Gadgetory

well this is David with the verge and these are Sony's new lens cameras the QX 10 and the QX 100 there are two totally different cameras but are almost the exact same concept that concept is this your smartphone is the perfect camera except for the whole taking great pictures part the QX 10 and QX 100 are by themselves full fledged cameras they have sensors processors even a slot for a micro SD card there's no viewfinder on either to see what you're shooting but they're a lot like a GoPro you just turn it on and start firing there's even a zoom control and shutter button on each one they look like lenses sturdy black plastic cylinders the $249 qx10 about six ounces and an inch tall and the $499 QX one hundred both larger and heavier but these are cameras even though you don't technically need it your smartphone is still the key piece of the lens camera equation when you connect to the lenses using Sony's PlayMemories mobile app for Android or iOS your phone takes over all the operation of the devices you can zoom change settings and take pictures the two ports connect by ad-hoc Wi-Fi which is really easy to do if your phone supports NFC you just tap the lens and your phone together and your phone either automatically launches the PlayMemories app or takes you to the store to download it you can technically use the Q X lenses with any smart phone as long as the app is supported but it's really designed for NFC capable Android phones like you know the one Sony makes every time you take a picture the full-size image is stored on the microSD card inside the Q X camera you really need a card partly because you can't shoot video at all without one a small version is also sent straight to your phone for easy sharing you can set the camera to send the whole file each time which takes a lot longer but it's really worth it why shoot gorgeous 20 megapixel shots and only share tiny versions plus playing around with huge files and editing apps is really fun on one hand the lens cameras are pretty remarkable the 18 megapixel qx10 has a sensor about the same size as the average point-and-shoot and much bigger than just about any smartphone and it does take pictures that are noticeably better than a smartphone in almost any situation nothing fantastic and there are occasional issues with color and noise it's just a fairly average point-and-shoot but the biggest thing it offers is 10 times optical zoom the QX 100 is on an entirely different level it has a virtually identical spec sheet to Sony's rx 100 which is the best compact camera you can buy period it has a huge one inch sensor a bright F 1.8 Zeiss lens 3.6 times optical zoom and Sony's fast and capable processing chip as well the 20 megapixel pictures it takes are just spectacular in most cases they're on par with the rx100 and in a lot of ways this is a better experience since it's a point-and-shoot you're probably mostly going to shoot in Auto anyway and having a big touchscreen viewfinder and easy sharing the Instagram and Facebook is really nice there's occasionally some lag with either camera where you move the camera and the viewfinder can take a while to catch up and the QX 100 is bigger and a lot more unwieldy than the Q X 10 which Clips pretty easily on any smartphone but if you're going to buy an attachment for better pictures you should get pictures that aren't just a little better than a smartphone the Q X 100 is a lot better than a smartphone the Q extending Q X 100 may attach to your phone via a handy versatile clip that worked on every phone I tested but they're big and heavy enough that you're not going to want them attached all the time and if they're not attached all the time they're just another thing to carry even if getting gorgeous pictures is worth the extra bulk in your bag there are other issues to contend with as well every time you try to connect the camera to your phone it takes five or ten seconds before they're synced and ready to shoot then every time you leave the play memories mobile app the to disconnect the lag makes it hard even on still subjects - the focus is always a little ahead of how it's shown on your phone so it looks out of focus even while you're taking in focus shots the pictures look fine but I never thought they were going to battery life was also fine I got about 150 shots before the QX 10 died and a little less from the QX 100 frankly I'm amazed that Sony made the QX 10 and QX 100 at all it's absolutely the right idea adding a great camera onto the smart phone you already know and use seems like a much better idea than trying to hack a smartphone into your camera if in the next model Sony can speed up its app and the process for connecting to the camera these lens cameras might just be the perfect point to shoot but until then as much as I love the idea and almost want to buy a QX 100 for myself I don't think I'd ever use it I bet you wouldn't either you