Your DSLR may take great photos, but it's a hassle to carry around. Your smartphone is easy to carry, but its photos aren't as good. What do you do? Well, you'll soon have the option of using the DxO One. It's a pocket-sized "DSLR-quality" camera that uses its own lens and sensor to take pictures, but utilizes your iPhone or iPad as its viewfinder and control panel.
The One features an aluminum body, a 32-mm equivalent aspheric lens with a variable six-blade iris, and a 1-inch 20.2-MP CMOS BSI sensor. Using the free iOS app, users can adjust its iris from F/1.8 to F/11, vary its shutter speed from 15s to 1/8000s, and select an ISO ranging from 100 to 51200.
It also offers a variety of shooting modes, including full auto and full manual, and 1080p/30fps or 720p/120fps video. Worth noting, however, is the fact that it only has a 3x digital zoom.
The camera plugs into the iPhone's Lightning port, and can swivel around relative to the phone – this allows users to see the screen while holding the camera/phone at high or low angles (and yes, it also lets them take selfies). Power is provided by an onboard lithium-ion battery, one charge of which should be good for 200 photos.
Images are stored in RAW format on the One's own microSD card, although jpegs can also be saved on the phone's camera roll and then shared via social media. It's additionally possible to shoot in DxO's SuperRAW format, in which four RAW frames are captured in quick succession, then subsequently merged into one image on a Mac or PC.
DxO is now taking preorders for the One, with shipping expected to begin in September. It's priced at US$599. For another take on a smartphone-supported camera, check out Sony's QX line.
Source: DxO
