You Really Can Take Amazing Photos Using Your Smartphone

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Let me start by saying this is not a sponsored post, this is simply a product that I learned about and had to have. It’s the Sony DSC-QX10 smartphone camera lens and it’s one of the coolest gadgets I’ve come across in a long time. I discovered it when I went to BlogHer in July and my roomie and long time friend had one that she was reviewing (lucky duck) and it was soooo cool!

Basically it’s a camera lens that attaches to your smartphone (iPhone or Android) and allows to you take much better pictures than your regular phone camera, and without lugging a separate giant camera around. The Sony QX10 actually has it’s own wireless network that connects to your phone so your camera will work anywhere, even out in the boonies where there’s no service or internet connection. It also works when not attached to the phone so you can get those standing over the crowd shots or sit it on a table and you can finally be included in those group and family photos, even when you’re the designated picture taker.

 

 

Now I am not a “techy” as in I know all the technical aspects of things, but I do love technology and gadgets and I know what makes one user friendly and practical for all of us “normal” people (by normal I mean non-techy). This little gem is all of those things and it has the “cool” factor to boot. It’s easy to set up and if you’re already taking photos with your smartphone and have used a camera ever in your life, you’ve got the skills you need to use the Sony QX10. From the time I very excitedly opened the the box to the time I was ready to snap my first photo was about 5 minutes. Not too bad for a girl that couldn’t figure out what button turned her web cam on a few weeks ago right?

 

Technical Specs

 

If you’re interested in things like technical specs, here’s some if the information that would probably interest  you:

• 10x Optical Zoom (which works amazing as you can see from these photos all taken from the exact same location in my yard – no editing other than watermarking.)

 

 

 

• 18.2-megapixel, 1/2.3″ back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor which means this baby works awesome in low light situations….something that most regular smartphone cameras do not do.

• Movie mode Lets you record MP4 video clips at up to 1440 x 1080 resolution at 30 fps. Built-in stereo microphone ensures crystal-clear acoustic capture.

• iAuto Mode automatically optimizes shooting conditions to accommodate your current setting. Face detection function recognizes up to 8 faces and isolates subjects in-frame, so you can take stunning portraits of friends and family members.

• White balance modes include auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, fluorescent 0, 1 and 2 and incandescent to help achieve natural tones under a wide range of lighting conditions.

• Multi-point auto-focus with single-shot and touch auto-focus modes for sharp image capture. Focuses as close as 2″ for clear up-close photos.

• Supports select mobile phone apps (not included) Making it easy to edit photos and videos and share recorded content via text, e-mail and various social sites, such as Facebook and Instagram.

• Can be uncoupled from your phone so you can hold the camera in your hand or mount it on a compatible tripod via the integrated universal tripod screw for flexible shooting options.

• Automatically saves images on both the camera and your phone for hassle-free backup.

• Multicard slot supports Memory Stick Micro up to 16GB, Memory Stick Micro (Mark 2), microSD up to 64GB, microSDHC and microSDXC formats for expansive storage options.

 

Pretty cool right? And at a price point of about $170.00 depending on where you pick it up at and if you get a bundle deal or not (the one I got included a carrying case, small tripod, SD Card, Stylus, etc.) its definitely very affordable. If you’re itching to pick one up for yourself you can grab one at Best Buy or Amazon.com.

 

How do you think you could put one of these to use? What situations could you see this gadget coming in extra handy? Let me know in the comments below and thanks for reading! 

 

This post does contain affiliate links.