Neil Hughes
Sony's next-generation QX-series external camera accessory, which wirelessly connects to and is controlled by smartphones like Apple's iPhone, may include an E-Mount attachment for swapping lenses, as well as a dedicated flash.
Details on the unannounced product were revealed on Tuesday by Xperia Blog, which got its hands on promotional pictures that appear to show capabilities of the new hardware. Specifically, the images show a new QX wireless lens with a standard E-Mount attachment, which would allow users to swap out different lenses for various uses.
The unit also appears to have a pop-up flash, which could be an improvement over the built-in camera flash on Apple's iPhone and other handsets. The current Sony Playmemories app for iOS which controls the existing QX10 and QX100 lenses does not offer camera flash support when taking pictures.
Finally, the leak also suggests that the product will utilize an Exmor APC-S sensor. Aside from those changes, the unit appears to have a similar design to its predecessors, including a clip-on mount that allows it to be securely fastened to smartphones of varying sizes.
Naturally, the images show the new QX lens being used with a Sony smartphone — Â in this case, the unreleased Xperia Z3. But the previous QX lenses were compatible with Apple's iPhone, as well as Android handsets.
Sony's unique QX-series camera lenses connect to Apple's iPhone via Wi-Fi direct, and are then controlled by the handset. The iPhone also acts as a live viewfinder for the accessory, while the lens can be clipped to the back of the iPhone or even positioned and controlled remotely.
As noted in AppleInsider's QX10 and QX100 reviews, the hardware took excellent pictures that were a marked improvement from the built-in iPhone 5s camera, but focus control features left much to be desired, especially when controlling the device through the buggy PlayMemories Mobile app and attempting to maintain a connection over Wi-Fi Direct. Sony has gradually updated the devices since their release late last year, squashing bugs and adding new functionality such as shutter half-press to focus, and higher-resolution MP4 video recording.
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31 Comments
I have a hex-6 and a rx100 3rd edition - wonderful cameras, but playmemories is really horrible, and i could not imagine Having to use that just to take a picture. Its bad enough using it to access and email the odd picture. Maybe if new iPhone 6 has NFC, and they can use that to auto pair playmemories each time it would be more usable.
This is made for iPhone 6 right?
This is made for iPhone 6 right?
No. It's made for many platforms. Looks to me like it's essentially a lens-shaped micro 4/3 camera that's teathered to a phone for the interface.
It's an interesting solution, but I don't like the way they're solving the whole attachment issue. Looks flimsy.
[quote name="waterrockets" url="/t/182059/leak-reveals-sonys-next-iphone-connected-camera-lens-will-feature-swappable-e-mount-pop-up-flash#post_2588084"]No. It's made for many platforms. Looks to me like it's essentially a lens-shaped micro 4/3 camera that's teathered to a phone for the interface. [/quote] I think it is 1" sensor, same as in Nikon 1 platform and Sony's own RX100 cameras. It is smaller than 4/3 but larger than common P&S sensors. But yes, this is basically a complete screen-less camera - lens, sensor, processing/power. It uses phone for preview screen and controls... maybe storage? Not sure if these things have their own storage or not.