“The DxO One is hardly cheap, but I’ve always said that – as a reviewer – it’s not my job to tell you if you can afford something,” Ian Morris writes for Tech. “It’s my job to tell you if things are good. And the DxO One is really good.”
MacDailyNews Take: Morris is exactly right about the job of the reviewer. We wish more product reviewers would realize this.
“The first thing I love about it is the size and weight. This is a camera that’s been really well designed from the start as an iPhone accessory, which means that it’s smaller and lighter than any other compact camera,” Morris writes. “This is ultra-portable, especially given the amazing results.”
“Of course there’s a powerful argument that says the iPhone camera is already good enough. That’s certainly true for a lot of things,” Morris writes. “Where I found that the DxO was most useful was in low-light. here, it’s peerless even among other, more expensive cameras. A lot of this is down to the processing that DxO uses, and it’s the lifeblood of the company as it’s that which it makes money on. DxO software for images is found in a lot of cameras – perhaps even the iPhone, although neither DxO or Apple will say for certain.”
“The photos I took in low light, both as JPGs or raw files were really impressive,” Morris writes. “The DxO One has quickly become my favourite little gadget. It’s produced some stunning results, and while it does sometimes lack vibrant colours outdoors, it’s not a fault but something that you can tweak later. Even so, images from it are breathtaking and it’s well worth considering if you want better results than the iPhone can provide on its own, while still not having to lug around a bigger compact camera or SLR.”
Read more, see sample photos, and watch the video in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Note: The DxO ONE 20.2MP Digital Connected Camera for iPhone and iPad currently retails for $539.99 via Amazon.
SEE ALSO:
DxO ONE: A 20MP DSLR quality camera for your Apple iPhone – September 8, 2015
DxO One makes your iPhone camera good enough for a pro – September 1, 2015
I’ve seen this before. And my last comment was, why?
If you want DSLR why go this route? People who use their iPhone to take pictures, use it because it’s easy, not because it’s great. However with that said, great is good too. The iPhone camera is great in its own way.
An accessory such as the DxO, makes the whole process cumbersome.
“…which means that it’s smaller and lighter than any other compact camera.”
“There’s also a microSD card slot too, and this is where the camera will store its images, although you can have it copy them to the iPhone too.”
If you read the review, you’d understand that there is a market for this? You’re going to have your phone with you even if you have an SLR. This accessory works for many.
To each their own. Seems silly to me. Should be either or and use the best tool for the task.
Yep. A camera to replace the camera you have in your pocket. I wonder what stresses it puts on the lightning connector.
Considering that the DxO ONE weighs less than 4 oz., not much.
The DxO One lets me get DSLR-quality pictures, taking up less weight and space than the 40 lbs. of gear I’d otherwise be hauling around for a day in the woods.
Seriously, it’s lighter/smaller than just one of the lenses I’d otherwise be carting around when I don’t want to use the tripod, macro lenses, and all the rest, such as a day to scout out a new location when conditions aren’t otherwise conducive to serious work.
There are times to haul out the camera pack, there are times when you don’t want/need to do that, but you want better image quality than the iphone can do on its own.
Then my answer to that, why not make something smaller. The 4/3 camera was supposed to fill this gap. Gear is gear, the DxO doesn’t allow for gear. Likewise if you simply took a decent small form factor camera with you, and left your pack at home, you would achieve the same effect.
I am simply pointing out that the bridge between phone and camera is completely unnecessary. It is possible that it’s a sales gimmick to attract attention, leaning on the iPhones ethos. The DxO design benefits the manufacture more that it does the consumer, in that they don’t have to provide a screen or GPS, they get to use the “designed for iPhone” branding and charge a sizable sum for it.
Design wise, the screen isn’t a mobility deal breaker. There are plenty of POS units that Canon makes, while not SLR quality level, fits your description.
Conclusion, compact DSLR, in the shape and size of a Canon Powershot N, with a 4/3 CCD to achieve the goal. It fits in your pocket just the same, without all the complexity.
As it happens, I do use 4/3 gear. The best lenses for the format aren’t tiny/featherweight, and I use several most of the time, and three or four others occasionally. Add batteries, memory cards, tripod mounts (ReallyRightStuff mostly), filters, color cards, other accessories, tripod, … It all adds up, and for serious work I’ll still be using it all. The which is a lot lighter than the RB-67 gear I’d otherwise be packing through the woods.
The ONE is smaller/lighter than a P&S you might otherwise use for scouting locations, and you’ll likely have your phone with you anyway, so there’s not much benefit there.
No, they don’t have to provide a big screen, the iPhone/iPad bring that (the ONE does have a display on it), and they don’t have to include processing and control electronics in the ONE, that’s offloaded to the iOS gadget. The thing is *tiny*, especially compared with any other 1″-sensor camera.
Your Canon Powershot-size camera is still bigger/heavier, and arguably more complex than the ONE + iPhone. They weigh two to four times as much, not including the charger, etc.
There’s room for both approaches. Note that DSLR sales are declining, and digital P&S camera sales are also in decline, because most people are completely satisfied with a smartphone.
Hey, I’m an old dinosaur. I started out with a 5×7 field view camera just out of high school nearly 50 years ago, and have made a partial living at various times with 35mm, medium-format and large format cameras. There are tools to fit just about every preference; not a single one of them need appeal to everyone all the time.
This.
http://www.dji.com/product/osmo
Is what I’m lusting after.
Purdy damn cool me thinks.
WOW
if it only had some optical zoom… I’ll wait till version 2
Wait, no optical zoom?!?!?
I hate to say, it but now I have to ask – what’s the point?
Size and weight constraints. Even cost, a bit. I doubt that this is the only camera that DxO’s going to offer in the long term, assuming the ONE doesn’t completely bomb in the marketplace.
It’s not like nobody’s ever done serious work with, say, an old Leica rangefinder with just a 35mm Summicron. This at least will let you focus close without parallax problems.
I’m having nostalgia for the camera accessory Kodak made for Palm devices.
Meanwhile, I know some really nice digital SLRs with zoom for $540.
Not only is it a fixed focal length lens, but it’s a 32mm equivalent which makes it a fairly wide angle lens. Terry White in his review mentions that the lens is perfect for portraiture. I don’t know of any photographers who would select a 32mm lens as their go-to lens for taking portraits. Most would regard something like a 100mm lens as being the optimum.
I welcome the wide aperture and the associated minimal depth of field, but I would have liked to have seen a demonstration in the video about manually focussing. When the depth of field is so small, focussing can become critically important for close ups.
I didn’t see any sign of there being a screw for tripod mounting. It appears that when the iPhone is connected, it can stand on a level surface, maybe for timer shots, but for tasks like landscape or close up photography, a tripod is important.
I like the concept of the camera being an accessory to the iPhone, but if it’s dedicated to iPhones, why does it have a Lightning connector to mate with the iPhone, but a micro USB for charging? One charger for both would make much more sense. I’m very wary of having camera with a built in battery. Once it’s flat, it’s useless. I would always prefer replaceable batteries in a camera or at the very least batteries that last for more than a day of intensive use.
The one feature that I want more than anything else on an iPhone camera is an optical zoom lens. When iPhones have that, I’ll rarely be carrying my DSLRs except for predictable photo opportunities. It doesn’t matter how good the picture quality of the DxO One might be, without either an interchangeable lens or a built in zoom lens, it fails to address the most important shortcoming of the iPhone camera.
There are many things to like about this concept, but I think it’s ultimately a flawed concept as it fails to address some of the important issues that matter to keen photographers, which I would expect to be their primary market.