Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 Pro Reviews

The Sony Cyber-shot DCS-QX100 is an example of a bold design as a smartphone add-on lens, but there are performance issues that keep us from recommending it.

For the QX100 to succeed, it needs to let the user take advantage of what's on offer. With a large sensor and a Zeiss lens, we want to see more information all the time, we want the option to control the ISO, we want to be able to access the raw files. PlayMemories may adjust for some of this in the future, but in the here and now those finer points lack. That would go some way to elevating the experience of using the QX100 to the price it is asking, as for now we'd simply opt for an RX100 as a standalone camera instead.

If you enjoy taking photos on your smartphone, these unique QX cameras will offer you more flexibility, however the amount of use they get will come down to how desperate you are for better image quality. If the slow setup speeds, time lag over the Wi-fi network and lack of control of ISO and shutter speed put you off, opting for an advanced compact camera could be the better option. The Sony RX100II, which the QX100 adopts its lens and sensor from, is a great example. It is £220 more than the QX100, which is a lot, but when you take into consideration it shoots Raw, features a built-in flash, accepts a viewfinder and has a vari-angle screen, you certainly receive a better camera with more advanced features for your money. That said, we like the concept of the QX system, but being the first of its kind there's always going to be room for improvement. The main hurdle Sony will have to overcome if the QX is to be a success in the future is the lag between what the QX sees and how quickly the live feed is translated to a smartphone.

The Sony Cybershot QX100 is a very unusual product, it's basically a compact camera without a screen. It has a fast f/1.8 aperture lens and good quality Exmore R CMOS sensor, so picture quality is excellent. There is optical image stabilisation and ISO up to 25600. There are however some drawbacks, it has a short battery life and getting the camera on and ready to take pictures takes around half a minute. The app is quite basic, with only four picture modes. The Intelligent and Superior Auto modes take excellent pictures, but lacks the scene modes and digital filters which are common place on most compact cameras. The biggest drawback is the price, you can purchase decent compact cameras for less than the price of the QX100, but it is the type of product which will appeal to gadget fanatics.

What Sony's engineers have done in the QX100 is certainly bold. Repackaging the guts from a flagship point-and-shoot in a made-for-mobile device is an unprecedented move. It's also a bold approach to the problem of a camera's relative lack of connectivity - rather than fighting the smartphone, the QX100 joins the smartphone. Or rather is conjoined with it. What still hasn't been solved is the problem of carrying two devices. Carrying a smartphone and a point-and-shoot is more than most people are willing to do, and the QX100 is actually less pocketable than many small compacts, because of its bulky cylindrical shape. Plus the QX100 is too big and heavy to realistically leave it coupled to a smartphone for an extended amount of time. With its high-end specs and a high price to match, Sony seems to be hoping that the QX100 user is the type of person who doesn't mind carrying two devices if together they'll do something unique - capture great images which are instantly sharable. There's no doubt that the QX100 packs a lot of technology inside it. However, controls are stripped down, there's no option to shoot Raw and basic settings like ISO are unavailable to the user. That's likely going to put off a lot of potential buyers. Raw shooting especially is a feature we think would greatly increase the appeal of the QX100 to an enthusiast crowd, so we hope Sony will consider adding it in a firmware update. Consider that the QX100 also strips away a flash, AF assist lamp, manual focus aids and manual exposure control (you have aperture priority and exposure compensation but that's all) and it's hard to imagine the enthusiast shooter who would be better served by this camera rather than a full-fledged compact. Still, the achievement stands as one of the most interesting compact camera announcements of the year, and we're curious to see how it is received by consumers.