Camera not using the Telephoto lens in 5x zoom in the camera app

[Kingshraga]

Hey - I noticed something annoying with my note 20 ultra 5g

When I choose the 5x zoom button on the camera (one tree) or scroll to 5X zoom, I see that the phone doesn't use the 5X zoom (telephoto) camera, and it's just using the main wide camera with digital zoom.

When I hit the 10X zoom mark, it switches to the telephoto lens.

Why is that??

[MadalinK · Accepted solution]

Hey! Yes I have noticed that. My theory is that because of the aperture of the 5x telephoto camera is f3.0, it doesn't switch to it when in low-ish light, otherwise the pictures would turn out too dark!
The 10x zoom is hybrid, so it uses info from both the main 108MP camera (f1.8) and the 12MP telephoto camera (f3.0)

Does that make sense? 😀

[Kingshraga]

Yep, that was my theory - tested it indoors vs outdoors (or adequate lighting scenario) and I saw that it switches automatically between the telephoto and the wide - That's a shame.

+ I noticed that the telephoto camera isn't that great by itself.