Unusual oblong bokeh [Galaxy S20 Ultra Periscope Zoom]

Max Phalange

Senior Member
This recent Reddit post features the usual "blurry light in the sky" trope, but with a very oddly shaped bokeh:





(Edit: adding detail, though I'm not particularly interested in this as a UFO sighting, rather just the optics of the bokeh):
14/7/22 4.00am NW UK object spotted

For some reason it won't allow me to post all the pics here but here's a link
Source: https://imgur.com/a/ZVnVXvm


I saw this in the sky above a tree line at my house, north west England.

Was completely stationary and couldn't take video unfortunately as im using my phone camera for photos and the video doesn't zoom as far so it just looks like a star

What you're currently looking at is at 100x Zoom.

(End edit)

In the comments, someone describes their friend getting a similar picture, of what turned out to be an ordinary airplane.



Does anyone know how a bokeh like this occurs? There's scant detail about the cameras used, except that the first is "100x zoom" and "a video camera" (which shoots .heic files, perhaps a Sumsung S20?), the second was just a phone "with nice zoom/night settings".
 
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This recent Reddit post features the usual "blurry light in the sky" trope,

some details would be nice

Article:
14/7/22 4.00am NW UK object spotted

I saw this in the sky above a tree line at my house, north west England.

Was completely stationary and couldn't take video unfortunately as im using my phone camera for photos and the video doesn't zoom as far so it just looks like a star

What you're currently looking at is at 100x Zoom.

Figure was pulsating and expanding changing shape and then reverting back.

But no pattern or timing to it, seemed random. Which is why I only have x amount of photos cos I tried so many times and couldn't capture quick enough

It disappeared around 4:10am

First saw it around 4am
Edit Manchester area UK



first pic from her album of the pulsating light

Source: https://imgur.com/a/ZVnVXvm






iU4osxO.jpeg
 
It looks like you have a small, bright, maybe 2-pixel light source and magnify it until the digital zoom turns it into a transparent box. Should be easy to replicate.
 
It looks like you have a small, bright, maybe 2-pixel light source and magnify it until the digital zoom turns it into a transparent box. Should be easy to replicate.
he seems to be at full 100 zoom and its not a box, only when he or the camera starts playing with the focus.
 
I think the most likely cause is what causes all shaped bokeh - some kind of shaped aperture - either internal or external. The key thing here would be to get the exact camera type and examine the lens assembly.
 
Was the photo taken indoors? Could it be the reflection of an LED, perhaps on the camera itself, for example to help focus? "Figure was pulsating and expanding changing shape and then reverting back." (from the reddit post linked to above) could be focus-seeking, for example, which would naturally involve lighting up that LED.
 


So the S20 Ultra zoom is a "periscope" zoom.
2022-07-20_04-00-14.jpg
2022-07-20_03-56-36.jpg
The oblong box at the bottom. Notice the square shape on the left; that's where there's the mirror system (a prism in the diagram). So it's likely the shape of the mirror/prism or something along the optical pathway that gives it, effectively, a rectangular aperture.
 
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So the S20 Ultra zoom is a "periscope" zoom.
2022-07-20_04-00-14.jpg
The oblong box at the bottom. Notice the square shape on the left; that's where there's the mirror system (a prism in the diagram). So it's likely the shape of the mirror/prism or something along the optical pathway that gives it, effectively, a rectangular aperture.
Good find. As the lens system has no iris/aperture, the rectangle will indeed define the out of focus shape. You can also see the diffraction effect of the edges on the rectangle on the 4th image of post #1.
 
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