Sony Cybershot RX10- A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing

Sony Cybershot RX10- A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing
October 2013, Carl Garrard
Sony's Cybershot division hard at work, again. This time making an impressively spec'd fixed lens digicam with an optimized 24-200mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss T* lens in front of a 1" sized sensor. The price? $1,299.00 SRP.  While that price is steep from any angle, you need to consider what you are getting for that price. First of all, there's no DSLR lens available with a 24-200mm equivalent focal range and constant f/2.8 aperture anywhere on the planet. Also, this is a Carl Zeiss lens with T* coating optimized in front of one of the best mid sized sensors I've ever tested. Add too a manual aperture ring w/detent switch for purists. That is the star of the show here. Also the camera body itself is also pretty impressive in build with a magnesium and high tech composite frame. There's a top mounted LCD, a slew of external controls, a big tiltable LCD, and very nice big EVF at 1.4 million dots with .7X 35mm equivalent view (basically the same view size you see in expensive full frame digital SLRs). Still a lot of money for you? Don't read on. Sound like a good deal? Have a peek further... (specs first, commentary below them).
Sony DSCRX10 BEST CURRENT PRICES

   

Sony Cybershot RX10 Full Technical Specifications

Sony DSCRX10 BEST CURRENT PRICES

Software

• Operating System Compatibility : Image Data Converter 4.0: Microsoft Windows^® Vista^® SP2, Windows^® 7 SP1, Windows^® 8 (Pentium 4 or faster) Mac OS X (10.6-10.8) (Intel Core Solo/Core Duo/Core 2 Duo or faster) PlayMemories Home: Microsoft Windows^® Vista^® SP2, Windows^® 7 SP1, Windows^® 8 (Pentium III 800 MHz or faster; for playing/editing HD movies: Intel Core Duo 1.66 GHz or faster/Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66 GHz or faster, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz or faster (AVC HD (FX/FH)) Mac OS X (10.6-10.8) (Intel Core Solo/Core Duo/Core 2 Duo or faster)
• Supplied Software : Supplied Software: PlayMemories™ Home, Image Data Converter Version 4

Advanced Features

• Image Stabilization : [Still Image] Optical [Movie] Active Mode, Optical type with electronic compensation (Anti-rolling)
• Auto High Dynamic Range : Yes, (Auto Exposure Difference, Exposure difference Level (1-6 EV at 1.0 EV step), off)
• Sweep Panorama : Horizontal (Wide/Standard), Vertical (Wide/Standard)
• Face Detection : On, Off, Face Registration, Face Selection; maximum eight faces detected
• Smile Shutter™ technology : Smile shutter (selectable from 3 steps)
• Priority Setting (for Face Detection) : Yes (eight faces max)

Camera

• Camera Type : Cybershot^®
• Lens Compatibility : Fixed lens

Convenience Features

• Media/Battery Indicator : Yes
• View & Index : Single (with or without shooting information), RGB histogram and highlight/shadow warning, 4/9-frame index view, Enlarged display mode (L: 13.6x, M: 9.9x, S: 6.8x), Auto Review (10/5/2 sec, Off), Image orientation (On/Off), Slideshow, Panorama scrolling, Folder selection (still), Forward/Rewind (movie), Delete, Protect

Drive System

• Continuous Shooting Speed : Approx. 10 fps
• Shutter Speeds : Program Auto (1 - 1/32005) / Aperture Priority (8 - 1/32005) / Shutter Priority (30 - 1/32005) / Manual Exposure (Bulb, 30 - 1/3200*4) / iAuto (4 - 1/32005)
• Self-timer : 10 sec. / 2 sec. / Self-portrait One-person/ Self-portrait Two-person/ Self timer Continuous (3 or 5 shots)
• Drive Mode : Single-shot, Continuous, Speed Priority Continuous, Self-timer (10/2 sec. delay), Self-timer (Cont.), Self-portrait One-person, Self-portrait Two-person, Bracketing

Exposure System

• D-Range Optimizer : Off, Dynamic Range Optimizer (Auto / Level), Auto High Dynamic Range: Off, Auto exposure difference, Exposure difference level (1.0 – 6.0 EV, 1.0 EV step)
• Auto Exposure Lock : Yes (AE Lock button). Can be disabled from menu
• Exposure Compensation : +/- 3.0 EV, 1/3 EV step
• Picture Effect(s) : [Still Image] Toy Camera, Pop Color, Posterization, Retro Photo, Soft High- key, Partial Color, High Contrast Monochrome, Soft Focus, HDR Painting, Rich-tone Monochrome, Miniature, Watercolor, Illustration [Movie] Toy Camera, Pop Color, Posterization, Retro Photo, Soft High-key, Partial Color, High Contrast Monochrome
• Exposure Settings : [Still] Program Auto (Program shift available), Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed Priority, Manual Exposure, MR (Memory Recall)1, MR2 [Movie] Movie Mode (Program Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed Priority, Manual Exposure) [Panorama] Scene Selection, AUTO (Intelligent Auto/Superior Auto)
• Scene Mode(s) : Portrait, Anti Motion Blur, Sports Action, Macro, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Hand-held Twilight, Night Portrait
• Exposure Bracketing : 3 continuous or single shots in 1/3 or 2/3 EV steps
• Metering Modes : Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot
• ISO : Still Image] Auto (ISO 125 - 12800, selectable with upper / lower limit), 125 / 160 / 200 / 250 / 320 / 400 / 500 / 640 / 800 / 1000 / 1250 / 1600 / 2000 / 2500 / 3200 / 4000 / 5000 / 6400 / 8000 / 10000 / 12800 (Expandable to ISO 80 / 100) Multi Frame NR: Auto (ISO 125 - 25600), 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400 / 12800 / 256004 [Movie] Auto (ISO 125 - 6400 equivalent), 125 / 160 / 200 / 250 / 320 / 400 / 500 / 640 / 800 / 1000 / 1250 / 1600 / 2000 / 2500 / 3200 / 4000 / 5000 / 6400 / 8000 / 10000 / 12800
• Creative Style : Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn Leaves, Black & White, Sepia, Style Box(Contrast (-3 to +3steps), Saturation(-3 to +3steps), Sharpness(-3 to +3steps)
• Color Temperature : 2500 – 9900K with 15-step each Magenta/Green compensation (G7 to M7), Amber/Blue (A7 to B7), Custom
• White Balance Mode : Auto / Daylight / Shade / Cloudy / Incandescent / Fluor (Warm White) / Fluor (Cool White) / Fluor (Day White) / Fluor (Daylight) / Flash / C. Temp., Filter / Custom

Flash

• Flash Modes : Flash Mode: Auto / Fill-flash / Slow Sync / Rear Sync / Off
• Flash Bracketing : ±2.0 EV
• Flash Coverage : ISO Auto: 3’ 3-3/16” to 33’ 5” (1.0m to 10.2m) ISO 12800: Up to 66’ 11” (Up to 20.4m)
• Flash Type : Built-in, Pop-up Auto
• Flash Metering System : Pre-flash TTL
• Flash Compensation : ±2.0 EV (switchable between 1/3 EV steps)
• Recycling Time : Approx. 3 sec.

Focus Control

• Focus Area : Multi point AF (25 points) / Center weighted AF / Flexible spot / Flexible spot (tracking focus) / Flexible spot (face tracking)
• Focus Points : 25 points
• AF Modes : Single-shot AF (AF-S) / Continuous AF (AF-C) / Direct Manual Focus (DMF) / Manual Focus
• Focus System : Contrast-detect AF

Imaging Sensor

• Processor : BIONZ^® X image processor
• Pixel Gross : 20.9M pixels (approx.)
• Color Filter System : RGB primary color filters
• Effective Picture Resolution : 20.2M pixels (approx.)
• Imaging Sensor : Exmor R^® 1.0” CMOS sensor (13.2 X 8.8mm) (3:2 aspect ratio)

Interface

• NFC : Yes (NFC Forum Type 3 Tag compatible, One-touch remote, One-touch sharing)
• Memory Card Slot : Dual compatibility slot: Memory Stick PRO Duo™/Pro-HG Duo™/PRO-HG HX Duo™ media - SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards
• HD Output : HDMI^® (Type D micro)
• Tripod Mount : Yes, 1/4" (20 thread count)
• PhotoTV HD : Yes, with BRAVIA^® Sync enabled HDTV and HDMI® cable
• USB Port(s) : USB 2.0 Hi-speed (mass-storage, MTP)
• Wi-Fi : Yes
• Accessory Shoe : Multi Interface Shoe
• BRAVIA® Sync™ : Yes, via HDMI^® with compatible BRAVIA^® HDTV (link menu)
• Microphone Input : Yes, via MI Shoe + Optional ECM-XYST1M or ECM-CG50

LCD Display

• Peaking : Yes Level setting: High/Mid/Low/Off Color: White/Red/Yellow
• Real-time image adjustment display : Yes (On/Off)
• LCD Type : 3.0” (7.5cm) (4:3) / 1,228,000 dots / Xtra Fine / TFT LCD / Tiltable (up approx. 84 deg., down approx. 43 deg.)
• Coverage : 100% Field of View
• Customization : Grid, Histogram display, Digital Level Gauge, Grid Line, Magnified display for playback
• Angle Adjustment : Tilt angle: Up: Approx. 84 degrees; Down: Approx. 43 degrees
• Histogram : Yes (On/off)
• Live View : Continuous Live View
• Brightness Control : Auto / Manual (5 steps) / Sunny Weather mode
• Grid Display : Yes (Rule of Thirds, 4x6 Square, Diagonal & 4x6 Square Grids, Off)

Optics/Lens

• Digital Zoom : Still Image: 20M approx. 66x / 10M approx. 93x / 5M approx. 133x / VGA approx. 249x (including Optical Zoom) Movie: 66x (including Optical Zoom)
• Optical Zoom : 8.3x (Optical Zoom during movie recording)
• Lens Type : Carl Zeiss^® Vario-Sonnar T*, 14 elements in 11 groups (including 7 aspheric elements)
• Clear Image Zoom : 16.6x (including Optical Zoom)
• Aperture : F2.8 constant
• Focal Length (35mm equivalent) : [Still Image 3:2] f = 24-200mm [Still Image 16:9] f = 25-213mm [Still Image 4:3] f= 26-220mm [Still Image 1:1] f = 31-259mm [Movie 16:9] f = 26-212mm (SteadyShot^® Standard), f = 29-315mm (SteadyShot Active Mode) [Movie 4:3] f = 31-259mm (SteadyShot Standard), f = 35-386mm (SteadyShot Active Mode)
• Aperture Blade : Iris diaphragm (7 blades)

Power

• Battery Type : InfoLITHIUM^® NP-FW50 (7.7V)
• Power Consumption (in Operation) : Approx. 1.5W
• Number of Still Images : Approx. 420 images with LCD monitor (CIPA standard)
• Battery Capacity : 1080 mAh

Recording

• Video Signal : NTSC color, EIA standards
• Panorama Still Image Size : Horizontal wide (12416 x 1856 / 5536 x 2160), Horizontal standard (8192 x 1856 / 3872 x 2160)
• Microphone/Speaker : Built-in stereo microphone or ECM-CG50 / XLR-K1M (sold separately)/ Built-in monaural speaker
• Still Image Size 1:1 : L: 13M (3648x 3648) / M: 6.5M (2544 x 2544) / S: 3.7M (1920 x 1920)
• Audio Format : Dolby Digital (AC-3) / MPEG-4 AAC-LC
• Video Format : AVCHD Ver. 2.0 / MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC (H.264))
• Video Mode : AVCHD: 28M PS (1920 x 1080, 60p) 24M FX (1920 x 1080, 60i) 17M FH (1920 x 1080, 60i) 24M FX (1920 x 1080, 24p) 17M FH (1920 x 1080, 24p) MP4: 12M (1440 x 1080, 30 fps) 3M VGA (640 x 480, 30 fps)
• Color Space : sRGB, AdobeRGB, xvYCC standard (x.v.Color™ when connected via HDMI^® cable) compatible with TRILUMINOS™ color
• Still Image Size 16:9 : L:17M (5472 x 3080) / M: 7.5M (3648 x 2056) / S: 4.2M (2720 x 1528)
• Still Image Size 3:2 : L: 20M (5472 x 3648) / M: 10M (3888 x 2592) / S: 5.0M (2736 x 1824)
• Still Image Mode : JPEG (Standard, Fine), RAW, RAW+JPEG
• Media Type : Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo (High Speed), Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, Memory Stick XC-HG Duo, Memory Stick Micro⁹, Memory Stick Micro (Mark2)⁹, SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card (UHS-I), SDXC Memory Card (UHS-I), microSD Memory Card⁹, microSDHC Memory Card⁹, microSDXC Memory Card⁹
• Still Image Max Effective Resolution : 20.2 Megapixels
• Still Image Size(Photo Mode) : JPEG (DCF Ver. 2.0, Exif Ver.2.3, MPF Baseline compliant), RAW (Sony ARW 2.3format)
• Still Image Size 4:3 : L: 18M (4864 x 3648) / M: 10M (3648 x 2736) / S: 5.0M (2592 x 1944) / VGA

Sony DSCRX10 BEST CURRENT PRICES

The raft of specifications this camera offers is just the beginning, its feature set includes a host of professional video features and still features that should make both sides of that equation smile. And if you like to do both, well then, this camera suddenly becomes a pretty good deal all things considered.

For still photographers, there are a few features that caught my eye besides what I've noted already. The RX10 has a 3 stop ND filter that can be set so that you can use the f/2.8 aperture even in bright daylight. It also helps you to stop down for long exposures without having at attach an additional ND filter or use smaller apertures that may degrade image quality- in short, it's an excellent addition to this camera.

There are many customizeable controls here too, and some controls I note are optimally placed. The AEL lock button for example is situated perfectly, and below it the FN button which conjures up a quick navi screen for fast adjustments. The menu system is much like the RX100/II cameras, which also mimic the same menu system on Sony's Alpha DSLRS- which is their best menu system to date. The lens has an aperture ring with detents that can be switched off for stepless aperture control. The main zoom ring doubles as a manual focusing ring as well. Pretty damn cool.

The Cybershot division have made some extremely good decisions in this camera, checking off many of my personal desires in handling and form/function. Not to mention that the camera has that awesome lens on the front that also serves as an excellent macro lens, a very good EVF and tilting LCD. It even manages to look practical yet futuristic in styling at the same time. Pretty cool camera if you ask me.

I'll more than likely prepare a full review on this camera in the future sometime. A camera like this seems to me to be the ultimate professional's travel cam, and also an excellent backpacker's delight. Cybershot have been on tear lately, and in some ways are outshining their other camera divisions if you ask me!

Cheers!
Carl Garrard
Sony DSCRX10 BEST CURRENT PRICES