


Sure, they’re slimmer, easier to use and deliver better image quality than most point-and-shoot film cameras ever did, but with their small sensors and tiny non-zooming lenses they have poor low-light image quality and allow little scope for compositional flexibility. Yet smartphone cameras have their limitations. Indeed, with the excellent image quality possible from recent generations of smartphones, it’s now only enthusiast photographers who see the need to own a separate camera. This is all down to smartphones, of course, because since the advent of the iPhone 3G in 2008, smartphones have become the picture-taking tool of choice for many people. Despite this, more pictures are now being taken than ever before, and shown to a larger audience through social-media channels such as Instagram and Facebook. We’re constantly being told that the camera market is in decline, with sales falling dramatically, particularly in the inexpensive zoom compact sector. It is also a supplier of image signal processors (ISPs) to mobile device manufacturers. The company also makes the DxO Analyzer image-analysis system, and runs the DxOMark website that assesses the technical image quality of cameras and lenses. This includes DxO OpticsPro, a fully featured raw converter that’s based around profiled lens-correction modules DxO FilmPack, that emulates the look of analogue film and DxO ViewPoint, for correcting perspective and wideangle distortions. DxO is a French company that’s best known for its imaging software.
