Sony RX10 M2 - first part of my review and a mini-comparison with the A7S and Canon 1D C

[manbitesdog]

Hey all.

Been a lurker here for many years already and finally registered - mainly because of this little camera. I've been shooting with DSLR's since the beginning of 5Dmkii days (and started shooting with the venerable Sony VX1000 DV camera many years ago!), but have shot on every camera out there from BMPC to RED Dragon / Alexa. I wanted something small, light and non-obtrusive and the RX10 ii seemed to fit it all.

Mine arrived on Friday afternoon and I went out yesterday and filmed some random images - mainly to test the ability of the camera (the narrative is piss poor!) So I focused on DOF, Latitude, variable frame rates as well as looking for moire and other artefacting.

Here it is: https://vimeo.com/135201792

Everything you need to know is in the description of the video.

Overall, I'm incredibly impressed with the quality of the footage coming out of it and my only gripe is the built-in kit lens which feels a little toy like. The images it makes are great, but I keep wondering how long that servo motor will hold out...time will tell.

Any questions, ask away.

 

[agolex]

Mine arrived on Friday afternoon and I went out yesterday and filmed some random images - mainly to test the ability of the camera (the narrative is piss poor!) So I focused on DOF, Latitude, variable frame rates as well as looking for moire and other artefacting.

Sweet images! And I probably like your taste in movies (C'est arrivé...). : )

Tbh I don't expect any of the fancy new Sony stuff to hold up for very long with all the IBIS, overheating and whatnot going on, but it's just too tempting convenience-wise. We'll see.

[kaylee]

They're much more expensive and have higher write speeds (90 instead of 65), so I don't see why they shouldn't.

lol thank u thats perfect im returning it when my others arrive in the mail its just temporary

Hey all.

Been a lurker here for many years already and finally registered - mainly because of this little camera. I've been shooting with DSLR's since the beginning of 5Dmkii days (and started shooting with the venerable Sony VX1000 DV camera many years ago!), but have shot on every camera out there from BMPC to RED Dragon / Alexa. I wanted something small, light and non-obtrusive and the RX10 ii seemed to fit it all.

Mine arrived on Friday afternoon and I went out yesterday and filmed some random images - mainly to test the ability of the camera (the narrative is piss poor!) So I focused on DOF, Latitude, variable frame rates as well as looking for moire and other artefacting.

Here it is: https://vimeo.com/135201792

Everything you need to know is in the description of the video.

Overall, I'm incredibly impressed with the quality of the footage coming out of it and my only gripe is the built-in kit lens which feels a little toy like. The images it makes are great, but I keep wondering how long that servo motor will hold out...time will tell.

Any questions, ask away.

 

sicc awesome thank you so much for sharing this!!!!

the 100p is so clear wth

[dafreaking]

Hello dafreaking, thanks for your inquiry, I hope I can be of help to you.

I'm not really sure about this, but as there's always software involved and adjustments made, I think it's a thing you just have to learn individually. The sensor size helps immensely, though, just using focus peaking worked relatively well for me. Andrew can probably say more about this.

The zooming certainly is far from silent and will most likely end up on the audio track. Other than that I didn't find it too annoying, though. And since the lens isn't parfocal, anyway...

Battery life is OK (few hours with a bit of recording here and there) and since the things are cheap, I don't see it as much of an issue.

Best regards,

Your unofficial Sony support

HAHA...thank you. 

[Mat Mayer]

Thank god you didn't finish the review earlier as I was going to grab it in Thailand for a bargain price, putting down a deposit early. But the reason it is much cheaper in Asia is because the 4k video is just five minutes. Also confirmed on the Thai Sony site: http://www.sony.co.th/product/dsc-rx10m2?site=hp_en_TH_i

Now its back the the drawing board: RX10ii in UK for £1200 vs GH4 and mid range lens for around £1500.

[agolex]

Thank god you didn't finish the review earlier as I was going to grab it in Thailand for a bargain price, putting diwn a deposit early. But the reason it is much cheaper in Asia is because the 4k video is just five minutes. Also confirmed on the Thai Sony site: http://www.sony.co.th/product/dsc-rx10m2?site=hp_en_TH_i

Now its back the the drawing board: RX10ii in UK for £1200 vs GH4 and mid range lens for around £1500.

Holy cow, that's something probably only Sony would do. How lame. Same in India as someone remarked above. If it's true and not just an error on the websites.

[manbitesdog]

Now its back the the drawing board: RX10ii in UK for £1200 vs GH4 and mid range lens for around £1500.

Matt. I bought my RX10ii in the UK for a lot less off eBay - £869 to be exact. I didn't pay any import duties on it either - maybe I was just lucky. I know I won't have a warranty for it locally in the UK, but I'm willing to take the chance for that kind of saving. The eBay seller gives a year's warranty and their service was good. I've just checked to see if they had any more, but it seems they're sold out at the moment.  I was thinking about buying one off B&H, but they won't ship to the UK due to restrictions from Sony. I found it ridiculous that they want to charge £1200 for a $1200 camera? Just doesn't make sense - like Apple prices. At the price point of £1200, I think I would of rather bought a body-only A7s which you can now pick up for around £1300. (Then the extra cost of lenses and Meta bones etc makes it expensive!)

[Mat Mayer]

Current cheapest on eBay is £1150. It mentiones this which adds to the Asia versions crippled conspiracy: "RX10 II can shoot 4K video at extended lengths (up to 29 minutes in Europe)". There are dodgy cheaper ones e.g. No box ex- display or Hong Kong ones which may mean 5 minutes rec time and tax and a wait. 

GH4 is just £840 on eBay new. Seems silly not to. And a while browsing lenses there should dig up something good value. I don't need the bigger zoom or slow mo; would rather have a bigger sensor from a proven great camera which will be upgraded with log in a couple of months.

[Oliver Daniel]

Current cheapest on eBay is £1150. It mentiones this which adds to the Asia versions crippled conspiracy: "RX10 II can shoot 4K video at extended lengths (up to 29 minutes in Europe)". There are dodgy cheaper ones e.g. No box ex- display or Hong Kong ones which may mean 5 minutes rec time and tax and a wait. 

GH4 is just £840 on eBay new. Seems silly not to. And a while browsing lenses there should dig up something good value. I don't need the bigger zoom or slow mo; would rather have a bigger sensor from a proven great camera which will be upgraded with log in a couple of months.

DigitalRev are selling it for £899 in the UK  

[Mat Mayer]

DigitalRev are selling it for £899 in the UK  

Nice find, thanks. I'll trust them just because they do videos. But they are usually in South Korea or Hong Kong or something, so will email to check rec time first in case they are importing the crippled version. Not sure whether to tell them to stop doing half assed reviews too 

[Mat Mayer]

DigialRev could be selling the 5 minute version, here is the reply I got from them:

"With regards to your email, most of our items are sourced from various countries within Asian Pacific Region. Unfortunately, we are unable to determine as to where the item was sourced from by our suppliers nor do we check & test the camera prior to shipment and thus we are unable to confirm the duration of UHD video recording."

They seem just as care-free at selling things as they are in their videos; I shall be keeping clear of them.

 

[Oliver Daniel]

DigialRev could be selling the 5 minute version, here is the reply I got from them:

"With regards to your email, most of our items are sourced from various countries within Asian Pacific Region. Unfortunately, we are unable to determine as to where the item was sourced from by our suppliers nor do we check & test the camera prior to shipment and thus we are unable to confirm the duration of UHD video recording."

They seem just as care-free at selling things as they are in their videos; I shall be keeping clear of them.

 

That sucks! Is this 5 minute recording limit on the RX10II really a thing? 

[agolex]

For 100M, ie 100mb/s you have to use the U3 cards, not necessarily say, 95/80's high speed.

Anything less than U3 ie U1 will only record at 60M. This for RX100IV, probably same for RX10 II.

SanDisk are usually higher quality than Transcend and if they advertise up to 90 MB/s write instead of the 65 from the Transcends, I'm pretty sure they will work. Kaylee can probably tell us that they do.

[Mat Mayer]

That sucks! Is this 5 minute recording limit on the RX10II really a thing? 

Seems so. Here is another Asian Sony site confirming five minute limit: http://www.sony-asia.com/product/dsc-rx10m2

If not it is an almighty f- up. I have messaged a couple of Sony Facebook pages to try and get to the bottom of it. A press release in Singapore said 30 mins.

[jgharding]

This looks like a brilliant piece of kit, and great review part as always!

The whole short 4K recording thing is odd though. Is this really only Asian models? How about the US model? If I end up with a US model will i get the nice long recording times, and still be able to use PAL rates?

[Oliver Daniel]

Seems so. Here is another Asian Sony site confirming five minute limit: http://www.sony-asia.com/product/dsc-rx10m2

If not it is an almighty f- up. I have messaged a couple of Sony Facebook pages to try and get to the bottom of it. A press release in Singapore said 30 mins.

With mirrorless the most popular in Asia, why would they cripple it? Any reason at all? I think it's a f-up! But worth knowing for sure. 

[maddchadd]

Whatever ... the camera simply doesn't allow 100M write speed to be even set, unless it's a U3 speed card, according to the manual, and my experience with RX100 M4.  It really doesn't matter how fast the U1 card is.

I have a pny sdxc 256gb U1 card that works fine with both 4k 100m and xavc-s 120fps. Its this one http://www.amazon.com/PNY-Elite-Performance-256GB-Speed/dp/B00FF90EZM

[Ak Ns]

Rx10ii is more expensive in india comparatively USA. Despite having its 5 minutes limit. 

[wolf33d]

Andreeeeew what's up with the review ??

[Mat Mayer]

Andreeeeew what's up with the review ??

He said "today or tomorrow" about two weeks ago. It ain't happening for some reason (with any kind of predictibility). Same thing happened with Bloom. Hopefully the Camera Store do one soon and there are some other opinions slowly popping up. Pretty mixed opinions though; generally photographers are "meh" and videographers seem more enthusiastic. But nobody is making bold statements like it can be used as a b cam for the Sony xxx or it is on a par with the Panasonic xxx.

No replies from Sony yet about the five minutes. The fact that it costs a lot in India is a good sign, which points to it more likely being a mistake in the specs list, as it is very similar to the RX100 in other ways. The reason Samsung make lower spec phones in Asia is so they can charge less, so it makes no sense to criple it and actually charge more. The fact there have been no replies means even Sony aren't sure.