Upgrade Your Smartphone’s Camera Using Sony’s Detachable Lenses
One of the best things we love about our smartphones is their cameras. Especially due to the addiction most people have of posting pictures on social media to show their family and friends some of the best moments in their lives. All in all, a camera has become something we need, to capture a picturesque moment or rather a “Kodak Moment”.
Smartphone manufacturers too, are using the camera phone as a selling factor, as we have seen with the Finnish manufacturer producing the Nokia Lumia 1020 which has a 41 megapixel rear camera. Pretty impressive don’t you think? It would definitely give actual camera phone manufacturers like Canon and Nikon a good run for their money, yet it’s only just a phone, a smartphone at that. For those who can afford such a gizmo, the obvious choice would be to buy a phone with such a superior camera, but for those who can’t afford it, Sony has the solution for you.
Sony has produced Sony lenses that can upgrade the camera properties on any smartphone. Giving you the opportunity to take “Lumia1020-like” photos and videos with your regular type of smartphone. These Sony lenses called the Sony DSC-QX100 and Sony DSC-QX10 lens camera have the following properties:
Both lens cameras comes fitted with the state of the art lenses, image processor and their own battery packs. A simply way to describe them would be a typical digital camera minus the display and the control buttons. The Sony QX100 is expensive and of better quality that the Sony QX10 but both lenses would be a great plus on any average smartphone looking to upgrade its camera properties. Both of these lenses can be attached on the back of your smartphone, so it gives you that conventional feel of taking picture with your smartphone, or you can operate them remotely since they are synchronized with your phone via Wi-Fi connection.
Pros:
- The lenses are light and compact making them quite easy to operate using just one hand.
- You can control the lenses remotely via Wi-Fi connection: you can place them at a distance & conveniently use your smartphone to zoom, control the shutter, frame shots and all the necessary controls needed.
- The lenses have a slot for their own memory card, and each photo shot or recording is stored on the lenses’ internal memory. Still you have the option of choosing to send over the files from the lens to your smartphone’s memory card via Wi-Fi connections.
- The lenses are quite responsive (maximum delay of half a second) this means you can capture shots quickly: between the time you issue a command on your smartphone and the time the lens respond to the command send to if from the smartphone via Wi-Fi connection.
- There is just small fraction of delay between what the lens is focusing on and the image you are viewing on your smartphone’s screen. The image relay is quite smooth: you do not have to overcompensate for the lens movements before the image catches up. Perhaps the only delay to note of is that the lens must first process the image before its sends it over to your smartphone.
- The lens remains connected to your camera for as long as you have the Sony PlayMemories Mobile App running on your smartphone (runs on both Android & iOS), and it goes without saying you still must maintain the Wi-Fi connection radius within which the Wi-Fi connection between the two devices is established.
- The lens has a good battery backup that will ensure you take high quality pictures and videos over a prolonged period of time while still yet maintaining a Wi-Fi connection to your smartphone.
- The lenses have a fold-out grip option with which you can attach it to the rear of the smartphone and have the traditional shooting on your smartphone or you can detach it and control it as you would a cctv-camera using your smartphone.
Cons:
- The first instance you put the lenses on, it first takes sometime to connect via Wi-Fi with your smartphone hence not suitable if what you are looking for is an always ready moment to capture the moment.
- They are not equipped with flash capability which renders them ineffective in dark areas.
- The prolonged Wi-Fi connection to your smartphone will drain your phone’s battery faster than usual. Hence you need to have a smartphone with a good battery backup or you recharge it frequent.
So if you are looking to upgrade your camera-phone, buying a new smartphone all together might not be the only option. You can try these two gizmos from Sony, the Sony DSC-QX100 and Sony DSC-QX10 lenses.
