DXO One Review

[mikev1]

Nice review Kevin.  I appreciate the struggle between being objective and not driving away all your advertisers!  I thought it was a fair review.

As you mentioned in your review, not sure why they didn't build it into some sort of case.  It is just begging to  be dropped. 

Should this ever get to a V2 I bet it will have a wireless interface or better mounting options.

This product looks like an ergonomic nightmare.

I suppose it would be fun to play with but not at that price.

[Hans Kruse]

Kudos to Kevin for a detailed and what seems like an honest review.

When I saw the announcement of this camera and I saw there was no zoom, I was puzzled about who would want this. The iPhone 6 and 6+ have quite good cameras, so if you want to have better quality and likely would require a zoom then the Sony RX100 or similar would be an obvious choice. I had one and the engineering and IQ is very impressive for such a small camera. The usability is not as bad as the DXO and iPhone combo but bad enough so I sold mine again. What strikes me about the DxO and also the small Sony is that they seem engineered without much thought for the user of these cameras. If that had been the case the design would surely have been different. One thing on the Sony: The motor zoom makes it impossible to accurately and quickly frame a shot. It's jumpy and slow. Certainly not a camera for the decisive moment. Maybe the decisive minute  

[speedyk]

Reading through it I wondered if there was such a thing as a Lightning extension cord, which would allow more separation. But at that point, with iPhone, DxO, and possible battery pack held by two hands, even the Sigma Quattro looks like a design miracle by comparison.

If DxO want to make cameras, great and welcome. But it's a tough market and gilding a lily is not a great way to start. Maybe make a lightning-connected folding touchscreen, or a bluetooth module and a little clip-on wireless screen for spectacles. Removable so the wearer doesn't suffer the fate of Google Glass wearers.

[Telecaster]

I'd love to have a small wireless camera module I could wear like a Petzl headlamp. Unlike the DxO unit it could function fully via WiFi connection. It'd need some on-board storage along with the smarts to (know when to) upload full-res image data to one's smartgizmos. A zoom lens in the 28–70mm equiv. range would be nice too.

-Dave-

[michael]

Dave,

Have a look at the Olympus Air. I've been playing with one for a while and it's quite cool.

Michael

[Robert Roaldi]

This may be a dumb question but the review only mentions the iPhone. Does the app work with iPod Touch or iPad?

[MarkL]

Dave,

Have a look at the Olympus Air. I've been playing with one for a while and it's quite cool.

Michael

I think clipping around the phone is the only real option for these sorts of devices. I wonder if it would be possible to do this and still use the port on the phone? The wireless like the Olympus may not have the transfer rate needed for raw files.

[Telecaster]

Have a look at the Olympus Air. I've been playing with one for a while and it's quite cool.

Yeah, that's on the right track. Just make it smaller—which would require a smaller sensor too—so I can use it on a headband without looking like a Cyclops. 

 – – – –

As for wireless transfer rate, RAW upload should be something you can optionally set up to do only on command (during downtime, at night, etc.).

-Dave-

[BernardLanguillier]

A fun idea in which I would not have invested a cent...

Cheers,
Bernard

[daws]

Well-written review!

I guess the two puzzlers for me are who would want to buy this product... and who would design, build and test it and then put it on the market with all its obvious flaws.

 

[Earnster]

"The RAW format is a DNG format and I presume it is somewhat proprietary."

That strikes me as a whole heap of bonkers! It is OK to have private metadata in a DNG but the actual DNG shouldn't be!!

[michael]

Ya... and try opening a Pentax 645z native DNG in Capture One.

The world can be a messy place.

Michael

[jeremyrh]

One thing on the Sony: The motor zoom makes it impossible to accurately and quickly frame a shot. It's jumpy and slow.

You are right. I have given up trying to frame with the zom and just shoot a bit wider and crop later. I'm still lusting after the Mk4 though (I have Mk1).

[dreed]

Ya... and try opening a Pentax 645z native DNG in Capture One.

The world can be a messy place.

Michael

If all DNG files are not equal, doesn't that defeat the purpose of DNG?

[JimAscher]

If all DNG files are not equal, doesn't that defeat the purpose of DNG?

As I reported (and complained) in the past in other threads, DxO itself does not recognize the "native' DNG files from my Ricoh GXR M-module.