DxO drops the price of its iPhone-connected camera to $499

DxO has lowered the price of its iPhone camera, following its move to unbundle the desktop software from the device. The company has reduced the price of the DxO One by $100 down to $499. In addition, it has provided an app update that makes the OLED display into a framing assistant to help you compose better photos.

The DxO, which made its debut last year, aims to kick iPhone photography up a notch. When the camera is affixed to the smartphone through the lightning bolt USB charger slot, it gives you capabilities similar to having a dSLR right on the mobile device. Priced at $599, it wasn’t exactly the cheapest option out there, especially when you could buy a decent point and shoot for that price. But part of that cost was attributed to the inclusion of software that DxO offered for a limited time.

A company spokesperson said DxO sold all the units it built during the holidays, but that now its manufacturing process is “operating at peak efficiency,” which will let it meet demand this year. You can buy the device on DXO’s website, at Apple.com, at select retail stores in the United States, Amazon, B&H Photo, and other photo retailers.

For those who already have the camera, DxO has released an app update with several new features. Besides transforming the OLED camera display into a framing assistant, it now sends alerts about motion blurring and offers improved ways to manage white balance, metering, and focus modes. The software gallery has also been reorganized to make photos and video appear in an order similar to the way they do on iOS Photos. Additionally, JPEG compression levels can be set for photos, along with bitrate for video.