Sony's oddball QX1 is stuck between a smartphone and a DSLR

Increasingly, camera companies are trying to bridge the gap between dedicated cameras and smartphones. Panasonic has its Android-powered Lumix CM1, Samsung offers its Galaxy cameras, and then there's Sony and its line of unusual QX "lens-style cameras."

Essentially, these are cameras with everything but the lens and sensor stripped out. There's no LCD screen, no grip and few controls. That's because you're meant to strap them to your phone, which they connect to via WiFi and NFC, and then to use the phone screen as your viewfinder. Images can be transferred to the phone via WiFi and/or stored in a microSDHC card in the QX module itself.

Following up on last year's QX10 and QX100, Sony recently announced the Alpha ILCE-QX1 (MSRP $399.99) — a new take on the QX concept that ditches the included lens, but can use any of Sony's NEX and A7-series lenses. In concert with the 20.1-megapixel APS-C sensor, that means it can (in theory) produce shots just as brilliant as those you'd get from the latest DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

The question is, why? Why would you choose one of these odd, little lens modules when you can buy any number of Sony's own WiFi/NFC-enabled cameras, or just use the camera that's already built into your phone?

Despite an avalanche of gushing PR materials, Sony hasn't really provided any compelling answers. So, we went hands-on in a quest to find our own.

Fortunately, syncing the camera to your phone or tablet is a cinch. You just need to download the free Sony PlayMemories Mobile app (available for iOS and Android), fire it up and pair it with your phone. Pairing takes just a couple of seconds.

The connection, however, can be tenuous. In crowded environments with overlapping WiFi signals, we had serious trouble maintaining an uninterrupted live-view stream, which made it difficult to frame shots.

Once you're in live view, you can tap the on-screen shutter button to shoot or, if you've selected the Tap-to-Shoot option, tap anywhere on the screen to focus and capture. It's simple as can be, but there are still a couple of pitfalls.

For one thing, you also need to tap tiny on-screen areas to bring up vital settings like aperture, exposure compensation and ISO. Miss by a few pixels and you'll snap an unwanted shot, wait for it to transfer and then have to hit the back button to escape back to live view.

Assuming you manage to access those settings, making adjustments with the finicky on-screen controls proves just as challenging.

Like previous QXes, the QX1 includes a bayonet-mounted clamp that can latch onto your phone. It can be stretched wide enough to fit pretty much any phone on the market, but most tablets will be a bridge too far.

The QX1 only weighs about half a pound, but that's before you strap on a lens. This time around, Sony is offering two add-on grips in a seeming admission that there's no way you're going to just slap the QX1 on your phone and comfortably snap away.

First up is a hand grip that Sony has tailored especially for selfies. It's basically a little doorknob you can snap onto the back of your QX, with the stem fitting between your fingers. Sony is also offering a"Free Angle Shooting Kit, which is a hinged mount that lets you tilt the QX cameras away from your phone for off-angle shots.

But you don't necessarily have to shoot the QX1 attached to a camera. Testing the Cyber-shot QX10 last year, we found we could reliably operate it from as much as 50 feet away, which opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities. We've heard of pro photographers stuffing them into bridal bouquets or fixing them atop light poles to capture otherwise impossible shots.

But why wouldn't you just buy a camera like the Sony A5000 (currently $300 with a 16–50mm lens), which can accept all the same lenses, has WiFi built in (including remote control) and is more comfortable to shoot with when you actually want to hold it?

The 20.1-megapixel sensor is probably a close relative of the one used in the A3000 and A5000 cameras. With the right lenses, that means you can expect great image quality. The sensor is backed up by Sony's Bionz X processor, which allows it to shoot at up to 10fps at full resolution.

Autofocus is limited to contrast-detect, which means you probably won't want to use the QX1 for sports shooting. Sony claims 25 AF points, but with touch AF enabled the choices are essentially infinite.

From an image-quality standpoint, the QX1 is undoubtedly an improvement on last year's QX10 and QX100, but it does nothing to address the fundamental weaknesses of Sony's concept. Aside from a few incredibly specialized use cases, we can't fathom why anyone would consider a QX1 over a conventional WiFi-enabled camera.