Almost a decade on from the Samsung Galaxy Camera, will we ever see an Android-powered mirrorless camera hit the mainstream?
Mirrorless cameras have come a long way since their inception, with automatic eye focusing, incredible in-body image stabilization, and compact ergonomics. But there’s still one thing I’m frustrated with – their inability to move on from a method of editing and sharing images that’s ancient compared to Android and iOS smartphones. Since the advent of digital cameras we’ve had the ability to develop our own photographs on computers (and now smart devices) with increasing flexibility. While many cameras do offer in-camera editing, it’s often clunky and limited. To get around this, I’ve been hoping a mirrorless camera running Android might come along to make the whole workflow, from snap to publishing, a doddle. But I’m still waiting. The new Yongnuo YN455 recently caught my eye and brought the concept tantalizingly close to fruition, but it’s only available in China. Still, with power of modern silicon, stacked sensors and a mature Android OS, isn’t it time we saw a spiritual successor to the Samsung Galaxy Camera and NX series from almost a decade ago? It feels like an oversight, but there are also good reasons why the Android-powered mirrorless camera could remain a pipe dream… Every time I try to edit and share photos from a mirrorless camera it feels like a tool from a bygone age. To process your shots you need to transfer the images over to a separate device, use dedicated image editing software to develop your photos, then prepare them for publishing online or in print, before exporting to those platforms (or uploading copies to online stores for printing). The China-based Yongnuo, which recently announced the YN455 successor to their YN450 Android camera, is the latest in a line of tech companies who’ve tinkered with integrating smartphone operating systems into their cameras. But none have quite nailed it yet. The first real splash was made by Samsung with its Galaxy Camera (above) in 2012. Its slogan was ‚camera reborn‘. And to be fair, it lived up to that billing on paper, combining the OS and slick interface of a smartphone with a larger image sensor and 21x optical zoom lens. It was by far the best-connected camera of its time, even offering 4G. And its interface still looks futuristic for a camera, which says a lot. But it was let down by poor image quality (this was pre-computational photography, after all) and stunted functionality, despite the boon of 8GB internal storage. Sadly, the Galaxy Camera concept, and more advanced NX series, fizzled out when Samsung decided to quit making cameras in 2017. But then, out of nowhere, Zeiss introduced the ZX1 in 2018. The ZX1 is an intriguing camera. Its 37.4MP full-frame sensor also captures 4K video and, thanks to the 512GB on-board storage, it can run Lightroom for in-camera editing and publishing straight to social media channels. Unfortunately, the ZX1 is also painfully expensive, running in at $6,000 / £5,399 (around AU$10,300). This is a bit steep compared to its rivals, when you consider the ZX1 has a fixed lens and a burst mode that can only hit a maximum of 3fps. With camera manufacturers seemingly uninterested in producing a successor to Samsung’s previous riffs on the concept, it’s no surprise that independent companies have started to pop their heads in to fill the gap. The Alice Camera, an Indiegogo project that’s due to ship in October, combines your smartphone with a Micro Four Thirds camera to produce an interesting hybrid for YouTubers, Twitch streams and TikTokkers.
