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WO-2026094054-A1 - LARGE APERTURE CONTINUOUS ZOOM FOLDED TELE CAMERAS

WO2026094054A1WO 2026094054 A1WO2026094054 A1WO 2026094054A1WO-2026094054-A1

Abstract

Continuous optical zoom cameras with folded lenses, suitable for use in low-profile mobile devices. Along with providing continuous optical zoom, the camera lens maintains a relatively stable fl#. In some examples, fl# stability is achieved by adjusting the aperture diameter to compensate for the tendency of fl# to increase with increasing zoom factor and effective focal length. In some examples, adjustment of zoom factor is achieved without adjusting external dimensions of the camera module.

Inventors

  • GOULINSKI, Nadav
  • GOLDENBERG, EPHRAIM

Assignees

  • COREPHOTONICS LTD.

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251102
Priority Date
20241104

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A camera having an optical path folding element (OPFE) which folds an optical path of the camera to extend along first and second optical axes, an image sensor positioned at an image side of the second optical axis, and a lens comprising a plurality of lens elements including at least one lens element positioned along each of the optical axes, and wherein: one or more groups of said plurality of lens elements are configured to move along the second optical axis to continuously adjust the lens from a first zoom factor (ZF) to a second ZF larger than the first ZF by at least 25%; and cumulatively, for each 10% that the second ZF is larger than the first ZF, an f/# value of the lens is limited to increase by less than 4%.
  2. 2. The camera of claim 1, wherein: the lens adjusted to the first ZF has an effective focal length (EFL) EFL MIN which is an EFL of the lens; the lens adjusted to the second ZF has an EFL EFL MAX , which is a maximum EFL of the lens; and the image sensor has a full sensor diagonal SD; wherein a field of view given by SD/EFL varies within a range 0.3 to 0.7 for the EFL range between EFL MIN and EFL MAX .
  3. 3. The camera of claim 2, wherein EFL MAX is about 1.5x longer than EFL MIN .
  4. 4. The camera of claim 3, wherein the f/# of the lens at EFL MAX is less than 3.5.
  5. 5. The camera of claim 3, wherein the f/# of the lens at EFL MAX is less than 3.
  6. 6. The camera of claim 3, wherein the f/# of the lens at EFL MAX is about 2.85.
  7. 7. The camera of any one of claims 3-6, wherein EFL MIN 10 mm and EFL MAX < 20 mm.
  8. 8. The camera of any one of claims 1-7, wherein: the lens has a height extending along the direction of the first optical axis, and extending between: an object-side surface of a first object-side lens of the plurality of lens elements, and a lowest edge among the lower edges of the OPFE and the at least one lens element positioned along the second optical axis; and the lens height is the same when the lens is adjusted for any zoom factor in a range including and between the first zoom factor and the second zoom factor.
  9. 9. The camera of any one of claims 1-8, wherein: the camera has an optics length extending along the direction of the second optical axis, and extending between: the image sensor, and a horizontal edge of a first object-side lens of the plurality of lens elements; and the optics length is the same when the lens is adjusted for any zoom factor in a range between and including the first zoom factor and the second zoom factor.
  10. 10. The camera of any one of claims 1-9, wherein an overall height of the camera along first optical axis is shorter than an overall length of the camera along second optical axis.
  11. 11 The camera of any one of claims 1-10, included in a camera module housing having a shoulder with a shoulder height H s and a camera module height H M , wherein: the H s is in a range 4 mm < H s < 10 mm; the H M is in a range 6 mm < H M < 15 mm; and a ratio H S /H M < 0.9.
  12. 12. The camera of any one of claims 1-11, wherein, cumulatively, for each 10% that the second ZF is larger than the first ZF, an f/# value of the lens increases by less than 2%.
  13. 13 The camera of any one of claims 1-12, wherein, cumulatively, for each 10% that the second ZF is larger than the first ZF, an f/# value of the lens increases by less than 1%.
  14. 14. The camera of any one of claims 1-13, wherein, for a second ZF at least 1.5x larger than the first ZF, an fl# value of the lens increases by about 4%.
  15. 15 The camera of any one of claims 1-14, wherein the fl# of the lens is below 3.5 at each of the first and second zoom factors.
  16. 16. The camera of any one of claims 1-15, wherein the fl# of the lens is below 3 at each of the first and second zoom factors.
  17. 17 The camera of any one of claims 1-16, wherein the lens is a cut lens, and wherein at least one lens element located at the image side of the OPFE is cut along an axis parallel to the second optical axis.
  18. 18. The camera of any one of claims 1-17, wherein the camera has a 35 mm Equivalent Focal Length (35 mm Eq FL) in a range of 60 mm to 180 mm.
  19. 19 The camera of any one of claims 1-18, wherein 35 mm Eq FL is in a range of 70 mm to 150 mm.
  20. 20. The camera of claim 19, wherein 35 mm Eq FL is in a range of 80 mm to 120 mm.

Description

LARGE APERTURE CONTINUOUS ZOOM FOLDED TELE CAMERAS RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/715,846, filed on November 4, 2024. The contents of this reference are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to the field of digital cameras and more particularly, but not exclusively, to digital cameras provided with portable computing devices. Multi-aperture cameras (or “multi-cameras”, of which a “dual-camera” having two cameras is an example) are included in a variety of current portable electronic mobile devices (“mobile devices”, e.g., smartphones, tablets, etc?). A multi-camera commonly comprises a wide field-of-view (or “angle”) FOVW camera (“wide” camera or “W” camera), and at least one additional camera, e.g., with a narrower (than the FOVW) field-of-view telephoto or “tele” camera with an angularly smaller tele field of view FOVT. Commonly, a full-field spatial resolution of the tele camera is constant and may e.g., be 3 times or 5 times or 10 times higher than the resolution of the W camera. This is referred to as the tele camera having a “zoom factor” (ZF) of 3 or 5 or 10, respectively. ZF is determined by the effective focal length EFL of the tele camera (EFLT). For intermediate ZF values, digital zoom may be used. For example, a dual camera may have a tele camera with ZF 5 time higher than its W camera. When zooming into a scene, a device may digitally zoom the W camera's image data, up to a ZF of 5. For a ZF > 5, the device may use the tele camera's image data, including additional digital zooming for ZF > 5. Co-owned International Patent Publication No. W02023047202A1. describes a tele camera incorporating continuous optical zoom, whereby at least a portion of the available zoom range of a multi -aperture camera may be provided through use of optical zooming, with potential benefits for image quality. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to an aspect of some examples of the presently described subject matter, there is provided a camera having an optical path folding element (OPFE) which folds an optical path of the camera to extend along first and second optical axes, an image sensor positioned at an image side of the second optical axis, and a lens comprising a plurality of lens elements including at least one lens element positioned along each of the optical axes, and furthermore: one or more groups of the plurality of lens elements are configured to move along the second optical axis to continuously adjust the lens from a first zoom factor (ZF) to a second ZF larger than the first ZF by at least 25%; and cumulatively, for each 10% that the second ZF is larger than the first ZF, an f/# value of the lens is limited to increase by less than 4%. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, the lens adjusted to the first ZF has an effective focal length (EFL) EFLMIN which is an EFL of the lens; the lens adjusted to the second ZF has an EFL EFLMAX, which is a maximum EFL of the lens; and the image sensor has a full sensor diagonal SD; wherein a field of view given by SD/EFL varies within a range 0.3 to 0.7 for the EFL range between EFLMIN and EFLMAX. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, EFLMAX is about 1 ,5x longer than EFLMIN. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, the f/# of the lens at EFLMAX is less than 3.5. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, the f/# of the lens at EFLMAX is less than 3. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, the f/# of the lens at EFLMAX is about 2.85. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, EFLMIN 10 mm and EFLMAX < 20 mm. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, the lens has a height extending along the direction of the first optical axis, and extending between: an objectside surface of a first object-side lens of the plurality of lens elements, and a lowest edge among the lower edges of the OPFE and the at least one lens element positioned along the second optical axis; and the lens height is the same when the lens is adjusted for any zoom factor in a range including and between the first zoom factor and the second zoom factor. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, the camera has an optics length extending along the direction of the second optical axis, and extending between: the image sensor, and a horizontal edge of a first object-side lens of the plurality of lens elements; and the optics length is the same when the lens is adjusted for any zoom factor in a range between and including the first zoom factor and the second zoom factor. According to some examples of the presently described subject matter, an overall height of the camera along first opt