On the one hand, Lightroom corrects my lens distortion and vignette from a saved profile of that lens; but I’d think at a smartphone level, where the parts are smaller, they’re also less even?
In other words, camera lenses are small so manufacturing defects are more noticeable. Therefore, each smartphone requires a different correction.
> In other words, camera lenses are small so manufacturing defects are more noticeable. Therefore, each smartphone requires a different correction.
Well, yes, and no, and yes. Small camera lenses are probably going to be more evident in certain defects. On the other hand, there are typically less elements in smaller camera lenses, which is nice as the less of those there are, the less the chance of other defects.
Taking a picture like mentioned above could absolutely create a 'per-camera/phone' correction profile. May not be able to correct every type of defect but I could see it being useful for some lenses. I know for Sony cameras, there have been a couple models where a large percentage of the copies produced have -one- soft corner.
Some of the smallest plastic lenses have geometries and optical properties which are impossible to make in glass or in larges plastic pieces. So smaller lenses don't have only disadvantages to them. (Even though I myself personally rather take a pound of glass any day over these things.)
Not 100% equivalent, but from what I’ve heard, this can be an issue when using full frame lenses on a crop sensor DSLR. The sensor gets everything from a smaller part of the lens, so defects that don’t show on a 35mm equivalent sensor can show at APS-C.
The area of research that covers from HDR to smartphone array cameras is called Computational Photography, I think.