{"id":5729,"date":"2015-10-24T14:07:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-24T19:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=5729"},"modified":"2024-09-05T16:59:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T21:59:13","slug":"hands-on-dxo-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-on-dxo-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands-On: DxO One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It&#8217;s not a mirrorless camera, nor from one of the big players, but the DxO One, DxO&#8217;s first foray into hardware, is an intriguing entry to the photographic market. DxO figures that you bring your smartphone with you everywhere anyway, and sometimes you want better quality than a smartphone can provide, but you also don&#8217;t want to be saddled with a second camera. &nbsp;The DxO One can&#8217;t solve the second point entirely, but it can make that second camera incredibly tiny. I spent about 15 minutes shooting with the DxO One yesterday at PhotoPlus Expo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the DxO One<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t heard the press on this little guy, it&#8217;s essentially a small camera module with no viewfinder or screen. &nbsp;It clips to the lightning port on an iPhone 5S and above, and the iPhone becomes the main control interface and viewfinder. &nbsp;The camera has a 1&#8243; sensor with 20 megapixels of resolution and a fixed 11.9mm (32mm full-frame equivalent) f\/1.8 lens. &nbsp;The lens can stop down in 1\/3 stop increments to f\/11, providing reasonable control over depth of field. &nbsp;It can go as high as ISO 51,200, though I wouldn&#8217;t recommend it, and the shutter can be used from 1\/8000s to 15s, providing lots of control for the shooter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1.jpg\" alt=\"The DxO One attached to an iPhone 6S\" class=\"wp-image-5731\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The DxO One attached to an iPhone 6S<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The overall size of the DxO One is like two stacked&nbsp;mirrorless camera batteries. It&#8217;s trivial to pop it in your pocket to have when you want to shoot. &nbsp;The camera can actually shoot without attaching to your iPhone, but you&#8217;re essentially shooting blind at that point. This may be useful for stealth shooting, but it won&#8217;t be good for much else. Flip the lighting tab out and it fastens securely to the bottom of your phone. &nbsp;One potential issue is that the attachment more or less requires you use your phone either without a case or with a minimal one with large cutout on the bottom. &nbsp;I didn&#8217;t have any issues with my Apple leather case, as the entire bottom is cut out, but many other cases would likely need to be removed to use the camera. &nbsp;This could be a really big hurdle for mass adoption, as most cases that people use are likely to interfere with the connection of the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_1241.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1334\" height=\"750\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_1241.png\" alt=\"The app interface for the DxO One is well designed and easy to navigate\" class=\"wp-image-5732\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_1241.png 1334w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_1241-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_1241-1024x576.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The app interface for the DxO One is well designed and easy to navigate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the camera is connected, you can pivot your phone to enable shooting above or below you without problem, provided you&#8217;re shooting in the landscape orientation. &nbsp;When shooting in landscape orientation, the app&#8217;s controls put all essential control at your left thumb. &nbsp;It&#8217;s something that may take getting used to for some, but it seemed instantly intuitive to me. &nbsp;The app is very well designed, with all essential exposure controls accessible and simple to operate. &nbsp;The shutter is also located on the left, since you&#8217;ll want to hold the combination with two hands. &nbsp;I moved my phone around quite a bit without supporting the camera and it stayed attached, though I wouldn&#8217;t recommend doing it the other way around. &nbsp;If you prefer, you can also use the hardware shutter button for half press focusing and shutter firing just like with any other camera. &nbsp;The button works fine, but I found my fingers tended to slide up over the camera lens when I used the mechanical shutter button. &nbsp;While landscape shooting is fairly comfortable, I will say that shooting in the portrait orientation can be a fair bit more awkward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how&#8217;s the image quality? Pretty darn good. &nbsp;It&#8217;s not going to rival a full-frame mirrorless or DSLR, but it does a very nice job from what I can tell from the out of camera JPEGs. The camera can shoot in RAW as well as a &#8216;super-RAW&#8217; that combines multiple images, but I couldn&#8217;t look at the resulting images in RAW as they are recorded to the memory card in the camera, while JPEGs are passed to the phone. &nbsp;The JPEGs I took look relatively clean up to ISO 400, with good detail. &nbsp;Even ISO 1600 files looks decent. There&#8217;s a fair bit of noise at that ISO, but still plenty of detail, and the JPEGs are processed well, without too much smearing or overt noise reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the flare prone Javits Center, the contrast appeared a bit washed out, but otherwise, detail, noise and dynamic range look quite good for a camera this small. The lens looks to be fairly sharp as well, even at wider apertures. &nbsp;It&#8217;s not going to replace your main camera for serious work, but for a pocketable solution for super-lightweight travel? &nbsp;it&#8217;ll do a very nice job. &nbsp;Quality is about on par with something like the Sony RX100, so not bad at all. At $599, it&#8217;s a bit pricey, but it&#8217;s a unique solution. &nbsp;I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll be picking one up, but I&#8217;m excited to see where DxO goes from here with this product line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a look at the full size image samples below to take a peek. Click on an image to enlarge and then click the green arrow to view at full size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/2015\/dxo4_f.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo4_s.jpg\" alt=\"Full Size Sample - DxO One @ f\/1.8, ISO 400\" class=\"wp-image-5738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo4_s.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo4_s-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo4_s-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Full Size Sample &#8211; DxO One @ f\/1.8, ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/2015\/dxo1_f.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1_s.jpg\" alt=\"Full Size Sample: DxO One @ f\/2.5, ISO 400\" class=\"wp-image-5737\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1_s.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1_s-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1_s-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Full Size Sample: DxO One @ f\/2.5, ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/2015\/dxo2_f.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo2_s.jpg\" alt=\"Full Size Sample: DxO One @ f\/8, ISO 1600\" class=\"wp-image-5735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo2_s.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo2_s-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo2_s-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Full Size Sample: DxO One @ f\/4, ISO 1600<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/2015\/dxo3_f.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo3_s.jpg\" alt=\"Full Size Sample: DxO One @ f\/1.8, ISO 200 \" class=\"wp-image-5736\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo3_s.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo3_s-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo3_s-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Full Size Sample: DxO One @ f\/1.8, ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s not a mirrorless camera, nor from one of the big players, but the DxO One, DxO&#8217;s first foray into hardware, is an intriguing entry to the photographic market. DxO figures that you bring your smartphone with you everywhere anyway, and sometimes you want better quality than a smartphone can provide, but you also don&#8217;t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,22],"tags":[361,360],"class_list":["post-5729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-shop","tag-photo-plus","tag-photoplus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dxo1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28RGq-1up","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5729"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12688,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions\/12688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}