It’s almost a year since I said nice things about Sony and their willingness to innovate in the camera industry. It’s time to praise them again, although I am not sure that their current idea is going to fly.
The most popular cameras in the world are now those set within phones. They are popular because they are convenient, not because they are particularly good cameras. But if you want to stick a photo of your lunch on Facebook, you don’t need a Leica. In fact you probably don’t need a Leica for anything, but that’s another argument.
Cameras in phones are steadily replacing the once dominant point and shoot cameras; most of which can’t produce a better photo than a modern phone, and all of which are more bulky.
Next up in the size charts are “compact cameras” and the best of those at the moment is the delicious little Sony RX100 II.
A tad on the expensive side; but if you want great images from a very small package, this is the way to go.
And now Sony have introduced the QX100:
The Q in the name stands for Question, as in what the fuck is it?
The writing on the front would indicate it is the very same lens as that on the RX100. But it is not a lens. Because attached to the back of the very same lens as the RX100 is the very same sensor as the RX100; this strange little device is actually a camera.
But wait, I hear you exclaim, where are the controls and the screen and all that other shit you find in a camera?
Oh those, well that is what your phone is for:
Using an app on your phone you control the camera, which you can either clip onto your phone or (with more interesting creative possibilities) position at a distance from the phone and control it remotely. Images are saved to a card on the camera for future download and processing; but are also transferred to your phone so you can put a really high quality photo of your lunch on Facebook immediately.
The QX100 will cost you a shade under $500 which is not cheap, although there is also the DSC-QX10/B which has a lower quality lens for $250.
So, what are you going to do? Pay $750 for the RX100, or acquire the QX100 for two thirds of the price? The QX100 has less control features than the RX100, requires that you have a smart phone to operate it and does not shoot in RAW (although that is probably not an issue for the intended market). On the plus side, there is less to carry, you can remotely shoot the camera via the phone, and the world of social media is at your fingertips to share your creations. Plus, Sony have made the API for controlling the cameras available to developers; so there could well be some very clever applications on the way for using this camera with your phone, or your computer or whatever people can imagine.
The problem I can see is that most people who use their phones for taking photos are quite happy with the image quality, certainly sufficient for the intended use. And people who want RX100 levels of quality or better, buy a fully functioning camera. But what do I know; these things could sell like cakes that are beyond warm.
But even if they don’t, kudos to Sony for again pushing against the boring black box mentality of some other companies and producing something quite radical. If it takes off, they will refine it, if it doesn’t they will consign it to the Betamax dump truck of history.
They did something similar last year when they produced the wonderful full-frame mirrorless RX1 with a gorgeous Zeiss lens and an ambitious $3,000 price tag. That will never sell at that price, they said. They will drop it within a year, they said. But it did sell, and the next month or so will see the first full frame mirrorless Sony camera with interchangeable lenses being introduced. Canon, Nikon and especially Leica, be afraid; be very afraid.
Comments 🔗
2013-09-07| dude saysI think it’s a little too large for a phone-accessory and it might be really awkward to use when it’s attached to your phone. If you use it detached from your phone you’d have to hold the lens in one hand and the phone in the other hand while trying to use the huge touchscreen of your huge-ass xperia-z/galaxy S4 with your thumb. No I’m not just really bitter because my phone is from the stoneage and i couldn’t afford the qx100 even if I wanted to. Okay… maybe I’m a liiiittle bitter. This new sony stuff might be great fun.
2013-09-07| Wolfgang Lonien saysEven two sentences from this article make my “quote of the day”:
“…if you want to stick a photo of your lunch on Facebook, you don’t need a Leica”, and “Canon, Nikon and especially Leica, be afraid; be very afraid”
Righty-right. Let’s hope these giants (in the camera industry) wake up soon, or else they’d probably wake up to their own demise. Then their world belongs to companies like Samsung, Panasonic, and of course Sony.