An Interesting New Minimlist Camera From Sony… RX0

Wow very cool. I have the original Rx100 that I take backpacking in a small pelican case and snorkeling in a very bulky waterproof case.  This little thing would be great!

Wow. That is a truly incredible weight for a 1″ sensor. And it has a screen! I was expecting it to be like a Gopro, in which case the weight gains would be completely offset for me by the need to carry a smartphone.

Interesting bit of kit, and I can see it would be brilliant for action sports and drone shots for applications where the GoPro quality doesn’t cut it. But I’m not so clear that it would be widely useful for hiking.

It’s a fairly significant investment, and most people are already carrying a smartphone. So given that it has a similar focal length to a phone, I’d have thought that you’d have to be making large prints or professional quality video before you’d benefit much from the improved quality. For posting to Instagram or YouTube it seems like overkill.

Or am I missing something? Would the quality be so good that you could simply crop in to compensate for the lack of a longer focal length?

Now, if anyone ever produced something like that with a wide-to-portrait optical zoom, I’d be first in the queue…

I think this will have appeal to anyone who shoots in low light conditions or just wants really quality photography, whether or not you want to do large prints. Because of the 1″ sensor.

I hike with a Ricoh GR, which is a set 28mm focal length, not that far off from 24mm. The sensor size and ability to shoot in RAW make a massive difference in terms of photo quality when shooting in lower light (like a sunrise or sunset). I’ve never gotten a sunrise/sunset photo from a smartphone that came close to what my Ricoh can do. It also makes a big difference for my Grand Canyon hikes in the winter, because the lower sun angle makes for shots with a lot of shadow in them. I can pull a lot more detail out from those shadows in post-processing with the Ricoh than I can with a smart phone.

For mid-day shooting in bright sun in the summer, you won’t see much of a difference. But that’s not when I do most of my photography.

I hadn’t thought of the Ricoh Comparison. I use an rx100 but this could be a nice ultralight alternative given it is likely the same sensor.

That looks like a nice little camera.

Uh oh, now I’m getting ads for it whenever I look at other websites : )

I have not seen a direct comparison as yet but I would guess that a still from a video clip would be of visibly higher resolution than the rest.

Nick

Thanks for the response. I’m an old-style photographer and have never used a smartphone – I don’t know much about their capabilities.so that was enlightening.

I have been surprised at the quality of some of the hiking photos I’ve seen that were taken on phones, but as you say, they were mostly taken in good light.

This is quite interesting.

Interesting to see a proper review of its performance, particularly things like distortion, sharpness, dynamic range. If those are all good this could be awesome for SUL landscape photography.

If they did a second version with a longer focal length, eg something more normal, or portrait, you could run with a twin lens set up for about 200grams. Which is nuts.

https://www.dpreview.com/news/4343428297/sony-rx0-puts-a-1-inch-sensor-into-a-rugged-and-ultra-compact-body

Almost $700.!  My heavier but much more capable Olympus TG4 was only $389.

Eric,

your olympus is quite a bit larger with a much smaller image sensor. Someone else might take the view of:  if I start with a TG4, would it be worth $300 extra to shrink it substantially while improving image quality significantly.   I leave my rx100 home in favor of a more compact less fragile smart phone a lot, but the rx0 addresses a lot of the shortcomings of the rx100 in that scenario.

Again, though, as you’ve alluded to: there are features you value on the TG4 that might not be present on the rx0. We each have different needs.

Now if Oly would only put a big sensor in the tg6.

I wonder what the interface for manual settings is like. I hope to hear some reviews soon.

Eric, I agree $700 may be too rich for my blood, (though I did break down and get a RX100m1 a few years ago) the 1″ sensor should make it a lot better camera than the TG4

Some neat features. Too bad it can’t record 4k video. It seems it’ll only do 4k if you’ve got it connected to another recording device.

Can’t be sure Dan but I think that is for uncompressed 4K. I do wonder about fixed f4 – though that should give you good depth of field on a 1” sensor. Also the interface – is it touch screen or just the sparse buttons on the back?

So many questions . . . So much potential . . . This may be a game changer for my ongoing struggle with the weight that to date has been necessary to get good shots.

I was actually very interested in this camera. Similar spec cameras are much heavier and usually 450-750 dollars price range, upon finding out that the waterproof case housing ,which in my opinion would be necessary when using this outdoors costs more than the camera, I just forgot about it. It’s not worth it to have to buy a 900 dollar CAMERA CASE

Michael,

the camera itself is waterproof to 10 meters. That housing you’re looking at is for deeper diving applications, down to something like 30 meters.

I have had the RX100 version 1 for about 6 years…and it just died. *sigh*

Great photos, especially in low light, which is what make the 1″ sensor shine.

I think that RX0 is a bold concept to come out with, but is really a niche/specialized product.

For the same money as the RX0 you can essentially pick up a RX100 version 3, which is the best option for still photographers. Successive models don’t offer all that much better for still shots, but quite a bit for video aficionados.

Because of this, to consider the RX0, one is placing value on the small form factor at the expensive of features and functions of the RX100 ver 3.

The RX0 is 3.9 oz with SD card vs. 10.23 for the RX100 ver 3 with battery and SD card.

6.33 oz difference in weight.

However, with the RX100 ver 3, you have F1.8 to F2.8 Aperture vs. 4.0….translation, better, sharper, clearing photos with the RX100.

The RX100 ver 3 will give you zoom capability, panoramic shots, etc….it is a traditional camera in that sense.

For me, that is a lot of limitations or features to give you for 6.33 oz of weight savings.

I am assuming that if you are willing to carry anything more or different than a smart phone, that you want more features and quality in your shots and therefore are willing to take the weight penalty of carrying a camera of some sort.

For me, the issue is more of a price point than the RX0 itself….it looks like a bold and amazing option for that person who needs a small, light, waterproof, and shockproof form factor like this.

If the RX0 were $200 less in price, then the whole price to value or choices like RX0 vs. RX100 ver 3 are not really in play.

In my mind, if I am getting significantly less functionality, be it a new form factor, I would expect to pay less money for that product.

Again, I think the RX0 is really a niche product that will appeal to a specific need/application.

Even on Sony’s product page, it shows that the RX0 can be pair with other RX0’s or even other camera, which seems to indicate that it is supplemental product that happens to be solo use as a stand lone product.

Anyway, just pointing out a price to value perspective on this product.

Tony

Can this be used as a standard backpacker’s point and shoot camera?  If so, what protects the front lense?  What size is the memory card?  Standard or micro?  How many batteries will I need to carry to keep it alive for a 15 day trip?

My current point and shoot works well (panasonic LX 7) but it is fairly heavy and fairly large, but with a zillion features.  I’m most interested in still shots, not video.

If you want shockproof/waterproof, then the whole RX0 vs RX100 comparison becomes mute.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/cyber-shot-compact-cameras/dsc-rx0#related_products_dynamic_default

Sony Web Page

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1359163-REG/sony_rx0_action_camera.html

B&H Sales Page

Looks like it has a rechargeable battery that can be removed.

One website listed 60 minutes of battery time….presumably for video.

Tony