shawn
Mentor
When the DXO One first came out I didn't really see the point of it. Seemed a bit unwieldy to attach it to a phone to take pictures. I pretty much ignored the camera since then.
Turns out DXO added a couple of interesting features into the camera over time including the ability to use it standalone. In standalone mode this camera is *tiny.* It makes a Rollei 35 look big.
Body upright like that gives the standard 3:2 landscape orientation. The camera has a 1" sensor (like the RX100 II) and has a fixed focal length f1.8 lens with an equivalent of a 32mm FOV and it shoots RAW.
The 1" sensor means lots of DOF. And that is where the camera gets very interesting. In standalone mode the camera basically remembers the last settings you put in while it was attached to the phone. It has the normal PASM settings as well as auto focus and manual focus. AF is a little slow and deliberate. Manual focus an additional option of a hyperfocal setting where the camera will move to hyperfocal for whatever F stop it is shooting at. All of these settings are saved in the camera when it is disconnected from a phone (and it retains them through power cycles).
You can set the camera to aperture priority, auto ISO, put it in MF hyperfocal (or any MF distance you want) and disconnect it from the phone and the camera becomes a tiny little snapshot shooter.
When disconnected from a phone it has very few options that can be changed. They are adjusted using the touch screen OLED display. You can move from stored settings to Auto Mode (with AF), Movie mode and can go back to the stored settings.
Framing is interesting. The OLED display is B&W only, no gray scale at all. But it actually works as a way to frame a shot in a weird pixelated way. No chimping, previewing exposure or any of that available.
Turning the camera on/off is by the sliding cover in front of the lens. Takes about a second to be ready to shoot and it remembers whatever mode you were in when you closed the cover.
Only take a few shots so far but quality looks good for such a tiny camera. It is about as unobtrusive of a decent camera as I have seen. Deeper than a Minox B but not as long. Build quality is good, metal body that feels pretty solid.
No idea on battery life yet. MF mode will help. Built in battery that is recharged by USB so a battery pack can work with it. Micro SD for storage.
DXO discontinued them a few months back and they can now be found for much lower prices. A seller on Amazon has what I think is the original version for around $130. I had $50 in credit so it was about $80.
Shawn
Turns out DXO added a couple of interesting features into the camera over time including the ability to use it standalone. In standalone mode this camera is *tiny.* It makes a Rollei 35 look big.
Body upright like that gives the standard 3:2 landscape orientation. The camera has a 1" sensor (like the RX100 II) and has a fixed focal length f1.8 lens with an equivalent of a 32mm FOV and it shoots RAW.
The 1" sensor means lots of DOF. And that is where the camera gets very interesting. In standalone mode the camera basically remembers the last settings you put in while it was attached to the phone. It has the normal PASM settings as well as auto focus and manual focus. AF is a little slow and deliberate. Manual focus an additional option of a hyperfocal setting where the camera will move to hyperfocal for whatever F stop it is shooting at. All of these settings are saved in the camera when it is disconnected from a phone (and it retains them through power cycles).
You can set the camera to aperture priority, auto ISO, put it in MF hyperfocal (or any MF distance you want) and disconnect it from the phone and the camera becomes a tiny little snapshot shooter.
When disconnected from a phone it has very few options that can be changed. They are adjusted using the touch screen OLED display. You can move from stored settings to Auto Mode (with AF), Movie mode and can go back to the stored settings.
Framing is interesting. The OLED display is B&W only, no gray scale at all. But it actually works as a way to frame a shot in a weird pixelated way. No chimping, previewing exposure or any of that available.
Turning the camera on/off is by the sliding cover in front of the lens. Takes about a second to be ready to shoot and it remembers whatever mode you were in when you closed the cover.
Only take a few shots so far but quality looks good for such a tiny camera. It is about as unobtrusive of a decent camera as I have seen. Deeper than a Minox B but not as long. Build quality is good, metal body that feels pretty solid.
No idea on battery life yet. MF mode will help. Built in battery that is recharged by USB so a battery pack can work with it. Micro SD for storage.
DXO discontinued them a few months back and they can now be found for much lower prices. A seller on Amazon has what I think is the original version for around $130. I had $50 in credit so it was about $80.
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
Couple of samples converted to B&W.
Shawn
Shawn
daveisbest
Established
Seems like an ideal, and overlooked camera for stealthy street shooting. Image quality looks good enough, judging from your sample shots. Had no idea it could now be used without having to hook it up to a mobile, very interesting!
shawn
Mentor
I missed that too.
I haven't had much more of a chance to use it but the image quality looks good so far. I'd think comparable to, or maybe even slightly better, than my Sony RX100III. Think the Sony doesn't handle higher ISOs quite as well.
For discrete shooting you can just palm the whole camera and trigger the shutter release with your ring or pinky. Or just outright shoot as it is so tiny it is very unthreatening.
You can see the framing assistant in action here
https://youtu.be/v0sygJUi2zI?t=38s
Works well enough and will even indicate focus point when in AF mode.
I just received the Hard EVA Protective Case by Hermitshell for the DXO One. Even in the case the whole thing easily fits into a shirt pocket. Makes it an extremely easy camera to carry everywhere.
Shawn
I haven't had much more of a chance to use it but the image quality looks good so far. I'd think comparable to, or maybe even slightly better, than my Sony RX100III. Think the Sony doesn't handle higher ISOs quite as well.
For discrete shooting you can just palm the whole camera and trigger the shutter release with your ring or pinky. Or just outright shoot as it is so tiny it is very unthreatening.
You can see the framing assistant in action here
https://youtu.be/v0sygJUi2zI?t=38s
Works well enough and will even indicate focus point when in AF mode.
I just received the Hard EVA Protective Case by Hermitshell for the DXO One. Even in the case the whole thing easily fits into a shirt pocket. Makes it an extremely easy camera to carry everywhere.
Shawn
Archlich
Well-known
Just ordered one. People use to criticize it being expensive ($599 and later $499) for what it is. No longer the case with the current clearance price...
shawn
Mentor
Nice, please post samples when you get it. Based on reviews it looks like the $599 to $499 price change happened when they reduced the software licenses that were included with the camera.
Shawn
Shawn
Archiver
Mentor
That's pretty amazing. I recently got a Sony RX0 for work, but I've been using it for street photography in bright daylight due to its fixed f4 aperture. The DXO One should be great in low light situations.
shawn
Mentor
How do you like the RX0? For awhile I had been thinking a very small fixed focal length 1"ish sensor camera would be a great take everyone device. I was excited about the RX0 when it came out. Initial sample shots had me questioning the lens a little, newer sample shots look better. It was more than I wanted to spend for that type of device.
For the DXO One check out the samples at:
https://www.photographyblog.com/previews/dxo_one_photos/
Download a few DNGs, the lens is sharp. Even wide open it does well in the center and only drops off a bit in the corners as seen here: https://img.photographyblog.com/reviews/dxo_one/photos/dxo_one_05.dng
Shawn
For the DXO One check out the samples at:
https://www.photographyblog.com/previews/dxo_one_photos/
Download a few DNGs, the lens is sharp. Even wide open it does well in the center and only drops off a bit in the corners as seen here: https://img.photographyblog.com/reviews/dxo_one/photos/dxo_one_05.dng
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
Few more things I've found when using standalone....
In the capture settings there is a Max ISO level. That is used using Auto ISO (in any mode) and it applies in the full auto standalone mode too.
Max Exposure Time. That is really a minimum shutter speed. If you set a limit here it applies in Full Auto and Aperture Priority.
The two are both hard limits. So if you set a Max Exposure time of 1/250 and a Max ISO of 3200 the camera will keep raising the ISO up to 3200 to properly expose for 1/250. After that it will underexpose and it won't violate the 1/250 shutter speed.
The full auto mode in standalone tends to raise shutter speeds up to around 1/500 or so before really stopping down to bring in highlights.
Trying a different setup for standalone mode. I decided to fix focus at 2.6 yards and use shutter priority mode with it set at 1/125 of a second. In good light that will have the camera stop down more and give more DOF than when I was using Aperture Priority mode at a fixed f5.6 and having the camera at hyperfocal setting.
In lower light I think this will be a little more usable if I am around the proper distance for focus. If not I'll just switch to the Auto mode which engages AF.
Shawn
In the capture settings there is a Max ISO level. That is used using Auto ISO (in any mode) and it applies in the full auto standalone mode too.
Max Exposure Time. That is really a minimum shutter speed. If you set a limit here it applies in Full Auto and Aperture Priority.
The two are both hard limits. So if you set a Max Exposure time of 1/250 and a Max ISO of 3200 the camera will keep raising the ISO up to 3200 to properly expose for 1/250. After that it will underexpose and it won't violate the 1/250 shutter speed.
The full auto mode in standalone tends to raise shutter speeds up to around 1/500 or so before really stopping down to bring in highlights.
Trying a different setup for standalone mode. I decided to fix focus at 2.6 yards and use shutter priority mode with it set at 1/125 of a second. In good light that will have the camera stop down more and give more DOF than when I was using Aperture Priority mode at a fixed f5.6 and having the camera at hyperfocal setting.
In lower light I think this will be a little more usable if I am around the proper distance for focus. If not I'll just switch to the Auto mode which engages AF.
Shawn
stevierose
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Has DXO said whether they are going to update the DXO One software for iOS 12?
shawn
Mentor
I haven't seen anything but I haven't looked either. They discontinued the DXO One so there probably won't be any more updates to it.
Couple more from today....
BTW, if you have the original shipping version be sure to read the included instructions. They original ones came with licenses to DXO Optics Pro and DXO Film Pack 5. The app is supposed to give you a license key but it isn't doing that. I contacted support and they sent me the key. DXO Optics Pro immediately upgraded itself to DXO PhotoLab Elite! This version has the NIK U Point tools all integrated into it.
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
Fantastic little camera. Better than an X100 in image quality; almost as good as an A6300. And when was the last time you could get anything with a ~35/1.8 for $125?
The OLED rough viewfinder is actually surprisingly useful, at least once you realize it only helps you frame the middle square of the frame. But it is good enough to level the camera with.
As an FYI to the people looking at the cheap ones, there are two versions of the camera. For the extra $75 for version 2, all you get is a detachable battery door that lets you use an external battery pack that's no longer available.
Dante
The OLED rough viewfinder is actually surprisingly useful, at least once you realize it only helps you frame the middle square of the frame. But it is good enough to level the camera with.
As an FYI to the people looking at the cheap ones, there are two versions of the camera. For the extra $75 for version 2, all you get is a detachable battery door that lets you use an external battery pack that's no longer available.
Dante
Prest_400
Multiformat
Forgot this one. Didn't even know DXO filed for bankruptcy/reorganization. The clearance price is very nice, alas, seems that the Europe side of the Atlantic doesn't have that $169.99 I just saw.
shawn
Mentor
You can use any USB battery back and a cable to charge the V1 camera, it will even run while charging. You just can't fit the DXO battery pack to the camera. The v1 cameras are the ones that come with the extra software, I think they pulled that with the v2 when they reduced the price to $499.
Keep an eye open for the DXO One Outdoor Shell. That makes it waterprood. I have one on the way that I found on ebay. Seller had 8 more but the auction isn't up at the moment.
For framing you can also use wifi to control the camera from your phone remotely. Haven't tried that yet but I'd assume it draws the battery down quicker.
Shawn
Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
Not that exciting - you have to start wireless with the camera docked, and it drops if you shut the camera off. At least with the DxO, you can still use the lightning connection. Can't imagine what life would be like with a wifi-only camera like the Sony.
D
Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
Jim Evidon
Jim
I bought the DXO One ( second version )outfit with the waterproof case, filter adapter, etc. The 'superRaw' is amazing. For stand alone mode I constructed a kluge attachment that sockets onto the popout lightning ***** and has a cold shoe into which I mounted a 35mm optical finder. It doesn't work as I hoped due to parallax problems. Nevertheless, the low quality EVF is sufficiently useful to frame the subject and I have a very small external battery ( Xuma ) with USB cable that fits in the camera USB port. It is essential since the built in battery runs out of juice very quickly.
The build quality is exceptional and the image quality in the superRaw mode exceeds anything Sony makes. Note: I also have the Sony RX100V. The Sony is really more practical with it's fine Zeiss short zoom lens and excellent EVF. The DXO One camera was a market failure but a superior, if quirky image maker.
BTW, if anyone has a lead on the camera stand/tripod adapter for the DXO One, please let me know as I have misplaced or lost mine. I have been unable to find one on the web.
The build quality is exceptional and the image quality in the superRaw mode exceeds anything Sony makes. Note: I also have the Sony RX100V. The Sony is really more practical with it's fine Zeiss short zoom lens and excellent EVF. The DXO One camera was a market failure but a superior, if quirky image maker.
BTW, if anyone has a lead on the camera stand/tripod adapter for the DXO One, please let me know as I have misplaced or lost mine. I have been unable to find one on the web.
These days, the Sony RX0 is a similar stand alone camera in size and has a screen... but it is still $600. Once it is plentiful on the used market and hits $300, I might try it. Rumor has it that Daido Moriyamo is using it right now as his only camera.
shawn
Mentor
They look like cool little cameras too. Wider FOV but I don't think the lens is as sharp and it is more than 2 stops slower. It also lacks an aperture (f4 only) or mechanical shutter so you can get some motion distortions. On the flip side is the actual screen, controls, always weather sealed and replaceable battery.
Shawn