Sony RX1 - The World’s Smallest Full-Frame Camera (Part 3)

Color and white balance

In the hundreds of images captured for this test, only a small handful showed any errors in judgement on the part of the camera's Auto White Balance system. In addition to a couple of slightly purple casts captured under natural light, the only time the camera's Auto White Balance system produced slightly inconsistent results was under a combination of daylight and halogen spotlights, conditions which would tax any camera's AWB system.

Exposure

In balanced conditions, and when the camera is set to its evaluative metering pattern, images are well-exposed with no obvious bias towards shadows or highlights. The camera does tend to behave fairly predictably when faced with areas of darker and brighter details, such as when capturing trees against skies, in that it (quite significantly) underexposes the main subject. Fortunately, the DRO Auto option brings such underexposed areas back up for a more balanced result.

Selecting DRO/HDR then gets us this screen, which shows that the camera is set for auto HDR with a 2 E.V. exposure differential.

Resolution

Resolution is superb up to IS0 1600 and reasonably consistent too. At higher sensitivities it remains remarkably strong.

Image noise

Noise at ISO 6400 is lower than expected, with a significant level of detail prevailing, and the camera’s noise reduction system does a very good job to remove chroma noise without affecting details too greatly. At IS0100 it's difficult to find noise in shadow areas, although from ISO 200 onwards a patterning begins to emerge.

Lens

There is a moderate amount of corner softness at the widest few apertures, but central performance is impressive, and once stopped down the former disappears. Out of focus areas are often affected by chromatic aberration, even when the "Lens Comp. Chromatic Aberration'' feature is enabled. Some distortion can also be observed, but the ''Lens Comp. Distortion” feature works well to rectify this in JPEGs.

Sony provided both the 16mm and 18-55mm zoom that will be the initial offerings with the camera for this review, and both lenses featured brushed aluminum barrels and steel lens mounts that combined with the NEX-5 to produce a very solid feeling combination. 

Verdict

The RX1 is, for many reasons, a remarkable camera, and one which has been very difficult to score on account of it not having any obvious immediate rivals. While it’s certainly true that it’s expensive, it’d be difficult to find a full-frame DSLR and optic of equivalent performance for less. Its compact size and reasonably discreet styling means it also presents a very real advantage over full-frame DSLRs optic. (In any case, trying to negotiate a zoom into such a small body, while maintaining high image quality across the focal range, would no doubt be difficult, not to mention costly.) While the camera does bear a handful of minor issues, such as its underwhelming battery life and the ease with which the exposure compensation dial may be accidentally turned, it’s perhaps the issues with the autofocusing system with similar lenses; for the reportage photographer in particular, there are many reasons why it should be the most desirable option currently available. With correct technique employed the details picked up by the lens are nothing short of magnificent, and while some may lament the lack of a zoom lens, others will appreciate the camera’s high image quality that can no doubt be largely attributed to its prime in sub-optimum conditions which stand as the only significant problem (especially for those shooting under low-light with some frequency). Otherwise the camera works tirelessly to impress. With a superb build, excellent detail retention at low and high sensitivities and competent metering and Auto White Balance systems on hand, it’s unquestionably one of the finest digital cameras we’ve seen yet.

The RX1 is, for many reasons, a remarkable camera, and one which has been very difficult to score on account of it not having any obvious immediate rivals

Specifications ·         SENSOR: 24.3MP full-frame CMOS ·         OUTPUT SIZE: 6000 x4000 ·         FOCAL LENGTH MAG: None ·         LENS:       Carl Zeiss 35mm F/2 ·         FILE FORMATS: Raw (ARW), JPEG, Raw + JPEG. AVCHD. MP4 ·         COMPRESSION: Extra Fine. Fine. Standard ·         COLOUR SPACE: sRGB. Adobe RGB ·         SHUTTER SPEEDS: 30-1/4000sec. bulb ·         SHUTTER TYPE: n/a ·         MAX FLASH SYNC: n/a ·         IMAGE STABILISATION: No (Electronic OSS available in videos] ·         DUST REDUCTION: n/a ·         ISO: 100-25.600 (exp. to ISO 50. Multi-Frame NR option equivalent to IS0 102.400 ·         EXPOSURE MODES: Auto, scene, P. A. S. M ·         METERING SYSTEM: Multi, center-weighted, spot ·         EXPOSURE COMP: +/-3EV in 1/3EV stop increments ·         WHITE BALANCE:           Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent (warm/cool/day), Flash ·         COLOUR TEMP: 2500-9900K ·         DRIVE MODE      : 2.5fps (5fps in Speed Priority Continuous model ·         MOVIE MODE : 1920 x 1080 IB 50d. 50i. 24o ·         LC: 3in TFT. 1.228milUon dots ·         VIEWFINDER TYPE: N/A (optional units available) ·         FIELD OF VIEW: n/a ·         DIOPTRE ADJUSTMENT: n/a ·         FOCUSING MODES: AF (AF-S in stills. AF-C in videos), DMF, MF ·         FOCUS POINTS: 25 points (187 points may be manually selected! ·         DOF PREVIEW: No ·         PC SOCKET: No ·         CABLE RELEASE: Optional ·         BUILT IN FLASH: Yes. GN 6m 19 ISO 100 ·         MEMORY CARD: SD, SDHC, SDXC, MS, USB 2.0, HDMI ·         POWER: Rechargeable Li-ion battery ·         WEIGHT: 453g (without battery or memory card] ·         DIMENSIONS      : 113.3 x 65.4 x 69.6m PROS ·         Sharp and lifelike images ·         Solid build quality ·         Effective distortion correction option ·         Excellent high-ISO performance ·         Brilliant corner and edge sharpness (once stopped down) ·         Superb AWB performance CONS ·         AF can hunt and misfocus ·         Some lens distortion ·         Battery life ·         Aliasing effects (jaggies) with strongly defined details ·         Ease with which exposure compensation dial may be turned accidentally