Sony RX10 w/ 1" sensor & 24-200 f/2.8 zoom

I had the opportunity to handle it in store today. Feels solid ... except when the lens was extended there was a definite play/shake in the barrel (given, the lens is huge :))
 
After playing around with this camera for a couple of hours and taking a bunch of low-light family shots, I'm enormously impressed, at least initially. I love the feel and controls. Aperture ring, dedicated exposure comp dial, they even put a distance scale in the display when you're in manual focus - the whole thing is hugely customizable similar to the RX1. You can even assign ISO to the rear dial so it's always live. I can only shoot jpegs and the default low light NR is really really oppressively ugly, but you only really see it when you're pixel peeping. I have a feeling once there's raw support, this camera is going to blow some minds. I didn't feel any barrel wiggle until I read the last couple of posts and TRIED to make it wiggle, and I was able to, but it never happened until I did it on purpose. Not a small camera by any means, but not that big. Kind of similar to the EM1 with a mid-range zoom, except that the lens diameter is kind of huge. But it feels really well balance and natural to shoot with. Both the flip up LCD and EVF are quite nice. Dead silent, weather resistant, lots to like here...

I'm impressed. I'll have to see how it does in more varied situations and, hopefully, with raw support. And, if not, at least with the jpeg NR turned all the way down... This takes the concept of bridge cameras to a new place with the quality of this sensor and the quality and speed of the lens through the zoom range...

-Ray
 
After playing around with this camera for a couple of hours and taking a bunch of low-light family shots, I'm enormously impressed, at least initially. I love the feel and controls. Aperture ring, dedicated exposure comp dial, they even put a distance scale in the display when you're in manual focus - the whole thing is hugely customizable similar to the RX1. You can even assign ISO to the rear dial so it's always live. I can only shoot jpegs and the default low light NR is really really oppressively ugly, but you only really see it when you're pixel peeping. I have a feeling once there's raw support, this camera is going to blow some minds. I didn't feel any barrel wiggle until I read the last couple of posts and TRIED to make it wiggle, and I was able to, but it never happened until I did it on purpose. Not a small camera by any means, but not that big. Kind of similar to the EM1 with a mid-range zoom, except that the lens diameter is kind of huge. But it feels really well balance and natural to shoot with. Both the flip up LCD and EVF are quite nice. Dead silent, weather resistant, lots to like here...

I'm impressed. I'll have to see how it does in more varied situations and, hopefully, with raw support. And, if not, at least with the jpeg NR turned all the way down... This takes the concept of bridge cameras to a new place with the quality of this sensor and the quality and speed of the lens through the zoom range...

-Ray

Oh no, I wish I hadn't read this...;)
 
Yeah, raw works in LR 5.3 (RC). Here's one raw shot at 200mm in a DARK room, ISO 6400, a touch of NR in Lightroom. The jpeg NR is nasty nasty nasty. No problem with raw.

Also, in terms of auto-ISO, it seems to work in manual mode with exposure compensation enabled! No, still no minimum shutter speed with auto-ISO in aperture priority - Sony seems allergic to this - but the next best thing.

OK, I'm gonna hold off after this, shoot a lot over the next few days, and write up some sort of full review after the holiday weekend. But this camera could EASILY replace an m43 body and the 12-35 (or 12-40) and the 35-100. Is the IQ as good? Probably not quite, but damn close. And the controls on this camera are awesome. I'm way more stoked than I wanted to be. I will definitely keep m43 for the 7-14, 75, and maybe a specialty lens or two. But I'd been contemplating two bodies with a wide zoom range. I think this probably knocks that out of the water.

View attachment 81061
First RX10 shots-5 by ramboorider1, on Flickr

-Ray
 
Also, in terms of auto-ISO, it seems to work in manual mode with exposure compensation enabled!

At last! It was beginning to seem as though Fuji would be the only company ever to provide this.

No, still no minimum shutter speed with auto-ISO in aperture priority - Sony seems allergic to this - but the next best thing.

That's a pity, but for me, the Auto ISO in manual tops this. I suppose that they might even add this in a firmware update... although Sony seem disinclined to offer much in the way of firmware updates, generally.:rolleyes:
 
At last! It was beginning to seem as though Fuji would be the only company ever to provide this.



That's a pity, but for me, the Auto ISO in manual tops this. I suppose that they might even add this in a firmware update... although Sony seem disinclined to offer much in the way of firmware updates, generally.:rolleyes:
Fuji does NOT provide exposure compensation with auto-ISO in manual mode! Sony does with the RX1 (but not Nex or RX100), Ricoh does, Nikon does, others do. But Fuji doesn't. Olympus doesn't. Panasonic doesn't. Fuji does allow for a minimum shutter speed with auto-ISO in aperture priority (on SOME models), and with the XE-2 even allows for a useful 1/500 minimum shutter speed. But people have begging them to allow for exposure comp with auto-ISO in manual and it hasn't happened yet...

-Ray
 
Fuji does NOT provide exposure compensation with auto-ISO in manual mode! Sony does with the RX1 (but not Nex or RX100), Ricoh does, Nikon does, others do. But Fuji doesn't. Olympus doesn't. Panasonic doesn't. Fuji does allow for a minimum shutter speed with auto-ISO in aperture priority (on SOME models), and with the XE-2 even allows for a useful 1/500 minimum shutter speed. But people have begging them to allow for exposure comp with auto-ISO in manual and it hasn't happened yet...

-Ray

I was actually referring to the more basic facility of having Auto ISO available in manual exposure mode. Every digital camera that I've owned - with the exception of the Fuji x100 - hasn't provided something as simple as being able to float the ISO while the user sets shutter speed and aperture.

I've long wondered why so many manufacturers appeared to be so reluctant to provide this, but from your comments, it seems as though things might be changing for the better...:)
 
I was actually referring to the more basic facility of having Auto ISO available in manual exposure mode. Every digital camera that I've owned - with the exception of the Fuji x100 - hasn't provided something as simple as being able to float the ISO while the user sets shutter speed and aperture.

I've long wondered why so many manufacturers appeared to be so reluctant to provide this, but from your comments, it seems as though things might be changing for the better...:)

Oh yeah, that basic capability is available in a number of cameras (although far from all), but too many without allowing for exposure compensation. And allowing for an adequate minimum shutter speed with auto-ISO in A mode is only beginning to gain some traction - seems like a no-brainer once you've used it, but evidently not given how many cameras don't include anything of the sort...

-Ray
 
Interesting comparison of the different high ISO processing in the two cameras. One step forwards, two steps backwards? The RX10 looks very good wide open at f/2.8 in the first test, although I wasn't sure of the usefulness of the second comparison at f/8 "to give us a good idea of the real potential of each lens" when it is clearly softer than f/2.8 on the RX10.
 
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