This is why the Sony QX1 is still best in its class a decade after its release

Lately, we’ve seen renewed interest in turning one’s smartphone into a “real camera”. Recently, we’ve seen announcements from both Alice Camera, which is finally shipping to customers, and newcomers SwitchLens.

But one of the earliest cameras of this type was the Sony QX1, released in 2014. It came with a massive (relatively speaking) APS-C sensor. It’s a feat that’s not been matched since, and that’s why, in this video, James at Snappiness tells us why he believes, it’s still best in its class, a decade later.

Sony QX1 – Why was it made?

In the early days of smartphones, cameras were pretty basic. They were improving, but the computational photography and AI-powered enhancements we have today simply didn’t exist back then. It seemed like the only way to get high quality photos using a smartphone was a separate smartphone-controlled device.

Sony followed through on this concept with the Sony QX1. This was a unit mounted to your smartphone that provided it with a Sony E-mount lens mount and a small popup flash. You essentially used your smartphone as the camera’s rear LCD, without a viewfinder.

It was quite impressive, especially for 2014, with a 20.1-megapixel APS-C-sized sensor. It only had 25-point contrast AF and it was limited to a relatively slow 3.5fps continuous shooting, but if you wanted to use your Sony lenses with your smartphone, this was the way to do it.

The concept was great, but it was perhaps a little too ahead of its time and a little too niche. This was still a time when most Sony E-mount lenses were still made by companies that weren’t Sony. And Sony wasn’t even the first to try it.

The burgeoning smartphone photography revolution was also still in its early days. This was when we were just starting to see advanced features like optical stabilisation, slightly larger sensors and multiple camera modules.

Will the concept take off now?

Sony’s also not the last to try it. Lately, we’ve seen both the AI-powered Alice Camera and the completely-lacking-in-anything-resembling-AI SwitchLens. Both of these are offering a lot of promise that has gotten people very excited. Alice Camera is now finally shipping cameras to backers, and it looks like it’ll be going retail soon.

Alice Camera’s an interesting one, because it updates the concept to the very latest practical and useful tech in the area. Its AI-powered computational photography enhancements, even if largely supplied by your smartphone, are part of its big selling point. And that’s going to be an absolute win for many.

What makes it interesting, though, is the fact that SwitchLens seems to be the antithesis of Alice, with no AI-enhanced superpowers whatsoever. But so far, that’s helped it raise over $500,000 through its Kickstarter campaign so far – more than double that of Alice’s crowdfunding campaign.

Maybe it seems that those who want to use “real lenses” with their phones don’t want the latest and greatest AI-powered features after all.

Also a little interesting and somewhat disappointing is the fact that both of these are Micro Four Thirds cameras. Don’t get me wrong, as an MFT shooter, that’s great for me. But it would be nice to see an APS-C sensor unit come to smartphones again.

That’s ultimately the main thing that keeps the Sony QX1 best in its class. At least on paper. A real-world side-by-side of the QX1 with either of the two recent releases would be very interesting.