In digital images, you'll typically notice aliasing in three ways, either as raggedness ("stairsteps") in angled high-contrast edges, in the form of moiré patterns or as color artifacts (really a subset of moiré patterns). When autofocus is enabled, the camera displays AF-S in still image mode, but AF-C in video mode. And yes, that's a threaded shutter release button, which will work with a traditional mechanical cable release. ... With the RX1, Sony fused these two polar opposites in a collision of photo-epic proportions. If you're that type of shooter, you'll be happy with the RX1's uncompensated exposure choices; if you're not, just dial in +2/3 EV of exposure compensation as your personal default. Chad has been writing for me on and off for years now and I always enjoy his thoughts and views on these Sony products. Material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted or otherwise used without the prior written consent of The Imaging Resource. Small apertures such as f/16 or f/22 should soften the image enough (due to diffraction) to do the trick in most cases, though at the cost of reduced resolution. Imaging Resource © 1998 - 2021. As with everything else, you'll have to decide whether this will affect your own photography or not. Sony engineered the body and optic so tightly around the large sensor, they say there was no way to make it an interchangeable lens system. (Ah, the lens!) The RX1 is a photographer’s camera. I wish this last were otherwise, but the demands of modern autofocus mean there's just no way a focus ring could be direct-coupled and have the buttery smoothness of old MF lenses without auofocus being unbearably slow and power-hungry. What's perhaps most exciting about the Sony RX1 is the way it completely redefines expectations of what a compact camera can accomplish. The Sony RX1's lens is very sharp wide open, so shooting at large apertures likely won't be as successful at reducing aliasing artifacts as with most SLR lenses. Granted, both of these lenses are a full stop faster than the RX1's, but both are also softer in the corners than the RX1 is at f/2. And in video mode, continuous autofocus is almost entirely non-functional. In all of my shooting with it and all our lab tests, the Sony RX1's image quality was simply stellar, and its operation flawless. The Sony Cyber-shot RX1R II is the latest in the company's line of compact, fixed-lens full-frame digital cameras. The mix of sunlight and shadows, combined with a clear blue sky also meant that white balance was pretty variable, so I assigned the down-button to white balance. When it came to white balance, the Sony RX1 handled difficult and mixed lighting with ease. It's also worth noting that there is no headphone jack for monitoring audio, either. Going up against the Sony A99 (which uses a variant of the same sensor), coupled with our very sharp Sigma 70mm f/2.8 lens, the Sony RX1 is noticeably sharper, particularly in the mosaic bottle crop and in the pink fabric. Shooting with the camera, it was just amazing to me that I could shoot wide open at f/2, and not feel that the large aperture was in any way compromising the quality of my images. Image quality isn't just good, it's exceptional. On Sep 2016 Sony increased the price of RX1R II camera to $3,898, but today after $600 price drop the camera is available at $3298. You'd certainly hope for quality construction in a camera retailing for $2,800, but it's nice to see that expectation met, and it was a joy to experience, after handling hundreds (and hundreds) of lesser cameras built to meet lower price points. Resolving to find out, we did a series of AF tests in video mode, both with and without subject tracking enabled. This occurs because the image is captured and read out line by line, so the bottom of an object may no longer be underneath the top of it by the time the camera gets around to capturing that part of the frame. The Sony Cyber-shot RX1R doesn't replace its near-clone the RX1, but sits alongside it at the top of Sony's Cyber-shot lineup. This means exposing shots a fair bit darker than you would if you were just looking for pretty pictures to use straight from the camera. The RX1's optional FDA-EV1MK EVF has all the usual benefits of its class, including the ability to simulate exposure effects (including picture styles and creative filters), the (optional) availability of all the camera status indicators normally seen on the screen, as well as things like the camera orientation display to help you keep your horizons flat and verticals vertical. Sony introduces the world’s first compact digital camera with a 35 mm full-frame sensor. You can of course view your movies on a high definition TV via the Micro HDMI (Type-D) output. Nothing saps my picture-taking pleasure faster than endless deep dives into a menu system to get the shots I want. The 30p MP4 and 24p AVCHD test videos showed more rolling shutter artifacts than the 60p AVCHD video, which is similar to what we've observed in other cameras. The camera has a 1,229,000 pixel screen of 7.5 cm diagonal. Field Test by William Brawley Posted: 10/4/2013. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 is the first ever compact camera with a 35mm full-frame sensor. It wasn't so long ago that pro and intermediate photographers, in addition to their professional gear, would carry good quality, pocketable cameras, such as the Olympus XA or Stylus, which had fixed 35mm lenses and took full-frame 35mm film. This service assesses and scores the color depth ("DXO Portrait"), dynamic range ("DXO Landscape"), and low-light sensitivity ("DXO Sports") of camera … Compared to AVCHD, the regular MPEG-4 files are a bit less efficient in their use of memory card space for a given image quality level, but are more widely supported, and are often a bit easier for older computers to play. See our Sony RX1 Video page for sample videos and more details. In my opinion, the RX1 gets this just right, but if you feel otherwise, it's easy to make fairly fine-grained adjustments to saturation and contrast in each of the Creative Style settings. And regardless of the shooting mode you're in, the array of highly configurable buttons mean your most important settings are always just a button-press away, letting you concentrate on shooting rather than menu navigation. See his 35 1.8 Review HERE.. For more advanced shooters, the RX1 does offer full manual exposure adjustments, as well as the standard Program Auto, Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority exposure modes. Ultimately, it all comes down to the pictures a camera can deliver, and the RX1 delivers in spades across the full spectrum of lighting conditions and subjects. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1R is a new version of last year's RX1 with the optical low-pass filter removed, promising increased resolution but at the risk of increased moire effects. (More on that last one in a minute; one of my very few gripes about the camera.). Posted 09/12/2012, Field Test by Dave Etchells Never mind our usual AF-tracking acid test with a car moving at 30 mph, we couldn't get the RX1 to track a person moving at a leisurely stroll. Og da det er et Sony-kamera, er videokvaliteten af høj klasse. (Note how sharp the background detail remains as he approaches the camera and passes in front of it.) In our testing, it rarely tracked moving objects, even very slow-moving ones, and when it did manage to acquire focus it did so painfully slowly. Sony shipped samples of both for our evaluation. We've had a full-production model for a few hours - just enough time to get it into the studio to see how it handles our test scene. In the case of the RX1's lens, the designers allowed significant geometric distortion and light falloff (shading, aka vignetting), to help them achieve the excellent corner to corner sharpness. It features the same 42-Mpix full-frame CMOS sensor as the Sony A7R II, paired with the familiar Zeiss 35mm f2.0 Sonnar lens first seen on the RX1. We also choose 1,600 because we like to be able to shoot at least at this level when indoors and at night. Sony's SteadyShot image stabilization technology is available during video recording with a simple On/Off toggle in the video menu. No problem, I assigned the left 4-way button to bring up the DRO/HDR controls. Going to 3 megapixels, you can crop away 7/8 of the frame, and 99% of your friends still won't be likely to notice. The buttons sprinkled around the camera are equally a good balance between too stiff and too easy, with a nice breakaway feel so you'll know when you've pressed one. Capable of a nice 24 x 36 inch wall display, which really is remarkable at this ISO. Field Test … With shading compensation enabled, we got relatively uniformly-exposed frames, but also with the color tints. (Actually, these were shot interspersed with the first set of examples, with both shots in each camera orientation taken together.). There's no way around it, this is a significant failing. Its shots inspire a real wow factor, especially for this camera's price range and small size in comparison to cameras with rival image quality. Those shooting video will do well to remember to remove the strap and D-rings before shooting anything important on a windy day. Changing shadows could confuse a contrast-detect AF system, but again, the subject was moving very slowly.) Is this something that could be fixed in firmware? The net result is you can shoot a good two stops slower than you'd normally be able to without using a tripod. Now it is time to look at the Sony RX1 competitors in more detail. I won't go that far myself, but I do think $2,800 is a fair price for what you get. Do all RX1's show the same behavior? Full-time autofocus during video recording, with continuous AF tracking, although in our test this performed. The table below shows the specs for various video recording options: As stated above, the RX1 offers the choice of three video recording formats, although the choice of format is made for you, depending on whether you're shooting at Full HD or a lower resolution. A separate lens ring is used to switch into macro-focus mode. The thumbnails above link to the full-sized shots if you click on them and want to analyze them yourself. While these users might cheer at the inclusion of a mic jack, they'll soon grumble at the fact that there is no manual audio level control in the camera. The RX1 also features Focus Peaking. With a full-frame sensor placed inside a compact body -- married with a fast, sharp 35mm Carl Zeiss lens -- the Sony RX1 achieves what was once almost unthinkable -- an almost-pocketable camera that delivers stellar hi-res images. These would be very nice features for users wanting to manually focus when shooting video, but they are not available in RX1's Movie mode. As we stated in our overview of the RX1, continuous AF (which is only available in video mode) is virtually useless. It was also very bright; objects viewed through it actually looked brighter to my eye than when viewing them directly. The decision to brand it as a Cyber-shot is particularly brave. This is "Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 test" by CNET Asia on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them. A typical computer these days has little trouble dealing with still images, but high-definition video can be another matter. Yet when you step back and realize the RX1 has the potential to go head-to-head with cameras such as the Canon 5D Mark III, Nikon D600 and Leica M9 -- each with a high-quality 35mm prime lens attached --that price makes a little more sense. And neither is the Sony RX1R II’s design. Cropping, of course, is what the RX1's digital telephoto does, and this is perhaps the first camera I've shot where I considered that a reasonable option. The video moiré seems more severe. No problem, I set the right 4-way button to control aspect ratio, so I could switch from one to the other in a heartbeat. The only configurable button that carries a label is the one for AEL (auto exposure lock). The video AF tracking results were extremely disappointing; the camera had great difficulty tracking a subject moving at any speed. The background behind the olive oil bottle, and indeed the area where two meet is also muddled by noise suppression. In creating the lens for the RX1, Sony's lens designers took an approach we're seeing more and more lately, taking advantage of the ability to correct images digitally to allow more latitude in some aspects of the lens design. 11 x 14s are quite usable with some minor softness in some areas and a mild film grain look in others. As noted in the feature list earlier, manual focus is also available in movie mode, but there's no magnified focus-assist view available to help you focus. Not having to worry about stopping down unless I chose to for photographic reasons was truly liberating. The Sony RX1-R has exactly the same body as the original Sony RX1, so the build quality and basic operation of the camera is exactly the same. The latter are among the most severe we've seen with that particular subject. Regardless of what mode the camera is in, users do have the ability to adjust the ISO sensitivity and the exposure compensation during video recording, although exposure compensation is reduced to +/-2 EV steps rather than the +/- 3 EV steps shown on the dial. Both the DRO and HDR options have an available Auto setting as well. Even without close calibration, though, it's clear that the Sony RX1's lens is the sharpest, most uniform full-frame 35mm optic we've ever seen. You could literally buy three RX1's for the cost of a Leica 35mm kit.). Removing AA filters seems to be very fashionable at present. Uncorrected chromatic aberration is actually on the low side of normal as well, but after processing through the camera's optional correction algorithm, it becomes truly negligible. My shots were sharp from corner to corner, even at f/2. Posted 02/23/2013. The shots below show it in comparison to an average-sized hand, and beside a current higher-end digicam. Of course, there are also the unique multi-shot scene modes pioneered by Sony, including the incredibly useful Handheld Twilight mode, and the incredibly fun Sweep Panorama mode. The RX1's audio capabilities are very similar to those of the popular NEX-7. Its fixed prime lens means you have to "zoom" with your feet, but it's a great focal length for street photography, and the camera's 24-megapixel sensor means digital zoom produces images with enough resolution to make good-looking prints at reasonable sizes (fine-looking 8 x 10s at a 2x zoom, for instance). This means you can crop away half of the frame and still have enough resolution to make a very nice print to sit on the side table or hang on the wall. Dave Etchells Posted: 06/27/2013 great difficulty tracking a subject moving at any speed info, compared the! Appropriate media format in the company of other RX shooters, and of. Also backed off on its low-pass filter excellent prints here at 11 x 14, with AF. 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