RX10 vs. RX10II

[Dave Blackhurst]

@John - I actually do the paid job now and again, and the last one was stills AND video, solo... UGH. Wish I had the Mark II, as I probably could have pulled it off with the 1080p and 17Mpix stills simultaneously... instead I had the AX free rolling, the Mark1 with a bracket (stills, and video when the RX100 battery depleted), and a RX100MIII mounted on the upper bracket that flipped so I could flip for portrait when needed - terribly clunky, yet decent results. The lighting was TERRIBLE, indoors in a home, early to mid morning with minimal lighting, I was going to set up some LED's to supplement the "IM-practical" scenario, but in the end there wasn't time, and the cameras did "OK", even if I wasn't thrilled.

I think the MkII will make life a bit easier, and it's like putting on an old shoe since it's similar to the MkI. I too love the AX100, it's a integral part of my "kit", and a few times I've even used it for stills...

Would I recommend one go out and pay retail? Well, I'm too durn cheap for that, but the MkI can now be had at ridiculous prices in the used market, I got the killer deal on my MkII, and shall have no regrets even if it drops to current MkI prices when a "MkIII" comes around! The MkI is still a very useful camera, and I have a few photography inclined family members...

These "bridge" cameras meet a very real need for a simple to use, yet advanced camera that covers "most" of the day to day shooting needs while delivering more quality than the now ubiquitous cell phone... sure, an ILC shooter with a nice set o' lenses will sneer a bit, but I no longer see the need to deal with the hassle - for my use, a lighter, smaller setup beats a heavy bag of "stuff". YMMV of course!





@Paul - if you can pick up a cheap bracket (mentioned the Stratos folding one I use in the other post), it helps steady things - I suspect that it's a lot to ask for one's right wrist to control the mass/inertia of that big lens - even cradling the lens with my left hand doesn't seem to help me much, while the bracket is night and day, again, works for me...

Can you elaborate on the VF dimming? Haven't noticed that, could it be your settings? I think there was a setting for LCD brightness, maybe one for the VF too?

The steadyshot is likely just a matter of processing horsepower not being available to deal with the added pixels - there were complaints about the AX100 not being as steady as earlier handycams, and it's a tradeoff - your camera technique needs to be better with 4K, and I dug out some of my old camera support rigs when I started shooting 4K, plus now travel with a footed monopod (Sirui or at least the little footed Bogen), I know I'm too darn wobbly (makes the RX lens wobble look positively civilized!) without added support!



Looking forward to getting more time with the camera, job 1 is to stress test it for heat when I can set something up - noticed last session fiddling with things that it does get warm, and I'm going to be testing with the LCD out and up against the body. Having had Sony cams that overheated, that one point is important in my "review" and in practical use - I don't much mind double punching at 20-29 minutes, but shutting down is not something I will tolerate from a camera! The short 5 minute clip limit for 4K in the RX100MkIV leaves me shaking my head, and keeping the MKIII for a long time, I've yet to go to a 5 minute "event"...


I've stated before that I see these cameras as a sort of "system" - the AX100, the RX10, and the RX100 share similar features/sensor/processing and the "Sony look" - for my needs, they pack a lot of capture ability into a very small, light, flexible "package", and that's at least part of the attraction. They aren't perfect, but deliver results I'm very happy with. One could do something sort of similar with an LX100 and an FZ1000, and it's crossed my mind while waiting for 4K from Sony!

[Dave Blackhurst]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Again at yesterdays wedding, I had my whitebalance on auto because I was shooting in a mixture of indoor and outdoor light, the camera does well enough in these circumstances though I noticed there was quite some red in my footage, then I saw "a7" in the side of my viewfinder and didn't know what it stood for, I went to my whitebalance settings to find out that the white balance adjustment had been offset to red at the outer end of the scale which was 7 clicks to the right.

Don't ask me how that value got changed, it requires several pushes on the camera menu buttons to change it. I also reviewed the footage I took from the wedding before this last one and that looks normal so it has happened after that. The problem again is that I cannot replicate this error, I could bring the camera in but if I can't show what is wrong they will not accept it, quite frustrating.

May be time for an exorcism... or a MkII?!

I know I've had a few odd things happen from jostling around in the camera bag, and we won't discuss the trouble my touchscreen phone seems to get into when in me pocket... but it's crazy when you find things "all messed up" like that - here's my guess: camera turned on when put in the bag, somehow (not easy with the 10, it doesn't turn on when you press play like many Sony cams do!). Then the fn button invoked the menu, and just the right combo of buttons got pushed/smushed to select wb and goof it all up... that or it's possessed...

I've done repairs on many things mechanical and electronic over the years, and I've seen many "odd" things, both intentional and unintentional, so nothing entirely surprises me! And yep, I've seen a few "Monday specials" as well as the "it's Miller time Friday specials"...

Buying and selling used, one also finds some "unique" things along the way - in complex electronics it's all too easy to set something the wrong way or use a knockoff accessory and make the whole thing go haywire!

[Dave Blackhurst]

Got a chance to do a somewhat decent "heat test" - ambient temps in the low - mid 70's, so not "hot", but not exactly cool either. Camera set up on a monopod with a RC2 (small bogen manfrotto) QR attached (didn't notice any heat transfer to the QR, FWIW). Ran 2 consecutive 29:50 clips (camera stops at that point, a quick tap, and it's back on), and about 20 minutes more on the third, before the battery depleted.

No problems, the first clip the LCD was against the body, and the rest with the LCD out and tilted (probably better for heat dissipation?), there is noticeable heat, but no warnings from the camera, so it's probably a safe bet that the RX10II is able to dissipate heat better than the tiny RX100IV, and is "OK" for event shoots. Of course, this doesn't preclude it overheating in very hot or otherwise unusual conditions, but this quick crude test was enough for me to feel comfortable shooting long events in 4K with the camera. Should be a good 2nd/B cam with the AX100 if they match up (haven't fiddled with that yet, but should be "close").

Another "odd note", I was trying to shoot some "supermoon" shots (stills), and noticed that if the camera is in "C" (front dial), it noticeably was "hunting", almost as though it was "constantly" double checking focus (it locked on the actual shutter... but it was strange, as it felt like it wasn't sure about focus... switched to "S" mode, focus locked quickly and no "hunting"... hmm, one more setting to fiddle with and figure out definitively!

Both focus and stabilization seem to be a tad better than the Mk1, so overall the camera seems a bit more finely tuned, but the ol' Mk1 still is a solid camera (aside from Noa's possessed one) - so far I don't feel like it is a "must upgrade", but if the features it adds are something you want or need, it's another camera you can't go too far wrong with! I had a shoot a couple weeks ago that would have been a LOT easier shooting in 1080p with the ability to knock out 17Mpix stills at the same time...

[Colin Rowe]

Once again, my low light iso test with the FZ1000.

FZ1000 isotest - YouTube

Probably of more interest to weddingguys

[Steve Bleasdale]

With an external microphone Colin does that eliminate the camera motor noise you can hear? steve

[Colin Rowe]

I use an NTG2, it sits in a cradle on the corner of my home made rig, no problem with motor noise at all

[Steve Bleasdale]

Thanks, cheers Colin

[Chris Harding]

Hi Steve

I have a simple "U" shaped rig made out of some aluminium square tube which has two "uprights" with foam bicycle grips on each which gives me really stable left and right grips and allows my finder to reach controls and then on the top of each "upright" I mounted a cold shoe ...I have the mic on the left hand one and absolutely no motor noise at all, plus it doesn't get in the way of your head if you want to use the EVF.

An external mic doesn't have to be a long way from the lens to achieve a noise free situation.

[Dave Blackhurst]

As Chris says, having some sort of simple "rig" can help stabilize, and also provide a more "isolated" mount or two - I've got my folding flash bracket, but also have a larger one with two shoes that I've used from time to time - it's not the typical "Sima" bracket with a strange angle to it, but a bigger one with a true 90 degree bend for the secondary "handle/grip".

Just FWIW, I've picked up a LX100 and an FZ1000 out of curiosity, and hoping they might provide options that fit in with my Sony cams... so far fairly impressed with the LX100, the 4K looks quite nice, but definitely different from the Sonys at first glance, will have to see if it can be "tuned" to match. Stills are "so-so" against the Sonys, and fall apart faster in low light, but in good light... quite usable for a 12Mpixel! Since the RX100IV can only shoot a 5 minute clip in 4K, it's not going to be much use, where the LX100 at least shoots for 15 minutes (time for another heat stress test!)... we shall see, but another RX10M2 may turn out to be the "best" option... when the price comes down - got this first one for a price I couldn't refuse, but may be a while for another "deal"!

I think sometimes "low light" is awfully subjective, and more importantly comes down to how well the operator can manipulate and stretch the functions of the camera. These "semi-pro" cameras have such deep menus and tweaking possibilities that you really have to spend a fair amount of time playing with 'em!! I feel like I've barely scratched the surface on the RX10II, and the same goes for the LX100... it's like driving a spaceship or something!

[Steve Bleasdale]

Thats great Chris, cheers Dave