Sony RX1 Brings Back the Compact HiQ Camera we Loved in the 1970's. Only better?

Sony RX1

Do you remember the Canonet Rangefinder cameras from the 1970's? Gorgeous little metal machines with just enough control to make you feel like you were in charge. Small and unassuming but fitted with a great, single focal length lens that had some speed to it. I loved my Canonet III QL 17 as much as some of my friends loved their Olympus RD's. The cameras uniformly had leaf shutters which meant we could sync flash up to their highest speeds. They had real, live hot shoes and they were rugged enough to bang around in the basket of a bike or in the pockets of an old, faded, green army field jacket.

You'd whip the camera to your eye, fast focus the bright line rangefinder and fire away knowing that your Tri-X film would look good and sharp and that it would take care of you if your exposure was just a bit off.

In the same time frame we also had those little jewels from Rollei called the Rollei 35S. No rangefinder but wonderfully small (but full frame) bodies coupled with "guess focus" Zeiss designed 40mm Sonnar lenses of extremely high sharpness. Full out quality in a shirt pocket (the lenses were collapsible).

The two attributes that most of these cameras shared were these: 1. They were beautifully designed for quick and intimate shooting. 2. They had permanently attached lenses that were a great complement to the bodies. Really sharp, well designed lenses.

I wasn't paying attention when Sony announced the RX1. I was too busy waiting to see what was going to finally be introduced in the DSLT space (the a99) and the Nex space (the Nex 6 and some lenses). I finally took a deep breath and stood up and looked around.

My first glance at the RX1 made me think that Sony had dropped the ball on this camera.  I liked the look of the basic body configuration and I really liked the lens choice but I was kinda bummed because I didn't see any mention of an EVF and I refuse to part with more money than I paid for my first car to have a camera that I'd be restricted to using in the "stinky-baby-diaper-clueless-hipster" hold.  "Minus one for Sony and plus one for my aching checking account." I mused.

Today I saw three things that changed my mind and made me nostalgic for the kind of camera I started out with (the Canonet G III QL-17).  The first was an image of the RX1 made with a dedicated 35mm bright line finder in the hot shoe. I'd relegated bright line finders to yesteryear rangefinder cameras even though I'd always loved them.  Then I saw that the RX1 could be used with the EVF that was originally introduced for the Nex 5R.  And that the EVF (an outstanding EVF to boot) was available in matching black. Finally, I started researching the sensor which, according to early appraisals by people who've talked extensively with Sony, is shaping up to be one of, or perhaps even the best full frame sensor made for the consumer market to date.  And the same one that will be delivered in the Sony a99.  Now Sony has my attention.

I'm anxious to play with one.  Not sure I'll buy one since I'm committed to the a99 in the short term but it certainly captured my mindshare.

After seeing the Sony a99 introduction specs, the new full frame interchangeable lens camcorder with the same a99 full frame sensor (for around $3K=amazing), having shot extensively with the a77 and really, really enjoying the Nex 7 camera I think I'm starting to see a fun pattern. Sony has finally stopped floundering and started making products that aren't just good, they are products that photographers are starting to crave and lust after. And I haven't even starting looking at the RX100 yet.  

If I were competing in the same spaces as Sony's cameras I think I'd start getting a little nervous.  It's almost like the PC world a few years back where the market was dominated by Dell and HP.  And now......

Things change. Transformation happens. Markets evolve.  Everything is starting to get interesting.

Oh Yeah. Now this is what I'm talking about.

Here's a great video about the camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEwsnwbwbs

A while back I wrote a "wish list" of things I wanted to see incorporated into the new flagship camera from Sony. They did everything I wanted except for the carbon fiber construction. But I wasn't 100% serious about the carbon fiber anyway so let's let that drop.

What Sony has done with the a99 camera is to effectively and decisively leapfrog over Nikon and Canon and deliver a next generation imaging solution for photographers who are not mired in place by concepts of what constitutes a camera based on old traditions and metrics.  While the curmudgeons may not want video or an electronic viewfinder or some of the bells and whistles you'll find on this and other Sony cameras (a77?) that contingent of photographers is not necessarily the future of professional, commercial photography. They represent the past. And the past is already gone.  All around me I am keenly aware that the generation of image makers who are in ascendency are more and more comfortable slipping back and forth between video and stills. They are looking for cameras that create movies fluidly, unhampered by antiquated live view adaptations and legacy viewing solutions. 

This is why I predict that Nikon and Canon will come stumbling after Sony in a year or two with cameras that have electronic viewfinders. The movie creation aspect may seem meaningless to someone who does photography as a hobby but for someone who earns their living mixing stills and motion (and that will constitute, more and more, what successful photographers do to make a good living) the video capabilities of a camera are as important as how quickly it focuses and how nice the still image files look. I guess you just have to separate the markets when you look at new products.

So, from the press releases and the intro on DPReview we can make a list of all the things Sony got right:

-full frame sensor with the promise of great dynamic range and good high ISO noise performance.

-innovative and state of the art autofocus. With both PD on a chip and above mirror PD sensor.

-the use of a proven and easy to master body style and control interface.

-electronic first curtain shutter for fast response and lower noise.

-focus range control. Let's you set a min and max focus range for faster lock on.

-dynamite video !!!

-a headphone out jack for monitoring video sound.

-manual level controls in 32 steps for video sound levels.

-an interface that allows for the connection of XLR microphone connectors (another industry first).

-high level, unprocessed video out for highest quality.

-dual card slots that are configurable in the ways I suggested.

-true 14 bit raw files.

-the promise of performance, performance, performance from the new sensor.

-weatherproofing and long life shutter.

AND THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF ALL.......they're using the same battery as in the a77.

When I get one in my hands I'll write a long review but for right now I want to discuss why the Sony camera is a superior video production tool.  The a99 can shoot at 1080 at 60 fps with 28mps throughput and that's very cool but not nearly as cool as the three major things that are, right now, Sony exclusives in the full frame, high end DSLR camera/video market: The electronic viewfinder, the phase detection auto focus (full time) and focus peaking.

I was outdoors shooting video footage yesterday of a very famous athlete swimming a fast workout in our pool.  It was bright, direct sun light coming from straight overhead. In the days of shooting with a Canon 5Dmk2 the ambient light would have rendered the rear screen useless for shooting video without the addition of a cumbersome finder attachment like the expensive and heavy Zacuto finders. The optical finder, in the video mode, is locked off and vacant.  The camera's slow contrast detect AF would be useless in tracking a fast moving swimmer. We'd need a focus puller holding on to the front of the lens while I followed the action in the aforementioned expensive and kludgy finder strapped to the back of the camera like a goiter.

Not so with the a77 (and soon with the a99).  I was shooting yesterday with the a77 and the Sony 70-200 2.8 G lens. Since the ambient light was too bright to use the rear screen I did all the set up stuff using the menu in the EVF finder. When I was ready to shoot the image in the EVF was perfectly isolated from the ambient light and worked well. I was able to judge both exposure and color temperature while I was shooting, both on the screen, and in the case of exposure, with an on screen histogram. Shooting at 60 fps gave me a smooth set of video clips of the fast action and the higher frame rate allowed me to work at 1/125th of a second without getting a jittery look that can come from raising the shutter speed beyond 2x of the fps.

If I switched to program or aperture priority I would lose control of the shutter speeds but I would gain full, DSLR speed AF with my video footage. Even through a variable ND filter the camera locked on to my athlete at 200mm and wouldn't let go.  It was better AF performance than I've gotten with any video camera or hybrid, ever. If I wanted exacting control over shutter and aperture I had to go to manual mode which, with the Sony, means I lose AF.  No sweat. The inclusion of focus peaking makes manually tracking focus easy as pie. And the entire time you're seeing the exact results, via the EVF, that you'll see when you head in to edit.

Since the a99 uses nearly the same video system it will crush Nikon and Canon's current DSLR video production capabilities as expressed in the D800 and 5Dmk3.

There's a lot more to the a99 but when people (fellow photographers) ask me why I switched systems to the Sony I can truthfully say it's because this is where the future of professional photography is heading. I didn't want to be left behind.  And my experiences shooting video between the Sony and the Canon 5D2 is night and day. The gap has just widened. And since Canon and Nikon did their prosumer refresh and pro camera refreshes this year it will be quite a while until they even have a chance to rebut.  

If the high ISO performance and the touted 1.5 stop increase in dynamic range over the Sony a900 is accurate then this camera will be the hottest pro tool in the market for at least the next year.  And in the current state of the commercial photography field that's almost a lifetime.

For another take on the Sony revolution check this blog: http://blog.atmtxphoto.com/2012/09/12/the-rx1-and-a99-is-sony-getting-its-mojo-back/

Another shot taken with the Sony Nex 7, an adapter, and a Sony SAM 35mm 1.8 DT lens. What's the deal?

35mm 1.8 on an adapter.

I've decided that most people who talk about the performance of cameras and lenses have never shot with cameras and lenses or, what they've shot are flat, ugly and useless two dimensional test charts.  I've been looking a PhotoZone.de's reviews of different lenses on the Nex 7 and they speak as if there is a known sharpness issue with the Sony Nex 7's sensor. According to their numerical results you should be seeing a sharp center surrounded by a sea of optical jello in the image above. But the image above was shot hand held, without the benefit of image stabilization and at a fairly wide aperture. To make matters "worse" it was used near its close focusing limit which, for a lens not blessed with floating elements, should be its worst case scenario. It was even a manually focused lens hanging off the front of an adapter ring.  And yet, to my eyes the bowls in the center seem sharp where I've focused on them and the bowls in the bottom left hand corner of the frame seem to be sharp as well.

Could it be that I'm just lucky at picking out specific cameras and fortunate lenses while all the review sites are getting rejects? I doubt it.

 It finally dawned on me.  I must be doing something wrong. I must have forgotten some esoteric technique that allows me to really see these optical combinations in the eery light of their inadequacy. Oh well, I'll keep testing.  Something will come to me.

How do you know when you've gone far enough with your post processing?

You don't. So you keep experimenting until you don't like it anymore and then back off.

Book Defies Amazonian Gravity and sells at near cover price!

Earlier today my first book (above) Minimalist Lighting, was selling at $33.95.  About a dollar off the cover price and way above the historic price model at Amazon.  Was it the Hunt Brothers trying to corner the market in books about small flashes or just some sort of algorithmic glitch in the clouds? Who can know. As I've chosen not to go through the process of revising the book it may become a collectible oddity.  If you haven't already snapped up a copy now might be the time to pounce.....

Do you ever go back and re-work images that you've taken a few years ago?

I've spent a few fun hours reworking some of my images of Jana in a program called SnapSeed. This one started life as a color image from a Canon 5Dmk2 but now it's taken on a life of its own as a black and white image.

I like the idea of letting images "rest" for a couple of years. Like aging cocktails in an oak cask. Then you get to like them all over again and you start to get a feeling for the threads of continuity in your work and it makes you understand that the art you do is a building process and that time is a critical element...

Sometimes, when you are photographing a model, it helps to create a small story to share...

Not always, but sometimes, when I work with a model to create images for our mutual portfolios it is helpful to both of us if we come up with a narrative or a short story that helps us imagine what the images are about. In this case the story was about a young woman who'd come to town to meet her old boyfriend only to be stood up. These images are from the originally intended rendezvous. We made other images outside, downtown, as she searched for her boyfriend in all the usual places. Needless to say, this was self assigned.

The venue for these images was Little City Coffee House on Congress Ave. A very early, independent coffee house in Austin which closed at the end of last year. The model is Jana and the camera was a Canon 5D mk2 fitted with an 85mm 1.8 lens.

Creating little stories seems to be more effective than lumbering around hoping something interesting will happen....