articles/Cameras/DxO-One-page3
by Mike McNamee Published 01/02/2016
Shots such as this are reasonable in detail but we did struggle to align the shots.
The Images
We noted immediately from the metadata that GPS co-ordinates are
recorded. This might be key if you choose to take the DxO along as a
reconnaissance camera when prospecting a job or simply want to record
the overall scene when shooting on your full camera. We cannot imagine
using the DxO on a professional assignment on its own.
We took the DxO for a walk with the dog along the promenade on a dull,
overcast day - hardly good for testing a lens performance. The shots we
did take confirmed the following:
1. It is difficult to get the horizon level.
2. The bright LCD of the iPhone fools the viewer into thinking the shots
are brighter than they are; most of the shots looked OK in the field
but were rather dark when processed. There is no histogram for this
type of checking.
3. The relatively short focal length is not helpful for portraits including
those of dogs (the dog's head was massive, the feet small!).
4. The iPhone does not show anywhere near the whole of the frame
captured; the margins are large.
5. As mentioned, the rig is quite difficult to hold and we took quite a
few images of our feet.
Against all this, the camera was easy to use; changing settings was simple
although the gloves had to come off (we needed e-gloves from Cotswold).
Processing the Raw files required DNG Converter and generated a new file
tagged with a suffix _2, _2 , etc. This doubles the volume of the folder. We
noted that the DxO camera profile was already present on our up-to-date
version of Photoshop.
Image quality was good with just a little fall-off at the frame edges (at
f4). The distortion was well under control although applying the camera
profile in ACR did make the image jump quite a bit. There was a very small
amount of residual chromatic aberration.
The DxO-iPhone combination is useful for grabbed shots. Here columnist Chica poses alongside her new best mate, 'Bronzie' who commemorates the foundation of 'Guide Dogs for the Blind' in New Brighton. Chica finds Bronzie a bit lacking in personality and smells a bit funny.
Overall
The concept is interesting and stylish but a
serious bridge camera may be bought for less
money. It is difficult to decide just where the
DxO One will find its markets but there is always
a sector of any market who will splash out
for a smart gizmo - hard-bitten professional
photographers might be more difficult to
win over. It
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