Sony claims the idea is "a brand new concept in digital imaging, turning your smartphone into a power-packed specialist camera".
Connecting to smartphones via Bluetooth, the new lenses can either be mounted on any phone itself or used separately so long as they are within range of the phone itself. Taking advantage of the growing processor power of modern Android and Apple phones, the products add the sort of optics that it is not currently possible to build directly into a slime device. They both use Sony Android or iOS apps as a camera interface, and offer NFC to pair to a smartphone and a memory card slot for storage.
The QX10 and QX100 lenses were announced at the IFA electronics fair in Berlin, and are likely to retail as smartphone accessories for £179 and £399 respectively.
The QX10 will feature a 1/2.3-inch 18-megapixel sensor and an f/3.3-5.9 lens, while the QX100 includes a 1-inch 20.2-megapixel Exmor R sensor and a f/1.8-4.9 Carl Zeiss lens. The QX10 is based on Sony’s WX150 camera and the QX100 is based the RX100M2, which retail in the UK for around £150 and £550 respectively.
Sony’s Berlin press conference also saw the announcement of the Z1 mobile phone, an ultra high-definition camcorder, the FDR-AX1E, which is expected to retail for £3,800.
