It’s no secret that the smartphone market is rapidly eating into the compact camera market. Many companies are trying to figure out new ways to get consumers to buy dedicated image making devices, but Sony’s approach is to produce something that works with your smartphone rather than competing against it.

It’s introduced two new compact cameras, which look like lenses but actually contain everything you might expect from a standard device, including a sensor, processor, memory card slot and optical zoom. The crucial bit that’s missing is the screen, which is where your smart phone comes in.

These cameras hook up to your smartphone – thankfully not just Sony devices – and are controlled via the free app which is available for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire. From there you’ve got a top notch camera to use in conjunction with your top notch sharing device, so in theory you get the best of both worlds.

The QX10 is the cheaper of the two new devices, and is based on the WX100. It therefore features a 18.2 million pixel 1/2.3 inch sensor and a 10x optical zoom. It’s also equipped with a Bionz processor. All this adds up to what should provide your smartphone with much better low light and better zoom capabilities than what it can muster all by itself. By comparison, the QX100 is based on the premium Sony RX100 II and features a one-inch 20.2 million-pixel sensor.

You connect the camera to your smartphone or tablet via Wi-Fi or NFC. You could of course use the camera without a smartphone or tablet, but you wouldn’t be able to control any of the settings or see exactly what was in frame.

There is a microSD slot within the camera itself, but you can also choose to save photos directly to the phone, or to save a large file to the memory card and a more share friendly file size to the phone. Neither of the two new QX devices shoot in raw format.

Build Quality and Handling

As the smaller of the two new cameras, the QX10 is more pocket friendly than the QX100. If you attach it to your smartphone, you’re unlikely to be able to get it in a jeans pocket, but as a separate device it shouldn’t add too much bulk to your luggage.

At first glance, both cameras look like small interchangeable lenses. The QX10 is circular, rather than the rectangular shape we’re familiar with for compact cameras. When powered on, the lens protrudes quite far from the body, but when off, the device is much more slimline.

In terms of physical buttons, you’ll find hardly any on the QX10, since most of the operation is carried out using the connected device. There’s an on-off switch, a zoom lever and shutter release button. These buttons have virtual equivalents you can use on the PlayMemories app – so for instance, you can use the app to fire off the shutter release if you prefer, or use the button if you want to hold the camera in a traditional manner.

Although there’s no LCD screen for composing, a very small display indicates remaining battery life. Other than that, you’ll need to rely pretty much entirely on the PlayMemories app for shooting images and changing settings, such as exposure compensation or aperture.

Anybody who wants to use physical buttons – quite simply, this is not the device for you. Once you’ve paired the camera with your device, it’s akin to using a camera entirely with a touchscreen.

The QX10 has a 10x optical zoom, which can be activated through the touchscreen, or controlled using a switch on the side of the lens. This is helpful if you’re using the camera at a distance from the screen – or of course you just prefer a physical switch. Zooming seems to be fairly quick and fluid, and the 10x optical zoom of course surpasses the digital option you’ll find on the typical smartphone.

Performance

It’s pretty tricky to pass any kind of judgement on the quality of a camera this early on. However, Sony is known for producing good sensors for its compact cameras, so we can be reasonably confident that the QX10 will also perform well.

As image making is done entirely by the camera, rather than the phone or tablet is controlling it, there should be no impact on image quality coming from the phone – that is, unless you choose to edit or add filters via the likes of Instagram.

Like the QX100, it will be interesting to judge autofocusing speed and operation, as this could be dependent on the phone or tablet you’re using. We’ll be keen to test it with a variety of different devices to see how it fares.

Early Verdict

Sony’s focus at the moment seems to be innovation, and it’s done it once again with the QX range. For some time, camera manufacturers have struggled to keep up with camera phones in terms of instant connectivity and ease of use. This is the first time we’ve seen something designed to work with your phone, rather than beat it.

We’re intrigued by the concept of something you can easily slip into your pocket but use it in conjunction with your phone. The main concern we have at the moment is how well battery life on your phone will cope with an extra device attached to it.

It will also be interesting to see how exactly the app works, and whether using it with so few physical buttons will become frustrating.

Come back for a more comprehensive review of the Sony QX10 when it becomes available.

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