Sony introduces compact camera with 42-megapixel full-frame sensor
Sony introduced the RX1R II at a press event in Munich. It is a compact camera with a fixed 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens, which uses the same 42.4 megapixel sensor as the Sony A7R II system camera.
The Sony RX1R II is the successor to the RX1 and RX1R, which appeared in 2012 and 2013. These cameras had a 24-megapixel sensor, the new model gets the full-frame BSI-CMOS with a range of 50-102,400 ISO, which is also in the advanced system camera from Sony. Thanks to the BSI technology, the chip can be read 3.5 times as fast as the sensor of the RX1 models, according to the manufacturer. This results in a maximum shooting speed of 5 fps with autofocus tracking. The RX1R II can save photos in 14bit raw format without compression.
As the RX1R II uses the same sensor as the A7R II, the compact also features the Fast Hybrid AF system with 399 phase detection af-points and 25 contrast af-points, covering a large part of the sensor. The autofocus would be thirty percent faster than the previous RX1 cameras.
Sony places an optically variable low-pass filter in front of the sensor. The filter has the settings ‘off’, ‘standard’ and ‘high’. By turning the filter off, the camera will produce sharper images, but moiré may occur when shooting fine details or patterns.
Like the previous RX1 cameras, the RX1R II has a fixed Zeiss lens with a focal length of 35mm and an aperture of f/2. The lens has a Macro shift ring, with which you can focus on subjects at a distance of 14 cm in front of the lens. The diaphragm consists of nine blades. The shutter is in the lens, enabling flash sync speeds of up to 1/2000th of a second.
New is the OLED viewfinder with a resolution of 1024×768 pixels and a magnification of 0.74x. The viewfinder is hidden in the housing and can be folded up with a lever. The 3″ screen on the back has a resolution of 640×480 pixels and is in RGBW format with extra white sub-pixels for higher brightness. The display can be tilted up and down.
Although the RX1R II has the same sensor as the A7R II, the 4k movie function is missing. The compact camera films in 1080p resolution with a maximum of 60fps. The housing of the camera is probably too small to dissipate the heat generated when filming in 4k.
Sony will launch the RX1R II in December for a suggested retail price of 3,500 euros.