Kodak Pixpro SL10 Smart Lens

Pros Sharp 10x zoom lens. Good image quality at higher ISOs. On-camera shutter and zoom controls. Wi-Fi with NFC. iOS and Android compatibility. 5.6fps burst capability. Inexpensive.

Cons Awkward to use. Slow to lock focus and fire. Doesn't support SDXC memory. No support for Windows Phone. No flash. Bottom Line The Kodak Pixpro SL10 adds a 10x zoom lens to your Android or iOS smartphone, but it's a bit awkward to use.

By Jim Fisher There's very little question as to where JK Imaging got its inspiration for the Kodak Pixpro SL10 Smart Lens ($229). From a design perspective, it's a clone of Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-QX10, the first mass-market attempt at a digital camera that is designed to work in conjunction with a smartphone. It's less expensive and a more consistent performer than the QX10, but it still presents many of the same usability issues that prevented us from recommending the original take on the smartphone add-on lens/app combo. Its image quality is actually quite decent, and its app never locked up the same way that the Sony did, so it earns a slightly higher rating. It's by no means an Editors' Choice, that goes to a more traditional camera, the Canon PowerShot N100, which has a shorter zoom range but makes up for it with a larger image sensor and also supports Wi-Fi for easy image transfer to a smartphone.

Design and Features
The SL10's cylindrical design omits a rear LCD and most traditional physical controls—it just has a power button, zoom rocker, and shutter release. It measures 2.4 by 2.2 by 2.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.1 ounces. An adjustable clip is built into the lens barrel, which is a departure from the design of the Sony QX10 and QX100, each of which include a removable clip. The SL10 is also a bit bigger than the QX10 (2.5 by 1.2 by 2.5 inches, 3.2 ounces), which definitely prevents you from sliding your phone into your pocket when the lens is attached.

The 10x zoom lens can capture a lot of different types of scenes. It matches the field of view of a 28-280mm on a full-frame camera, with an f/3.2-5.6 variable aperture. It's not quite as wide as the 25-250mm f/3.3-5.9 lens that Sony uses in the QX10, but for all intents and purposes it matches it in light gathering capability through the zoom range. There's no flash, another area in which traditional compacts like the Nikon Coolpix P340 hold an advantage.

It's possible to snap photos with the SL10 without pairing it with your smartphone, but the lack of a display makes that fairly impractical, save for occasional happy accident that you may stumble upon by blindly pointing and shooting. But to properly use the device you'll need to connect it to your smartphone via Wi-Fi or NFC and launch the Pixpro Remote app, available for free in the iOS and Google Play app stores.

Pairing the Smart Lens with your phone leads to a rather awkward setup process before snapping a photo. Again, the SL10 is a bit too chunky to slide into your pocket when attached to a phone. So you'll either have to leave it attached and carry it at your side in anticipation of snapping a photo, or deal with latching it onto your phone before every photo op. It's a process that doesn't lend itself to capturing candid moments.

The Kodak app puts a good amount of control at your fingertips—and fully automatic operation is available if you choose to go that route. Shooting modes include Program, Face Beautifier, Wide Dynamic Range, High Dynamic Range, Auto Scene, and Continuous Shot. You'll have the most control over settings when shooting in Program, which gives you access to the White Balance, self-timer, image resolution, EV compensation, and ISO.

The difference between WDR and HDR is worth noting; WDR captures a single image and brings up detail in the shadows and attempts to eliminate blown-out highlights, while HDR does the same by merging three separate shots. The HDR mode does a better job bringing out details when shooting in mixed lighting, but it requires fairly static scene for the best results, and the output resolution is limited to 8 megapixels.  WDR does the same thing with a single exposure, and while its results are not quite as dramatic, it does support 16-megapixel image capture.

The Live View feed to the phone is very smooth, even when pointing the lens at scenes with a lot of detail. The Sony QX100 and QX10 both choked and stuttered when attempting to frame a shot with a lot of bare tree branches, and while the SL10 is being reviewed in summer months where wintery scenes are not readily available, it never stuttered during field testing, no matter how hard I tried to make it.

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