Sony RX10 II - Love it

[Phil Stanley]

As a stills shooter who is now gradually adding Video options to my packages I have been trying out various Cameras and kit so for this year. We are at present offering a fusion package which is a mix of Video and stills. I use Nikon D750 for the stills which I am happy with. My Video set up with my wife as the primary user needed to be fairly user friendly. On the advice of several guys on here I have been using an AX100 which we have been very happy with, as a second Camera I purchased an AX33 which we haven't really gelled with due to less manual control.

I recently bought the Sony RX10 II mainly with the intention of shooting video and managed to use it along side my D750 at a Wedding last week. The client was on a stills only package but I slipped in some video as a bonus when time permitted. I must say the RX10 II was a joy to use, really good AF, ND filters, excellent EVF and very good IS. I have assigned function buttons to my preferences and set up the quick menu for all the important settings. You can also shoot full res still whilst recording video if needed by just pressing the shutter button.

The RX10 II seemed to cope admirably despite myself being at present a fairly novice user to video, having owned GH3, G6, 5D III etc I have found the RX10 II the easiest to get on with by far

Plenty more to learn yet and haven't experimented with the slow motion yet but I am very happy with the purchase.

[Jeff Harper]

Does the RX10 II has ND filters that can be set manually?

Edit: Never mind, I forgot they do, my RX10 has it, but it's not a dedicated button, it's done via menu, as I imagine the RX10 II does.

[Phil Stanley]

I have mine set up to adjust via the C1 function button

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Edit: Never mind, I forgot they do, my RX10 has it, but it's not a dedicated button, it's done via menu, as I imagine the RX10 II does.

You can assign that to the buttons on the backside of the camera, I have assigned it to the scroll wheel when I press that on the left side, then the nd menu appears where I can set it to on or off.

[Nate Haustein]

Is there a definitive custom picture profile out in the wild yet?

[Noah Ruderman]

I've had it for a week or so and loving it so far.

Pros: gorgeous internal 4k, clean 1080 120p slow-mo, beautiful zeiss 2.8 lens, great video features like peaking, zebras, built in ND filter and SLOG2.

Cons: Not as great for stills, not great for shallow focus (although can be done) and not great for low light.

I've been using SLOG2 but leaning towards shooting in neutral with contrast/sat/sharpness turned down for my first wedding using it this Saturday. Will be matching with my 5d3 & 6d so we'll see how it goes.

Here's a video I shot of my daughter in the park shot in SLOG2. This was shot in 4k/24p (downscaled to 1080) and 1080/120p for the slo-mo shots:

A Day at the Park on Vimeo

[Nigel Barker]

When I gave up full time video & photography & returned to my old day job we sold all the cameras & video gear. This included full frame 5D3s & MFT Olympus OMD-M5s & Panasonic G6. Subsequently my wife bought a Nikon D800 which is to my eyes a superior stills camera & recently we bought a Sony AX100 for a video project she is involved with. I have been really impressed with this great little camcorder which in size & feel reminds me a little of the old Sony A1 HDV that we used years ago.

I enjoyed the compactness & ease of use of the MFT cameras & shot my last couple of weddings exclusively with them. I am very impressed with the AX100 & in particular with 4K video & have really missed having a camera of my own so have just purchased an RX10m2.

I like idea of a bridge camera with no lens switching (or obsessing:-) & the Zeiss F/2.8 24-200mm equivalent is about the best you can get. The 1" sensor seems to be a decent compromise to give a compact camera with good image quality & shallow DoF when required.

The 4K video looks identical to that of the AX100. I have been very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the stills. AF is fast & continuous AF as good as a proper camcorder. I haven't even explored the HFR super slow motion yet.

BTW I have seen other references to shooting full resolution stills while shooting video but haven't figured how to do it yet. If it's really possible to take stills independently of video then this will be amazing for those offering combined video & photography packages. Grabbing stills off a 4K timeline will be decent quality but of course you will still have all the problems of motion blur from lower shutter speed.

[Steve Bleasdale]

I've been using SLOG2 but leaning towards shooting in neutral with contrast/sat/sharpness turned down for my first wedding using it this Saturday. Will be matching with my 5d3 & 6d so we'll see how it goes.

That will be interesting Noah as i have one on order to go with the same set up, results would be great. Steve

[Phil Stanley]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

BTW I have seen other references to shooting full resolution stills while shooting video but haven't figured how to do it yet. If it's really possible to take stills independently of video then this will be amazing for those offering combined video & photography packages. Grabbing stills off a 4K timeline will be decent quality but of course you will still have all the problems of motion blur from lower shutter speed.

Although I have read you can take 4K stills whilst in video, I have only managed it from the1080 HD setting not 4K, you have to enable it from the menu, then when you press the shutter it says capture on the screen.

[Simon Denny]

I'm on the Sony RX10 version one and Sony the A7S. I have both cameras setup using the Standard preset with contrast wound back to -3. I have also used the Neutral preset with contrast at -2 with great success.

There are some frame grabs in my Twitter.

Here is the Neutral preset with contrast at -2

YouTube (Short URL)

[Chris Harding]

Hi Noah

Nice footage there..Just for interest can you do a continuous focus and have auto exposure in 120fps mode on the Sony?? On my Panasonics it locks the exposure to wherever you initially set it so on a stedicam and going around a couple in a big circle from shade to sun it sadly blows out!

I'm not a fan of SLOG footage as it always has so little contrast and desaturated colour but the images are stunning anyway!!

[Simon Denny]

From memory that was auto ISO with a few auto focus shots Shutter locked at 50 and f stop at f4 I think. I also locked ISO to max at 3200 as after this noise creeps in.

The RX10 is a vey capable camera and is on every shoot I do, infact I sold all my large broadcast camera gear and now run with the RX10 and A7s.

[Steve Bleasdale]

So apart from the 4k are both cameras the same rx 10 + rx10ii, any major difference

[Noah Ruderman]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Noah

Nice footage there..Just for interest can you do a continuous focus and have auto exposure in 120fps mode on the Sony?? On my Panasonics it locks the exposure to wherever you initially set it so on a stedicam and going around a couple in a big circle from shade to sun it sadly blows out!

I'm not a fan of SLOG footage as it always has so little contrast and desaturated colour but the images are stunning anyway!!

Thanks Chris!

You can definitely have auto focus and/or auto exposure on if you want at 120fps. I haven't tested it to see how it works yet though.

[Dave Blackhurst]

New sensor on the Mk2, that in theory should reduce rolling shutter. 4K, HFR, a couple minor menu changes.

My take is if I didn't have the original one, I'd probably be all over a Mk2, but for now, while the prices are still high, I'll keep using the "Mk1" for a while. It's a solid camera, and as much as I want the 4K, I can be patient...