Although today’s smartphones have more and more capabilities to capture light in adverse conditions, the arrival of a new model is not conceived without the support of its corresponding flash. The flash of mobile phones became a luxury and only reserved for the highest-end terminals, when the cameras began to shine.
In the same way that it happens with professional cameras, the support of a flash light is essential for many occasions. Even if we don’t need it, it can be used even in some photographic techniques. For this reason, we are going to see the types of flash that we can find today in our smartphones, and that like all hardware, they can have more or less capacities, or even different, depending on the installed flash.
The history of mobile telephony has so far offered us two types of flash: LED and Xenon. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages, but it is convenient to see each one closely to understand it better.
LED flash
It is the most common type of flash and present in smartphones that go on the market. It is an economical type of light that allows you to save energy efficiently, something very useful when what you are looking for in a smartphone is to be away from the charger for as long as possible.
The LEDs are very small, so they are also perfect for integration into smartphones. They also support the flashlight function by providing continuous light. However, the illuminated area of the LED flash is dimmer compared to other types of flash technology. In addition, it is also not very effective for capturing moving subjects and can favor the appearance of strange colors and blue tones in some shots.
Double LED flash
As a slight variant, we find the double Flash LED system. This system works in a similar way to the single LED flash, but combining two LEDs of different color temperatures (warm and cool). This combination attempts to achieve greater precision by adjusting the lighting to the environment.
Dual LED flash
Triple and quad LED flash
Although it is not the usual today, there are manufacturers that have gone further by integrating three and four LED flashes for their cameras. Except for the increased brightness of the flash they emit, the technical differences with respect to the double flash are non-existent. An example is the smartphone that serves as the cover for this article, such as the Xiaomi Mi Note 10
Xenon Flash
The Xenon flash is still very popular in traditional photography. However, this is a more expensive system that has been less suitable for integration into mobile phones. The proof is that companies like Samsung or Nokia, who ventured with the Xenon flash many years ago, have abandoned this system.
However, the Xenon flash is ideal for capturing moving images and has a longer range than the LED flash. It also consumes more energy and is more expensive to manufacture. Its operation is also very different, since it has a tube of electrodes and is charged with xenon gas. A metal activation plate is responsible for passing through the tube and being activated by an electric current, causing the xenon atoms to emit light and fire.
xenon flash nokia
It is for this reason, that manufacturers can boast of night photography, whenever we are talking about long exposure shots or static elements. However, if we want, for example, to photograph a night event with our mobile phone such as a race or a Rally, smartphones are still light years away from professional cameras, largely due to the Xenon flash.