The Sony RX10 is a point and shoot camera designed for the serious enthusiast. At $1300 US, it’s not exactly cheap, but once you learn the lens is a Zeiss and constant f/2.8 aperture, with an effective 35mm equivalent focal range of 24-200mm, the price becomes much more justifiable.
The high ISO abilities are impressive all the way to ISO 3200 and even 6400, although with such a fast lens you don’t really need to go beyond ISO 3200 that often. In fact the camera stops at ISO 3200 when using Auto ISO, which I tend to used most of the time in aperture priority mode. 24mm is pretty wide and 200mm is a great zoom range for portraits and background separation as you will see below in the video and sample photos.
The RX10 also has impressive macro abilities which I was surprised at to be honest. 11.5 inch’s and even at 200mm you can get extremely close to your subjects. This makes the background totally bokeh out with amazing Zeiss quality results. I must tell you I want to buy this camera as I’m typing this 🙂Sony RX10 Manual PDF (Click Here)
Sony RX10 Overview, Focus Testing and More…
In this video I will go over the camera and show off a few features. Then I will do some focus speed tests in low light, and a some real world zoom testing. I found a cool farm scene with a gas pump and some intense dynamic range which is perfect. I was hand holding though, so video is as smooth as it could be.
Sony RX10 Sample Photos – Raw Quality
Check out a few snapshots I took around the house and on the road along with some 100% Crops for close inspection!
First, Layla sitting on the floor posing like she’s reading a card. I used the Eye-AF function and it locked on the left eye. The shutter speed was pretty slow considering the focal length, so the image is a bit soft overall, but the focus was still accurate on the eye.
In the 100% crop you can see how it handles the relative high ISO considering the sensor size and 20.2mp density.
Another of Layla in the colder natural light. I added a little vignette in Lightroom 5 on this raw file, but otherwise right off the camera.
Layla got a new sticker collection and it worked pretty well for a test shot 😉 Note the corner sharpness on the 100% crops and this is taken at f/2.8, ISO 1600, Raw Quality.
One from our Christmas tree that stands out as a favorite of mine 😉
Playing around with the lens bokeh and Christmas tree lights is always fun!
This photo was not at the minimum focus distance, but pretty close.
This photo was at the minimum focus distance which is a constant 11″.
A heavy cable and clamp.
Closing Remarks
Overall the image quality on the Sony RX10 is very good. The smaller one inch sensor is not as nice as the full frame Sony A7, or even APS-C sized Nex-6 for that matter, but it’s still great in the end. The sensor is only 1″ and has 20.2mp packed on the chip creating serious pixel density, or in other words, really small individual pixel sensors. Comparing image quality to the much larger sensors is not really fair, although interesting to see just how much better they are in the real world. Check out my Sony A7 review for some high res images and you will see what I mean (Click Here) They are clearly better, but at the cost of size, weight and less convenience in the end. Fun factor is high on quality point and shoot style cameras these days for me personally.
The ergonomics and build quality on the RX10 are also very good including a deep grip which makes hand holding with my larger hands very easy. It feels very sturdy in the hands, and the lens cap is a high quality pinch style. Looks exactly like the RX1 lens cap from what I recall, except it’s plastic and much lighter weight.
Thanks for checking in and stay tuned for some “Lab” test photos and much more soon…
Jay
Sony RX10 for ~1298 US @ BHPhoto (Click Here) | Amazon (Click Here)
