Hands-on: The Sony RX1R II is a beast with an Achilles’ heel
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Sony RX1R II: The (mostly) good
There once was a hero from Greece …
In Greek myth, Achilles was a great hero and warrior. He was so badass that when his friend Patroclus was killed in battle, Achilles flipped out into beast mode, and killed so many of the enemy that a river god got pissed off, because all the bodies were choking his waters.
Achilles was even supposed to be invincible. When he was born, his mother Thetis dipped him into the mystical river Styx, but he was left vulnerable at the one part of the body where she held him, at his heel.
Achilles must have really wondered why his mom didn’t just switch legs when holding him, as he was finally killed by an arrow right to that heel. Because of this story, today we say that someone has an “Achilles’ heel” when referring to a strong person’s weakness.
Like Achilles, the Sony RX1R II is a beast in many ways. And like Achilles, the Sony RX1R II has a glaring vulnerability that will either make or break the camera for you. Here’s an early preview of the camera from my short time with it.
Sony RX1R II: The (mostly) good
I’m not kidding when I say the RX1R II is a beast. There are so many groundbreaking technologies packed into this unbelievably small body that it’s going to take a while to go through them.
It’s really small
First, it’s really compact, considering what it’s packing. This is a full-frame sensor camera that fits into the palm of your hand. It can comfortably fit into a daypack or messenger bag for easy carrying — not something I can say for a full-frame DSLR camera.
It has a crazy 42.4MP full-frame sensor
Didn’t seem that long ago that 36MP was enough to blow our minds. Now it seems like 50MP and 42.MP are the new normal. Even if you don’t have a horse in the megapixel race, you can’t deny the incredible detail you get from Sony’s astounding 42.4MP full-frame sensor.
This full-frame sensor is among the first series of backside-illuminated (BSI) full-frame sensors from Sony. While the name is silly, it refers to sensor technology that makes for higher quality images, especially in low-light.
While BSI sensors have become more commonplace in smaller cameras and smartphones, the 2015 series of A7 cameras, including the RX1R II, mark the first time that full-frame BSI sensors have been produced.
All this is technology. What do the pictures look like?
Mind-blowing. There’s so much detail and bite, thanks to the 42.4MP sensor, the ability to turn off the optical low-pass filter, and that ZEISS lens.
Note: The images shown here were shot in uncompressed raw, imported to DNG, processed to taste and then exported into JPEGs.
The images look truly life-like, and the RX1R II captures an incredibly wide dynamic range, even at higher ISOs. This gives you a wide latitude in post, but even when you push up the shadows and pull down the highlights, the final image manages to look natural, and not like a garish HDR file.
The ZEISS Sonnar T* 35mm f/2 lens is perfectly matched with the sensor, although it isn’t perfect. The lens is sharp, although not sharp corner to corner wide open. The falloff from the wide aperture is buttery smooth, but there does seem to a bit of chromatic aberration around the bright edges, and definitely slight barrel distortion.
I list these imperfections to be thorough, but really, the sum of the 42.4MP plus the ZEISS lens far, far outweighs these slight problems. I used to think that 42.4MP was overkill. But if this is the quality you can get from that, then consider me converted.
You can turn off the optical low-pass filter
Optical low-pass filters are both good and bad — yes, they reduce the amount of fine detail in a capture, but they also reduce the appearance of moire artifacts, which can ruin a perfectly good shot.
It used to be that you couldn’t choose; you either bought a camera with a filter (mostly every digital camera until the recent past), or bought one without. The RX1R II is the first camera where you can actually choose.
How crazy is it that the Sony RX1R II comes with an option — you can turn on the low-pass filter to stay safe while photographing repeating patterns, or you can turn it off for maximum detail. This, paired with 42MP of detail, gets you some seriously rich shots.
The auto-focus system is game-changing
Thanks to the hybrid combination of both phase and contrast detection technologies, plus the fact that it has 399 phase-detection AF points, the Sony RX1R II’s AF system is both astoundingly fast and accurate.
Sony is doing all sorts of wizardry that I’ve never seen before in a mirrorless or DSLR camera. In AF-C (AF-Continuous) mode, the AF frame animates to show you precisely where the focus will be, whether a big rectangle surrounding a person, small boxes around somebody’s eyes, or minute boxes for macro shots.
It locks on target when you half-depress the shutter, and animates locking on to the subject when you move the camera. It does sometimes lose the target, but I’ve found it to be accurate most of the time.
It’s also quick enough to sustain focus through multiple shots, as long as you’re in AF-C mode and half depress the shutter button throughout the shots.
It has a built-in electronic viewfinder
This one’s for the viewfinder purists. While you could buy an (expensive) electronic viewfinder (EVF) attachment for previous RX1s, the RX1R II comes with a pretty responsive, built-in, OLED EVF with a 2.3 million-dot resolution.
Finally comes with a battery charger in the box
Seriously. This is the first RX1R II that actually ships with a battery charger in the box. Previous RX1s shipped with a USB cable to charge the battery in the camera. If you wanted the privilege of charging your battery outside of the camera, you had to buy a battery charger yourself.
The new battery charger is quite clever
The new battery charger is actually quite a clever little thing. It charges via USB as well, so you can actually recharge your RX1R II battery using a portable battery pack.
Actually, you can also charge your RX1R II’s battery via an external battery pack through the camera’s the USB port, and use the camera at the same time. We wouldn’t recommend it, but hey, if you’re ever desperate on battery, it is an option.
Is it expensive?
The RX1R II’s list price is S$4,999, which rivals its megapixel count in amazing numbers. It’s dropping in at S$1,100 more than the original RX1. Is it expensive? Yes! Is it more expensive than the Sony A7R II, which has the same high-resolution sensor and hybrid AF system, lacks the ability to turn on an optical low-pass filter, but comes with a 5-axis image stabilizer, 4K video shooting and can swap lenses?
Well. The A7R II is listed at S$4,099, which costs S$900 less. But the A-mount 35mm f/1.4 G prime lens is listed at S$2,599, bringing the two together at S$6,698. It’s not a direct apples-to-oranges comparison, but it does show you that while the RX1R II is expensive, its price, when compared to its siblings, is not completely cray cray.
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