You still remember the Sony-Olympus joint press release saying they would work together on the digital dying compact camera market? This is how they are going to revive it….make “Lens-Cameras” directly for smartphones!
The New Sony QX cameras are already available for preorder at Amazon US (Click here to see them)! Here are all direct links to the two different cameras and colors and accessories:
Black QX100 (Click here).
Soft Carrying Case for DSC-QX100 (Click here).
Black QX10 (Click here).
White QX10 (Click here).
Soft Carrying Case for DSC-QX10 (Click here).
These QX cameras are based on current Sony compact camera tech. And It’s easy to guess that Olympus will launch them soon too. Just take some compact camera sensor and lens, get rid of the classic body and sell them as QX. Is that the future?
I really would like to hear opinion on that, because as a classic photographer I cannot imagine this would work for me…
[poll id=”210″]
67 Responses
No doubt the concept is great .
Consider RX100 IQ fr phone standard .
I would like to have it in my i phone as well .
Unfortunately no RAW offer from this great device , I’m big fan of RAW .
QX has rx100 II sensor, the new one. So it’s at least 250$ lesser.
If I wanted to be Mr. Trendy-Shooter-Facebook-Attn-Whore I would tether my GH to my phone and save myself the awkward handling that this configuration demands. That module looks like it will inevitably find itself smashed on the pavement the first time the phone gets bumped.
… more an enthusiast toy than an alternative to a small camera. You carry also 2 items with you. And the Sony RX100 is only 100 bucks more expensive. So I don’t see the benefit.
I can see them being reasonably successful if also included in higher price mobile phone contracts…
Great move from them, it was high time they come up with something the user in mind. The bulk of the DSLR really kills the use of them. Not selling them, people buy them and then use their iPhones for everyday family photography. Now you have a chioce in between.
I do not think it can rival a mirrorless, anyway.
I have written about it here: https://medium.com/tech-blogging/ca09f5e34576
To me it was a sure buy, until I have read of the lack of RAW support. I don’t have a rx100 to carry around, but this would have been lighter to hang it around my neck while walking in the mountains (I always have my smartphone with me).
I would never use it to post photos on FB (I have no FB account), but I see a market for this tool.
Hard to say. RX100 pictures are visibly better than any phone pictures. It might be worth the trouble, especially indoors.
Personally, I can’t imagine myself using this sort of…ermmm…”gadget”…to replace even a compact camera. Maybe if it was priced at, say under $100, you could consider one to have with you for those “just in case scenarios”.
Why would the average Joe bother on spending nearly as much as the mobile phone itself on an accessory is beyond me. Do you think a regular person, who knows nothing about sensors, ISO, depth of field, etc, will bother carrying this thing? I doubt it. People want simple. They don’t want hassle. They want to just grab the phone (which is with them 99% of the time) and take a snapshot and move on. And what about a photographer? Do you really want to take a picture with a glorified smart phone accessory, losing all ergonomics and the tactile feedback of a real camera, even a small compact? I can’t for the life of me picture someone who takes photography seriously thinking on replacing an actual camera with this.
So…who is this thing aimed for?
I honestly don’t think this is going to fly, except for, maybe a niche within a niche of the marketplace.
You make excellent points, however, I’d be interested in pocketable medium sensor primes, so it comes down to implementation. i.e. offering enough benefit to tolerate the downsides.
New sensor tech is allowing for smaller flange back distances, so perhaps this will become a reality with sensors as large as four thirds.
I fully agree with Rob: it is all down to implementation. The cameras in the better phones are producing rather good results under normal conditions, that is exactly why they replaced the low-end and meddle compacts. But if it were possible to get m43-equivalent quality out of these lens cameras, then it is viable. If it falls again below the mirrorless offerings and over the cameraphones than it will be stuck in no mans land. We’ll see.
However, a nice “coupler” accessory would be interesting: one end attaches to the iPhone, the other end is a mount for m43 lenses.That would be a killer app.
its not for everyone.. but i can see my self carrying this whwnever i dont want to bring proper camera with me.
smartphone with proper jacket in my left poket and the camera module on my right pocket.
I hope that Oly will do m43 mount version of this that you can put any m43 lens on.
Anyone have a problem with the price point? At $500 there is no economic savings, so Sony is relying solely on the convenience aspect. This looks like a ‘gee whiz’ product without long term viability.
Sony has a history of releasing products with interesting tech, but marginal use. Cameras with built-in floppy drive or CD burner, for instance.
It’s like testing pasta, toss it in the air and if it sticks to the ceiling, it’s done. 😉
It’s not cheaper than a compact now and you have 2 devices to deal with. Of course it’s not going to go well.
Google glass is a better solution as casual use.
You can use any wifi camera instead of The QX.
The funny thing is you can propably use this cam WITH google glass 🙂
Sounds good idea.
Amazing development as it might be, a ‘photobooster’ for smart phones, keep in mind that it still is half the price of a prosumer proper camera. It will play v. well in the hands of always connected people.
OTH I still remember film times when expensive SLR coexisted with Instamatics and Polaroids, which were a fraction of the price of the former.
It has always been true that the market is split between those who are after quick memories, the enormous majority, and the few which are about producing images, and making use of real imagination, with adequate tools.
What it might do in the future is wipe out the dSLR segment that is used only for Instamatic purposes. Samsung’s Android camera might be another way of reaching the same customers.
Dam i seriously thought all those videos i saw a wile pack were a joke.. O-_-0 the more you know.
Cool idea, but this is not for me.
5 years from now you’ll be complaining about requiring an adapter for your m4/3 lenses to use on a phone. There will be focusing issues, the phone will be very front-heavy and hard to use, and you’ll want something bigger and more substantial to hang your lenses on. Alas, you will have to pay 600€ for a phone grip and an adapter.
Interesting and innovative, but I’m not too confident in the practical use: you’re must carry two devices to do the work of one. The idea that Olympus would use it is interesting to me. I’d change the form factor to a small box that could also house some lighting and a tripod/boom mount. Then you could have some off-camera lighting and trigger a second camera remotely from something like the EM-1.
It could work well for some people if it were sold for half of the price.
But spending for this gadget more than for a complete camera with the same sensor size and a similar zoom (Nikon 1 J1) is ridiculous.
With incorrectly set price it will just not start to sell well and dropping the price later may not help at all…
Either the immage from your cell phone camera is good enough or it is not. If it is not then you need to carry around a secondary device regardless. This does NOT solve that problem in any way. This is a secondary device just like carrying around a seperate pocket camera, except that nobody else can use this one without a suitable smart device and the matching app.
So it has no real advantage over a pocket camera except price, and its usefullness becomes limited by your phone.
Dud.
I think “Lens-Cameras” for smartphones are a dead-end street. They will not have a chance. Smartphones are offering more and more camera power. Just compare it with the new Nokia Lumia 1020:
http://www.nokia.com/global/switch/
Nokia is advertising the phone with its photografic possibilities. Though it certainly cannot match m43 they are still fairly impressive. Other manufacturers will probably follow soon.
I love people complaining about having to carry 2 devices instead of 1. Because, y’know, I never have my phone with me when I’m out using my camera.
Personally, I think the Samsung Android may be a better solution, but mostly because I don’t have much faith in the ease and reliability of tethering the camera to the phone. If that were super easy and reliable it would be nice to have the flexibility of separating the phone and camera parts for creativity and space/weight saving.
Nice concept but at $250 and $500? No sorry I will buy a new smart phone and a cheapo rig to shoot 3D movie.
Call me back when this thing is like “it’s only 19.99 and you will get another one for free if you order within the next 15 mins. But there is more, we will throw in not one, not two but three RX100s with complete manuals and accessories!”
Well, all I can say is I will not be buying one. …but then I don’t own a smart phone…and I am not on Macebook. My cellphone bill is only $40 per month…..so I figure that saves me about $1000 to $1200 a year over the average smart phone user….which I readily spend on REAL cameras!!!
🙂
Id be more interested if it were a prime. I already have a pretty serviceable 28mm on my phone, if they made a great, compact 85 it would be interesting for sure
I think it’s a great idea. Not having RAW is a bit of a detractor but I can make do. Personally I would not mind permanently gluing a round mounting bracket on my iPhone that tension based bracket is ugly. I think they have a case for a phone with the bracket on the back.
While this may not be everyone’s cup of tea it gives a level of flexibility that potentially opens up new possibilities and I’m all for new tech pushing boundaries. Now if they put a 23mm f/1.4 lens on an APS-C sensor… that would be fun.
This is a rectacam to take high quality pics of crap.
Yes, ain’t it revolutionary and cool?
With smartphone sales pushing past 50% of the total mobile ‘phone market of something like 2 billion units annually, there must be a large market for the lens camera device. Once we see the ‘phone camera control apps actually working on the leading platforms (Android, iOS, and Windows Phone) we will see an explosion in these products. This is definitely the replacement for higher IQ compact cameras. Great for us who want even better enthusiast mirrorless models (like the E-M1, GX7, GH3, X-M1 etc).
Well, my take too. Price is exactly geared towards the hipsters. And as said above it might even be connected to Google Glass.
We are talking about a radical gizmo, but with a huge potential customer base, while real cameras are at saturation levels.
Integrate it with a headlamp. Now that’s point and shoot. (Seriously, you’ll look cool. I swear.)
I think this has great potential- if the price goes down a bit. A lot of my friends only use cellphone cameras and miss the zoom and image quality. with this add-o you get better quality and flexebility.
And its perfect for the self shot thats all around the internet 😉 there is hope that the picture “Girl trying to look cute-with toilet background” will be over with this tech on the market 😉
Also the my own feet at the beach picture can be replaced easy with the lens and the screen seperated…
They only need to fix the price-and maybe put it into deals when you buy a new smartphone.
And i m sure that the average user of this camera wont be the pro/Amateur photographer, but the people who used to buy point and shoot cameras
It looks too unwieldy and throws the cellphone form factor out of whack. I could see this being an okay seller down the road when prices take a nosedive. Ergonomically, prime lenses could be a better solution for would-be photographers than the zoom. Make a more compact kit with a high-quality 35-45mm focal-length lens and I would probably try one just for shits and giggles. The latter will likely never happen in the near future though. Not only that, but the likelihood of it happening could very well be dependent on the success of the model they’re currently pushing.
“Do you think these QX concept will be successfull?”
No.
Now the fun part is… by the price/performance ratio, it actually compares very well against the Galaxy NX… and IMO wins.
Well, you need to charge 2 devices (QX-10 and QX-100 have their own batterie, and you need to have a charged smartphone). I wonder how long it takes to drain the battery with WiFi activated on both… But that’s a technical point, future models will address that.
About usage and ergonomy, I don’t know. It may help for spy shots (glups) or discreet shots (street?), or maybe for movies (like GoPro?). But they have no integrated EVF, so you need to have the QX in one hand, and the smartphone in the other hand to “see” what you’re shooting, no?
About market share? Well, it could impact DSLR market, at least those users (memory shooters) who upgraded from P&S to big DSLR (look serious and affordable price) but realize it’s too heavy/bulky for their needs… Those little device will fit in the pocket, “look cool”, and give descent quality for that “cat picture”…
About the price? Well, QX-10 should be $200 (18Mpx and x10 zoom) when QX-100 is $500… Sure QX-100 will be niche product, but QX-10 could find its place.
How secure is the clip-on? I won’t like to drop this $500 gadget.
Imagine dropping the US$500 gadget with your US$600 smart phone because they’re securely attached. If you’re under contract, you’ll likely pay full price to replace your phone.
This doesn’t look like Olympus working together with Sony, but Sony working together with Sony.
Great idea. I can see myself keeping one of my favorite lenses on my EM5 (Samyang 7.5mm fisheye and/or EF Mount Canon 50mm f/1.4) and keeping this in my pocket for candids. Not only is it small, but it looks like a toy, so people would really feel free to relax and open up if this was in my hand. My only question is does it have a flash (I do a lot of nightclub shooting)?
I had been looking at Nokia Lumia 1020 for this purpose, but this might be better for me.
girls, sell your skirts, Sony had a new idea!
I think if they advertised it as a new perfert gadget, preorders would rise infinitely….and NO, I will not buy one, honestly
Sony needs to start building compact cameras into their smartphones. People use the camera on their phone because it’s always there and adds no inconvenience whatsoever.
The Nokia Lumia 1020 is the correct direction, add-ons are not.
Basically camera makers just need to start making cell phones.
It’ll be hard to put a x10 zoom on a slin smartphone… Qx-10 is 25-150 equiv.. Qx-100 is less but witha wider sensor.
I voted dontknow..but wont buy it …if I had free 500eur …will buy pana 25 f/1.4
What does it have to do with Olympus?
The concept might be popular for the first time, but there will be no repeat buyers. Battery issues will quadruple.
It’s a great concept to be sure. But, and especially after having seen the promo video, it looks rather inconveniant.
It would be way easier to just shoot with your cell phone, or with a compact. This has you fumbling around. If you were going to take the time to set up shots, then you probably have a better camera with you already.
I also think maybe they should have make the bottom of the lens have a flat surface, so that if you want to see it down, it will be oriented correctly and not rolling all over the place giving you skewed pictures.
I like the idea but there is a huge problem for me: the case.
In order to use any add-on with my phone and there are many for iPhone, you have to remove the case and in some cases, use their case.
By the time you go through all of that, you might as well use a standalone camera.
They need to put a belt around it call it the lens watch.
Yes its a success because it is cheaper than corresponding camera, its new and trendy, its versatile…
Anybody who thinks shooting videos with a DSLR and all the contraptions needed to stabilize the outcome and thinks this is not a more cool and easier to use concept for photography is crazy.
You wanted changeable sensors…?This is a start.
These look as thick as a standard m4/3 zoom (well, it stands to reason: the battery and the electronics must be put somewhere), in other words, unlike the XR100 or the current crop of travel superzooms, they are not pocketable. So, apart from the fact that currently top of the line smartphones seem to have infinitely better screens that any camera, what exactly is the advantage of the new gadget?
wayyyy too expensive.
OMG SONY take my monies!!!
They’re cannibalizing their RX100 sales, accepting the fact that the market for point and shoots is shrinking with increasing smartphone adoption. I was going to get an RX100 II but will buy this instead ($450 on the EPP site vs $750 for the RX100 II), since it affords interesting possibilities for casual filmmaking and food blogging (e.g., it can be put on a tripod and controlled from your phone / tablet). This & my built in phone camera should satisfy my daily photography needs… at least until they come out with a large sensor smartphone, which we might see from Sony if these sell well enough.
I dont think this will be succesfull.500 eur is a LOT of money, more than an average “mid-range” smartphone.
And dont forget the galaxy camera.I think that will be a rival, even though that’s more a cam than a smartphone.
people wont buy a add-on when they can buy a whole camera, at least that my opinion
This reminds me of a Leica mockup months ago that was floating around the web. The Leica was far more useful and portable.
It was a round disc approximately 15mm thick that hinged apart into 2 circles beside each other. It contained hard buttons on the outside for most manual functions and contained an APSC sensor. When open the small LCD doubled as an EVF.
Best of all, one could wear this around their neck. Weight was minimal and picture quality was optimal. I hope this is the direction technology is heading for portable, casual shooting.
Interesting times ahead.
It’s a good idea, to be sure–you already have the screen, storage, and processor in your pocket, so why not just add a decent lens and sensor to it for people who want a little extra in terms of quality and optical zoom, but not a full system camera?
And they also look pretty cool.
Honestly, though? I just don’t think they’re going to sell very many. I think that the gap between “an iPhone camera is good enough for me” and “I’d rather have a full system camera” is a very small one–just not enough to sell very many of these.
But, hey, I’ve been wrong on tech like this once or twice in the past. You never know, it might catch on.
Talk about thinking outside the box!
WekL done Sony and I for one hope to see this concept become successful and I’m curious what may come to fruition in a few years time if this concept has succeeded.
The smaller sensor seems very small and manageable but the larger sensor is probably at the limits of nost would want to attatch to their phone without it becoming a cumbersome contraption.
Still it’s a first generation effort and an elegant one all things considered.
If I can get that 1 inch sensor module for half price it’d be a nice travel backup cam.
I’d rather see Sony build top-class smartphone capability into a compact camera like Sony RX100. Leave all the physical controls, buttons, shutter release, etc. and just add an Android touchscreen interface on the LCD for texting, checking email, posting to FB, etc. Sure, it would look a little funny to take calls on such a thing, but I hardly use my smartphone for phone calls anyway, so I can live with that. Samsung Galaxy NX isn’t there either, since it’s way too big to carry around in your pocket (unlike RX100) and also doesn’t receive phone calls, so you still have to carry your phone.
I’ve been musing over the need for a ‘tough’ compact for real-world activity. Everything I’ve researched shows me that using a cellphone as a camera lacks in so many aspects with my needs, and most of those boil down to the non-camera interface aspects, as well as lack of durability. This QX adds to that by making it more costly and far more Humpty Dumpty … I constantly see people on the street, drop a cellphone and they always burst into a bunch of bits on contact. To be quickly gathered up and it’s fate uncertain. Add to that a hang on lens. That’s just asking for harder impact and more spectacular explosion! Think if the QX zoom is out? So, I guess it’s a perfect retail electronic sales unit. Pricey, fragile, trendy.
A great concept indeed, but in reality, QX100 is as bulky as, or maybe even more bulkier than RX100 Mk.II. There is almost no advantage in carrying QX100 than RX100Mk.II. It is cheaper, though.
Nice idea, but the lack of manual controls means no buy AFAIC. I’d like to see a large aperture / large sensor prime released as well.
QX10 doesn’t seem a good buy to me when there’s Samsung S4 zoom around for a bit more money. But a combination of S4 zoom, QX100 and a large sensor prime could be enough for most people’s photo needs.
This is a truly innovative product.
I’m thinking of buying the cheaper one (about £179 in the UK).
It’ll be interesting to see some in detail reviews.
Even if you consider the smartphone as a standalone camera, three massive advantages for smartphones come up to mind:
1. Obviously, smartphones are helluva lot more compact to carry around.
2. Those 720p/1080p phone screens are just so much better for viewing the images taken.
3. Lastly, UIs of standalone camera sucks donkey balls compared to iOS/Android in terms of user friendliness.
Image quality? Sure the P&S will get better photos, but is it worth it for paying for an extra device and added bulk to carry along? The market says no.
Once you factor in connectivity smartphones are a no brainer choice for most people for their camera needs. No surprise mobile is killing traditional P&S so hard.