Weird but interesting...

[pierces]

Sony is getting ready to announce it's new QX series of "cameras".

 

The quotes are because the "camera" consists of a high-quality lens/sensor combo the has no LCD or controls. It clips onto your smartphone or tablet and is controlled via WI-FI or NFC by an app.

 

Rumors have the first iteration carrying the same sensor and lens as the RX-100 which might make for a great travelling-for-work kit.

 

Time will tell if this is the next big thing (my personal inner jury is still out...) but you gotta give points for innovation!

 

 

Dave

[havoc315]

It's a fascinating concept. While interchangeable lenses are nothing new, this is a concept that can open up interchangeable lens/sensors combinations, using your smart phone as the camera body.

 

I think success will largely come down to pricing.

 

But imagine, if for when you need zoom -- you hook up the 1/2.5" sensor with zoom lens, for 20x zoom..

Then want a portrait, you have an APS-C sensor with a 50 or 85mm prime lens..

Then a walk-around lens like the RX100 sensor/lens combo...

 

All comes down to pricing. Imagine you could get the 3 "lenses" that I listed for about $200-$300 each... it can turn into a great "system" for someone.

 

On the other hand, if it's $1,000 each... then what's the point.

[tommui987]

Sony is getting ready to announce it's new QX series of "cameras".

 

It clips onto your smartphone or tablet and is controlled via WI-FI or NFC by an app.

 

Dave

 

Interesting - not sure how it would clip on but I always wondered about people taking pictures with their 9" tablets and blocking people trying to take the same pictures with a smartphone or cameras!

[pierces]

Interesting - not sure how it would clip on but I always wondered about people taking pictures with their 9" tablets and blocking people trying to take the same pictures with a smartphone or cameras!

 

I think the term is pad-holes....

 

 

Dave

[zackiedawg]

Hmmm...I hope this isn't the future of cameras, or I'd be forced to actually buy a smartphone. My phone is dumb and proud...but can't control a lens sensor thingie. I hate Smartphones - but if the camera goes the way of the dodo and this is the only choice left, then I'd have to join the 21st century.

[pierces]

Hmmm...I hope this isn't the future of cameras, or I'd be forced to actually buy a smartphone. My phone is dumb and proud...but can't control a lens sensor thingie. I hate Smartphones - but if the camera goes the way of the dodo and this is the only choice left, then I'd have to join the 21st century.

 

If smartphone control was applied to tethering, remote shutter or intervalometer functions on cameras, I would call that a step forward. I might finally be able to justify the 80GB of storage on my Droid....

 

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hmmm...I hope this isn't the future of cameras, or I'd be forced to actually buy a smartphone. My phone is dumb and proud...but can't control a lens sensor thingie. I hate Smartphones - but if the camera goes the way of the dodo and this is the only choice left, then I'd have to join the 21st century.

 

So is mine!!:D

[TheRoff]

Cool, now I don't need to lust for a Phase One. :)

 

Larry

[pierces]

Cool, now I don't need to lust for a Phase One. :)

 

Larry

 

Yes you do....

[awboater]

It kind of looks like a compact camera.

 

Have we gone full circle?

[pierces]

It kind of looks like a compact camera.

 

Have we gone full circle?

 

Not quite a full circle. Unless you were James Bond or Maxwell Smart, you couldn't phone home on your Kodak Instamatic.:)

 

Dave

[havoc315]

It kind of looks like a compact camera.

 

Have we gone full circle?

 

It's simply the next step in smart phones replacing compact cameras.

 

Over the last few years --- Compact camera sales have plummeted, as good smart phones can largely match your mid/low level compacts in many regards:

Close sensor size, with the good smart phone having a better processor, better screen, and frills like wifi, in-camera-editing, etc...

 

Compacts having fewer and narrower advantages over smart phones. But with big thing lacking from smart phones has been optical zoom. Samsung recently released a Galaxy S with an actual zoom lens. Nokia released a 41mp camera phone, so you can get high resolution "clear" digital zoom.

So this is Sony's answer -- get zoom, by attaching another lens when you need zoom.

And also offering larger possible sensors -- as another dagger in the heart of traditional compacts.

 

Which of these innovations will take off... who knows. But they are further treats to traditional compacts..... as well as threats to mirrorless systems.

 

Nikon recently announced that their mirrorless sales have stalled outside of Asia. For people seeking interchangeable lenses without dSLR bulk, this could be yet another alternative instead of a mirrorless camera system.

 

I think the market for standalone small sensor cameras got another nail in the coffin today. Not saying it's the final nail... not even sure how big of a nail this will turn out to be, but it's a nail for sure.

[awboater]

The Nokia 41Mp sensors use a technique called "binning" (oversampling/pixel combining), and the result is a photo having an 8Mp resolution. So it's not really a true 41Mp sensor in the traditional sense... or perhaps more accurately, you are not getting 41Mp resolution.

 

It's all marketing... and people fall for it everyday. The reason we had pixel wars to begin with is marketing.

[chipmaster]

Camera companies are in fully retreat, like Kodak they need to rediscover that they are in the image capturing business and majority of images are now captured by cellphones with quadcore processing and runs of 10-50million units over which to amortize software/hardware, hard for any camera to compete...

 

DSLR will limp along for a few more years but that is a stagnating business too. In a few years there will be two high end imaging companies and the smartphone manufactures

[awboater]

Other than perhaps portability, what is the difference between the Sony QX and say a CamRanger that can use Wifi and a a smartphone to fully control a DSLR?

 

For now, the CamRanger is a bit clunky as you have to plug it into a DSLR, but a future generation might consist of a smaller module, or even built-in to a DSLR.

 

One issue I see in the immediate future is the proliferation and the subsequent overload of Wifi signals. There can only be so many hot-spots in a general area before you start getting interference, inter-mod, etc. True, there are solutions, but those will take awhile to be developed.

 

Or how about this - a docking station for a smartphone built into the back of a DSLR (or even a mirrorless camera)? You dock the phone to transfer photos or even control the camera - undock the phone to remote control the DSLR and/or upload media. The first DSLR company to come up with that design owes me a royalty!!!

 

If anything, the camera 10yrs from now will be vastly different than what we see today.

 

On one hand the one thing that cellphones cannot match at least today are optics. But as sensors become more and more sophisticated, a good digital zoom sensor might be a reality - and in some ways, the binning/pixel combining approach is already a step in that direction.

 

Matching low light capability - that might take awhile.

[havoc315]

The difference is size, portability, and it's a device many people already carry.

 

It doesn't rely on just wifi, it can use NFC I believe.

 

Wifi bandwidth continues to grow. Disney World is introducing nextgen where they are expecting tens of thousands of people in the parks to be using wifi.

[Nole0202]

Looks like getting a RX100 the size of a plum, not bad. The pricing level should be around $300 for it to sell.

This looks like the future from the smart camera people, not the Canikons.

[awboater]

My first thought... where is the battery? How many shots will it be capable of, etc?

 

I guess we will find out soon enough, I read somewhere where it will be available this fall.

[fishycomics]

Lucky me I can go and visit locally at the Center in Lincoln center Lol. sept 4th 2013, or is it Berlin. Honami.

 

Did sony partner up?

 

well am sure that lens is pocketable and is not attached to the smartphone?

 

the photo/still will have troubles with most 13mm lenses , those gadgets. that is why you see main lenses OVERLAP, and maybe one day they can make something a lot smaller, more like 25mm.......

 

love to see the outcome though...

[zackiedawg]

My first thought... where is the battery? How many shots will it be capable of, etc?

 

I guess we will find out soon enough, I read somewhere where it will be available this fall.

 

I don't know all the details, but the early reports about it indicated that it has a battery and memory card door on the bottom, accommodating SD/MS cards, and likely one of the slimmer batteries such as that from the RX100. Given Sony's batteries are usually 'smart' and transmit power remaining percentages, I wonder if the smartphone display will be capable of showing % remaining on the lens' battery? It would be disappointing for those coming from a Sony P&S to have it be one of those usual 4-bar battery displays that are nearly useless on most other P&S models - it's one of the perks of Sony cameras that have that battery info display.

[pierces]

Not having to power an LCD would extend battery life even though it is powering communication to the phone. NFC is very low power and I imagine it the wi-fi is short range only, it wouldn't suck up too much energy.

 

I am more interested than before but it is very unlikely to replace my Alpha and NEX anytime soon.

 

Some more info leaked out:

 

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr5-qx10-and-qx100-manual-leaks/

 

Dave

[pierces]

They're here.

 

Two versions. One has the same guts and lens as the RX100 II for $250 less.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Smartphone-Attachable-4-45-44-5mm-Lens-Style/dp/B00EVIJWXS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378294978&sr=8-1&keywords=sony+qx

 

Intriguing...

 

Dave

[Victress2007]

Uncouple from phone and mount for flexible shooting

 

 

The QX10 can also be used uncoupled from the smartphone. Hold the camera in one hand and your phone in the other, or use the universal tripod screw to mount your camera to any number of mounts to experience versatile, freestyle shooting.

 

 

 

 

Very interesting....

At least I'd have a use for it if I ever got a smartphone. :)

 

 

Vic

[c230k]

Use WIFI on the ship could cost once you leave US port. Noticed the lens has it's own battery and memory card. Think I will stick with my Sony RX100, it's smaller lol!! :cool:

 

 

[pierces]

Use WIFI on the ship could cost once you leave US port.

 

The lens acts as a WI-FI hotspot that you pair to your phone. If you haven't set up an account onboard or don't set your phone to connect automatically to the ship's network, you won't use any paid service. As for phone service, turn off your connection to mobile networks to keep your phone from connecting to non-domestic services.

 

BTW, as interesting as this gizmo is, the RX100 UK is still way higher on my wish list. I might think differently if I used my phone as my primary camera like so many do these days.

 

Dave