Sony RX1R Mark II – Detail Test Shots with Crops

65 Comments

1. Just a note of warning with people who are thinking of purchasing the Sony rx1rII, mine had a focusing issue. Images were often soft or out of focus or seemed to not focus on the object selected. Sony denied any issue until a few days ago when my local shop called me to tell me Sony stopped shipment for an issue and was will to take back my camera. Which was great since I already was on the waiting list for the Leica q at that store after a very disappointing experience with the Sony. Also the cap that attaches to the evf breaks very easy, after 5 uses and is very hard to attach and remove. But very necessary in daylight if your a glasses wearer. Battery life is very bad, maybe 150 shots. Very hard to select focus point, poor layout, no touch screen. Typical Sony poor quality control and rushed to get a high spec’d camera out without making it user friendly. If you miss the shot or the focus misses there’s no point to the extra IQ, it’s still a useless shot. Good luck and try before you order one, terrible menu and controls, very slow start up and very slow to bring up shot you just took. Maybe too many focus points since the camera appears to have focus issues and is too hard to scroll with the terrible pad onto a focus area.

   • Mine has no focus issue. At least I had no IIF shots and I still have it. Love it. Menu, and usability is the same as the 1st one, but faster by 30% as Sony says. There is an issue though, and Sony is making sure it is fixed before producing more of them. It appears it affected some but not all of them, as I know quite a few shooting them daily and loving it. I also know a few who have focus issues, so the problem is real. But when the camera is focusing correctly as mine is, it is quite amazing and beats the Q for IQ, DR, ISO, etc etc. There are no issues with the RX1RII if you have one focusing correctly. The EVF is nicer than the one in the A7RII, so that is also really useful. The EVF “cap” as you call it, is the eyepiece and is optional. I use mine only on a rare occasion, as its much easier to use without it.

2. Really hope Fuji has an answer to this soon. If not, I may have my first Sony compact.

   • I do not see Fuji going to full frame. They seem to be sticking with APS-C which I feel will be going away within 3-5 years as full frame becomes more and more affordable to the level of APS-C cams today. But if Fuji created an X100 with a FF sensor it would be a smash hit and really cool and probably the least expensive. Maybe they will, but I have seen no evidence of this so do not think they will.

3. Do we have long to wait?? 😉

4. Thanks for the feedback Steve, as I shoot Fuji (X-T1) in my work, I want a compact camera so I guess I go for the Sony 🙂 Will replace my X100s.

5. Thanks Steve, this is really good! I have a question: can the RX1RII be used in an APS-C crop mode? And if so, presumably the 35mm lens changes to a 50mm (aprox) equivalent? I was interested to read Ben Jacobsen’s A7RII review today where he said he uses crop mode in 95% of his wedding photography. A similar function on the RX1RII would be super useful!

   • Yes, you can crop to 50 or 75!

     • Steve. Great info. Do you get crop lines with 50mm and 75mm crops or it just fills the EVF? Approx. how big are the 50mm and 75mm files compared to the 42MP 35mm FF mode? Thanks.

6. Want to know how much I’ve been like a kid at Christmas? I actually have a box of accessories, just waiting for the RX1:

   – the Peak Design “Leash” strap & bottom screw
   – the Fotodiox hood knockoff
   – 49mm B&W filter
   – 4 Wasabi batteries & chargers

   The only other thing I want is a grip, like the Fotodiox Pro. But, they say it might not fit the MII just right, so I’ll have to hold off.

7. I just got notice from Amazon that mine will be delivered on the 2nd or the 3rd of next week (December).

   I ordered it the morning that pre-ordering became available. I also ordered one from B&H, figuring I would cancel one or the other.

8. The big question for me and many others are: The Sony RX1rII og Leica Q?

   • Will come down to personal preference. Do you prefer 28mm to 35? Do you want something smaller (RX1rII)? The Leica is light and does not feel like a Leica or an M, its very light feeling. The Sony is light but is solid and well made. Both offer incredible IQ. The Sony can stay at f/2 even up close in Macro mode. The Leica stops down over riding even your manual aperture choice when in close. The Leica is more contrasty and has bolder color, the Sony a bit more natural in the rendering. Can’t go wrong with either..oh, Leica is nearly $1000 more. If it were ME? Id go for the Sony after using both extensively as the Leica does not offer me anything over the Sony, and I save nearly $1k and gain a camera I can fit in a coat pocket or glove box or anywhere while providing the best IQ Sony has to offer.

9. Steve, put your shoes on :o)

10. DPReview’s studio test scene comparison shows noticeably inferior results of the RX1-II re others, such as the Leica Q and the 7RII and the Nikon D810, particularly in terms of sharpness (one can choose cameras for comparison). I take it that this is either (a) a glitch with the comparison software, or (b) a faulty RX1-II. I can’t see Sony release such a high-end and expensive camera with such poor performance. Your results, Steve, are extremely impressive and your comments are highly praiseworthy, therein refuting the DPR comparisons.

    • I think DP had an issue with the way they did their test or the camera. I do not have these issues, and could not have them if I wanted to with the RX1R II I have here. Odd.

11. Thank you Steve for doing this. Looking forward to your review.

12. Wow… tough crowd! I would really love one of these. I shoot 35mm so much that for most things this would be perfect. I’d also love to have an a7rii to use with my Leica and Contax lenses, so it’s a hard call. The obvious answer is both, but that’s a lot of $$.

    One question for you, Steve, is how hard is it living without a 1.4 f-stop? I know that, like me, you’re a summilux man and you love to shoot them wide open. I was able to be happy with a 35 f2.0 and 28 2.8 on my Contax G2, but after living with the Leica and 1.4 for 50 and 35 I feel like I’d miss it.

    • Oh, the 35 f/2 on the RX1 is plenty fast. I usually like to stick with f/1.4 to f/2 lenses. With the RX1RII I am glad they chose f/2. I do not miss it using this camera.

13. While it can vary with many factors, what shutter speed range are you finding will mostly eliminate camera shake issues?

14. I own a RX1R , love it and will keep it… No need for 42 M pixels and in some situations, the flash is useful, too bad it won’t be in the new RX1.The adjustable low-pass filter looks like a gadget to me…

15. Hi Steve. Recently, an answer to an above post does not get posted under that post, and instead, posted as an independent/separate post and thus increasing the number of posts as well. You may have noticed it already, but just in case if you have not.

16. Hey Steve, any improvements when shooting in low light.

    I have the original RX1 and promised myself I would never replace it, even if the on/off button needs a chisel to work…

17. Steve- The RX1RII shows MUCH promise & may in fact be the camera I’ve been looking for. It certainly seems to punch above its weight. Looking fwd to your full review, sir. THANKS!

18. Hi Steve
    In one of the comment above you say IS is not needed? Can you elaborate a bit more? Is there any function in RX1 mk2 that play that role? Cause when looking at the spec, my feeling were two point were missing to that already amazing camera:
    – IS
    – better splash proof sealing.
    Appreciate your comments
    Best
    C.

19. I know this sounds expensive, what isn’t in the world of high end digital cameras, but I kind of wonder if Sony couldn’t do an RX1 series with different focal lengths, same as Sigma’s Quattro DP1, 2 and 3, the lenses optimised to the sensor for ultimate across the frame quality.

    Focal lengths could be 21mm, 43mm (as an alternative to 35mm, 43mm is the natural perspective of the human eye) and say, 85mm.

    Resolution could differ too with the 35/43mm being a sensible 24mp for street shooting (more forgiving of street technique over the higher resolution sensor), while the 21 and 85 could use the 42mp sensor for landscape and portrait, respectively. So an RX1-Landscape, an RX1-Street and an RX1-Portrait.

    I have Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras and the expensive Sony Zeiss glass. I just don’t like them at all, horrible to shoot regardless of all the technology. That said, Sony are masters at making small point and shoots as demonstrated by the RX1 and RX100 series.

20. Hi Steve, I like the new design of your page.

21. Hi Steve , I like the new design of your page .

22. Steve,

    Could you confirm a couple of things before I have to take delivery of the RX1rii to find out?

    1. Is it possible to use peaking without MF-assist?
    2. Does it have a finder/monitor toggle among the choices for button assignment?

    Thanks

23. “Crop-gate”: It does seem weird to provide a center crop to show edge to edge sharpness. I hope this some sort of cover-up. (Half joking) Either way, pics look stunning!

24. Hi Steve, unlike many here im not interested in the corners or resolutions, in fact 42mpx is overkill for me, but what really interest me is the AF speed. The first was slow by today standards. How does this one compare to the A7 or A7rii? Also hows manual focusing with this one, does it reset everytime you turn it on?

25. Hi Steve, I concur with Eric – Can you please do a comparison with the A7RII and 35mm loxia – Thanks very much. Adam

    • No longer have a Loxia on hand. The RX1RII would win though..slightly. But the RII you could always use other lenses, the RX..not.

26. Hi Steve, i use loxia 35 in my a7r2 , i think it feels sluggish because i use jpeg+ raw haha
    Love your past review and will wait for this rx1r2 full review , and if you dont mind, can you add a comparison between loxia35, leica q and rx1r2 in your full review ?
    Thankss

27. I would like it as a travel camera.

28. I mentioned in another post about optical stabilisation. Though it is 35mm and the high ISO is no issue with this camera, I would have liked to see that.
    In addition, I would have loved to see a tiltable flash like the small RX100 series has. That camera has given me good pictures indoors because I can tilt and fire the flash giving a more uniform light.
    Sony, please could you add these 2 features in the next model? 🙂

29. Hello Steve, many thanks for these.
    When I posted your page in DPR, this is the comment I got from Rishi:

    “Steve Huff, in his examples, doesn’t even show corner performance at 100%. He doesn’t provide full resolution images. He provides some crops, but they’re taken from central regions, they’re not even taken from extremes.

    How can you possibly compare his central crop results to our extreme corner results, unless you’re simply massively confused?

    If you look at our studio shots’ more central regions in isolation, the performance looks fantastic too, in isolation. The ironic thing is: his crops are from more central regions, and yet, even then, they actually don’t look as tack sharp as our studio Raw conversions.”

    Can you elaborate? Thank you again.

    • Ill post corner results at 100% but they are sharp, much sharper than what DP Review is showing..much. 🙂 Will be in my review. Thank you.

30. Amazing quality

31. Hi Steve, thank you so much for doing and sharing these with us antsy pre-orderers. Would you be willing to share a few RAW files with us with multiple setups (close-up, landscape,etc.)?

32. This camera looks like a promising tool…

    Made me wonder between that one or waiting for OMD EM1 MK2 (as I have 2 Zuiko prime lens)
    I know different camera for different purpose but they have a similarity to me: any of the 2 camera would be paid from the same pocket, so need to decide the trade-off.

    If RX1 mk2 would have been with an Image Stab., choice would have been straightforward.

    Best
    C.

33. A lot of documentary photographers especially in the wedding arena use two lenses 35 and 85, I wonder if Sony would consider making a fixed 85? Two cameras to cover all your needs

34. Is the A7S with FE35F2,8 comparable with RX1R in terms of IQ?

    • No.

      • And in terms of low-light? The 42mp sensor is pretty good in ISO, so with the f/2 lens it must come pretty far right?

35. Can you comment on the low-light auto focus performance? How quickly and accurately does it lock focus when using spot?

    • My review will go over all of that. It really is about a 30% speed increase. I have not had any hunting issues but will be shooting tonight in low light and will see how it goes.

36. Once again, Great job Steve. Thank you for taking the extra time to prove the DPR test is incorrect. I figured it was but it was unnerving to read as I have super high hopes (with much anticipation) for the new RX1R.

    • Thank YOU!

37. Hi steve,
    do it have the same sluggishness as a7r2 ?
    i have a7r2 and sometimes i have problem with its sluggishness even so it produced great quality of images hahaha

    • My A7rII is not sluggish in the slightest.. so no. 🙂 What lens are you using on your RII?

38. Thanks for doing this Steve, and so quickly I might add! It’s really great to have a resource like your site that feels like a community and that balances gear reviews with great photography. Well done. I’m so hoping that my local store that I ordered the RX1RII from surprises me with an early call! Not likely I know – they’re not supposed to start shipping until the 25th 🙂

39. Haha..
    I am so happy that I ordered this camera .
    I had the feeling without touching it and I am very glad that you are so enthousiastic.
    Hard to wait for two weeks 😉

40. The only one that can be used to judge optical performance across the entire field is the stucco shot. Full rez is 8000 by 5300. The sample is only 2000 by 1400 (?). One quarter of the actual size. DPR’s images are at full rez. The stucco shot already looks softer in the corners at this low rez example.

    Does pixel peeping matter? Well, it does if you are trying to prove a point that someone else is doing it wrong or have a poor sample of the camera.

    Show it at full rez.

    • If you want to see soft corners, I will redo the test with the Leica SL and Sony A7RII included.. the RX1RII has uber sharp corners. 98% of IC cameras do not, IF and IF you pixel peep. i do not, ever. Even if a camera has soft corners, they would have to be VERY soft to see it or notice it in a real world photo or print. But the stucco shot has sharp corners, sharper than a Leica M, SL or A7RII can do with a similar lens. Fact. Most detailed files I have on hand come from the RX1RII beating the SL, A7RII, Olympus E-M5II, etc. It’s an IQ champ. Full review will have more detailed comparisons. Basically if you shoot only 35mm, there is no better IQ in the 35mm world that I have seen.

    • I don’t know what your eyes are seeing but I don’t see what your talking about I don’t see softness in the corners

41. The images look outstanding. So here are the two questions: First, do you think the average shooter can live without IS? Second, do you think the average shooter can use a cropped image as a serious portrait?

    • Sure, optical IS is not needed with the RX1RII or any 35mm lens IMO. Not an issue.

42. The D700, the DF and now the Rx1RII; over the years the words of the Huff has had a significant effect on my bank-account 🙂

43. Very impressed,think I might have to have one.Well done Steve and all the best!

44. Great job Steve, thanks so much for taking the time to do these shots. BTW, ACR has added RX1RII…just posted up some raws from IR today.

45. Sweet! Looking forward to this second version of a beautiful shooting experience.

46. Amazing detail !!

47. Nice!

48. Thank you, Steve! Anxiously waiting for mine!

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