Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II Hands-on Preview

david25

david25

david25

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http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/06/27/just-posted-sony-cyber-shot-dsc-rx100-ii-first-look

Our hands-on preview of the new Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II. The RX100 II offers a host of improvements over its predecessor, including a new BSI-CMOS sensor, hot shoe, and articulating LCD. We've had a working sample of Sony's new 20MP 1"-type sensor compact for a few days, and we've prepared a hands-on preview, including a gallery of real-world shots, showing off its improved image quality. Click through for a link to the preview.

Pre-order on Amazon for $750, so that's £600 here.
 
Interested in how the BSI tech performs but otherwise not really excited by such a camera at that price. The 20MP is too much for the sensor size, they would do much better scaling back to 12MP. The Nikon 1 with same sensors are 10Mp & 14MP and the 14MP sensors don't really resolve that much more despite far better glass than the RX100. Which brings me to my next point, the lens on the RX100 doesn't really live up to the sensor and has a more modest aperture than other camera to keep size down. This ultimately means compacts like the LX7 can offer better low light and shallow DoF photography capabilities despite a much small sensor. And then there is the fact that the lens starts at 28mm FFE which is just not wide enough for landscape and architecture.

Then you consider the price and realise you can buy a Nikon 1 and get far better glass and Autofocus, or an Olympus m43 and get a far larger far better sensors with a wide lens selection - both systems have bodies barely any larger form a practical point of view. The X100 doesn't fit in a shirt pocket but does a jacket pocket, just like a Nikon 1 or Olympus EPL5 etc.
 
Comparing the RX100 to a compact system camera isn't really like for like. Once you bolt the lenses on to the body they aren't pocketable. You can easily throw the RX100 in to your jeans pocket.

With the Rx100 you are paying a premium for pocket size camera with almost SLR quality. With a CSC you are getting something that performs like an SLR, with a small body, and requires a case or BIG pockets still. I've yet to decide if CSC's are pointless or not...
 
Youstolemyname said:
Comparing the RX100 to a compact system camera isn't really like for like. Once you bolt the lenses on to the body they aren't pocketable. You can easily throw the RX100 in to your jeans pocket.

With the Rx100 you are paying a premium for pocket size camera with almost SLR quality. With a CSC you are getting something that performs like an SLR, with a small body, and requires a case or BIG pockets still. I've yet to decide if CSC's are pointless or not...
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My Olympus epm2 is perfectly pocketable, best in a jacket pocket but is fine in my trousers and not really any different to the RX 100. The RX100 doesn't fit in the shirt pocket category so has no advantages in being a tiny bit smaller.
 
D.P. said:
My Olympus epm2 is perfectly pocketable, best in a jacket pocket but is fine in my trousers and not really any different to the RX 100. The RX100 doesn't fit in the shirt pocket category so has no advantages in being a tiny bit smaller.
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The RX100 is jeans pocket size with a decent length walk about lens on it, the smallest CSC are not jeans pocketable even with a fixed length pancake let alone a decent walk about!

I also have to disagree with your comment about 28mm not being wide enough for landscape or architecture of course it is an entire generation of photographers had 28mm primes as their wide angles and took great landscapes I've no idea where this current idea that unless it's 24mm or wider it's no good for landscapes has come from!

The competition the RX100 should be compared to are other high end jeans pocket size compacts like the Canon s110 and one or two others and it is clearly the best in this market segment but you pay a hefty premium!
 
D.P. said:
And then there is the fact that the lens starts at 28mm FFE which is just not wide enough for landscape and architecture.
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28mm is plenty wide enough for landscape and architecture, the thousands of examples of just those subjects on Flickr & 500px tells anyone that looks that it is.

Additionally in reference to the Nikon 1 system that you have heartily recommended, it may be worth mentioning that if you do want to go wider than the 27mm kit lens (as you personally undoubtedly would) then the only option is the 6.7-13mm VR which is £450+ and if you want an f1.8 aperture lens then add yet another £160 for the 18.5mm.

The 2 are aimed at different requirements and are not comparable in anything other than sensor size.
 
a1ex2001 said:
The RX100 is jeans pocket size with a decent length walk about lens on it, the smallest CSC are not jeans pocketable even with a fixed length pancake let alone a decent walk about!

I also have to disagree with your comment about 28mm not being wide enough for landscape or architecture of course it is an entire generation of photographers had 28mm primes as their wide angles and took great landscapes I've no idea where this current idea that unless it's 24mm or wider it's no good for landscapes has come from!

The competition the RX100 should be compared to are other high end jeans pocket size compacts like the Canon s110 and one or two others and it is clearly the best in this market segment but you pay a hefty premium!
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A nikon1 with pancake is a jeans pocket camera in the same way the rx100 is, it fits but is tight. The rx100 is really a jacket pocket camera just like small CSCs. n S110 is Ina completely different league, this is a much smaller camera, genuine shirt pocket sized, would fit in skinny tight jeans without issue.


No, for a long time 20mm was the prime choice professional nature and architecture photographers because it offers a more dramatic perspective than 28mm. E.g., Galen Rowell's favorite and most used lens was the Nikon 20mm f4.0 AI, his second being the 24mm f2.8
 
ManCuBuS said:
28mm is plenty wide enough for landscape and architecture, the thousands of examples of just those subjects on Flickr & 500px tells anyone that looks that it is.

Additionally in reference to the Nikon 1 system that you have heartily recommended, it may be worth mentioning that if you do want to go wider than the 27mm kit lens (as you personally undoubtedly would) then the only option is the 6.7-13mm VR which is £450+ and if you want an f1.8 aperture lens then add yet another £160 for the 18.5mm.

The 2 are aimed at different requirements and are not comparable in anything other than sensor size.
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Yeah, the 2 are aimed at different customers but anyone that is seriously wanting the Rx100 for image quality and features is looking in the wrong place, anyone wanting a high end compact have plenty of other choices. E.g., Panasonic lx7 has a far better lens negative the sensors size difference.

The point of the CSC camera is that you can add wider or longer lenses to increase usefulness, or add tiny pancakes to de,crease size and weight. The RX100 has a fixed lens so you have make do with the attached lens, 28mm would rule it out of my personal consideration instantly.

The RX100 lens is only f1.8 at the wide end, it rapidly slows down and is only f4.9 at the tele end, yeah better equivalent then the f5.6 Nikon 1 kits but a long way behind an m43 camera and even further behind other compacts like the LX7.
 
Edit, would like to clarify that I don't tin the rx100 is a bad camera, it just sits in an awkward market segment and IMO makes a poor decision compared to other cameras out there which are either smaller and lighter and truely pocketable (shirt pocket) or are. Rig ally bigger (like 40-80g, and 20mm deeper) but offer for more camera. A CSC makes far more sense in my eyes for anyone who takes photography seriously but wants so etching tiny and light.
 
I was seriously impressed with my RX100. Taking the IS into account, it performed admirably in low light, even when compared to a D700 and 1.4 prime.
When the 20mp were down sampled to 12mp, they were also very sharp.

I might pick one up...
 
I tried to take photos with my xz-1 tonight like how I use my DSLR, total mission fail. It's just too damn dark and I am scared to go above 400 ISO....had to resort to artisting light trail shots with full in flash.
 
I suppose that's where the RX100 has it's edge over the small sensor compacts.

A friend of mine replaced his entire Nikon setup (D300s, 17-55 f2.8 etc) with one and happily uses it up ISO 3200 and I can't tell the difference between his previous work and his stuff since he has had the RX100.
 
Other options are the fixed lens large sensor compacts, the Ricoh GR is almost identical weight a pretty much the as,e size giving you a full APS-C sensor. nikoN A is slightly bigger but not much.
 
D.P. said:
Other options are the fixed lens large sensor compacts, the Ricoh GR is almost identical weight a pretty much the as,e size giving you a full APS-C sensor. nikoN A is slightly bigger but not much.
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Which are great cameras but the lack of a zoom lens is always going to limit their appeal in a marget esgment that has got used to reasonable zoom ranges and the flexibility they bring. The fixed lens APC cameras also tend to be another step up the price range.

booyaka said:
Not trying to be picky, but when was the last time ANYONE carried a camera in their shirt pocket?? That's hardly a reason to discount a camera.
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It is one of those odd expressions isn't it, I think the only camera's I've ever seen that would really fit this description were the credit card sized things Sony used to make back during the miniturisation and maga pixel wars of the early 2000's. For me if it will fit comfortably in the pocket of a decent fitting pair of jeans then it's pocket sized if it's anything else then it might as well be an slr for all the difference it makes to me and I'd put the RX100 just in the pocket sixe bracket.
 
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