Leica wide aperture and ultraviolet lens for phones

[avalon]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hello. I’m interested in buying and modifying Huawei p20 Pro phone to full spectrum for UV/VIS/IR photography. Huawei and Honor phones are using Leica manufactured lens known for providing best image quality/sharpness. Although they are not made from glass like traditional photography lens but some kind polymer, plastic. I wanted to know what material is used to make phone camera lens or at least how well they can transmit ultraviolet? This phone has monochrome sensor which is well suited for detecting deeper UV. Some UV might be also blocked by optical cement and AR coatings. Most phones today use plastic lens however LG V30 phone is exception that uses f/1.6 Crystal Clear glass lens claimed to have greater light-collecting ability and wide spectrum transparency, how it compares to Leica plastic lens? I did saw scientific paper describing DIY monochrome sensor ultraviolet camera which used quartz lens which is best UV transmission material but they are rare and expensive, anyway UV-C and some UV-B spectrum rays absorbed in atmosphere so BK7 glass like transmission is enough for my applications.

I’m thinking also about adding Honor 20 PRO wide aperture f/1.4 lens to this phone which are currently fastest lens in phones to increase camera overall sensitivity (there are rumors Sony might use even faster f/1.2 lens in phones so maybe it’s worth waiting for them). There would be significant light gathering increase after replacing original f/1.8 lens. It’s really impressive to see incredible engineering that went into squeezing in such thin phone design relatively large sensors, tiny wide aperture and great zoom lens to make versatile camera‘s. Sure there might be little vignetting or aberrations in corners when using these lens on Huawei p20 Pro main camera but it’s worth improving camera sensitivity. More important thing to know if these lens could fit inside Huawei camera modules.

Maybe Leica can sell these lens so not to buy whole camera modules or plans to make even faster lens, or use entirely new technology such as metalens which have a many amazing properties?

[andybarton]

Leica have some input into the design of the camera module in these phones but will have nothing to do with the actual manufacturing of the lens. 
 

 

[avalon]

Who is then manufacturing these lens? Or can you provide contacts?

Edited July 15, 2020 by avalon