Quick Peek: Sony RX100 IV and RX10 II

I’ve been trying my best to hold off the purchase of Sony’s RX range of cameras and after a brief encounter with the new RX100 IV and RX10 II, that resolve is fast wavering.

As an alternative to Sony’s interchangeable lens series, the Alpha, the RX aims to capture a different set of audiences who prefer a more elegant solution and would not want to fuss over changing lenses. After all, lugging around a camera with additional lens while travelling will dampen those holiday spirits.

Both the RX100 IV and RX10 II both sport the  world’s first 1.0 type stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor with advanced signal processing and an attached DRAM memory chip. This allows for 40x super slow motion video capture at up to 960fps4, an ultra-fast Anti-Distortion Shutter with a maximum speed of 1/32000 second, high-resolution 4K movie shooting and more.

Certainly impressive, but practicality wise, I’m sure many will be hard pressed to find a scenario for the features. But, this makes a very affordable 4k shooter in a very compact body which is pretty much not found in the camera market at the moment.

The RX10 II is like the less attractive sister in this pair but her bulk accounts for the ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* 24- 200mm (35mm equivalent) F2.8 lens. Honestly, that’s a pretty long zoom in such a relatively small body, and would afford much greater flexibility over the RX100 IV.

I have a softer spot for the smaller RX100 IV as it fits my needs mostly and comes in a pretty compact package. Appearances wise it looks pretty similar to its predecessor and it comes with a ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm (35mm equivalent) F1.8-F2.8 lens.

As you can see from the gif above, I had plenty of fun flipping all the switches out. Activating the electronic viewfinder at the side is way more entertaining than pressing the power button. Pushing it back into the housing automatically shuts the camera down as well.

The above is a sample macro shot with the RX100 and I can’t wait to see how well it fares for toy photography.

Starting from 3 July 2015, the new Sony Cyber-shotRX100 IV will be available for pre-ordering at all Sony Stores, Sony Centres, and selected authorised Sony dealers. All pre-orders will come with a Leather Carrying Case (LCS-RXG) and a 64GB High Speed SD Card (SF-64UZ).

The new Cyber-shot cameras from Sony will be available at all Sony Stores, Sony Centres, and selected Sony authorised dealers at the dates and recommended retail prices stated below:

	RX100 IV	RX10 II
Availability	16 July 2015	30 July 2015
Recommended retail price	S$1,399	S$1,899