RX1R II


Erm... So is the IQ significantly better than the previous RX1R?
Still shots. Not taking able to crop more or faster AF into considerations.
for eg.. shooting buildings or landscape. At same settings.


I couldn't tell you...this is literally the first time I've used an RX1...somebody else here is probably better informed
 

Oh one thing I'll add....and maybe because it's not mine , but I was conscious I was carrying around 4.5K worth of camera and was super careful with it (don"t have this problem with my GX8 and nocticron 42.5), also ergonomics aren't the greatest and could really benefit from a grip of some sort. Overall I liked it....I have the camera for a few more days, so i will post some more samples when I have time to process them ( I don't shoot JPEG)

You are relatively safe in Singapore. No need to worry too much about it.
 

You are relatively safe in Singapore. No need to worry too much about it.
haha that's not what i meant...and with almost 2 decades of boxing/martial arts training I can hold my own....
my comment was directed at the random situations where our equipment can be damaged if your doing gritty street photography....and as I mentioned earlier the camera has a nice weight to it, but the ergonomics coudl be better. Ultimately I'd like to see a weather sealed version of the RX1, but that may be another one or two versions away....
 

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Erm... So is the IQ significantly better than the previous RX1R?
Still shots. Not taking able to crop more or faster AF into considerations.
for eg.. shooting buildings or landscape. At same settings.

At higher ISO, the image quality is obvious. ISO 12800 is relatively clean, and ISO 25600 is usable. Here's a sample i took. (Full resolution available on flickr)


Rain at Changi Airport by Elvin Tan, on Flickr




Oh one thing I'll add....and maybe because it's not mine , but I was conscious I was carrying around 4.5K worth of camera and was super careful with it (don"t have this problem with my GX8 and nocticron 42.5), also ergonomics aren't the greatest and could really benefit from a grip of some sort. Overall I liked it....I have the camera for a few more days, so i will post some more samples when I have time to process them ( I don't shoot JPEG)

Adding a soft-release button helped a lot for me as I can have my main index finger deeper in and have a better grip. (Rather then having to only hold the edge) But I do feel very conscious of holding the camera around. (No one else does though, everyone ignores the guy with the tiny point and shoot)

Uncompressed raws are 80mb, fine jpgs are 12-14mb... I need a larger hard drive :(
 

Did you use the Fotodiox soft button, and will you buy a cage/grip once they're released for the M2?

I loaded in about 40gb worth of photos last night...and there wasn't even that many...all that detail in the image comes at a price.
 

Hi guys,

Previous RX1R user here. Used my old camera for more than 2 years as my primary cam and was very familiar with it. Walking by the Sony store at NEX mall I was able to play around with the RX1R II there (there was only the one in the display case but I asked nicely and they let me play with it for about 20 mins until the battery died)

Just my random observations:

1) The AF is blazing fast. I was blown away at how fast it could lock focus, it happened so fast that it looked like even the LCD could not catch up with it. The environment was indoors in good light but nonetheless very impressive, especially when compared to the version 1 RX1R. I even tried the A7R II with the FE 35/1.4 and the RX1R II totally blows even that setup away in terms of focus speed (especially when focusing near minimum distance then trying to focus to infinity)

2) When looking at 100%, the noise performance seems okay-ish. It's maybe around the same or a little better than the RX1R at ISO 6400, but this is when viewed at the individual pixel level. Once you take the image as a whole and consider that you're looking at a 42mp image vs the old RX1R at 24mp, then the RX1R II will be significantly improved.

3) I couldn't really assess the rear LCD screen quality (not sure if it's changed?) because it has this ridiculous anti glare screen protector which ruined the detail/colour but it seems to be about the same as the old version. I love the articulating feature, especially important now since the viewfinder is not articulating like the old version

4) The menu system is using the A7R II one and its a little more confusing to me compared to the RX1R. Probably because I was used to the old version and there are now so many new options. And for the life of me I could not find the Eye AF feature or activate it or use it, so I have no idea how well it works

5) The general rendering, colours, and look of the images is pretty much like the old version RX1R

6) I wasn't expecting much for the EVF but it does seem a little better than the old version. First of all it seems a little bigger. It maybe looks a little better than the old one too and I like that it works well without the need to use an eye cup even when I'm wearing my glasses. Because of the silly screen protector on the LCD, I used the EVF to examine the images at 100% and found the overall picture quality excellent. This is definitely not a cheap lousy EVF like the one on the RX100. The best part is it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb the way the old one used to. But the A7R II EVF is definitely better still than the one in the RX1R II.

7) Those very familiar with the old version RX1/RX1R will probably know that it does have a habit of under-exposing images by about 1/3 of a stop. The new version has the same characteristic. I personally found +1/3 EV compensation on the old camera worked very well and the same holds true for the new version

8) Overall, great camera! Definitely on my buy list
 

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Just curious. Does it have all the more advanced af functions like tracking focus and expand focus found on the a7r2?
 

Did you use the Fotodiox soft button, and will you buy a cage/grip once they're released for the M2?

I loaded in about 40gb worth of photos last night...and there wasn't even that many...all that detail in the image comes at a price.

I been using the same match technica soft release buttons (x100t, m9, nikon film bodies) and they work great !

I'm considering the thumb grip (out of stock, only be in this or next week) I'll not get any grip as it add bulk to the camera.

Hi guys,

Previous RX1R user here. Used my old camera for more than 2 years as my primary cam and was very familiar with it. Walking by the Sony store at NEX mall I was able to play around with the RX1R II there (there was only the one in the display case but I asked nicely and they let me play with it for about 20 mins until the battery died)

8) Overall, great camera! Definitely on my buy list

At 42mp 100%, the noise levels are great, and you zoom out at 25%, at ISO 25600, its really clean.

I replaced my lcd with a glass one (Tk has stock) and the images are gorgeous. Its a pity they dun make glass anti-glare..


Just curious. Does it have all the more advanced af functions like tracking focus and expand focus found on the a7r2?

Yes. Eye AF, etc.. Works great too with the 399 PDAF thingy.
 

The menu system is complicated at first. It's exactly how I felt moving on from rx100 mk1 to a6000. Once you get used to it, it's actually a lot easier.

If you just stick to the fn menus, you can get through most essentials very quickly.
I have optimized my display to show only two types of shooting screen: Histogram and for EVF. Which this, when I hit the fn button, I get into the items I mostly need to shoot. If I need to go to face detection, just tap the display button once to the "evf display", i got the whole set of other quick buttons to access with the fn hotkey.
 

The menu system is complicated at first. It's exactly how I felt moving on from rx100 mk1 to a6000. Once you get used to it, it's actually a lot easier.

If you just stick to the fn menus, you can get through most essentials very quickly.
I have optimized my display to show only two types of shooting screen: Histogram and for EVF. Which this, when I hit the fn button, I get into the items I mostly need to shoot. If I need to go to face detection, just tap the display button once to the "evf display", i got the whole set of other quick buttons to access with the fn hotkey.

A lot of people bitch bout sony's menu. I used to whenever I tested a sony A7.. but after owning it, its usable. (Good that its consistant across the A7/RX series)

I've remapped my AE-L button to Eye AF, and keep Face detection off (FD kicks in when eye-af is active). I shoot in AF-C mode all the time, and its now easy to enable Face detection/tracking just by holding the AE-L button.

I got two questions though..

1. What's the difference between Disp cont. AF area and Phase Detect Area. I thought they would be the same ? (Doesn't cont af use PDAF points?)
2. Under priority setting for AF-S/AFC - Balanced Emphasis - anyone got an idea of the exact behaviour ? (Manual says "Shoots with a balanced emphasis on both focusing and shutter release." which doesn't say much..
 

Contrast and phase detection are 2 separate things, one cover roughly 40% of the screw with 399 point the other cover most of the sensor with 25 zones.. The emphasis thing, the camera is trying to be smart and check if the focus is locked or close enough it will shoot, if it's completely off it will not, I shoot like you always in continuous so I don't even bother to check other options, I always use af priority, if you need the moment and u feel luck I would try shutter priority, but never the emphasis thing since is unpredictable... One more thing that I did also is to map my centre button with hold focus so I can still use the old focus and recompose method of the continuous wide doe at give me what I want...


I hope someday Sony will give us the ability to map an entire focus mode in 1 button that include mode and zone, so I will be able to switch between af-c wide to af-s point with 1 switch button.. But I know this will never happen they still have to figure out that their 35 1.4 is full of bugs for what the aperture ring concern
 

Contrast and phase detection are 2 separate things, one cover roughly 40% of the screw with 399 point the other cover most of the sensor with 25 zones.. The emphasis thing, the camera is trying to be smart and check if the focus is locked or close enough it will shoot, if it's completely off it will not, I shoot like you always in continuous so I don't even bother to check other options, I always use af priority, if you need the moment and u feel luck I would try shutter priority, but never the emphasis thing since is unpredictable... One more thing that I did also is to map my centre button with hold focus so I can still use the old focus and recompose method of the continuous wide doe at give me what I want... I hope someday Sony will give us the ability to map an entire focus mode in 1 button that include mode and zone, so I will be able to switch between af-c wide to af-s point with 1 switch button.. But I know this will never happen they still have to figure out that their 35 1.4 is full of bugs for what the aperture ring concern

Thanks. I tot "cont" was continous. Haha. So its contrast :p

The af-c / af-s dial on the rx1r2 is quite stiff (good thing i guess. Better then loose)
 

6) I wasn't expecting much for the EVF but it does seem a little better than the old version. First of all it seems a little bigger. It maybe looks a little better than the old one too and I like that it works well without the need to use an eye cup even when I'm wearing my glasses. Because of the silly screen protector on the LCD, I used the EVF to examine the images at 100% and found the overall picture quality excellent. This is definitely not a cheap lousy EVF like the one on the RX100. The best part is it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb the way the old one used to. But the A7R II EVF is definitely better still than the one in the RX1R II.

Love to hear more opinions about this. As there are conflicting opinions I've found.

For example, Steve Huff finds the EVF of the RX1R II to be better than the EVF of the A7R II.
 

Love to hear more opinions about this. As there are conflicting opinions I've found.

For example, Steve Huff finds the EVF of the RX1R II to be better than the EVF of the A7R II.

Best is try it yourself
 

The production of the RX1R-II has been halted! No official reasons were given. But some possibilities include parts shortage, design issue discovered or maybe that it is being replaced by an RX1R-III to incorporate the newly introduced curved sensor.
If it's a design flaw, I would not mind replacing my entire camera inventory with this one single camera and help Sony clear their inventory if Sony can cut the price of this camera to below $1k! :p

http://thenewcamera.com/bad-news-sony-rx1r-ii-production-halted/
 

I recall Sony 313 stopped displaying the RX1mk2