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Maybe I’m a little late to the party but thought I’d pen down a few initial impressions on the RX1R after a day of shooting round London. I’ve always wondered about this camera so when a boxed & mint one (with the EVF!) came up at Aperture London @ £1,250 out came the bank card. I’m a prime shooter and my main points of reference are cameras like the OM-D, X100S, X-Pro1, & Ricoh GR.
Handling wise the camera is spot on, everything is easily accessible and can be programmed in. I found myself using the 1,2,3 presets quite often, generally set to different exposure situations & film simulations. My only gripe is with the manual focus implementation, on my OM-D with the Nokton 25mm f0.95 I could nail focus without having to zoom on the EVF, and for those odd situations I couldn’t I’d assign the zoom aid to a button. On the RX1R twisting the focus ring forces a magnified view of focusing, and there’s no way to disable this. Additionally the manual focus scale isn’t very granular, it goes from 0-1-3-infinity.
I got around this in the field by setting a button to AF/MF switch, using AF to lock onto something that was about the right distance away, then switching to MF as a sort of focus lock. You can think of this as a kind of back button focus technique, it’s quicker than it sounds. There might be a better way of doing it, I’ve not read the manual yet.
Aside from something like an OM-D (or maybe a big boy Nikon/Canon) AF for moving targets on the street is never quick enough with lenses wide open, most cameras demand stopping down and zone focussing. I haven’t included any street grabs in the samples as I was mainly playing around and tweaking the technique.
Size wise it's tiny, I thought it would be bigger until I handled one myself. It's way smaller than the X100S, slightly bigger than the GR, it reminds me in many ways of a GF3 + 20mm. I've taped up all the logos and shiney bits now it just looks like any other little P&S. It's not pocketable like the GR, but more manageable than the X100S.
One of the reasons I love compacts are how portable and discreet they are compared to even m4/3 systems. One absolute must for me is near silent operation, I've taken my X100S into some temples in SE Asia and shot ceremonies where any noise would be a huge no-no. The good news is the RX1R is just as quiet as the X100S, possibly the shutter is a mouse fart louder but still super quiet. I'd say the same as the GR shutter. AF noise is on a par (negligible).
IQ wise it’s better than anything I’ve owned before, there isn’t really much more to say than that. It’s bordering on Medium Format. I’d happily take the ISO up to the limit and get back usable images. There’s no real noise up to 6,400. Lens is tack sharp with great bokeh @ f2. There have been comparisons to Leica 35 F2s and this comes out on top, plus the sensor is leagues ahead of even the new 240. Images are almost clinical but then you get that great Zeiss ‘pop’ that brings the magic back.
Now I’m not saying this is the be all and end all in lenses, it isn’t. I think lens imperfections really add to the images, the Nokton f0.95s are amazing in that respect, so are the Voigtlander Classics, and even the Leica lenses (to my eye the ‘Leica look’ is razor sharp wide open with ever so slight classic swirl to the bokeh). The Pro1+X100S still shoot lovely images that have great character, it’s just in terms of what people would say is pure IQ the RX1R is better.
Anyway here are some samples, I just pulled these into my iPhone 6S Plus and undertook some tweaks in VSCO mobile. Seemed I was in a B&W mood, maybe I’ll add some colour next weekend when I feel like shooting people over shapes.
Am I happy & do I think it's worth £1,250, YES! Is it still relevant in 2016... personally I think yes. Sure you have the Leica Q now but it's bigger and the jury is out on IQ. The new RX1R II is out at a ball busting price and you don't really NEED that extra MP (although it's a testament that the lens can use it). I prefer the external EVF as it's articulated. The IQ & high ISO performance pretty much equals the top of the line cameras from the big boys...
**Just for comparison I’ll add in some images from my Ricoh GR that have similar subjects**
**I know my Flickr stream sucks, I've never got round to sorting it out so it's just a dumping ground for forum posts**
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Handling wise the camera is spot on, everything is easily accessible and can be programmed in. I found myself using the 1,2,3 presets quite often, generally set to different exposure situations & film simulations. My only gripe is with the manual focus implementation, on my OM-D with the Nokton 25mm f0.95 I could nail focus without having to zoom on the EVF, and for those odd situations I couldn’t I’d assign the zoom aid to a button. On the RX1R twisting the focus ring forces a magnified view of focusing, and there’s no way to disable this. Additionally the manual focus scale isn’t very granular, it goes from 0-1-3-infinity.
I got around this in the field by setting a button to AF/MF switch, using AF to lock onto something that was about the right distance away, then switching to MF as a sort of focus lock. You can think of this as a kind of back button focus technique, it’s quicker than it sounds. There might be a better way of doing it, I’ve not read the manual yet.
Aside from something like an OM-D (or maybe a big boy Nikon/Canon) AF for moving targets on the street is never quick enough with lenses wide open, most cameras demand stopping down and zone focussing. I haven’t included any street grabs in the samples as I was mainly playing around and tweaking the technique.
Size wise it's tiny, I thought it would be bigger until I handled one myself. It's way smaller than the X100S, slightly bigger than the GR, it reminds me in many ways of a GF3 + 20mm. I've taped up all the logos and shiney bits now it just looks like any other little P&S. It's not pocketable like the GR, but more manageable than the X100S.
One of the reasons I love compacts are how portable and discreet they are compared to even m4/3 systems. One absolute must for me is near silent operation, I've taken my X100S into some temples in SE Asia and shot ceremonies where any noise would be a huge no-no. The good news is the RX1R is just as quiet as the X100S, possibly the shutter is a mouse fart louder but still super quiet. I'd say the same as the GR shutter. AF noise is on a par (negligible).
IQ wise it’s better than anything I’ve owned before, there isn’t really much more to say than that. It’s bordering on Medium Format. I’d happily take the ISO up to the limit and get back usable images. There’s no real noise up to 6,400. Lens is tack sharp with great bokeh @ f2. There have been comparisons to Leica 35 F2s and this comes out on top, plus the sensor is leagues ahead of even the new 240. Images are almost clinical but then you get that great Zeiss ‘pop’ that brings the magic back.
Now I’m not saying this is the be all and end all in lenses, it isn’t. I think lens imperfections really add to the images, the Nokton f0.95s are amazing in that respect, so are the Voigtlander Classics, and even the Leica lenses (to my eye the ‘Leica look’ is razor sharp wide open with ever so slight classic swirl to the bokeh). The Pro1+X100S still shoot lovely images that have great character, it’s just in terms of what people would say is pure IQ the RX1R is better.
Anyway here are some samples, I just pulled these into my iPhone 6S Plus and undertook some tweaks in VSCO mobile. Seemed I was in a B&W mood, maybe I’ll add some colour next weekend when I feel like shooting people over shapes.
Am I happy & do I think it's worth £1,250, YES! Is it still relevant in 2016... personally I think yes. Sure you have the Leica Q now but it's bigger and the jury is out on IQ. The new RX1R II is out at a ball busting price and you don't really NEED that extra MP (although it's a testament that the lens can use it). I prefer the external EVF as it's articulated. The IQ & high ISO performance pretty much equals the top of the line cameras from the big boys...
**Just for comparison I’ll add in some images from my Ricoh GR that have similar subjects**
**I know my Flickr stream sucks, I've never got round to sorting it out so it's just a dumping ground for forum posts**
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
Untitled by _Jo Gray, on Flickr
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