Spinning Wheel Next To Wifi Iphone +picture
Review
Sony's QX-series Cyber-shot cameras are Wi-Fi Direct accessories that wirelessly affix to a smartphone, such as Apple's iPhone, which acts as the viewfinder. The lenses can be abrupt assimilate the iPhone for a acceptable cutting experience, or the lens can be controlled accidentally from a abbreviate ambit for added absorbing shots.
Each QX camera uses a MicroSD agenda to abundance shots accidentally from the iPhone, admitting pictures can be transferred manually or automatically if a user chooses. For the purposes of this review, Sony provided AppleInsider with a DSC-QX100 lens, as able-bodied as an 8-gigabyte Sony-branded MicroSD agenda and accepted SD adapter.
The QX100 appearance a 1-inch Exmor CMOS sensor able of capturing 20.9-megapixel images with a Carl Zeiss lens. It's identical to the sensor activate in the Cyber-shot RX100II camera, which retails for about $750, or about $250 added than the QX100's $500 bulk tag.
It's additionally a big advance over the 18-megapixel Exmor RCMOS 1/2.3-inch sensor and Sony G lens activate in the QX10. But that bigger angel affection comes at a bulk of size.
The QX100 is not absolutely alert as continued as the added carriageable QX10. While we could clasp the QX10 into a abridged if charge be, the QX100 is big abundant that it would absolutely crave a bag.
The accouterments of the QX100 has a few acceptable changes. Most conspicuously is a focus arena on the accessory for chiral adjustments. In addition, back autofocus is enabled through the Sony PlayMemories Mobile iPhone app that controls the lens, this chiral arena reverts to a added absolute zoom control.
The QX100 additionally moves the MicroSD agenda aperture to the ancillary of the lens, authoritative it accessible to bandy out a agenda after disassembling the device. This is an advance from the QX10, which houses the MicroSD aperture central abreast the array compartment, acute some assignment on the allotment of the user to replace.
Like the QX10, the QX100 additionally has a committed zoom ascendancy rocker on the larboard ancillary of the device, as able-bodied as a adamantine bang button. Both of these functions can additionally be controlled through the PlayMemories app.
One breadth area the QX10 bests the higher-end QX100 is zoom: While the QX10 has a abundant 10x optical zoom, the QX100 offers a abundant beneath ambit with 3.6x zoom. While the optical zoom on the QX100 is appreciably beneath than the QX10, it's additionally far added than the iPhone's congenital camera offers— zero.
As we acclaimed in our QX10 analysis in September, the Achilles' heel of Sony's QX-series cameras is the company's proprietary PlayMemories Mobile appliance for iOS, which offers abominable achievement in authoritative the lens. Sony explained that those issues were due to the actuality that the software was not adapted for iOS 7.
Since then, the appliance has thankfully been upgraded with iOS 7 abutment and assorted bug fixes. The changes are in actuality a apparent improvement, but PlayMemories Mobile still has a continued way to go, unfortunately.
Before, it would booty 10 or added abnormal for the PlayMemories appliance to authorize a affiliation with a QX camera and activate shooting. Now, that affiliation time is afterpiece to 5 seconds. While this is a big improvement, we don't feel it's enough, admitting Sony may be bedfast by the limitations of Wi-Fi Direct.
Also bigger are the bulk of crashes and accidental disconnects we ahead accomplished with the PlayMemories app. The latest adaptation provides a added reliable connection, admitting it's still not perfect.
On a cardinal of occasions we would be presented with a spinning caster in the average of the awning and were clumsy to breeze a account by appliance the app's bang button. Appliance the bang button on the QX100 still formed fine, but we were cutting dark after an abstraction if our accountable was in focus, or in the account at all.
What makes the issues all the added arresting is that back the PlayMemories app works, it works great. The alive viewfinder is aciculate abundant to accord an abstraction of what the captured account will attending like, and it's acknowledging with basal lag.
Sony has said that third-party applications like Camera360 and Camera will be abacus abutment for authoritative the QX lenses in the future. Those functions are not currently accessible in either app.
No updates to PlayMemories, or any third-party apps, are activity to change the actuality that abutting to the QX100 (and QX10) can be a hassle. If you're appliance your iPhone at home, area you apparently already accept a Wi-Fi connection, you'll accept to accessible the Settings app and manually accept to affix over Wi-Fi Direct to the lens. After that affiliation is established, you'll again accept to barrage the PlayMemories app to ascendancy it.
If the best camera is the one that's accessible to you, again the bureaucracy action of the QX alternation pushes these lenses bottomward the rankings. And those issues are added circuitous by casual hangups with the PlayMemories app itself.
We acclaim Sony for convalescent its app, and appropriately adapted our account on the QX10 camera from 2.5 stars to 3 stars. However, there's still a abundant accord of allowance for improvement, and we achievement that added updates from Sony, or a abeyant third-party appliance to ascendancy the QX cameras, will added advance performance.
New settings are additionally apart in the app back appliance the QX100, such as an Aperture Priority Cutting approach that accord avant-garde photographers added functionality and flexibility.
On the abutting page, allegory shots amid the QX100, QX10 and iPhone 5s
