right modifications before taking the photo and when generating the photo.