Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 20.2MP Digital Camera - for Apple iPhone - Smartphone

Perfect working order.

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Sony did something a little radical in 2013, launching the lens-style camera accessories for smartphones. With two models on offer - the QX10 and the QX100 - the idea is to bring quality to your smartphone photos that would be otherwise be impossible and a proper optical zoom that otherwise lacks. As such, these lens-style cameras provide you with a good quality lens and sensor, stepping around the inherent shortcomings of a camera built into a smartphone.

We were impressed with the quality of the QX10 when we reviewed it soon after launch, but highlighted some problems with the setup and the app that you use for control, although the price, given the results, is attractive.

READ: Sony Cyber-shot QX10 review

The more advanced model, the QX100, aims higher than the QX10. It gives you Zeiss glass and a 20-megapixel 1-inch type sensor, transforming your smartphone into a device of high-end compact camera proportions. But at this price and given the physical size, would you be better off just sticking to a real camera?

Design

The Sony Cyber-shot QX100 is the lens barrel of a camera, but without the controls or display. It's based on the RX100 II, Sony's award-winning high-end compact camera, so starts with a great foundation.

READ: Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II review

It's a pretty sizeable chunk of lens thanks to the large sensor and the 3.6x zoom that it offers. It measures 62.5mm in diameter and is 55.5mm long when collapsed, so it's small enough to slip into a jacket pocket or bag, but less so than the QX10, which you could put in your jeans pocket at a push.

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Arguably, the size of the QX100 makes it less attractive than the QX10 because you're looking at something that's almost the same size as a compact camera. That's true, and priced at £379.99 it might be substantially less than the £649 for the Sony RX100 II it mimics, but it's still a hefty price.

Around the front of the lens is a barrel ring that can be used for focusing in manual focus mode and there are a number of controls so that you can zoom and shoot from the lens, without needing to do it on the touchscreen of the connected smartphone.

Attaching the QX100 to your smartphone there's a supplied mount with jaws that will clamp on. It's easy to clip on or off and this arrangement means you can easily detach the lens from the phone to get those tricky angled shots, or if you are setting up the ultimate selfie. For the ultimate in stability there's a tripod mount on the bottom of the lens too.

JPEG crop

The lens houses its own battery, which will give you around 200 shots, as well as a microSD card for storing your images. There's a Micro-USB for charging, as well as letting you import images to your computer.

Getting connected

The QX100 needs a connected smartphone to operate. Although, technically, you can turn it on and use it without seeing precisely what you're doing. Zoom in or out, snap a photo no problems - but there's no way to change the settings, preview your shots or confirm focus without your smartphone's display.

The QX100 uses Wi-Fi to connect to your phone. To do this, the QX100 sets up its own network to which your phone connects, meaning you can't be connected to your home Wi-Fi network and the QX100 at the same time. You'll need to plug in the password details, but after that, connecting in relatively straightforward.

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If you have an NFC-enabled phone, you'll be able to tap you phone against the QX100 to initiate connection too, although once you're all setup, it's just as easy to turn on the lens and open the app. Interestingly the device doesn't have to be physically connected to a smartphone, so if you want to mount the QX100 on the tripod and use your smartphone like the camera's controls then that's possible.

Connection can be a little slow: it's not simply the case of turning on the lens and starting snapping like you could with a camera. There's a delay of about 10 seconds to get yourself connected and start shooting, so those quick shots aren't possible unless you have the lens and phone on and ready to go. Once connected, there's a delay between each shot too, so shooting with the QX100 is always at a leisurely pace.

Like the QX10, we found that the connection sometimes dropped. A message saying there are connection difficulties will appear, but often it will flick back to being connected an instant later. It's irritating because it shouldn't happen and it seems to be completely random as to when it does.

sony cyber shot qx100.

Once connected, the PlayMemories Mobile app takes care of everything. The phone becomes the controls and your display to see what you are doing. Given that the QX100 is larger than the QX10 we previously reviewed, it can feel more natural to hold the lens barrel when shooting, as it feels more balanced.

App controls

From the app you get a number of shooting modes and importantly it takes things a little further than the QX10, by offering an Aperture Priority shooting mode. This joins the Intelligent Auto and Superior Auto modes, as well as the Program mode.

Aside from these shooting modes there are a number of settings and options that you can change, such as the aspect ratio. There are 3:2, 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 options and each can be set to capture either high or low resolution images. For example, at 4:3 you have the option of 18 or 5 megapixels.

You can also tweak the white balance and set a self-timer to 2 or 10 seconds - the second being really handy for setting up longer exposures or pictures of yourself using a tripod.