Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Processor likely needs the time to interpolate without breaking up the encoder. There is a lot of data to crunch from that sensor to make a 1920x1080 image.

Ron Evans

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

has anyone seen a little jump in the optics when zooming out from full tele? i noticed it when pointing up at a tall building and starting to zoom out, i got 2 different optical studders. most apparent when shooting faraway subjects

also, i noticed what noa was talking about with micro vibrations which arent apparent when shooting, but very apparent in editing. has me thinking a lot less of the standard stabilizer, and wondering if sony can make more settings for the active stabilizer, like low, medium, high. high being what the current only option is.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Haven't noticed that Darren. But I did mention early on in another forum that I felt the OIS was the weak point of the RX10.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

@Ron -
I suspect the idea was to give a better "user experience" - while WE might know what a "crash zoom" is and where it comes in handy... there may have been a perception that preventing the "inexperienced user" from executing such a maneuver was desirable.

Recall the early "test footage" by reviewers who thought that waving the camera around wildly was "technique"... Such things do indeed "stress the encoder" and CODEC and result in crap footage. Sony might have felt that encouraging good camera work might reduce criticism? Criticism of a device for what is nothing other than "user malfunction" is all too common...


@Darrin -

Yep, I've noticed some "jump" - it's a factor of the substantial glass and physics, the HX300 also has a little of it, same thing of starting and stopping a larger lens rather than the typical Handycam moving smaller internal elements.

Haven't turned off the "active" to see what happens as of yet, probably wouldn't do it unless tripod mounted anyway, as I've never been able to avoid my own "micro-wobbles" when handheld - as still as I can try to stand, breathing, pulse, and the microtwitching of muscles that prevents us falling over all seem to transmit to the camera!

I've noticed some criticism of the A7r as the internal shutter apparently shakes the camera when mounted on a large lens (basically leverage amplifying the shutter inertia, causing a linear "shake" and blurriness in the stills).


I'd begin to suspect that as we are shooting higher and higher resolution and expecting sharper and sharper images, these tiny motions will become more noticeable - much like many modern aircraft, that MUST have computer assistance to maintain stable flight, we may NEED "active" stabilization to avoid physics induced "issues". I've had a bit of fun with wind-induced and sound induced vibration with the HX300... stabilization can only do so much... and physics is unforgiving...

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Dave, I can recall my Sony NEX-VG30 having better OIS and that had a pretty substantial piece of glass...but still smaller than that of the RX10.

So maybe you're right. I've done some casual A/Bs with OIS in Standard vs Active and there may be a slight hit in resolution in using Active. More importantly though, you do lose some of the WA capability of the lens when using Active.

Of course in WA, we don't really care as much about the method of OIS. So there the Standard is perfectly fine in stabilizing motion.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I agree the OIS is not that great, better than nothing though. Just not in the same league as the HX200v but then the image quality is way better. I have gotten into the habit of turning Steadyshot off, both active and standard, when shooting with the cam mounted on a tripod and immediately I remove it to shoot hand held I turn on Steadyshot active mode. The quality loss that might result is not a problem for me. The ‘micro-wobbles’, and they are there, I easily fix in post.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Ken -

The VG30 would have a mass several times that of the RX10, and a very different form factor - so it wouldn't be unexpected that the IS had an easier time of it. I've been shooting smaller cameras and still cams shooting video for a while, so I'm a little more used to it.

Any time you're shooting a "still camera" style cam, you've got all the glass hanging "forward" - while the VG series is also inherently "nose heavy" with the 18-200, it's a particular quirk of an "SLR" format - and it gets worse the farther you zoom.... you constantly must counter forces tending to induce "pitch".

One thing that helps noticeably is the addition of a small flash bracket sticking out to the left side - sort of a mini "fig rig".. The second vertical "grip" is effective against "roll" and "pitch" that tend to be the most distracting. I use a folding one from Stratos that takes little room in the bag and weighs almost nothing. My initial tests with the RX10 looked good on the small screen, but I had "active" on... will have to experiment a bit more, and of course put the results on bigger screens and scrutinize mercilessly!

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

It's *possible* that it may be down to power issues - power to the zoom motor being more limited when the camera is in record mode?

From your comments about the "fly by wire ring" being even slower, can I take it the answer to my question is a total "no". No way (whilst recording of going from wide to tele quickly, even if the zoom is not intended to be used? (So camera doesn't have to remain framed.)

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Interesting hypothesis, but I don't think it's power related.... here's why....

When not in record mode, you can in fact be aggressive with the "fly by wire" ring, and get a "crash zoom" - you can hear the motor, same as if you use the lever, you distinctly hear the two "steps"... and the ring actually can be forced to a pretty snappy zoom....

Once you hit that record button, you can do the exact same thing, and the camera actually IGNORES the aggressive input entirely! It will however let you do a nice smooth slow (and Interestingly QUIET) zoom. IOW, the firmware is clearly intentionally set up to prevent fast zooming while recording from what I can see... AKA it's a feature not a bug....

And I'll concur with the 12 second W to T optical while recording, which is longer if you are using clear and or digital zoom ranges. I did just notice that the DIGITAL (meaning both Clear and digital) DOES seem to zoom faster, which in combination with the above leads me to an additional hypothesis.... I still think part of it is to maintain video quality with a novice operator... BUT...

The zoom motor is "barely" audible in slow mode, and fairly noticeable in "fast"... so methinks there's a strong possibility that the "throttling" (and this would mean that is LITERALLY what it is!) is intentional for the purposes of keeping usable AUDIO while recording! IOW, you'd hear the zoom motor in your audio if you could and did execute a "crash zoom" rendering the audio marginal or unusable, but the slower setting maintains an acceptable S/N ratio!


BOTH these hypotheses (preservation of video and audio quality) make sense, and I can see where they might make such an engineering decision - from a "marketing" and support standpoint, there have of course been complaints about zoom (and focus) motor noise showing up in recordings and of course breakup from stressing the CODEC with overly rapid movement, in theory this would reduce those "complaints", and improve market perceptions of the camera's quality.

I think I can live with the "slow" zoom, but will have to do more actual shooting before I know for sure - the slower speed felt very "smooth", and to me actually more natural in some way in admittedly brief testing, but I have not had time to shoot more tests due to personal events...

I try to plan my framing ahead and avoid fast zooms if at all possible anyway, so I don't see it as a "deal breaker" in an otherwise "fun" camera that is getting images that are making me VERY happy. If you were to say to me "you can ONLY have ONE camera" (yeah, I know you all out there just twitched at THAT thought <wink>), I'd grab this one without hesitating... and secretly pocket an RX100M2 while you weren't looking!

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Just to update the zoom "issue" - got the handle from a VPR10, which has the multi-USB connection...

Works nicely with both the RX10 and 100M2 (and the HX300 as well!). It has a "slow zoom" switch on the side, and It appears that is the ONLY zoom speed when in record mode with the RX10, even though there are clearly two steps while in standby, as per usual Sony remotes. I think using one of the adapter cables and an RMAV2 would be just as effective in practical use, and I have those "old" LANC controls laying around anyway...

I was hoping that there might be more access to zoom speed controls, but no luck, at least with this remote - I have to dig around and see if any other cheap LANCs I have control zoom speeds, and figure out if they can be hacked into the multi-port. Not sure it's really necessary to have access, it's just so tempting to try to hack the design!



At this point I firmly believe the slow zoom speed in record mode is a "feature", not a "bug", to both "improve" video quality and prevent the zoom motor from being "too" loud in the audio channels. Have had almost no time to do further shooting, but thought I would pass these quick observations along, FWIW. Still not a deal breaker in my book. I'd have done more testing, but my "second shooter" grabbed the cam and started shooting stills with it... she seems to like the camera rather a lot... good thing the 100M2 was in the bag and worked fine!

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Unfortunately for me it is, to me it looks like yet another limitation put there on purpose, I really hope Sony will come to their senses and give a option to choose zoomspeeds, in record mode it's unusable now in any run and gun situation. Really too bad as the camera is very close to perfect but the party is ruined by the zoomspeed.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I've got to get more shooting time in with this, had a few too many personal crisis going on... but I think it's a livable design "feature"... and IMO, it's an "easy" fix - all that would need to be added is a menu item for "slow zoom" while recording, with an "off" option so if you didn't care about crash zoom and zoom noise, you could just allow the camera to have the "fast" option... there are so many other options buried in the menus, it's actually a bit of a surprise this isn't in there! OK, I'll admit I'd like variable speed zoom settings TOO, but...

The switch on the remote offers a clue... somehow it was thought desirable to not have the option to fast zoom...

I hope perhaps there will be some effort to hack or open the firmware, as something like this would be a snap to "fix"!

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Is the smoothness of the zoom mechanism the same in standby and record mode? Any wobbles or wiggles during zooming while in standby?

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I tested just in standby, and I'd say that you can detect the zoom motor kick in and out just a little, and there is a "pause" at the transition from optical to digital rages... all things I would be able to work with. I've tried to learn to avoid "unmotivated zooms/pans" and anticipate framing anyway. I do see Noa's point that being able to crash zoom has the advantage of faster reframing when that IS necessary, but I'm still thinking it can be worked with... when the dust settles, I'll get more time in with it... rough holiday season this year...

I fiddled with turning steadyshot off/standard/active, you definitely lose some on the edges of the frame in active, but it looks to smooth out all the little jiggly/wobblies fairly well. Active is probably the better choice much of the time... It may not match the "magic eyeball" Handycams, but then again that's a fairly high bar.

Of course at higher ends of the zoom, even tiny movements like blood pumping through your body will be amplified enough to show up at least a little!

I can't "smooth zoom" with any SLR/SLT lenses anyway, and they all exhibit varying degrees of "play" - I think it's a function of the physics of a lens on a "still" camera. IMO, the RX10 is covering the still and video sides with fairly equal grace, which was what I was looking for and expected.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I guarantee you that if Sony opens up the zoom speeds, people will be complaining about motor noise ruining their audio. Bank on it. ;)

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I would wager a bottle, make that a case, of fine Chilean Cab Sav that they won’t, not in regards the RX10. Maybe the ‘Pro’ version coming soon but not the consumer RX10. I doubt very much that it’s just a matter of writing some code. It may well be that the hardware, motors and so on, are just not up to it, not designed for faster speeds...but of course I don’t know.

I sympathize with Noa and those for whom the zoom speed is problematic. I have no issue in that regard but I’m not really a run ‘n gun sort of bloke. I like it just the way it is. But then I'm in it just for the fun:-)

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I'm with Ken on this - when you fast zoom, it's noticeably louder... but it occurred to me to do a little rummaging down "memory lane"... will do more later, but the RX100M2 and HX300 (which I think were in the RX10 DNA) both behave EXACTLY the same way - in standby you can fast zoom... as soon as they are in record mode, slow zoom is it, there is a pattern... I've shot a fair amount with these cameras, and never even noticed the "restricted" zoom speed, so I think I can live with it!

And the more I think on how often I've hit "fast" while trying to do a subtle zoom, the more I'm actually warming to the "slow zoom" restriction, and I think I'd rather have (more) usable audio as well - the motors in all these cams in fast zoom speed make a fair racket! I'm sticking with "it's a feature, not a bug".

Some of us naturally think in terms of modifying/hacking/adapting our "toys"... when your brain works that way, the modification is usually feasible IF you can gain access - but manufacturers don't usually "open" these things (like firmware!) up to make it easy!

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

More RX10 user experience...

I commented earlier that I was seeing jerkiness in footage shot with the RX10 shooting 50p in PAL mode (the version sold here in New Zealand is PAL/NTSC switchable, fortunately). I viewed the footage on various computer monitors and always the same jerkiness was evident. I also noted the exact same jerky problem when I set my EX1 to PAL mode and shot 720 50p. I had not noted that with the EX1 before as I invariably shoot 1080 30p.

Couple of days ago I had the opportunity to view the RX10 50p ‘jerky’ footage on a PAL/NTSC switchable TV and lo and behold with the TV set to PAL mode the footage was fine, smooth as it should be.

Am I correct in assuming that computer monitors generally only enable NTSC footage to be displayed correctly and without the jerky motion artifact? I should point out that the jerky problem when 50p is viewed on a typical computer monitor is only really apparent in particular situations most notably when objects are moving across the screen i.e. motor vehicles several hundred meters away. Normal shots of people walking, talking, flowers, bees and birds sitting around do no exhibit the problem.

I wonder if that is why Sony in their wisdom have enabled both PAL and NTSC recording on the RX10!

I shall never purchase a PAL only cam again.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

As a general rule, it's best to work in a format that ties in with your own countries frame rate - so 25/50 based frame rates in 50Hz mains countries, and 24/30/60 in 60Hz mains countries. ("PAL" and "NTSC" only really refer to SD systems, and the analogue versions of them at that. The terms don't really have a meaning once you start to talk about HD.)

There are various reasons for using such framerates, general standardisation and helping to ensure mains light sources don't flicker amongst them.

What you describe sounds more like an issue of computer video playback in itself, and the problems of showing one framerate on a system running at a different frequency. It's possible that another situation may yield exactly the same problem for a 60Hz based framerate. Far better to display on a TV.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

David, many thanks for your input; most appreciated. Yes, I understand the PAL vs NTSC terminology is perhaps not the most appropriate way of describing things and I should have referred to 50Hz vs 60Hz countries. I also understand the ‘light flicker’ issue however by and large my shooting is outdoor daytime and the light flicker issue is a non-issue for me. I would be most interested to know of any other possible issues you are referring to.

You say it is far better to display on a TV. The thing is that’s not how my vids are viewed by my audience; friends, family and so forth. Generally my output is shared on USB sticks and played on computers or viewed on my Vimeo site. In fact I have uploaded a sample of 50p and 60p shot using my RX10 same location and time which you can view John McCully on Vimeo and see the difference, or not. I have viewed those two files, the two most recent additions, 00353 and 00017, using various computer/monitor configurations here in New Zealand and always the 50p jerkiness is in your face annoyingly apparent.

Seems to me the simple solution is to always shoot 30p and 60p and, given my shooting behavior, I know of no impediments to that approach. I am most interested in your further thoughts.

Oh, by the way; I don’t even have a TV :-)

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Re: zoom, I am enjoying the camera, but the speed of the zoom is stupidly slow, and it's very loud at certain points in the zoom range. I may have a defective camera, I don't know. From a run and gun point of view it's very limiting. Lovely images though. If you could zoom quicker by hand it would help a great deal, but as we all know it doesn't work that way.

Playing with it and shooting around the house I actually enjoy the slow zoom. Sadly, life moves much faster during a wedding shoot.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Yes, the zoom is noisy and gets picked up in the audio, as long as you don't zoom the internal mike is actually quite good, posted some results here: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/open-dv-...na-gh3-g6.html

I really like the camera but to be honest the slow zoom ruins it for me, when I shoot alone I often need to reframe quickly and the rx10 makes this impossible, it would otherwise be a perfect camera, for run and gun it handles very good and making all necessary adjustments on the fly is easy and fast, the viewfinder is also very good, wish there was a small eyecup for it. I can easily handle this camera without any rig, just handheld, I only need to use the active stabilization mode, not teh standard one, that last one causes micro vibrations in the image while handheld shooting, something which is mostly eliminated in active mode though you sacrifice some resolution for it as it crops a part of the image to further stabilize..

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I've tested several Sony cameras (RX100/100M2, HX300), and the "fixed rate" slow zoom is intentional, and not exclusive to this camera.

The faster the zoom, the louder it is (you can fast zoom while not recording to hear the difference), meaning it would become much more annoying in the audio than it is with the "throttled" speed. And I suspect they also wanted to improve the video by preventing "bad" technique from fumbling the zoom to high speed with a two stage zoom control.

It does feel a little sluggish, but part of that is the total range of the zoom (particularly if you use clear or digital zoom ranges). Hopefully if one is "close" to the desired framing, it wouldn't be as much of an issue? Overall, I've been fine with it, but a firmware hack to speed it up would be "interesting"!

In a camera of few "quibbles", I can live with it as it is...

I have added a few minor things to round out the "kit", but I'm with Noa, you can shoot this with very little additional rigging, which feels rather nice for a change! This was very much the design concept Sony was after - a relatively light and small camera that covers a LOT of shooting situations without need for a lot of "add-ons".

I like the feel of an added folding flash bracket (also handy to mount a small dimmable LED light if needed), I had circular polarizers from my Alphas already, and they aren't seeing as much use... and for stills, a "puffer" style flash diffuser seems to work pretty well with the pop up flash. Not really much else I can think I'd "have" to have for most shooting situations - it's very freeing! I guess the zoom thing just doesn't rank that high, with all the other things that work well...

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Just returned from my first event with RX10 and two XA10s. Please take my comments with a grain of salt. I shoot multicamera events by myself, so my point of view will not be valid for many others. It's just that shooting with 3 and 4 camera solo requires a bit of focus, and anything that makes things more difficult for me is NOT received well. Again, this is just me. Any problems I had today were to be expected because I researched the camera pretty well. Sadly, the seriousness of a thing is sometimes not realized until you have to work around it.

Today the RX10 was not my main camera, of course. This was a trial run. It was a two camera shoot and the RX10 was tagging along. Static subjects who rarely moved allowed me time to play with camera and it was a great opportunity for testing the camera.

First, the good: I enjoy shooting in Manual mode with this camera. First camera I've ever shot video in Manual. It's a walk in the park, and quite enjoyable. Something about the controls, especially after setting up custom buttons, makes the camera fun to use this way.

Is it fair to criticize a camera for things I knew about it before I bought it? Probably not.

From an event videography point of view there are problems with this camera, at least for someone who routinely does 3 and 4 camera shoots by themselves, as I did today.

The zoom function on this camera is not right. I was not able to control how slowly I zoomed out today. I knew this going in but sometimes you don't realize how something will bother you until you have to deal with it on the job. Other dslr style cameras have given us silky smooth variable zoom functions, why did not Sony manage it for this camera?

For me this zoom issue would be problematic if this were to be a primary camera or even a b cam. When in the CIZ range the zoom behavior is markedly faster than regular zoom so when zooming out from a speaker it was rough. I like long, slow creeping zoom ins and outs (on occasion, not often) not gonna happen with this camera. Makes me appreciate the zoom on other cameras that I have taken for granted.

It is pointless to complain about the recording limit, right? Well, I'm going to complain anyway. Panasonic gave us both the M4/3 GH1 and GH2 years ago with NO RECORDING limit. Are we going backwards on purpose? Thanks Sony.

29 minutes flies by very quickly when your shooting 4 hours of footage. Camera shut off twice during event and I didn't catch it either time because the recording icon is at lower frame and it's almost not noticable unless you look for it. Is that my fault? Of course it is. But a tiny recording icon on the bottom of the screen? It's a nuisance at the least and could be castastorphic at worst. Last time around I thought to use my phone timer and put it on vibrate and that worked. This is what I will do in the future. I will also be on the lookout for it in the future, but it's just one more thing to worry about/deal with.

Keep in mind I shoot gobs of 60 minute catholic weddings, so this camera is likely to shut off up to three times during mass, if I were to use one from the back of main floor, as I would like to do.

Is the 29 minute limit a deal breaker? No. Is the zoom thing a deal breaker? No.

Footage is fine, kind of nice, even using CIZ.

It's just unfortunate this camera is crippled like it is.

Now that I've gotten these complaints out (again) I will henceforth attempt to focus on the positives of the camera. I am very anxious to try it out for a getting ready session, should be awesome.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Editing shoot today. Almost the whole 4 hours I shot using RX10 at full zoom using Clear Image mode. It was also slightly overexposed at .7 to compensate for a dimly lit room. Footage is good. Even with the overexposure and full zoom the footage is surprisingly detailed.

I am going to order a vibrating timer from Amazon to carry in pocket to avoid problems with the 29 minute limit.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I had to shoot a fashion show yesterday in a small clothing store, my initial plan was to use my rx10 until the owner said she wanted focus on details while the models where walking towards me, I also brought my Sony cx730 camera and ended up using that camera, the slow zoom from the Sony rx10 made it impossible to follow the fast moving girls while with the cx730 that was a walk in the park. I did use the rx10 during the preparation at the hairdresser and when they put up make-up, this time I used the active stabilization that crops the image slightly and I shot it all handheld, in that case the camera performed very well, even with a small crop the image is still sharp, nice colors and the image doesn't display any "jitters" that I had with standard stabilization.

I suggest we team up and assault the Sony development building to force the engineers under gunpoint to write a firmware update which gives faster zoom speeds during recording, currently the zoomspeed is just ridiculous and it takes ages to go through the lensrange, I"m even thinking about selling the camera just for this reason. I absolutely hate it.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Yeah Noah, I'm with you.

It's true that we knew about these issues when we ordered the camera. Unfortunately the reality of working with these limitations is not as easy as we might have imagined.

The excitement over things like a 1" sensor really grabbed me. I did want a great DSLR, so I might keep mine, but I"m looking at the AX100 and there might not be room in my budget for both at this time.

It's just a dirty, lowdown shame and it really makes me disappointed at Sony for doing this.

My $500 Lumix FZ200 has a much better zoom. It makes no sense.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I"m not finding any other reason to get rid of the rx10, it's miles ahead from any dslr I have owned and do own in terms of functionality, only the zoomspeed kills it for me. It yet again proves how valuable a simple handicam can be, It would not have been possible to pull any smooth zoom constantly with a dslr, that tiny zoombutton on the cx730, how ridiculously small it may look, can provide a very smooth zoom if you treat it very gentle. Without my handicams I would not have been able to accept this fashion shoot.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I know Noa, I had the same issue at my last shoot with the RX10. Couldn't get a decent zoom out of the camera. The zoom speed is not the only issue, it's not a real varialble zoom and it's just not right.

As you say, handicams offer nice zoom actions. My XA10 is essentially a handicam and it performs the most beautiful zooms with the right technique. I feel your pain.

The zoom kind of ruins what could be an amazing tool for an event videographer.

To sell or not to sell? I don't know either, the jury is still out. It is a really great camera in many other respects. It's just that these initial experiences don't bode well for a long term relationship.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I've commented on it before - this appears to be typical in Cybershots - once record is pressed, you get one zoom speed, AKA SLOOOOOW.

I believe it is a "feature", and could be hacked or upgraded in firmware - probably something as simple as a switch in the menus to turn "slow zoom" on/off - the tripod remote I picked up has just such a switch, but of course the camera defaults to SLOOOOW, so the remote can't access the internal functionality. I am sure the functionality is THERE, it's just been set this way, for reasons I've stated before... avoid complaints about "noisy zoom" (fast is LOUD), and prevent bad crash zoom technique.

I shot with the camera quite a bit this weekend, and other than a bit of human hesitation since I'm still learning all the camera can do, I didn't once feel like it was preventing me from getting the shot. Again, I'd describe it more as the camera MADE me shoot!!

Not sure I'm ready to do a "high pressure" live shoot just yet (there's still a couple PJ7xx series in the kit anyway!), and that might make me feel differently about the zoom, but as I've watched what I've shot, the slow zoom feels nice and "natural" on playback. And darn if all the stills and video don't look pretty nice!

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Just an "FYI" for anyone thinking of using the VMC-AVM1 adapter to use the RM-AV2 as a LANC/remote to control the RX10 via the "multi" USB port/terminal... it doesn't work!

Strange, since I have used the newer tripod handle remote, works fine, and accesses the functions as expected, and when connected, the AV2 lights up, indicating power is being applied as expected... but no response to the controls!

I'm a bit bummed, since the AV2 is a handy little remote for tripod or shoulder mount use, I already have a couple, and one would THINK that an adapter between the A/V plug and the MULTI terminal would connect SONY accessories properly, but no joy. I'm sure the VPR1 will work, but it's bigger and bulkier, as is the handle off a VPR10 I picked up used.

I'm sure it's once again a matter of a "trigger" pin than needs to inform the camera that the remote is there (since the VPR10 handle works fine). The AVM1 specifically states it's for "Handycam", and it's on the accessory list for the AX100, so "maybe" it will work with that camera. Just so odd that the Cybershots apparently aren't set up to be compatible.

I'm tempted to try to reverse engineer the VPR handle and the AV2 (got both opened up, doesn't look THAT complicated, except everything is now SMC!) to see if it "can" be modified some way - anyone know where I can get the service manuals with diagrams and pinouts? The pinout for the "multi" jack would be MOST helpful if anyone happens to have it or know where I might find it. Since it's "new", not sure if it's documented just yet?

Looks from a Google search that there is some interest in hacking this "MULTI" jack for time lapse triggers, but the stuff out there so far is very limited - I hacked the A/V to LANC connection long ago, guess it's time to try to figure this one out!!



EDIT: Found what looks like fairly complete info on this exact issue, all in German (time to scrape the rust off of meine translator!), Should be enough to figure out how to hack the AV2 to work with the AVM1 so one can control the RX series with any luck! Oh the wonders of the web, and the joys of reverse engineering/hacking when we want our toys to do more than they were designed to do!

Now has anyone hacked the firmware so we could speed up the zoom for those that want it?? CAN'T be that hard!

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Good luck with that Dave.

I shot a very low end wedding Saturday (for free) for the experience of using the camera, and it was a very good learning experience. The camera does produce really nice images, when you look at the price point of the camera.

Being more used to the 29 minute limit it was not as big a deal.

I started shooting in manual mode but I took too long to adjust settings during the hectic getting ready segment so I shifted to program mode. That saved the day. I'm not an experienced photographer or DSLR user so I'm still clumsy when needing to find good settings under pressure.

The zoom reared it's ugly head and was a real hinderance when I needed to quickly zoom in for shot. Missed several opportunities so I eventually gave up.

Do love the footage.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I only used the rx10 once on a wedding so my work experience with it is also limited, I too have had several moments while the camera was recording where I needed to go in closer quickly which was not possible, I do have the shot but from a wide distance which misses the impact of the moment. I will just take it as it comes now and stop complaining about it, the camera does give me all the shooting pleasure I am not getting with another dslr when it comes to realtime controll, like having a clickless aperture ring and ability to fast go through your iso range which is imperative to have in run and gun or the zebra's. Only when choosing a frame I either have to decide in advance in standby mode which zooms much quicker or run towards the subject I"m shooting in record mode which should keep me healthy. :)

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I'm still playing with the AV2, and a VPR1 handle... while having the German info is helpful, there's some strangeness on that MULTI port... too many projects, so only poking at it here and there.

I know the AV2 lights up, indicating power is making it via the LANC power pin, but the LANC signal isn't connecting properly...

It's obvious that the current remotes are variations on your typical LANC, just got to figure out what the "trigger" mechanism is to alert the camera to accept the signal from a "generic" LANC, or the AV2, which you'd THINK would work, and it "might" on the new camcorders, but for some reason it's not on the Cybershots (YET!)


The firmware is where the zoom speed would need to be adjusted - it's probably literally changing a couple numbers or a single "switch", and flashing the cam, and/or enabling an additional menu item if you want to get fancy and make it user adjustable. I'm guessing that at best it would be a "two speed" affair, if "fast" could be enabled when recording... but it might improve things a bit?

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I shot a wedding yesterday (first of the season) and decided to use the rx10 during the photoshoot and use it handheld, I did not use the standard stabilization as that caused some microjitters so now I used the active one, it crops a part of the image to have some more playroom to stabilize the image further. I think I got spoiled by the stabilization on my cx730 but the ois on the rx10 is "ok" in active mode, better then standard anyway and the sharpness is still enough to match up with my other camera's.

I shot in standard preset and left all settings at 0, I do notice a issue now that I have not seen before in this camera, something that my cx730 does display on occasion as well. I have shot before with this rx10 but is was all controlled movement, on a tripod or slider, only now I shot handheld and I get noticeable flicker in my image on high detailed scenes, there are a few shots outside with trees and bushes and because the image moves a little bit constantly because it's handheld the whole image flickers, there are several shots I won't be able to use in my final edit because of this.

Where it gets weird is this; If I view the footage on my pc screen (a lg 29inch 21:9 screen) there is hardly any flicker visible but when I look at it on 2 large led tv's there is, has anyone else experienced this? I shot everything at 1080p 50p.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

ok, I have allready discovered something, my tv, (a led samsung tv) has a "tools" option on the remote which opens a screen where you can dial in image presets like dynamic, standard, film and natural, all presets display the flickering on screen, only the film preset not, it's not completely gone but it looks the same as on my computer screen which for me is on a "ok" level to use. So it looks like the tv is adding some kind of enhancement which can't cope with the very fine detail.

edit: I just browsing through the rx10 photoshoot footage and eventhough next time I will decrease the contrast to -1 or maybe -2 (a bit too much crushed shadows with the standard preset, all values set to 0) the handheld footage looks just great, even with the crop from the active stabilization, still plenty sharp (though ax100 users will disagree :)). Colors are very nice, natural looking skintones and how easy it was to set my exposure and focus, eventhough it was difficult to look in the viewfinder or on the lcd screen because of the full sun. I definitely need a eyecup next time, have been experimenting with a sony fx1000 eye cup and while it does not fit exactly right it's usable and most important will block out all incoming sunlight. Will see how it works next wedding. Bokeh also looks nice if you zoom in, was able to get enough quick handheld shots at longer focal lengths and stabilization is good enough, I have been complaining about the slow zoom but at least I didn't have to switch lenses during the shoot, I was a bit worried yesterday before the shoot where this camera would fit in but it already has become a perfect photoshoot camera.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Noa, first thing I did was set creative style to -1 -1 -2. My footage from camera is very very nice.

Not a fan of the photos coming from the camera at all. Very disapointing. Extremely happy with video, in low light it crushes the CX900 due to the higher gain needed when zoomed.

Love the ergomonics of the CX900, for the most part, but prefer the video from the RX10.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I hope to make some time available this week to tweak the presets for a better match with my other camera's, I do like the fact that I get a "what you see is what you get" preview when I make photo's, last 2 weddings I shot several photos during a photoshoot in raw and after some grading in lightroom they actually look great to me, but I"m just a novice when it comes to photography. Big improvement though compared to just using a video frame.

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

Jeff, I have some photo's I toke with the rx10 from the last wedding, I only can't share them publicly as I don't have a approval, but if it's ok for you I"d like to send 2 of them over to you so you can have a look, like I said photography is not my thing but the photos I took look nice enough to me. Just want to know what you think of them. I am a bit surprised that you find the photo capability of the camera very disappointing but it could also be that I "m very easy to please. :)

Re: Sony RX10 user experience thread
 

I'm a novice photog also, but am spoilt from using the GH2s with nice prime lenses and touchscreen focus. Not pleased with lack of touchscreen focus ability on the camera and I find the camera more trouble to work with overall for photos.

I have yet to become efficient working with the camera but am getting better.