Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX10 lens camera sample pictures
Does the QX10 take significantly better photos than your smartphone? You be the judge.
Joshua Goldman
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
The best image quality you'll get from the QX10 is when shooting close-ups. The camera can focus as close as 2 inches from a subject at the wide end, and 3.3 feet when zoomed in. This is a crop taken at 75 percent of pictures 18-megapixel resolution at ISO 100. At 100 percent there's just a bit too much noise to make it usable for huge prints or heavy crops.
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Color
The QX10 produces pleasingly bright and vivid colors.
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Low light
Despite having a Program mode, you get no control over ISO settings -- only white balance and exposure compensation. For still subjects, you're better off using the camera's Superior Auto mode for handheld shots, unless you're really getting bad results from the auto white balance. Though you might not see much of a difference at this small size, the SA mode uses a multishot process that reduces noise as well as blur from hand movement. (You can view these images at full size later in this slideshow.)
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Zoom range
The one big feature smartphone manufacturers haven't really solved yet is optical zoom. (Sorry, Samsung, the Galaxy S4 Zoom doesn't count.) The QX10's gives you a decent range of 25mm (top) to 250mm (bottom).
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Selfies
Having a camera that is remotely controlled by your smartphone allows you to frame up your shot just right for self-portraits. However, there are several cameras from Sony, Panasonic, Nikon, Samsung, and others that can do this, and they don't always need to be connected to your smartphone.
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ISO 100
This picture and those that follow are available for download using the links below the slide. They are full-size 18-megapixel images, so please allow time to download.
