Full-frame, 42MP compact camera with a fixed 35mm F2 lens is the Sony Cyber-shot RX1R II. The Mark II, which replaces the 24MP RX1R, gains many technological features from Sony’s top-tier a7R II mirrorless interchangeable lens camera.
Sony is making significant strides in the field of mobile technology thanks to the RX100 and a7 series, both of which are still evolving. Furthermore, “small” here does not imply “insignificant.” Sony has accomplished the downsizing of technology and capabilities often reserved for larger DSLRs and the like with many of its recent cameras.
Handling
Dimensions and portability The size of this camera is one of its distinguishing qualities. It comes with some really impressive capabilities for such a small package.
Yet, it is noticeably larger than the typical point-and-shoot camera due mostly to the size of the lens. The entire thing fit in my coat’s pockets, but it’s too big for places like the pockets on a pair of pants, for instance. The Sony camera is 2.8 inches (7.2 cm) deep from the tip of the lens to the back, and it is 4.5 inches wide by 2.6 inches high (11.3 x 6.5 cm).
It is 1.12 pounds heavy (507 grams). Due to the alloy body and glass in the lens, it feels substantial in the hand and is heavier than you would expect.
Controls and buttons. It has old-style dials on top to choose the exposure mode, similar to many other retro-styled cameras that have entered the market recently. Moreover, the mechanical shutter release cables’ shutter button is a threaded kind.
Key attributes
Full-frame 42MP BSI CMOS sensor with BIONZ X processor
ZEISS Sonnar T* 35mm F2 lens, fixed
autofocus hybrid system
fluctuating low-pass filter
A 3″ tilting, 1.23 million dot LCD pop-up electronic viewfinder with 2.36 million dot OLEDs
recording video in 1080/60p
WiFi and NFC
There are numerous changes even though the RX1R II resembles its predecessor more than just superficially. Then after the RX1 and RX1R were unveiled in 2012, Leica unveiled the Q, a full-frame portable camera with a fixed 28mm F1.7 lens. Although it costs more than the RX1R II and has a wider lens, many photographers may view the two as natural rivals—at least in spirit. See at how they contrast.
Performance with Autofocus and Lenses
The ZEISS 35mm F2 lens that the RX1R II inherits from its predecessors is generally a positive thing. However, the semi-wide focal length and flat field of our scene display some field curvature and don’t really do the lens credit. Early results from our studio test scene showed fantastic results at the center of the frame. Real-world testing has revealed that field curvature is rarely a significant problem in routine use and that lens sharpness is good to superb across the frame, even wide open.
This lens’s only drawback is that it has a unit-driven design. This indicates that, in contrast to typical ILC lenses, where a single or smaller set of elements performs the function of focusing, the entire lens appears to be propelled back and forth. This therefore doesn’t affect the a7R II’s superb 399-point PDAF system’s accuracy, but it does affect speed in comparison to some of Sony’s faster focusing FE-mount lenses.
Nonetheless, the RX1R II’s autofocus technology is by no means slow. It operates more quickly than the Fujifilm X100T in most situations, though not nearly as quickly as the Leica Q. In other words, it moves along at a pace that is adequate for the real world. The RX1R II is a really potent bundle when you add it to the excellent performance of Eye-AF and face detection, as well as the fact that there is little to no hunting in low light thanks to phase detection’s decisiveness.
Image caliber
The 42 megapixel JPEG option, which results in an average image size of about 12Mb, was used to capture all of the sample images included in this study.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1R II’s ability to capture fine detail is without a doubt its most amazing feature. Detail is extremely fine across the whole sensitivity range, and this impression persists whether you view the photographs at regular printing sizes or at 100% on the screen.
You can change the impact of applying an anti-aliasing filter by changing the value of the variable OLPF. Particularly at standard printing sizes, it’s extremely challenging to tell much of a difference between photographs taken with it on or off. There is a slight difference at 100%, which you could find especially helpful if you’re shooting macro, want to trim your photo, or are capturing anything with a lot of minute details. In the absence of an anti-aliasing filter, moire patterning can occur, but I didn’t notice any of this in any of the pictures that were taken with the OLPF set to “off.”
Conclusion
The most recent in Sony’s line of small, fixed-lens full-frame digital cameras is the RX1R II. The RX1 and RX1R, which are its immediate forebears, have the same basic body form and ZEISS 35mm F2 lens, but practically everything else has been altered or improved.
The Sony a7R II’s advanced on-sensor PDAF technology with 399 autofocus points and 42MP BSI CMOS sensor are both carried over to the RX1R II. This indicates that you receive at least the same level of overall performance, if not the same level of high autofocus precision as the a7R II (mainly this is just a result of the autofocus drive in the RX1R II’s lens).
